Vanderbilt Kennedy Center

The Frist Center for Autism and Innovation seeks to transform workplaces by developing new technologies based on the specific skills and talents of people with autism, effectively inspiring advances that can lead to meaningful employment and a fuller life. Read More

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigator Blythe Corbett and her winter 2019 participants of the SENSE Theatre program will bring the original musical The Makeover to life March 8 and 9 at Belmont University’s Troutt Black Box Theater. The performances are the culmination of practice and hard work put in by research participants on the autism spectrum as well as trained typically developing peer actors who will join them on stage. Read More

Middle Tennessee children with autism spectrum disorder are 2.5 times more likely than children without ASD to be reported to the Child Abuse Hotline by age 8. Read More

Educate to Advocate is held each year to prepare disability self-advocates, family members, and allies of individuals with disabilities to speak with their elected representatives on Disability Day on the Hill, which will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 12. Read More

A memorial service for the late Robert Fox, an emeritus Vanderbilt professor who was renowned internationally for his landmark studies of human and animal vision, is being planned for early spring. Read More

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center will welcome Asst. Sec. Lance Robertson, administrator and assistant secretary for aging, Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as its 2019 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture Series keynote speaker. Read More

On Oct. 27, families, clinicians, researchers, community professionals and service providers gathered for a daylong conference in partnership with Rettsydrome.org highlighting the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Rett Syndrome Program. Read More

Exploring neurodiversity is important for educational development, and it is also driving new research with the potential to fuel innovation in a variety of fields, writes Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos in this week's column. Read More

Vanderbilt educational neuroscientist and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigator Laurie Cutting has received a rare $3 million National Institutes of Health Merit Award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She also has been selected to receive the Leadership Award of Women in Cognitive Science. Read More

Temple Grandin, a world-renowned author, inventor and spokesperson about the autism spectrum, will participate in a daylong conference in Nashville on Nov. 29, capped off with a keynote and conversation with Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos as part of the Chancellor’s Lecture Series. Read More

A $10 million gift from alumna Jennifer R. Frist, BS’93, and husband William R. “Billy” Frist will endow a new center focused on supporting and developing the neurodiverse talents of individuals with autism at Vanderbilt University’s School of Engineering. Read More

The grant will allow Kennedy Center researchers to analyze data from VUMC's Synthetic Derivative and BioVU databanks to study biomarkers associated with Down Syndrome. Read More

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, along with the Vanderbilt Initiative for Autism, Innovation and the Workforce, will hold its daylong fall conference, "Envisioning the Future of Human Technology Partnerships," on Thursday, Nov. 29. The deadline to register is Nov. 9. Read More

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC) has partnered with the International Rett Syndrome Foundation to host a Rett Syndrome Education Day on Saturday, Oct. 27 Read More

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded a $40,000 Youth Literacy grant to the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC) Reading Clinic to provide partial and full scholarships to families of children who would not otherwise be able to afford clinic services. Read More

The TRIAD Families First Program is celebrating 10 years of serving parents of young children with an autism spectrum disorder. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt are studying how nonverbal or minimally verbal children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 8-14 years old, process different kinds of sounds in their environment. Read More

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorder (TRIAD) is bringing some of Nashville’s most prominent community organizations together to promote acceptance and inclusion of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. Read More

The prevalence of U.S. children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is now 1 in 59, according to new estimates released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a significant increase from the 1 in 68 estimate in 2016. Read More

Children 4 to 6 years old who do or do not stutter are needed for a research study titled "Cognitive, Linguistic and Emotional Contributions to Childhood Stuttering.” Read More