Benjamin Yerys, PhD is an assistant professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and a clinical child psychologist/researcher at the Center for Autism Research (CAR). Dr. Yerys’s research focuses on the genetic and brain basis of repetitive behaviors, executive function, attention, learning, and reward processes in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD). Dr. Yerys' goal is to identify the brain and genes responsible for atypical development with an eye towards reducing the impact of these symptoms on children and their families.

Lauren Kenworthy, PhD is an associate professor of Neurology, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry at the George Washington University School of Medicine, and director of the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at Children’s National Medical Center.  Dr. Kenworthy's research interests are in the neuropsychological phenotype of autism.  She is a co-author of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), which has been used in over 200 research publications to document executive functioning in various clinical groups. Her recent publications have focused on the role of executive dysfunction in autism and its treatment.  She is author of a school based executive function intervention for children on the autism spectrum, Unstuck and On Target, recently shown effective in a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funded trial of the intervention in Fairfax County Public Schools.  Her Solving Executive Function Challenges: Simple Ways to Get Kids with Autism Unstuck and on Target guide for parents, teachers and others is in press at Brookes Publishing.  She is a frequent presenter on autism spectrum disorders and executive functions.

Lecture Summary: Individuals with ASD experience significant problems at home, school, and in the community because of non-social aspects of autism: ‘insistence on sameness’, executive function problems, and co-occurring attention impairments.  What is the neurobiology of these behaviors in ASD?  Does the neurobiology look different from other neurodevelopmental disorders with attention problems like ADHD? Do we have treatments that reduce the impact of ‘insistence on sameness’ and attention impairments in children with ASD? This presentation will orient the audience to these important clinical issues facing individuals with ASD, and describe research underway at CAR and beyond to help understand this critical topic.

This lecture is intended for families of individuals with an autism spectrum disorder and for professionals supporting individuals on the autism spectrum. We also invite anyone who is interested in learning more about ASD.

 Upon completion of this lecture, participants will be able to:

1. Describe how executive function and co-occurring attention impairments (ADHD) affect the presentation of ASD
2. Explain how ‘insistence on sameness’ impairs individuals with ASD in their day-to-day lives
3. Discuss what is known about the neurobiology of executive function, attention impairments, and insistence on sameness
4. Discuss new treatments targeting these non-social aspects of ASD, such as Unstuck and On Target.