Sally Rogers, PhD

Sally Rogers, PhD

Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UC Davis Mind Institute

Dr. Rogers specializes in conducting developmental and treatment research into autism and other developmental disorders and working with children with developmental disabilities and their families, especially young children with autism. She studies early developmental processes, including imitation, social-communicative behavior, development of motor skills, language, and social interaction patterns. She is currently focused on developing and improving treatments for early autism using a treatment model that she developed in collaboration with Geraldine Dawson, the Early Start Denver Model.

Her efforts to deliver effective interventions to people with autism and their families takes her to places all over the globe to train therapists to use ESDM in 1:1 treatment, to coach families to embed ESDM techniques into everyday life with their child, to help other researchers study effects of ESDM delivered in varied cultures, and to teach others how to use ESDM with young children and families..

She has been the primary investigator of a number of federal grants, including several NIH funded Center grants. These currently include a a multisite randomized clinical trial comparing ESDM and discrete trial interventions, a study focused on how to help parents use ESDM techniques at home to improve their children's language and behavior, and two studies of ESDM effects with researchers in other countries. She directs two large postdoctoral training grants, the NIH funded interdisciplinary Autism Research Training grant, which she directs with Dr. David Amaral, and a LEND (Leadership in Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Training Program, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, providing training for professionals from many disciplines who focus on services for people with ASD and their families in California . She co-directs the LEND grant with Dr. Aubyn Stahmer. Her clinical interests include consultation with families of children with ASD and with others who work with children about difficulties of learning, communication, and behavior, developing interventions for persons with autism of all ages, and differential diagnosis of ASD in young children.

She has written extensively in her field, authoring hundreds of articles, numerous books, and educational videos about children with ASD, children with intellectual disability, and children with visual impairment. Dr. Rogers serves on the editorial board of many publications, including Autism Research and the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. She also reviews for many journals, including Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Science, American Journal of Mental Retardation, Journal of Early Intervention, Journal of Child Psychology and Child Psychiatry, Journal oft he American Academy of Child and Adolescent Society, and Development and Psychopathology.

She belongs to many professional organizations focused on ASD and other developmental disorders and on learning and development, and she is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. She has received career awards from the American Association of Division 33 of the American Psychological Association and the International Society for Autism Research..

Hosting Faculty: Costansa Colombi, PhD

CME Available: Yes

Title: Evolution of a Treatment for Early Autism, Ann Arbor to Sacramento

Disclosures: Dr. Rogers receives royalties from the Guilford Press