Recruitment for Research Project in Eastern MA

Participate in a voluntary research study on methods for home-based monitoring of behavior of children on the autism spectrum

The purpose of this research project is to understand how parents track behavior and the symptoms of autism of their children. If you choose to participate in this study, you will be interviewed for about one hour by one of the professionals involved in the research, either in your home or at your child’s school. You will be asked to show examples of whatever you currently use to organize and store information about your child’s behavior, development, treatments, and response to treatments. You may also be asked to try using a new piece of software on an iPod touch, a web-based monitoring system, and/or a new paper/digital pen system to do your recording.

To participate in this research, you must have a child on the autism spectrum between 3 and 10 years old. If you choose to participate in this study, we will pay you $20 for the initial interview. If you are asked to participate in follow-up usability testing sessions, we give you a choice of receiving an additional fee of $20/hour for your time, or receiving a free year-long subscription ($195 value) to the monitoring service being tested.

If you are interested in participating in the study, please send an email to research@symtrend.com with (1) your name, (2) contact information, (3) age/gender of your child, (4), school/programs/treatment your child currently attends/receives, so that we may get in touch with you to set up an interview.

Researchers from the University of Washington and SymTrend, Inc. (Belmont, MA) are conducting in-depth interviews about the types of recordkeeping, charting, and communications used by therapists who work with pre-schoolers and elementary school children who are on the lower end of the autism spectrum. They are interested in talking to OTs, Speech and Language Pathologists, Behavior Analysts, and Special Education teachers who use any of the following therapeutic methods: ABA, Sensory Integration, Floortime, SCERTS, TEACCH, or Pivotal Response therapy. They will be developing a new technology for easing the transcription and charting of observational data and are looking for assistance in the optimization of the design and functionality of their tool. You will be paid for your participation.

If you are interested, please contact Minna Levine to complete a brief questionnaire to see if you qualify for this research.

Phone: (866-796-8736)

Email: research@symtrend.com

SymTrend launched its new home page and tours today. The tours provide case studies about the use of SymTrend for each of the health challenges on the home page. If you are interested in learning more about how SymTrend would work with your health challenge, either post a question here, or contact SymTrend support at support@symtrend.com or 866-796-8736.

A new version of SymTrend is on the iTunes App Store. You can download it for a free 7-day free trial. Just sign up for a SymTrend account on the app and it will download sample Health Logs to your iPhone/iPod touch that match your age, gender, and "Health Challenge".

If the apps downloaded do not meet your needs, go to the symtrend.com website and login with the username and password you chose. Go to the "Select Health Log and Enter Data Online" link on the left side of the member home page to see if there are other logs there that are more appealing. If not, contact SymTrend support (866-796-8736) if you want to learn more about how you can adapt the logs to meet your needs.

We have removed the first version of SymTrend from the iTunes store. Version 1.2 will enable downloaders to create a SymTrend account and receive sample logs to use at no cost for a week. The logs will match the user's age, gender, and "health challenge". Those who already have an account will receive the logs to which they are subscribed. You will also have an opportunity to review other logs on the system during the week you are on the system. We expect the Apple review to be completed by October 10th.

SymTrend strongly recommends that you attend the Asperger Association of New England Asperger Syndrome Connections conference on October 2nd and 3rd, 2009. Dr. Tony Attwood and Kari Dunn Buron are speaking. It is being held at the John Hancock Hall in Boston, MA. SymTrend will have a display table at the conference both days and will be demonstrating its applications for teens and adults. To find out more about and register for the conference, go to: http://www.aane.org/upcoming_events/AS_Connections_2009.html.

Comprehensive Collection, Charting and Communication System Development Funded by NIMH

SymTrend has been awarded a two-year small business technology transfer grant (STTR) from the National Institute of Mental Health in partnership with the University of Washington in Seattle. This project will enable SymTrend to enhance its low-cost, technology-afforded power and efficiency to the special education (SPED) of a lower functioning child with autism (LFCA). An effective IEP requires intensive school and home-based behavioral monitoring: iterations of behavioral data recording, progress charting, and team communication. SymTrend will extend the functionality of its current Internet and mobile system for behavioral monitoring to include the use of digital pen technology for recording on specially printed forms. The project will then test the two types of electronic monitoring (iPod Touch and digital pens) against current pencil and paper monitoring. It is hypothesized that an electronic system with four components – i.e., forms creation, data collection, progress charting, and team communication – will reduce the time burden of behavioral monitoring and enable schools to meet the IEP needs of its students within the constraints of very restrictive educational budgets. Funding starts 9/30/2009. Research will be conducted in Newton and Cambridge, MA.

SymTrend, Inc. is pleased to announce that its mobile data recorder for the iPhone/iPod touch is now available on the iTunes Apps store. Version 1.o can only be used who already have an account on symtrend.com. Version 1.1, which will enable individuals wishing to try the system for a 7-day free trial, will be posted by September 25th.