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Members of the First Signs
clinical advisory board include the following professionals
and clinicians:
- Margaret Bauman, M.D.
- Kenneth A. Bock, MD, FAAP, FACN, CNS
- Geraldine Dawson, Ph.D.
- Kelly Dorfman, M.S., L.N., L.P.
- Frances P. Glascoe, Ph.D.
- Harold Ireton, Ph.D.
- Rebecca Landa, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
- Catherine Lord, Ph.D.
- Barry M. Prizant, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
- Ricki G. Robinson, M.D., M.P.H.
- Amy M. Wetherby, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
- Serena Wieder, Ph.D.
- Barry Zuckerman, M.D.
Margaret Bauman, M.D.
Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Assistant Neurologist
and Associate Pediatrician at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Medical
Director of Learning and Developmental Disabilities Evaluation and Rehabilitation
Services (LADDERS) at MGH/Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.
Since 1983, Dr. Bauman, along with Dr. Thomas Kemper, has been involved in autism
research. In 1984, these investigators were the first to report anatomic abnormalities
in the autistic brain involving neuronal circuitry known to be important to learning,
memory, emotion, and behavior. Dr. Bauman is also a collaborator on a number
of additional projects including genetic studies in multi-incidence families,
PET scan analysis in high functioning adults with autism, and studies of brain
serotonin synthesis in children with autism. Dr. Bauman has published extensively
and presents regularly at national conferences.
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Kenneth A. Bock, MD, FAAP, FACN, CNS
Co-Founder and Co-Director of the
Rhinebeck Health Center in Rhinebeck, NY and
The Center for Progressive Medicine in Albany, NY; Fellow of the American
Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Nutrition, and the
American College for Advancement in Medicine; clinical instructor in the
Department of Family Medicine at Albany Medical College; and President of The
American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM).
For the past 23 years, Dr. Bock has had much success in caring for people with
chronic complex disorders, including difficult to diagnose and/or difficult to
treat conditions, by employing a comprehensive integrative medicine approach.
More recently, in the past seven years he has brought this approach to children
with autism spectrum disorders and ADD/ADHD. He has also become a leading
clinician in the DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) movement, helping hundreds of
affected children on their journey toward recovery.
Dr. Bock lectures widely, both nationally and internationally, on integrative
approaches to immune system health, Lyme disease, and autism spectrum disorders
and he is the co-author of three books: “The Road to Immunity” (Pocket Books),
“Natural Relief for Your Child's Asthma” (Harper Collins), and “The Germ
Survival Guide” (McGraw-Hill).
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Geraldine
Dawson, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington;
Director of the
NICHD/NIDCD
Program Project on the Neurobiology and Genetics of Autism, a National Institutes
of Health Collaborative Program of Excellence in Autism; Director,
NIMH
STAART
Network and
UW Autism Center.
Dr. Dawson has had an active career as a
scientist and clinician specializing in autism and the effects
of experience on early brain development. She has published
numerous articles and chapters on these topics, and edited or
authored a number of books, including
Autism: Nature, Diagnosis, and Treatment, Human Behavior and the
Developing Brain, and A Parent’s Guide to Asperger Syndrome and
High-Functioning Autism. She has been the recipient of
continuous research funding from the NIH for her studies on
autism and child psychopathology since 1983. She is
internationally-recognized for her pioneering research on early
diagnosis and brain function in autism and early biological risk
factors for psychopathology. Dawson has served on many national
committees and task forces pertaining to child mental health,
including NIH scientific review and consensus panels. Dawson has
been Associate Editor for three scientific journals,
Journal of Autism and
Developmental Disorders, Psychophysiology,
and Development and Psychopathology. She is currently
Director of the University of Washington Autism Center, which
consists of an NIH-funded multi-disciplinary program research
program on the Neurobiology and Genetics of Autism and which
provides diagnostic, consultation, and intervention services for
children with autism and their families, and professional
training and outreach to the greater Northwest.
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Kelly Dorfman, M.S., L.N., L.P.
Health program planner and nutritionist. Co-founder
of Developmental Delay Resources
(DDR).
With over twenty years of clinical experience, Ms. Dorfman’s specialty is developing
nutrition and lifestyle strategies to address complex health problems, including
autism spectrum disorders, bone loss, and rare genetic disorders, particularly
with children. She has lead workshops and lectured in over 20 cities throughout
the U.S. Sponsoring groups have included doctors, therapists, optometrists, international
associations, and schools. She has been appointed to advisory boards of several
national organizations and has served, by governor appointment, on the Maryland
Board of Dietetic Practice.
