Training and Education
October 2023

Choose a training and education topic from the icons below:

Subspecialty Training Opportunities

Are you a trainee interested in research, advocacy, or clinical work involving autism or intellectual disability?

Programs across the country offer advanced training for psychiatrists that have completed a child and adolescent fellowship. Contact one to learn more.

Why I Chose a Career in Autism Spectrum Disorder/Intellectual Disability Psychiatry. Testimonials from child & adolescent psychiatrists as to why they chose to specialize in Autism Spectrum Disorder/Intellectual Disability.

Developmental Neuropsychiatry / Autism and Intellectual Disability Advanced Training Opportunities

Institution

Directors

Contact

Brown University

  • -

-

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital

  • Craig A. Erickson, MD
  • Ernie Pedapati, MD

Ernie Pedapati, MD

Columbia University

  • Agnes Whitaker, MD
  • Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, MD

Anna-Lena Jonson-Cohen

The Kennedy Krieger Institute

  • Roma Vasa, MD

Roma Vasa, MD

Maine Behavioral Healthcare/Maine Medical

  • Matthew Siegel, MD

Matthew Siegel 

Massachusetts General Hospital

  • Chris McDougle, MD
  • Christopher Keary, MD
  • Gagan Joshi, MD

Christopher Keary, MD
Gagan Joshi, MD

Stanford University

  • Antonio Hardan, MD

Elizabeth Archibald

UMASS Chan Medical School

  • Jean Frazier, MD
  • Sheldon Benjamin, MD

Jean Frazier, MD

University of California, Davis

  • Sally Rogers, Ph.D
  • David Amaral, Ph.D

Diane Larzelere

Yale Child Studies Center

  • James McPartland, Ph.D

Monique Ledbetter

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Books

Autism Spectrum Disorder (Pittsburgh Pocket Psychiatry Series). Lubetsky MJ, Handen BL, McGonigle JJ, Lubetsky. Autism Spectrum Disorder (Pittsburgh Pocket Psychiatry Series). Oxford University Press; 2011

An excellent pocket-sized guide that takes complicated subject matter and boils it down to quickly learnable material. The book begins with history, evaluation and scientific background before shifting to treatments. Clearly written in a user-friendly format; includes multiple choice questions and reading lists.

 

Diagnostic
Manual—Intellectual Disability (DM-ID-2): A Textbook of Diagnosis of
Mental Disorders in Persons with Intellectual Disability. Fletcher R, Barnhill J, Stavrakaki C, Cooper S. (Eds.). (2016). Diagnostic Manual - Intellectual Disability (DM-ID-2): A Textbook of Diagnosis of Mental Disorders in Persons with Intellectual Disability. Kingston, NY: NADD Press. 2017

Successful treatment starts with the correct diagnosis and this diagnostic manual serves as a cross-reference for using DSM-5 criteria for those with intellectual disability and co-occurring psychiatric disorders. It is organized in a similar manner to DSM-5 making it an easy cross-reference to use.

 

Understanding Its Development,
Causes, Classification, Evaluation and Treatment (Developmental
Perspectives in Psychiatry).
Harris JC. Intellectual Disability: Understanding Its Development, Causes, Classification, Evaluation and Treatment (Developmental Perspectives in Psychiatry). New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2005

This is a comprehensive text on intellectual disability. Dr. Jim Harris has spent his career dedicated to the science and care of individuals with ID (IDD) and pools that wealth of knowledge and the breath of the field into a textbook. This books covers the history of intellectual disability in society, the growth in understanding of its causes and forms, and its treatments.

 

Intellectual Disability: A Guide for Families and Professionals,
Harris, JC. Intellectual Disability: A Guide for Families and Professionals, New York, NY, Oxford University Press, 2010

Intellectual Disability: A Guide for Families and Professionals, by one of the country's foremost authorities on intellectual disability, is a comprehensive resource that will be of importance to anyone with a personal connection to a child or adult with a neurodevelopmental disorder.

 

Psychiatric and Behavioral Disorders in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Hemmings, C. & Bouras, N. (Eds.). (2016). Psychiatric and Behavioral Disorders in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

An award-winning summary text with each chapter by experts covering different aspects of clinical care in ASD/ID. These include the history of ASD/ID, assessment instruments, psychiatric diagnoses, interface of medical and psychiatric disorders, epilepsy, psychopharmacology, behavioral interventions, treatments, offending behavior and caregiver experiences. Key summary points and references are provided at the end of each chapter.

 

Intellectual Disability and Ill Health: A Review of the Evidence.
O’Hara J., McCarthy J., Bouras, N. (Eds). (2010). Intellectual Disability and Ill Health: A Review of the Evidence. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press

A comprehensive but succinct text providing the clinician a practical evidence-based approach to medical problems that can masquerade as behavioral/psychiatric problems. Chapters include health care in ID/ASD, congenital causes of ID/ASD, epilepsy, disorders of environmental origin, neurodegenerative diseases and dementia, diseases of body organ systems, including dental and oral, eye, ENT, and gastrointestinal systems.

 

Strengths-Based Approaches to Educating All Learners with Disabilities: Beyond Special Education.
Wehmeyer M. (2019) Strengths-Based Approaches to Educating All Learners with Disabilities: Beyond Special Education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

This book provides a framework for innovations in the education of scholars with (and without) disabilities, including pers-nalizable approaches and self-determined learning. The strengths-based approach aims to move education away from diagnoses and remediation to schoolwide instruction and digital approaches for all students, to prepare them for the 21st-century world.

 

Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children and Adolescents: Evidence-Based Assessment and Intervention in Schools.
Wilkinson LA. Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children and Adolescents: Evidence-Based Assessment and Intervention in Schools. Washington: American Psychological Association; 2015.

The author uses her knowledge as a school psychologist and cognitive-based therapist to write a text that describes the evidence-based practices of assessment and intervention in the classroom. This has a special emphasis on the higher-functioning individual with ASD. This book also helps to provide insights into the working of the schools and how each member’s role plays out with the child.

 

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Other Media

Listed below are true and imagined stories, in different media, which portray some of the strengths and challenges of some of the people on the autism spectrum and/or with intellectual disabilities. While these cannot fully represent the variation within these populations, we hope these will serve as points of exploration to start conversations and to deepen the appreciation of human neurodiversity.


Books

Books, Fiction

Books, Nonfiction


Movies

Adam Adam (2009)

Summary:
Adam, a lonely man with Asperger's Syndrome, develops a relationship with his upstairs neighbor, Beth. 


Asperger’s Are UsAsperger’s Are Us (2016)

Summary:
In this coming of age documentary, four friends on the Autism spectrum whom have bonded through humor and performed as the comedy troupe "Asperger's Are Us" will prepare for one final, ambitious show before going their separate ways. 


Life Animated Life, Animated (2016)

Summary:
A coming-of-age story about a boy and his family who overcame great challenges by turning Disney animated movies into a language to express love, loss, kinship and brotherhood. 


Rain Man Rain Man (1988)

Summary:
After a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance. 


Speedcubers The Speedcubers (short)

Summary:
Discover the special bond -- and uncommon competitive spirit -- shared by the world's Rubik's Cube-solving record breakers in this documentary. 


Temple Temple Grandin (2010)

Summary:
A biopic of Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who has become one of the top scientists in the humane livestock handling industry. 


Television


Podcasts

The Autism News NetWORK 
A podcast that features individuals with autism spectrum disorder





Autistic Networks Online

 

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