Project Personnel
Listed by university affiliation
UNC
Sam Odom, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Samuel L. Odom, Principal Investigator, is Director of Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
at the University of North Carolina and Professor in the School of Education. He is the author or co-author
of many refereed journal articles and editor or co-editor of five published and two in press books on early
childhood intervention and developmental disabilities. He was previously a member of the National Academy of
Science Committee on Educating Children with Autism, which published a report on effective educational programs
for young children with ASD (NRC, 2001). He also was a member of the committee that developed the 10 Year
Roadmap for Autism Research coordinated by the National Institute on Mental Health and the Interagency
Autism Research Committee. Currently his is working with the National Standards Project, which will
identify evidence-based practices for children and youth with autism spectrum disorder, and the state
of California, which will use this information to identify practices that can be used by teachers and
service providers. His recent articles with his doctoral students have addressed the efficacy of a
variety of focused intervention approaches (e.g., peer-mediated interventions, sibling-mediated interventions,
parent-child intervention to promote joint attention, independent work systems approach to promote learning)
for children with ASD. He is currently also the Principal Investigator of a multi-site randomized control
study of an intervention to promote preschool readiness. In 2007, Dr. Odom received the
Outstanding Research Award from the Council for Exceptional Children.
Brian Boyd, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Brian Boyd is an investigator at the FPG Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is
co-principal investigator on two grants funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, Department of
Education to investigate the efficacy of behavioral interventions for preschool-aged children with
autism spectrum disorders. Prior to this position at FPG, Dr. Boyd was an assistant preschool teacher
at the TEACCH demonstration preschool and worked as a special education consultant to facilitate the
development and inclusion of children with varying disabilities, including autism, into classroom settings.
He also conducted numerous trainings on useful classroom-based approaches for children with autism while at
Division TEACCH. Following Dr. Boyd‹s work with Division TEACCH, he was trained in discrete trial
training methods for autism and implementation of positive behavior support strategies. Dr. Boyd has
published a number of articles in the fields of applied behavior analysis and autism.
Kara Hume, Ph.D.
Project Coordinator
Dr. Kara Hume is an Investigator at the FPG Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill.
She is the Project Coordinator this treatment comparison study. Dr. Hume has worked with children
and young adults on the autism spectrum for 17 years in a variety of capacities, including a home
program therapist, teacher, trainer, and consultant. She was a classroom teacher for seven years working
primarily with students on the autism spectrum, and has worked with Division TEACCH as a trainer for
professionals in the field. Dr. Hume completed her doctorate at Indiana University where she worked
at the Indiana Resource Center for Autism and served as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Education.
She has published several journal articles, presented at a number of national conferences, and is interested
in supporting classroom teachers in the implementation of evidence-based practices.
Evelyn Shaw, M.Ed.
Site Coordinator
Evelyn F. Shaw is an educational planning and development consultant at the FPG Child Development
Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill. Ms. Shaw received her Master's in Education, Special Education from
UNC-Chapel Hill. She is a technical assistance specialist with the National Early Childhood Technical
Assistance Center funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.
Ms. Shaw has provided state technical assistance to early intervention and preschool state programs,
has topical responsibilities and expertise in the area of autism spectrum disorders, including
developing and maintaining the NECTAC ASD web page. Her work at NECTAC has included coordinating
two national state team meetings on autism and developing publications describing the agreement
among model programs on quality practices for serving young children with ASD and their families.
In 2002, she was an invited presenter and participant for the National Institutes of Health
sponsored meeting on "Challenges in Evaluating Psychosocial Intervention for Autistic Spectrum Disorders,"
an invited participant in "Overcoming Methodological Challenges" work group (National Institute of Mental
Health) in 2004, and has been a member of the ASD Measurement Workgroup, Family Stress and Coping
subgroup, sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health since 2003.
Miami
Website
http://www.umcard.org/
Michael Alessandri, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
In addition to his role as Executive Director of UM-NSU CARD, Dr. Alessandri is also Clinical Professor of Psychology
at the University of Miami. Dr. Alessandri has worked with individuals with autism and their families
for over 25 years.
