Meredith Cola, a Chester Springs native and doctoral student at La Salle University, is the author of several studies that focus on better understanding how autistic individuals respond in social interactions, writes Meg Ryan for La Salle News. 

Cola, who has been working with the Center for Autism Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is a second-year student in La Salle’s Doctor of Psychology program.  

She was drawn to this research after she completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania because it combined clinical psychology with the opportunity to work with autistic individuals and their families. 

In one of her recently published studies, Autism Research, she and her colleagues studied communicative behaviors of autistic individuals in relation to their social partners. The results, she believes, could provide a growth opportunity for verbally fluent autistic individuals. 

As she progresses in her studies, Cola hopes to continue working in clinical psychology areas that allow her to study topics important to neurodiverse individuals. 

“One area of clinical and research interest that is particularly important to me is working to better understand and support autistic girls and women, because they have traditionally been underrepresented in research,” she said. 

Read more about Meredith Cola in La Salle News.