National Academies Press: OpenBook

Educating Children with Autism (2001)

Chapter: Biographical Sketches

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Suggested Citation:"Biographical Sketches." National Research Council. 2001. Educating Children with Autism. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10017.
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Suggested Citation:"Biographical Sketches." National Research Council. 2001. Educating Children with Autism. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10017.
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Suggested Citation:"Biographical Sketches." National Research Council. 2001. Educating Children with Autism. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10017.
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Suggested Citation:"Biographical Sketches." National Research Council. 2001. Educating Children with Autism. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10017.
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Suggested Citation:"Biographical Sketches." National Research Council. 2001. Educating Children with Autism. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10017.
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Biographical Sketches CATHERINE LORD (Chair) is a professor in the Department of Psychol- ogy at the University of Michigan and the director of the university’s Autism and Communication Disorders Center. The center provides di- rect assessments to families of children with autistic spectrum disorders and consultations to schools and early childhood programs. She is a clinical psychologist with interests in diagnosis, social and communica- tion development, and intervention in autism spectrum disorders. She is best known for her work in longitudinal studies of children and adults with autism and the development of diagnostic measures used in both practice and research. Previously, she worked at the University of Chi- cago, the University of North Carolina, the University of Minnesota, the University of Alberta, the London Medical Research Council Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, and Harvard University (Children’s Hospital). MARIE BRISTOL-POWER is Special Assistant for Autism in the Office of the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Devel- opment (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She is also coordinator of the NICHD/NIDCD Network on the Neurobiology and Genetics of Autism: Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism (CPEAs), ten sites that involve more than 25 universities and more than 2,000 in research on the etiology, pathophysiology, brain structure and function, and developmental course of autism spectrum disorders. Prior to joining the National Institutes of Health, she was on the faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 290

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 291 Her work has focused on research and clinical care in autism, including policy issues and the integration of research and practice. JOANNE M. CAFIERO is a special education consultant and augmenta- tive communication and assistive technology specialist. She is a faculty member of the Department of Special Education at Johns Hopkins Uni- versity. She also consults with several school systems in developing state- of-the-art, eclectic, assistive technology programs for children with au- tism spectrum disorders, and she supports practitioners and families whose lives involve children with autism. She is currently conducting research on how children with severe communication impairments and autism learn literacy and language, what models for instruction are most effective, and how to apply research data to practice. PAULINE A. FILIPEK is associate professor in residence of pediatrics and neurology at the College of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), codirector of the UCI Autism Research Project. She is a child neurologist who has specific clinical and research interests in the devel- opmental disorders, particularly autism. She codeveloped a method of using magnetic resonance imaging to investigate developmental brain anomalies in developmental disorders, primarily autism, learning dis- abilities, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She was the chair of the American Academy of Neurology/Child Neurology Society (AAN/ CNS) committee that established the Practice Parameter: Screening and Diagnosis of Autism, and will reconvene another AAN/CNS committee in fall 2001 to establish the Practice Parameter: Treatment of Autism. JAMES J. GALLAGHER is a Kenan professor of education and senior investigator at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. He was the first director of the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped in the U.S. Office of Education and also Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning, Research and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Wel- fare. He served for 17 years as director of the Frank Porter Graham Center at UNC-Chapel Hill. He has served as the president of the Council for Exceptional Children and is the senior author of a popular textbook Educating Exceptional Children, now in its tenth edition. SANDRA L. HARRIS is a professor in the Department of Clinical Psy- chology of the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University, and the founder and executive director of the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center at Rutgers. The center pro- vides services for people with autism across the life span. Her primary

