Autism Spectrum Disorder Symposium: Developmental, Psychoanalytic, and Neuroscientific Perspectives on Diagnosis and Treatment

Susan P. Sherkow, M.D. is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute, and on the voluntary faculties of the Mount Sinai and Albert Einstein Colleges of Medicine. Dr. Sherkow has published in JAPA, The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, and Psychoanalytic Inquiry, among other journals, on the topics of autism spectrum disorder, primal scene, intergenerational eating disorders, the diagnosis of sexual abuse in young children, watched play, and working in analysis with children under five. She is co-author, with Dr. Alexandra Harrison, of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Perspectives from Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience (2014). Her most recent writings include chapter contributions: “Managing arrogance in child analysis” in  Arrogance: Developmental, Cultural, and Clinical Realms, and “Back to Freud’s Beginning: Looking at Neuroscience through a Contemporary Psychoanalytic Lens” in Psychoanalytic Trends in Theory and Practice, The Second Century of The Talking Cure. Dr. Sherkow received the Ritvo prize in child psychoanalysis from the Yale Child Study Center in 2010. In 2012, she founded The Sherkow Center for Child Development and Autism Spectrum Disorder, a not-for-profit organization created to provide support for training, treatment, and research in the area of developmental delays and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Alexandra Murray Harrison, M.D. is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute in Adult and Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis, an Associate Professor Part Time of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and on the Core Faculty of the Early Relational Health Fellowship at University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. Her clinical and academic interests focus on development across the lifespan and include therapeutic action in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, the treatment of autistic spectrum disorders, the use of videotape in child evaluation and treatment, and supporting the caregiving relationship. In 2017 Dr. Harrison co-founded a non-profit organization, Supporting Child Caregivers, https://supportingchildcaregivers.org, that has as its mission offering training and educational support to caregivers of children and their families. Dr. Harrison has publications in the areas of child analysis, therapeutic action, autism, and infant mental health, and has lectured in the U.S. and internationally.

Fred R. Volkmar, M.D. is the Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology Emeritus at the Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine and the Dorothy Goodwin Family Chair of Special Education at Southern Connecticut State University.  An international authority on Asperger’s disorder and autism, Dr. Volkmar was the primary author of the DSM-IV autism and pervasive developmental disorders section. He has authored several hundred scientific papers and has co-edited numerous books, including Asperger Syndrome, Healthcare for Children on the Autism Spectrum: A Guide to Medical, Nutritional, and Behavioral Issues, and the recently released third edition of The Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders. He serves as associate editor of the Journal of Autism, The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and the American Journal of Psychiatry. He also serves as co-chairperson of the autism/MR committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.  From 2007-2022, Dr. Volkmar served as editor of the Journal of Autism and more recently of the Encyclopedia of Autism. He is certified in adult and child psychoanalysis and a member of the Western New England Institute.

Sylvie Goldman, Ph.D. is a Developmental Neuropsychologist and Associate Professor in the Division of Child Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Neurology and the Sergievsky Center at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). She obtained her degree in Clinical Psychology from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium and her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY). Her dissertation under the mentorship of Katherine Nelson addressed “Personal and fictional narratives in children with autism, and language developmental disorders and typically developing children”. She held a post-doc position at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY in Child Neurology under the mentorship of Dr. Isabelle Rapin and was the co-director of the NIH-Human Clinical Phenotype Core of the Rose F. Kennedy Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDRRC). During that time, Dr. Goldman worked part-time at the Mc Carton Center for Developmental Pediatrics conducting developmental diagnostic assessments of toddlers. Dr Goldman joined the Division of Child Neurology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in 2014 to lead a clinic on early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder with a focus on movement disorders and identification of autism in young girls. Her main research interests center around motor stereotypes and sex/gender factors affecting clinicians’ diagnostic decision-making. Dr. Goldman is a teaching faculty for the Parent-Infant Psychotherapy Program (PIP) in the Department of Child Psychiatry at CUIMC.

Carlotta Bettencourt, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and researcher at The Sherkow Center for Child Development and Autism Spectrum Disorder in New York City. Her work bridges clinical practice and developmental research, with a focus on individualized, integrative interventions for children and adolescents on the autism spectrum. She earned her Ph.D. from Sorbonne Université where her research centered on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in autism interventions. Her ongoing work explores neurodevelopmental approaches to care, including robotic-assisted therapy, social skills interventions, and longitudinal outcomes in psychodynamic treatment models for ASD.

Cynthia Martin, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist based in New York City with over 20 years of experience specializing in neurodevelopmental assessment, therapy, and consultation. Her work covers the lifespan – from toddlers to adults – with developmental differences such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), ADHD, intellectual disability, and genetic conditions. Her research focuses on early developmental assessment and longitudinal outcomes in children with neurodevelopmental disorders, including ASD and Down syndrome.