On Demand Professional Workshop Series: Current Practice in the Assessment and Treatment of Autistic Children

This presentation was last reviewed on July 15, 2024, and broadcast live online on July 15, 2022, from 9:oo AM – 12:15 PM ET. 

The views and opinions expressed by this presenter in this lecture are their own, and do not represent the views of Sheppard Pratt.

Autism spectrum disorder is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder, requiring specialized assessment and treatment strategies. Given the growing number of children identified with ASD, it is vital that early intervention and mental health providers become adept at integrating these strategies into their clinical care. This presentation will focus on providing practical skills to address common challenges faced by clinicians working with autistic children: how to distinguish ASD from other neurodevelopmental disorders and effectively assess neurocognitive functioning, how to deliver efficacious mental health interventions targeting co-occurring conditions, and how to deliver efficacious early intervention.

Target Audience

This activity is intended for psychologists, social workers, counselors, and other mental health professionals.

Learning Objectives

After this lecture, registrants will be able to:

  1. Discuss assessment of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and comorbid psychopathology.  
  2. Identify strategies to modify and augment cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to treat emotional disorders in children with autism spectrum disorder.
  3. Define strategies to support social and communication development in young children on the autism spectrum.
Course summary
Available credit: 
  • 3.00 ACEP NBCC clock hours
  • 3.00 Category II credits for Social Workers
  • 3.00 Psychologists
  • 3.00 Participation
Course opens: 
08/21/2024
Course expires: 
08/19/2026

There is no commercial support for this activity.

About These Speakers

Amy Keefer, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the supervising clinical psychologist at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, and training director for CARD’s clinical psychology post-doctoral fellowship program.  Dr. Keefer has worked extensively with autistic children and their families, serving in both school and clinic settings.  She currently provides individual therapy, conducts diagnostic assessments, and maintains an active research program focused on the phenomenology, underlying mechanisms, and treatment of anxiety in autistic youth.  

Dr. Rebecca Landa, a speech-language pathologist, is the founder and executive director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at Kennedy Krieger Institute, where she is vice president. She is professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and CEO of Bundle of Learning. Her research has focused on identifying early indicators of autism, elucidating early learning mechanisms, developing an innovative web-based video-guided early screening tool, developing and evaluating targeted mechanistic early interventions for autism, translating interventions for implementation in community settings, and developing measures of social communication in school-aged youth.

Dr. Elgiz Sener is a clinical neuropsychologist at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) at the Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI). Dr. Sener received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois-Chicago in clinical psychology with a minor in behavioral neuroscience. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at Children’s National Hospital. After receiving her doctorate degree, Dr. Sener completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at Children’s National Hospital. During her pre and postdoctoral training, Dr. Sener gained experience in assessment and treatment of children with various psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions. Her research primarily focused on autonomic physiology, emotion processing, and social skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Dr. Sener joined the neuropsychology staff at KKI/CARD in 2015. She currently provides neuropsychological assessments to children, adolescents, and young adults with ASD and a variety of comorbid developmental, psychiatric, genetic, and medical conditions. She offers services to individuals with a range of abilities, including minimally verbal children, as well as adolescents who will soon be transitioning to young adulthood. Dr. Sener also participates in the neuropsychological training of post-doctoral residents.

Disclosure Statements

Sheppard Pratt holds the standard that its continuing medical education programs should be free of commercial bias and conflict of interest. In accord with Sheppard Pratt's Disclosure Policy, as well as standards of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and the American Medical Association (AMA), all planners, reviewers, speakers and persons in control of content have been asked to disclose any relationship he /she has with any entity producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients, during the past 24 months. All planners, reviewers and speakers have also been asked to disclose any payments accepted for this lecture from any entity besides Sheppard Pratt, and if there will be discussion of any products, services or off-label uses of product(s) during this presentation.

Amy Keefer, PhD, reports receiving an Organization for Autism Research grant. She will be discussing the following commercial products or services: Facing Your Fears. Unstuck and On Target, Interoception Curriculum, and Peers. This presentation and all the content materials were reviewed to mitigate any identified conflicts of interest. She will not discuss off-label use of pharmaceuticals in this presentation. All relationships have been mitigated through review. 

