Autism Speaks recently named the recipient of the Royal Arch Masons Fellowship. | Courtesy of Shutterstock
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Amanda Rupp | May 26, 2016

Autism Speaks names recipient of Royal Arch Masons Fellowship

Autism Speaks recently announced the recipient of its first Royal Arch Masons Predoctoral Fellowship, which is dedicated to encouraging careers focused on auditory processing among children diagnosed with autism.

The fellowship will finance this groundbreaking research, which could help countless children throughout the U.S. and around the world.

Sophie Schwartz, the Royal Arch Masons fellow from Boston University, has received the fellowship. She will use the funding to learn how the brain processes sound in ways that could interfere with children’s language development, particularly children with minimal verbal abilities and autism.

“We are proud to sponsor a General Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons fellow,” Louis Bartrand, high priest of the General Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons International, said. “Her efforts, in conjunction with the other organizations and researchers that we support, may well produce discoveries about central auditory processing disorders that have eluded scientists in the past. We wish her well and look forward to hearing about her work in the near future.”

Many of the children diagnosed with autism have a hard time processing various sounds, which can lead to speech and attention problems. This new research could improve the interventions that are designed to support children’s language development.

“There's a huge need to understand why some children with autism have such difficulty developing communication,” Paul Wang, Autism Speaks' head of medical research, said. “We greatly appreciate Ms. Schwartz’s plan for advancing understanding of these issues in ways that promise to shape more effective interventions, and we’re very grateful to the Royal Arch Masons for making this fellowship possible.”

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