Author Archives: Clare Harrop

2nd year grad student, Mags McAllister, led a recent publication using the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC) characterizing echolalia and related behaviors in autism. Published in Autism Research, the study found echolalia serves as both functional communication and a repetitive behavior, with differential associations with age and verbal ability.

2nd year grad student, Sonny Russell, and postdoc, Dr. Tyler McFayden, led the recent systematic review, Who, when, where, and why: A systematic review of “late diagnosis” in autism, published in Autism Research. In this review, we sought to understand how late diagnosis is operationalized in autism and how this...

5th year grad student, Orla Putnam, led a recent study using Simon Simplex Collection (SSC) data examining differences between caregiver and teacher report. The study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities, found that teachers reported fewer autism characteristics in females compared to parents, potentially indicative of autistic...

Dr. Harrop and Dr. Wallace (George Washington University) were awarded a two-year NIMH award to characterize eating behavior profiles across a large sample of autistic and non-autistic individuals aged 3 to 39 years. The study aims to understand how profiles of eating vary as a function of sex, age and...

Thank you seniors! Harrop Lab seniors, Inyene Udoh, Macey Johnson, Meredith Brady, Sarah Harris and Sienna Halterman graduate with the UNC-CH Class of 2024. Thank you seniors for all your hard work in our lab – We are excited to see what the future holds for you!

In Spring 2021, we welcomed Allison Benedict and Maddie Swisher to the lab. Allison is a first-year masters student in the SPHS program. She will be mostly working on our COVID-19 research project and our anxiety project. Maddie Swisher is a second-year masters student in Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health...

In September we welcomed Gabby Spinella to the lab. Gabby is a first-year master’s student in the SPHS program. She will be mostly working on our COVID-19 research project. Welcome Gabby!    

Dr. Harrop was interviewed as part of a piece for Spectrum News regarding the worldwide shutdowns impacting ASD research labs. The piece can be found here.    

Dr. Harrop was part of a panel at the “TraCS be nimble, TraCS be quick” event as part of the 2020 University Research Week. Dr. Harrop talked about our “rapid response” in securing our TraCS 2k to study the impact of COVID-19 on families with an autistic child.

Dr. Harrop presented at the 2020 TEACCH Conference “From Research to Practice” in September 2020. Her talk, “Hiding in Plain Sight? A Deeper Look at Females on the Autism Spectrum”, focused on the use of biobehavioral methods to characterize females.