Ms. Dorfman co-founded the non-profit organization, Developmental Delay Resources
(DDR), whose mission is to educate parents, teachers and health professionals
who deal with children facing attention, behavior, and cognitive challenges.
They provide information and training in non-drug interventions that address
the root causes of these conditions.
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Frances P. Glascoe, Ph.D.
Adjunct
Professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University.
From 1987 to 1999, Dr. Glascoe directed the rotation in child development for
interns and medical students. Her research focuses on the accuracy of many different
developmental and behavioral screening measures and she is the author of more
than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals. A
summary of these studies is featured
on the American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Developmental and Behavioral
Pediatrics Web site. Dr. Glascoe is the author of
Parents’
Evaluation of Developmental
Status (PEDS) and
PEDS:
Developmental Milestones (PEDS:DM), a very brief screen for developmental and behavioral problems
for children 0 - 8, the Safety Word Inventory and Literacy Screener (for children
6 - 14), and the co-author of the Brigance Infant and Toddler Screens. She presents
frequently at meetings of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Ambulatory
Pediatric Association. Dr. Glascoe was for eight years the North American Editor
of Ambulatory Child Health: the Journal of General, Community and Social Pediatrics.
She currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
and is the editor of the
American Academy of Pediatrics’ Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics News.
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Harold Ireton, Ph.D.
Associate Professor (now retired) at University of Minnesota-Health
Sciences
Center. Consultant and workshop leader.
Since 1963, Dr. Ireton has been a developmental psychologist, whose career spans
35 years in the departments of Pediatrics and Family Medicine at the University
of Minnesota. He has been involved in training pediatric and family practice
residents, providing clinical services to children with developmental disabilities
and conducting applied research with children and adults.
Dr. Ireton has committed his interests equally between the development of parents
and children, promoting parent involvement, building parent-professional collaboration
and encouraging children and their parents. His research and clinical interest
has been in the development of parent-friendly screening and assessment tools
for young children. Dr. Ireton is the author of standardized
parent questionnaires
for assessment (The Child Development Inventory) and screening (Infant Development
Inventory, Child Development Review) as well as a system for integrating parents’ and
professionals’ observations and concerns. He is the author of numerous articles
and three books related to developmental screening and assessment.
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Rebecca
Landa, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Founder and Director of the
Center
for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) at Kennedy Krieger
Institute.
Dr. Landa has been a speech-language pathologist for over 25 years. She is a
member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the Society for
Research in Child Development. She serves on a variety of autism task force
groups and NIH committees. Dr. Landa is a recipient of the National Institute of
Mental Health’s Shannon Award for excellent and innovative research design and
content, the Rita Rudel Prize for Research in Developmental Neuropsychology, and
the Maryland Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s prize for Outstanding
Contribution to the Field.
Dr. Landa’s research focuses on early markers of autism, learning mechanisms in
children with autism, and treatment of autism. Her longitudinal research of
infants at risk for autism has revealed that autism can diagnosed by 14 months
of age in some children. Her treatment research indicates that early
intervention is associated with gains cognition, language, and social domains.
She is involved with numerous initiatives to improve early detection of autism
and intervention services for children with autism.
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Catherine Lord, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan; Director
of the Autism
Center at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Lord has over 25 years experience as a clinical psychologist with a special
focus on diagnosis, social and communication development, and intervention of
autism spectrum disorders. She is best known for her work in longitudinal studies
of children and adults with autism and the development of the standard autism
diagnostic measures, the ADOS and the ADI-R, used in both practice and in research.
Dr. Lord is past chair of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Early
Intervention in Autism and she is editor of the
National
Research Council’s 300-page
report, Educating Children with Autism. Dr. Lord’s past work experience includes
the University of Chicago, University of California-Los Angeles, University of
North Carolina, University of Minnesota, University of Alberta, the London Medical
Research Council Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit and Harvard University
(Children’s Hospital).
