Staff profile

Research summary

My research focusses on understanding more about how autistic people’s sensory processing differences relate to their mental health and experiences of different environments. Working in collabroation with stakeholders, my current focusses are to co-produce research to support mental wellbeing and make environments more enabling for autistic individuals. 

• Autism
• Neurodiversity
• Sensory processing
• Anxiety
• Mental health
• Participatory research

Journal Article

• Williams, Z. J., Schaaf, R., Ausderau, K. K., Baranek, G. T., Barrett, D. J., Cascio, C. J., …Woynaroski, T. G. (2023). Examining the latent structure and correlates of sensory reactivity in autism: a multi-site integrative data analysis by the autism sensory research consortium. Molecular Autism, 14(1), https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-023-00563-4
• Manning, C., Williams, G., & MacLennan, K. (2023). Sensory-inclusive spaces for autistic people: We need to build the evidence base. Autism, 27(6), 1511-1515. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613231183541
• Verhulst, I., MacLennan, K., Haffey, A., & Tavassoli, T. (2022). The perceived casual relations between sensory reactivity differences and anxiety symptoms in autistic adults
• Rossow, T., MacLennan, K., & Tavassoli, T. (2022). The predictive relationship between sensory reactivity and depressive symptoms in young autistic children with few to no words. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-11
• MacLennan, K., O’Brien, S., & Tavassoli, T. (2022). In our own words: The complex sensory experiences of autistic adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52(7), 3061-3075
• MacLennan, K., Woolley, C., @ 21andsensory, E., Heasman, B., Starns, J., George, B., & Manning, C. (2022). “It is a big spider web of things”: Sensory experiences of autistic adults in public spaces. Autism in Adulthood,
• Rossow, T., MacLennan, K., & Tavassoli, T. (2021). The relationship between sensory reactivity differences and mental health symptoms in preschool-age autistic children. Autism Research, 14(8), 1645-1657
• MacLennan, K., Rossow, T., & Tavassoli, T. (2021). The relationship between sensory reactivity, intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety subtypes in preschool-age autistic children. Autism, 25(8), 2305-2316
• MacLennan, K., Roach, L., & Tavassoli, T. (2020). The relationship between sensory reactivity differences and anxiety subtypes in autistic children. Autism Research, 13(5), 785-795