NJACE & RUCARES 2025: From Simple Training to Smarter Biomarkers
On September 16, 2025, the New Jersey Autism Center of Excellence (NJACE) and the Rutgers University Center for Autism Research, Education, and Services (RUCARES), a key part of the Rutgers Brain Health Institute (BHI), hosted a transformative symposium at Rutgers University. This event united autism spectrum disorder (ASD) researchers and professionals to share actionable science, emphasizing practical training and advanced biomarkers. Two keynotes connected the now and the next: simple training that improves care for individuals with autism in real life settings, and EEG-based biomarkers to improve diagnosis and develop personalized treatments.
Scaling what works in the real world
Dorothea Lerman, PhD, BCBA-D, presented scalable, evidence-based behavioral strategies to improve autism care, aligning with BHI’s mission to translate research into practice. Her approach targets professionals like police, first responders, doctors, dentists, and teachers with simple techniques: clear step-by-step instructions, repeated prompts, breaks, and the “tell–show–do” method. Dangerous behaviors require safety protocols, while distress behaviors like stimming or yelling need calm spaces and patience.
Evidence highlights:
- In medical and dental cohorts, a 60-minute, hands-on session led to about 91% correct strategy use; with 85% meeting an ≥80% competency benchmark and 96% reporting increased confidence.
- Behavioral interventions before sedation or restraint reduced their necessity in about 50% of flagged patients.
- Role-play training outperformed lecture-only for law enforcement skills.
Lerman’s Insights:
- “You can’t just tell people about things and expect them to change your behavior.”
- “Our need is really… really big, but our reach right now is pretty small.”
- “Find a problem that that profession has, and show them you can solve that problem.”
- “We didn’t focus on helping police officers figure out if someone has autism… we want them to think everybody does—and give everybody the benefit of the doubt.”
Lerman’s commentary emphasized sustainable dissemination: “Our work shows that innovations succeed when they solve a specific problem, align with current practices, and include sustainability plans.”
EEG Biomarkers for Precision and Prediction
Sara Jane Webb, PhD, highlighted EEG as an affordable, noninvasive measure of brain activity— which can track how children process faces and predict later outcomes. By tracking face-processing in children, EEG predicts developmental outcomes and refines clinical trials. In infants at elevated autism risk, brain responses at 6–12 months correlated with language and social skills at age 3. In children aged 5–11, faster face-processing predicted fewer social autistic symptoms and better peer interactions later.
Why It Matters: Questionnaires often miss small, short-term gains and placebo effects which are common in pediatric trials. EEG provides reliable, repeatable data , enabling tailored supports and better research.
Webb’s Insights:
- “No one marker should do, or can do everything for us.”
- “Heterogeneity is the rule, not the exception.”
- “We need markers that explain heterogeneity… Will this therapy work for my child?”
Webb praised the symposium’s impact: “The NJ ACE conference brought together a phenomenal set of speakers addressing areas of science important to autistic individuals across the lifespan. Neurological markers are key to improving clinical trials. Measurements of brain function are critical to understanding developmental change and treatment responses.”
RUCARES and BHI: Driving Collaboration
As part of the Rutgers Brain Health Institute, RUCARES integrates autism research, education, and services to improve lives, aligning with BHI’s broader mission to advance brain health.
Samantha Breeman, a postdoctoral researcher in RUCARES’ Severe Behavior Program, reflected: “The keynote speakers bridged the basic-to-applied continuum beautifully. Dr. Lerman’s collaborations to improve service delivery were inspiring, while Dr. Webb’s biomarker research showed how foundational science informs applied work. Both talks highlighted growth opportunities, which was invaluable for me as a junior researcher.”
Shaping the Future of Autism Care
Together, these talks map a connected path: implement simple, proven strategies now while building biomarkers that sort autism’s diversity for smarter trials and more precise supports., RUCARES, and the Brain Health Institute sit at this intersection of practice and discovery, turning research into tools that institutions can adopt at scale. This symposium highlighted how BHI’s collaborative research transforms lives. Explore current autism research and collaborations at BHI and RUCARES.
Read more about the featured talks:
- Dr. Dorothea Lerman: Simple, Universal Steps Can Transform Autism Care
- Dr. Sara Jane Webb: From Diagnosis to Prediction: How Brain Markers Could Personalize Autism Care
- Dr. Vanessa Bal: Autism in Adulthood: Beyond the Checklist
- Dr. Eric S. Levine: Autism, Chromosome 15, and the Power of Timing
BHI Rutgers Center for Autism Research (RUCARES) Support Fund
Help BHI scale hands-on training and accelerate biomarker studies that bring precision to autism research.
