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John D. Wiley Seminar Series

Date: February 3, 2012

Time: Noon to 1:00 pm

Title: "Bridging the Divide: Moving Evidence-Based Autism Interventions into the Community"

Speaker: David Mandell, ScD
Chair, MPH Program Curriculum Committee
Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Associate Director, Center for Mental Health Policy & Services Research, University of Pennsylvania
Associate Director, Center for Autism Research, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

About the Talk: The number of evidence-based behavioral interventions for children with autism has increased dramatically over the last few decades. Community practice has lagged far behind, however. Instruction and support for children with autism in most schools does not mirror the evidence base and generally has been found ineffective in promoting student outcomes. The Philadelphia Autism Instructional Methods Study (AIMS) represents an academic-public partnership designed to improve intervention quality for elementary school children with autism in the School District of Philadelphia. It also constitutes the largest randomized trial to date of a behavioral intervention for children with autism, having enrolled 494 children in 73 classrooms. This presentation will discuss the methods and results of AIMS, challenges and opportunities of partnering with school districts to conduct this type of work, and conceptual models from the field of implementation science that can guide efforts to increase the use of evidence-based practice in community settings.

About the Speaker: David S. Mandell, ScD, is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, where he is associate director of the Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research. He also is Associate Director of the Center for Autism Research at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The goal of his research is to improve the quality of care individuals with autism receive in their communities. This research is of two types. The first examines, at the state and national level, the effects of different strategies to organize, finance and deliver services on service use patterns and outcomes. The second consists of experimental studies designed to determine the best strategies to successfully implement proven-efficacious practices in community settings. Dr. Mandell holds a bachelor of arts in psychology from Columbia University and a doctorate of science from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Where: John D. Wiley Conference Center, Room T216, Second Floor, North Tower

For Further Information: Contact Teresa Palumbo at 263-5837 or palumbo@waisman.wisc.edu

This Seminar Series is partially funded by the John D. Wiley Conference Center Fund, the Friends of the Waisman Center and NIH grant P30 HD003352.