There are major advances in our understanding of the causal
pathways leading to autism and overlapping neurodevelopmental conditions. This
knowledge has been useful in improving early identification and establishing
the feasibility of targeted interventions for infant risk groups before
symptoms arise. However, key knowledge gaps remain, including discovery of
protective factors that may mitigate the impact of risk and resilience
processes which may explain why some individuals at risk for autism achieve
better than expected outcomes. Moreover, little is known about the link between
risk and protective factors and long term outcomes in youth and adults. The
talk will describe novel strategies to accelerate scientific discovery while
simultaneously building community capacity for intervention. I will describe a
new large scale initiative: Quebec 1,000, bringing together 6 hospitals across
the province to engage over 1000 families in research. Q1K is overcoming
traditional challenges in big data through an Open Science approach which
focuses on enhancing accessibility of researchers to protected, valid, and
usable datasets. I will also describe the application of learning health
systems framework to facilitate scaling up of research innovations (e.g.,
diagnostic tools and interventions) in the wider community. Finally, I will
present findings from ASD Voices, a new protocol that captures first person
perspectives of autistic children and youth irrespective of their level of
cognitive and communication abilities.