Raun D. Melmed, MD, is a developmental and behavioral pediatrician and Director of the Melmed
Center in Scottsdale, Arizona and co-founder and Medical Director of the Southwest Autism Research
and Resource Center. He is on faculty at ASU and is an Adjunct Senior Researcher at the Translational
Genomics Institute in Phoenix. Dr. Melmed earned his medical degree at the University of Cape
Town, South Africa, a residency in Pediatrics at Brookdale Hospital in New York, and a fellowship at
the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston, where he was an Instructor at Harvard Medical
School. He has made presentations nationally and internationally. He is the co-author of Succeeding
with Difficult Children and Autism: Early Intervention. Autism and the Extended Family is due for
publication Summer of 2015
Dr. Melmed has set up physician training programs for the early identification of infants and toddlers
with developmental and behavioral concerns and authored a program geared toward the early
screening for autism spectrum disorders. He is currently an investigator of studies of novel
psychopharmacological agents in the treatment of ADHD, autism and Fragile X and of diagnostic tools
geared towards early identification of children with ASD.
Autism in the Doctor’s Office
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How to perform ASD screening
o Early Screening
o Screening in middle childhood
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What to look for on history and physical
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How the diagnosis is made
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Diagnostic testing
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CARS, GARS
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ADI
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ADOS
Assessing parents’ understanding
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Developmental Assessment
Reviewing the grieving process
Early intervention
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The team
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Clinic based
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At home
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Modalities
What treatment helps
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Core symptoms
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Health supervision
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A child first who just happens to have autism!
Co-occurring disorders
Autism and Behavior
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DSM 5
o How things have changed
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Which treatments help?
o
Core symptoms
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Associated medical problems
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Associated psychiatric concerns
Early Intervention
o The team
o Clinic based
o At home
o Modalities
§ ABA
§ Naturalistic developmental behavioral approaches
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Managing behavior
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Understanding behavior
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Behavior is communication
Language
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Speech therapy
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Communication temptations
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Link of communication
Medical symptoms and how they impact behavior
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GI Symptoms
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Sleep
o
Anxiety