The Help Group Summit 2013 – Advances and Best Practices in Autism, Learning Disabilities and ADHD took place on October 25th and 26th at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. With First 5 California as the Major Sponsor and ABC 7 as Media Sponsor, this year’s event featured an outstanding group of leading experts in basic and applied research and evidence-based best practices in assessment, intervention and treatment. The program provided a rich, informative experience for all in attendance.
The conference was chaired by The Help Group President & CEO Dr. Barbara Firestone; UCLA Semel Institute Director Peter C. Whybrow, MD, and Robert M. Bilder, PhD, ABPP, UCLA-Semel Institute Tenenbaum Family Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences & Psychology. This year’s featured speakers were Thomas E. Brown, PhD; Connie Kasari, PhD and Maureen Lovett, PhD, C.Pysch.
Presenters included Jane Tavyev Asher, MD; Bruce Baker, PhD; Robert M. Bilder, PhD, ABPP; Jan Blacher, PhD; Erna Imperatore Blanche, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA; Susan Bookheimer, PhD; Xavier E. Cagigas, PhD; Dan Campbell, PhD; Pamela Clark, MA; Michael Enenbach, MD; Jeff Gilger, PhD; Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD, MPH; Shafali Spurling Jeste, MD; Elizabeth Laugeson, PsyD; Michael Leon, PhD; Philip Levin, PhD; Sandra Loo, PhD; Maja Mataric, PhD; Daniel Openden, PhD, BCBA-D; Albert “Skip” Rizzo, PhD; Eric Sailers, MA, CCC-SLP; Cynthia Schumann, PhD; William Sharp, PhD; Bina Varughese, MS; Louis A. Vismara, MD; and Jeffrey Wood, PhD.