He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Rochester, where he earned his Bachelors degree
in Psychology.
He attended graduate school at Rutgers University, where he obtained both his M.S. (1989) and Ph.D.
(1992) in Clinical
Psychology. Dr. Alessandri completed his clinical internship at UNC-Chapel Hill‹s Center
for Development and
Learning (CDL). Prior to arriving in South Florida in 1996, Dr. Alessandri was an Assistant Professor of Psychology
at San Jose State University (SJSU) and Associate Director of the Stanford University Pervasive Developmen-tal Disorders
Clinic.
Dr. Alessandri has presented, consulted and published internationally on developing appropriate and effective educational programs for students with autistic spectrum disorders. His work has taken him to Italy, Switzerland, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Panama, Barbados, Bahamas, Taiwan, Australia, and throughout the United States. In addition, he has received several awards within the field of autism and disabilities. In 1993, he received the Autism Society of America Special Recognition Award for Publications, and in 1995 was given the Outstanding Faculty award by the SJSU Disability Resource Center for instruction of university students with disabilities. Under his direction, the University of Miami Center for Autism & Related Disabilities was named the National Autism Program of the Year in 1999 by the Autism Society of America. In 2003, Dr. Alessandri was the recipient of the Wendy F. Miller ASA National Recognition Award for Autism Professional of the Year.
Dr. Alessandri proudly serves several community and professional organizations as a member of the Board of Trustees (Parent to Parent of Miami) or the Scientific (Organization for Autism Research) or Professional Advisory Boards (The Victory School for Children with Autism; Friends for Youth). Previously, he served as a member of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Scientific Affairs Committee of the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR), and actively supports Autism Speaks, which merged with NAAR in 2006.
Anibal Gutierrez, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Gutierrez earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Florida in 2004 and is a
Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Dr. Gutierrez has over 10 years of experience working with
individuals diagnosed with autism and other developmental disabilities as well as individuals
with dual diagnoses. He has conducted assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior,
conducted and supervised discrete trial and verbal behavior programs, and designed and implemented
behavior acquisition programs. He has presented nationally on the assessment and treatment of
problem behavior and on the acquisition of communicative behavior and co-authored the Handbook
of the Standard Celeration Chart (2003 with Pennypacker and Lindsley).
Previously Dr. Gutierrez served as the clinical and practicum coordinator for Applied Behavior Analysis, Program Coordinator for the Autism Consortium at Nova Southeastern University providing consultation to school-based programs for children diagnosed with autism around the country. He is also an Adjunct Professor for the Center for Psychological Studies at Nova Southeastern University.
Peter Mundy, Ph.D.
Consultant
Dr. Mundy is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Miami. He served as Director of UM-NSU CARD
from its inception in 1993, until 1996, when he took on a role as Executive Director. In addition to his
role as Executive Director of UM-NSU CARD, he was also the Director of the UM Psychological Services
Center from 1991-1999.
Dr. Mundy received his Ph.D. from the University of Miami in Developmental Psychology in 1981. He then received funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to study developmental disorders and received clinical training in psychotherapy and diagnosis at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. In addition, while at UCLA, Dr. Mundy began his research on the social-communication difficulties of young children with autism. He also served on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA from 1986-1991. He returned to the University of Miami in 1991, where he has continued to work with children with autism as well as other groups of children with atypical development. To date, he has published over 100 research articles and chapters on his research.
Drew Coman, B.A.
