Understanding Autism through the Lens of Sensorimotor Features and Early-Developing Brain Regions

Free webinar at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time (US), March 11, 2026

Sensorimotor differences are commonly reported in autistic individuals. However, the daily-life impact and neurobiological basis of motor differences are not clear. This talk will discuss sensorimotor differences commonly reported in autistic individuals, links to daily living skills, and links to early-developing brain structures like the brainstem. This talk will also discuss the results of a motor intervention aimed to capitalize on neuroplasticity in autistic youth.

About the speaker:

Dr. Brittany G. Travers joined the faculty of University of Wisconsin-Madison in August of 2014 as an assistant professor in the Occupational Therapy Program in the Department of Kinesiology. In her first years as faculty, she has established a strong track record of independent funding and publication, and she was bestowed the Young Investigator Award by the International Society for Autism Research in May of 2016. Dr. Travers’s research program, housed at the Waisman Center on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus (http://www.waisman.wisc.edu/motor), combines neuroimaging measures with quantitative measures of motor function, cognition, and daily living skills in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Her work is inherently interdisciplinary, as Dr. Travers is a trained cognitive psychologist who received interdisciplinary postdoctoral training in developmental disorders and biomedical physics.