Grab The Wheel: Helping Young Children Manage Explosive Anger

Bryan Anderson, LCSW is a behavioral therapist and licensed clinical social worker. He received his B.A. in Psychology from Kenyon College, and his M.S.W. from Columbia University. Bryan trained and worked at the University of California, Los Angeles in the Early Childhood Partial Hospitalization Program (ECPHP) for 4 years. As a therapist, he carried out behavioral interventions and improved children's cognitive, academic, occupational, recreational, and social functioning. Bryan specialized in applying strategies to reduce anxious, angry, and aggressive behaviors, and began various anger management training strategies that continue to be used at the clinic. Additionally, Bryan taught weekly social skills group, and co-authored a curriculum on adaptive basketball skills training. The basketball curriculum became the model for a pilot program of a basketball camp for children with Autism that was sponsored by UCLA Athletics and Prime Time Sports Camp. Bryan received his Masters from Columbia University School of Social Work where he served as a social worker on an Adult Inpatient Psychiatric Unit at St. Barnabas Hospital, and trained as a therapist for children and adolescents at the Child & Family Institute of St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center. While at the St. Luke's Child and Family Institute, Bryan created and led an anger management skills group for children 8-10 with mixed diagnoses, using the present curriculum as the primary model. Bryan co-authored a study on Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders in Preschoolers with Autism that was published in Behavior Disorders in 2010. Bryan currently resides in Los Angeles, where he offers behavioral therapy for children with Autism, and is a facilitator and member of Anderson & Anderson services. Contact Bryan: Bryan@grabthewheelkids.com

Dr. Freeman is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Division Psychiatry at UCLA, a licensed clinical psychologist, and Co-director of the Early Childhood Partial Hospitalization Program (ECPHP). She received her Ph.D in Educational Psychology with a specialization in Special Education. Her current research areas include targeting core deficits and intervention, best-practice interdisciplinary interventions, and play/social skills development. As an elementary school teacher, she worked with children with exceptional needs, designing individualized curricula and behavioral plans. In graduate school, Dr. Freeman conducted assessments in a clinical environment, establishing expertise in cognitive, academic, language, and adaptive behavior instruments for children ages 2 to 18. Early research interests included social (peers and friendship) and emotional (recognition, empathy, and problem-solving) development. During a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral fellowship, she coordinated and carried out research-based intervention services for preschool children with autism. Dr. Freeman directs the day-to-day activities of ECPHP staff and coordinates the evaluation, treatment, and development of appropriate multidisciplinary programs for school-aged and severely impaired children with autism. She assists parents in developing appropriate educational programs and school-based modifications, behavior education and training, and cognitive and social/emotional/play development.

Dr. Paparella is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Division of Child Psychiatry at UCLA and a licensed clinical psychologist. As Co-director of ECPHP, she is a specialist in the field of autism, having spent more than 15 years in intervention and research. Her current clinical and research interests relate to the effectiveness of early intervention, particularly with respect to predictors of outcomes for toddlers on the autism spectrum. Dr. Paparella received her master's degrees in Special Education and Counseling Psychology from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Her formative years in applied autism intervention were spent at the Douglas Developmental Disabilities Center at Rutgers University where she designed, implemented, and evaluated educational programs. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from UCLA and completed a two-year National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral fellowship in the Division of Child Psychiatry. Dr. Paparella oversees the daily activities of ECPHP staff. She is actively involved in all aspects of the comprehensive evaluation and treatment of children with autism from 18 months to four years of age. She works closely with parents to support and educate them in all aspects of their child's treatment. Dr. Paparella provides ongoing clinical instruction for students, interns, and fellows from different specialties, and her research has focused on the development of core deficits in young children with autism.