292 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES research and clinical activities involve the treatment of autism and other severe developmental disabilities. In addition to the use of behavioral techniques for the treatment of autism, she also trains the parents and families of children and adolescents with autism in the use of applied behavioral analysis technology and provides family support resources. ALAN M. LESLIE is a professor of psychology and cognitive science, Department of Psychology and Center for Cognitive Science, at Rutgers University. He directs the Cognitive Development Laboratory at Rutgers, New Brunswick, where his current research focuses on normal and ab- normal cognitive development. Formerly, he was a Medical Research Council Senior Scientist at the University of London, England, where he originated the ‘theory of mind’ impairment hypothesis for autism. He has been a Leverhulme European Scholar, a visiting professor at Univer- sity of California-Los Angeles, University of Chicago, and the Free Uni- versity of Madrid. He sits on the editorial boards of several cognitive science journals, and is on the advisory board of the Association for Sci- ence in Autism Treatment. GAIL G. MCGEE is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine. Her work empha- sizes research and treatment applications of incidental teaching proce- dures to children with autism and her current research focuses on early autism intervention, language acquisition, and typical and atypical social behavior. She directs the Emory Autism Resource Center, Georgia’s state- wide autism center, which provides interdisciplinary training, family sup- port, and diagnosis and treatment to children and adults with autism. She also founded and directs the Walden Early Childhood Programs, which offer enriched early education to toddlers, preschoolers, and pre- kindergarten-aged children with autism who are included with a major- ity of typical peers. JAMES P. MCGEE is a study director and senior research associate at the National Academies’ National Research Council (NRC), with the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences. He also supports other NRC panels and committees in the areas of applied psychology and edu- cation. Prior to joining the NRC, he held scientific, technical, and man- agement positions in applied psychology at IBM, RCA, General Electric, General Dynamics, and United Technologies corporations. He has also taught undergraduate and graduate courses in general, developmental, and applied psychology at several colleges; is certified as a secondary education teacher of social studies; and has taught at both the elementary and secondary levels.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 293 SAMUEL L. ODOM is Otting professor of special education in the School of Education at Indiana University in Bloomington. His research has examined approaches to promoting the social competence of young chil- dren with autism, classroom ecology in inclusive early childhood set- tings, and effective practices in early childhood special education. His educational background is in special education, applied behavior analy- sis, and developmental psychology. SALLY J. ROGERS is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Colo- rado Health Sciences Center and adjunct professor of psychology at the University of Denver. The body of her research has focused on the devel- opment of cognitive and social processes of infants and young children with developmental disabilities, including autism, mental retardation, and blindness. She has also provided clinical care to families and children throughout her career. Her current research is focused on defining the early phenotype and developmental course of autism, as well as examin- ing effects of early intervention. FRED R. VOLKMAR is professor of child psychiatry in the child study center of the Yale University School of Medicine. His research is broadly focused on issues of developmental psychopathology in children with severe disturbances of development, including autism and mental retar- dation. His current research studies include the neuropsychology, family genetics, and neuroanatomical correlates of higher functioning autism and Asperger’s syndrome. AMY WETHERBY is an L.L. Schendel professor of communication disor- ders at Florida State University and executive director of the Florida State University Center for Autism and Related Disabilities. She has had over 20 years of clinical experience in the design and implementation of com- munication programs for children with autism and severe communica- tion impairments and is a fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hear- ing Association. Her research has focused on communicative and cognitive-social aspects of language problems in children with autism, and more recently, on the early identification of children with communi- cative impairments. She is a coauthor of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (with Barry Prizant).

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Educating Children with Autism Get This Book
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Autism is a word most of us are familiar with. But do we really know what it means?

Children with autism are challenged by the most essential human behaviors. They have difficulty interacting with other people—often failing to see people as people rather than simply objects in their environment. They cannot easily communicate ideas and feelings, have great trouble imagining what others think or feel, and in some cases spend their lives speechless. They frequently find it hard to make friends or even bond with family members. Their behavior can seem bizarre.

Education is the primary form of treatment for this mysterious condition. This means that we place important responsibilities on schools, teachers and children's parents, as well as the other professionals who work with children with autism. With the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975, we accepted responsibility for educating children who face special challenges like autism. While we have since amassed a substantial body of research, researchers have not adequately communicated with one another, and their findings have not been integrated into a proven curriculum.

Educating Children with Autism outlines an interdisciplinary approach to education for children with autism. The committee explores what makes education effective for the child with autism and identifies specific characteristics of programs that work. Recommendations are offered for choosing educational content and strategies, introducing interaction with other children, and other key areas.

This book examines some fundamental issues, including:

  • How children's specific diagnoses should affect educational assessment and planning
  • How we can support the families of children with autism
  • Features of effective instructional and comprehensive programs and strategies
  • How we can better prepare teachers, school staffs, professionals, and parents to educate children with autism
  • What policies at the federal, state, and local levels will best ensure appropriate education, examining strategies and resources needed to address the rights of children with autism to appropriate education.

Children with autism present educators with one of their most difficult challenges. Through a comprehensive examination of the scientific knowledge underlying educational practices, programs, and strategies, Educating Children with Autism presents valuable information for parents, administrators, advocates, researchers, and policy makers.

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