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Barry
M. Prizant, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Director of Childhood Communication Services;
Adjunct Professor in the Center for the Study of Human Development at Brown
University; and Fellow of the American
Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Dr. Prizant has more than 30 years experience as a clinical scholar, researcher,
and international consultant for children and adults with ASD and related
developmental disabilities and their families. Dr. Prizant has published more
than 90 articles and chapters on autism spectrum disorders and pediatric
communication disabilities, serves on the advisory board of six professional
journals, and has presented at more than 500 seminars and numerous keynote
addresses at national and international conferences. He is co-editor of the
book: Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Developmental, Transactional Perspective (Wetherby
& Prizant, 2000) and the two volume manual,
The SCERTS Model: A Comprehensive Educational Approach for Children with ASD
(Prizant, Wetherby, Rubin, Laurent & Rydell, 2006). Dr. Prizant served on
the NIH Committee on the Screening & Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders, and
has received numerous awards, as well as widespread recognition for his clinical
and scholarly work, including the Princeton University-Eden Foundation Career
Award “for improving the quality of life for individuals with autism”.
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Ricki G. Robinson, M.D., M.P.H.
Co-director of the Descanso Medical Center for
Development and Learning; Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University
of Southern California School of Medicine;
Senior Attending Physician at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; and private pediatric
physician at HMF/Descanso Pediatrics in La Canada.
Dr. Robinson serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of
Autism Speaks. She has devoted endless
hours in education, legislative, and research efforts on behalf of children with
Autism Spectrum Disorders. She has organized two Autism task forces in Southern
California and stimulated research efforts within these institutions. Dr. Robinson
serves on the board of the
Interdisciplinary Council
on Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL) and the editorial board for the Journal of Development
and Learning Disorders. She has published numerous articles and chapters in a
variety of publications and she is a nationally recognized speaker on the topic
of biomedical approaches to and development of multidisciplinary treatment plans
for children who have autism spectrum disorders.
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Amy M. Wetherby, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine and
Laurel Schendel Professor, Department of Communication Disorders, Florida State
University; and Executive Director of the
Florida State University Center
for Autism and Related Disabilities.
Dr.Wetherby has thirty years of clinical experience and is a Fellow of the
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She has published extensively and
presents regularly at national conventions on social communication profiles of
children with autism spectrum disorders and early identification of
communication disorders in infants and toddlers. She served on the National
Academy of Sciences Committee for Educational Interventions for Children with
Autism and she is the Project Director of the
FIRST WORDS Project, a
longitudinal research investigation on early identification of young children
at-risk for autism spectrum and other communication disorders, funded by the
U.S. Department of Education, National Institutes of Health, and Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. She is the Project Director of an early
treatment study teaching parents of toddlers with autism spectrum disorders how
to support social communication and a Doctoral Leadership Training Grant
specializing in autism.
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Serena Wieder, Ph.D.
Associate Director of the
Interdisciplinary Council
on Learning and Developmental Disorders; Co-Chairman, Diagnostic Classification Task Force,
Zero to Three :
The National Center for Clinical Infant Programs, Arlington, VA.
Dr. Wieder is one of the nation’s leading clinicians, specializing in the diagnosis
and treatment of infants and young children with developmental delays. She is
the co-author of The Child with Special Needs (Encouraging Intellectual and Emotional
Growth). Dr. Wieder is on the faculty of the Infant Mental Health Program at
the Washington School of Psychiatry and is an associate editor of the
Journal
of Developmental and Learning Disorders. Dr. Wieder has published widely in the
professional literature, and she has conducted many training workshops in the
diagnosis and treatment of complex developmental problems.
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Barry Zuckerman, M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health, Associate Dean
for Clinical Affairs at Boston University School of Medicine, and Chief of
Pediatrics at Boston Medical
Center.
Dr. Zuckerman’s major interests are in promoting the health and development of
children through generating information and establishing more effective services
and policies to assist them in achieving their full potential. He has also developed
and implemented number of local and national programs that emphasize prevention,
involve nonmedical disciplines and go beyond traditional medical care. These
programs include: Reach Out and Read
Program; Pediatric Pathways to Success Program;
Family Advocacy Program; Women and Infant’s Program; the Boston Training Center
for Infants and the Healthy Steps program.
Dr. Zuckerman is an author of more than 120 articles and is the editor of four
books. He has served as a member of important national groups assessing the problems
and challenges facing children and their solutions, including The National Commission
on Children, NIH Consensus Development Conference, The Carnegie Commission on
Meeting the Needs of Young Children, and Institute of Medicine Task Force, as
well as on boards and task forces for state and local groups. He has been past
Chairman of the Section of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, a member
of the Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health for the American
Academy of Pediatrics, a Board Member of Zero to Three - National Center for
Infants and Toddlers, and National Center for Children and Poverty. Dr. Zuckerman
received a National Leadership Award from the Children’s Defense Fund.
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