Rebecca Landa, PhD reports the following relationships with financial interests: Department of Defense, National Institute of Health, Centers for Disease Control, IES, and Health Resources and Services Administration. She will be discussing Bundle of Learning. This presentation and all the content materials were reviewed to mitigate any identified conflicts of interest. She will  not discuss off-label use of pharmaceuticals in this presentation. All relationships have been mitigated through review. 

Elgiz Bal Sener, PhD, reports that she has no relationships with any entity producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients during the past 24 months. She will not discuss any products, services, or off-label uses in this presentation. This presentation and all the content materials were reviewed to mitigate any identified conflicts of interest. All relationships have been mitigated through review. 

Event Planners/Reviewers Disclosures: The following event planners and/or reviewers are reported as having no financial interest, arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients, during the past 24 months: Todd Peters, MD, Elizabeth Ryznar, MD, MSc, Louis J. Marino, Devi Bhuyan, PsyD, Faith Dickerson, PhD, Carrie Etheridge, LCSW-C, April Sobiech, LCSW-C, Latia Suite, LCSW-C, Rachel Smolowitz, PhD, Tom Flis, LCPC, Lisa Illum, MLIS, MEd, and Jennifer Tornabene.

Psychologist Statement: Sheppard Pratt is authorized by the State Board of Examiners of Psychologists as a sponsor of continuing education. Sheppard Pratt takes responsibility for the content, quality, and scientific integrity of this continuing education activity.  Sheppard Pratt designates this educational activity for a maximum of 3.0 contact hours for Psychologists.

Social Worker Statement: Sheppard Pratt is authorized by the Board of Social Work Examiners of Maryland to offer continuing education for Social Workers.  Sheppard Pratt takes responsibility for the content, quality, and scientific integrity of this continuing education activity. This activity is approved for 3.0 contact hours in Category II credits for Social Workers.

Counselor Statement:  Sheppard Pratt has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 5098.  Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified.  Sheppard Pratt is solely responsible for all aspects of the program.  This activity is available for 3.0 NBCC clock hours.

Available Credit

  • 3.00 ACEP NBCC clock hours
  • 3.00 Category II credits for Social Workers
  • 3.00 Psychologists
  • 3.00 Participation
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ON DEMAND WEBINAR: FOR BEST RESULTS WATCH USING GOOGLE CHROME

Professional Workshop Series: Current Practice in the Assessment and Treatment of Autistic Children

Rebecca Landa, PhD

Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Kennedy Krieger Institute

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

CEO of Bundle of Learning

Baltimore, MD

Amy Keefer, PhD

Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Supervising Clinical Psychologist, Training Director Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program

Center for Autism and Related Disorders

Kennedy Krieger Institute

Baltimore, MD

Elgiz Bal Sener, PhD

Clinical Neuropsychologist

Center for Autism and Related Disorders

Kennedy Krieger Institute

Baltimore, MD

Last reviewed on July 15, 2024.
Originally broadcast live July 15, 2022, from 9:00 AM – 12:15 PM ET.
Enduring Activity Credit Expiration Date: August 19, 2026.

Activity Time: Three-hour webinar lecture with a 15-minute evaluation process. Total Time: 3:15

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Required Hardware/software

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Operating System: Windows XP+ or Mac OS X 10.4+

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Windows PC: 500-MHz Pentium II; Windows XP or higher; 128 MB RAM; Video Card at least 64MB of video memory; Sound Card at least 16-bit; Macromedia Flash Player 10 or higher, audio playback with speakers for programs with video content; Firefox 1.1+, Internet Explorer 7.0+, Safari 1.0+, Google Chrome, or Opera

Macintosh: Mac OS X 10.3 or higher with latest updates installed; 1.83MHz Intel Core Duo or faster; RAM: 128MB or more; Video Card: at least 64MB of video memory; Sound Card: at least 16-bit

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