Parents of autistic children in the Philadelphia area who may be interested in participating in ongoing research studies have the option of signing up for the autismMatch service with the Center for Autism Research (CAR) at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Signing up for the service is very straightforward, just go to the CAR autismMatch web site and complete a short age-based survey to apply for enrollment. The sign-up survey takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete and will register you and your child for consideration. A member of the CAR team will contact you after receiving the application and provide additional materials to fill out either online, or on paper.

Once a child has been enrolled in the autismMatch service, emails are sent out regularly with studies that your child and family may be eligible for. Each study has different acceptance criteria and may involve filling out an additional survey or contacting a specific member of the CAR team to discuss your and your child's background, eligibility and possible next steps.

For most studies, families are paid for their participation and reimbursed for transportation costs to and from the Center in downtown Philadelphia. For some studies, a comprehensive evaluation and an MRI may be necessary.

Visit the CAR Research page to see a filterable list of all ongoing studies at the Center.