Project coordinator
Drew Coman is currently an Autism Research Coordinator at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD)
at the University of Miami. Throughout his undergraduate career at the University of Miami he worked as a
research assistant in Dr. Peter Mundy’s Social-Emotional Developmental Laboratory. After receiving
his Bachelor of Arts with Departmental Honors in psychology from UM he accepted a position as a Research
Associate and Assistant Coordinator in Dr. Mundy’s laboratory. As a Research Associate he continued
to work on Dr. Mundy’s project which investigates the social-emotional development and bio-social
factors that contribute to the individual differences in autism spectrum disorders. He has just recently
accepted a new position at CARD as a Research Coordinator, under Dr. Michael Alessandri and Dr. Anibal
Gutierrez, for an IES project which is investigating the efficacy of the two comprehensive treatment
models for children with autism known as LEAP and TEACCH. The purpose of this study is to examine the
immediate and long term effects of these two comprehensive treatment models, as a comparison along with
a business as usual (BAS) model. In addition to his role at CARD, he serves as a chaperone for a social
group for adolescent boys with high functioning autism.
Colorado
Laurie Sperry, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Laurie Sperry was a classroom teacher for children with autism and related disabilities for 8 years.
After leaving the classroom, she served as a state consultant for the autism division in South Carolina.
She received her Ph.D. in Child Development and Family Studies and did postdoctoral work at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She worked with Division TEACCH for a number of years as a lead trainer,
co-developed a play and social skills group for parents with very young children who were newly diagnosed
with autism and worked with the adult social skills group. She is a consulting editor for the Journal of
Autism and Developmental Disorders and has published numerous articles related to autism spectrum disorders.
Dr. Sperry served as the State Director of Autism Services in Hawaii and has maintained a private practice. Dr. Sperry was a co-principal investigator on a federal grant to support the professional development of people working with children with autism aimed at improving services and education and building regional capacity in school districts across the United States. She is currently coordinating a treatment outcome study to compare LEAP and TEACCH strategies. Dr. Sperry has appointments in both the school of Education and Human Development and Psychiatry. She has participated in global outreach and provided services to families and agencies in Saudi Arabia, Africa and Saipan. In 2006 she received an appointment as a Senior Specialist in Autism from the Fulbright Scholarship Foundation.
Minnesota
Frank Symons, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Frank Symons' research emphasis is on understanding the severe behavior problems of children and adults with special needs, primarily those with developmental disabilities and emotional or behavioral disorders. For these two groups, much of hi research has focused on self-injurious behavior and classroom aggression, respectively. The majority of hi research has been observationally based, theoretically grounded in behavioral principles, and driven by a commitment to meaningful, functional outcomes.
Dr. Symons has have two current specific areas of interest. One is the development, assessment, and treatment of problem behavior among children and adults with a range of neurodevelopmental and emotional/behavioral disorders. The other is the problem of pain among children and adults with significant cognitive impairments and associated developmental disabilities. Related areas of interest include observational research methods.
In terms of problem behavior, areas of specific research interest include (a) characterizing self-injurious behavior in more detail descriptively (form, location, intensity) and experimentally (function); (b) examining the intersection of behavioral and biological mechanisms underlying chronic self-injury by incorporating sensory (e.g., pain sensitivity, peripheral innervation) and autonomic (e.g., sympathetic/parasympathetic, HPA axis) nervous system variables, and (c) translating findings from basic research into treatment applications.
In terms of pain, areas of specific research include (a) the reliable and valid assessment of pain in children and adults with significant cognitive, communicative, and motor impairments associated with intellectual disability; (b) the relation between behavioral and biological variables as markers for altered pain; (c) modifying/adapting quantitative sensory testing for individuals with specialized needs; and (d) the relation between pain and problem behavior, specifically self-injury.
To address these interests and issues, Dr. Symons directs an observational methods lab and is highly collaborative across a number of research groups (UNC-Chapel Hill, UBC, Dalhousie University), clinical sites (Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare), labs (Kennedy Peripheral Nerve Lab), and centers (Center for Neurobehavioral Development, Minnesota Center for Pain Research).
Lesley Craig-Unkefer, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Lesley Craig-Unkefer's research interests focus on the development and promotion of social communication
skills with young children at-risk for delays and individuals with moderate to severe disabilities,
specifically those with autism. She is interested in developing interventions that teach children
strategies to improve their social competence. Dr. Lesley Craig-Unkefer currently works with preschool
age populations but plans to expand her work to school age populations, understanding the role that
social competence has on the development and maintenance of peer relationships.
