The Department of Educational Psychology received a Global Signature Program Grant. The signature program, entitled, “A ‘Glocal’ Effort to Understand and Reduce the Impact of Misinformation about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)” will be led by Dr. Panayiota (Pani) Kendeou, Dr. Veronica Fleury and Dr. Gregory Trevors. Dr. Kendeou is an associate professor in psychological foundations and expert on the impact and revision of misconceptions, Dr. Fleury is an assistant professor in special education and an expert on ASD risk factors and treatments, and Dr. Trevors is a post-doctoral fellow in psychological foundations and an expert on epistemic beliefs and attitude change.

The signature program takes a “glocal” approach, which means that it is locally based with global components. The overall goal of the signature program is to gain an understanding of public beliefs and misinformation related to ASD, so that guidance can be provided to researchers and instructors on how to present evidence-based information effectively. In turn, these practices will increase the odds that the public believe and accept credible, scientific evidence when engaging in decision-making and evaluating treatment options for ASD.