Measuring Optical Extinction Towards Young Stellar Objects Using Diffuse
  Interstellar Bands
  Line-of-sight extinction estimates to well-studied young T Tauri and Herbig
Ae/Be stars are based on many different measurements and analysis methods. This
has resulted in wide scatter among the published $A_V$ values for the same
star. In this work, we discuss the challenges in measuring extinction to
actively accreting and especially outbursting young stellar objects (YSOs), and
explore a method not previously applied to young stars, utilizing diffuse
interstellar bands (DIBs). In early-type stars, narrow correlations exist
between DIB equivalent widths and the column density of interstellar material,
and therefore the line-of-sight extinction. Here, we measure equivalent widths
of the 5780 \AA\ and 6614 \AA\ DIB features in a sample of actively accreting
YSOs, and apply established DIB--reddening calibrations to derive reddening,
and subsequently extinction. We also compare the DIBs-inferred optical
line-of-sight extinction values with previous extinction estimates for our
sample stars.
