¶¡ÏãÔ°AV

Elina Birmingham

Associate Professor
Faculty of Education

Research Interests

The overarching goal of my research is to better understand and support children, youth and adults on the Autism Spectrum.  My lab leads five main programs of research:  creating smart technology using artificial intelligence to support autistic children, youth and adults who experience decreased sound tolerance (;  incorporating the in research and supporting neurodiversity; improving the university experience of autistic ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV students through the ; exploring how autistic individuals visually attend to and interpret information in their environments (); and examining how production and interpretation may contribute to difficulties in social interactions between autistic and neurotypical individuals.  I am joining many others in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) research that have started making a concerted effort to incorporate the voices of autistic individuals in the research process, as well as using identity-first language and neurodiversity perspectives.  I work closely with ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Lab towards these goals.  In addition to autism research, I conduct basic research to understand mechanisms of attention and perception in neurotypical populations.

My research is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Kids Brain Health Network (KBHN).  

Teaching