Up to one-third of autistic children are nonspeaking or use little spoken language, yet they are routinely left out of foundational research. To close this blind spot, Meghan Swanson, PhD, Director of Training and Education at MIDB and an associate professor in the University of Minnesota Medical School's Department of Pediatrics, has been awarded a landmark $34.7M grant from Aligning Research to Impact Autism (ARIA). Hosted at the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB), the study — called Mapping Autism with Precision in Language and Expression, or Project MAPLE for short — will use advanced brain imaging and real-world tracking to understand how language develops in this population and better match children with tailored support. Learn more about the award. MIDB is a Consortium member center.