Project STEER (Stakeholders Engaged in Early Intervention Research) is a community of stakeholders – autistic adults, caregivers of children with autism, clinicians, educators, and early intervention researchers from Columbus, OH and Chicago, IL – with a mission to improve early intervention research and care for young children with autism and their families.

Project STEER members spent over two years developing a research agenda that represents their highest priorities for autism early intervention research. Project STEER members also offered insight into how researchers and stakeholders can interface more effectively in autism research spaces, in an effort to shift norms and bring stakeholders into the research process as engaged collaborators. Finally, Project STEER members in conjunction with autism early intervention researchers, co-designed supplemental research projects examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to virtual services on autistic children with their families. Conversations with Project STEER members and the lived experience of the team throughout the collaborative research process resulted in the development of a workbook meant to support and guide autism researchers in community partnership with autism community stakeholders.