SPEAKER BIOS AND PRESENTATIONS
THIS PAGE IS BEING UPDATED, CHECK BACK SOON FOR FURTHER ADDITIONS.
Maranie Adams
Professional Background:
Maranie is a wife and the mother of 3 boys
. The youngest, Dean, is 11 and affected by autism.. She is the
owner and co-moderator of Chelatingkids2 , a Yahoo! support group
with over 4,300 members. She has served as a
state representative for Unlocking Autism and is currently the
Secretary/Treasurer of the National Autism Association of
Mississippi. Maranie is employed as a tax preparation specialist
and has extensive knowledge regarding deductions related to autism
and its treatments and therapies.
Session Description:
Income taxes and Disabilities--- What is
deductible?
Itemizing deductions
Medical- what is allowable? What isn't?
Publication 502
Mileage, out of town stays, conferences and other often forgotten
deductions
Record Keeping
Timothy Adams
Timothy A. Adams, Esq: Mr. Adams
received his Bachelor¹s degree from the University of
California, Irvine and his Juris Doctorate degree from
Pepperdine University School of Law. He has served as an adjunct
professor and Associate Director of the Special Education
Advocacy Clinic, Pepperdine University School of Law. He is
actively involved in educating parents through presentations to
disability rights organizations and parent support groups
including speaker at Autism One (2005-2007), the National Autism
Association (2005 & 2007) and the National Epilepsy Foundation Annual
Conference (2001). He has been interviewed and quoted in
publications including the Daily Journal (2001), the Orange
County Register and the nationally published magazine Parenting
(March 2003); He is the managing partner at Roberts & Adams.
Session Description:
Special Education Law: Intensive
Training for Parents
See Workshop Description for
complete details.
Lynne Arnold
Professional Background:
Lynne Arnold is the chapter director for Talk
About Curing Autism (TACA) of Visalia, CA and an Autism One
parent mentor. Through community activism and advocacy as well
as conference presentations and mentoring, she helps parents to
understand their child's rights to appropriate interventions and
education. Lynne is the editor of Autism: Asserting Your Child¹s
Rights to a Special Education by David A. Sherman. This is her
second year presenting at the NAA Conference and has also
presented at Autism One and for other autism groups.
Session Description:
Special Education Law: Intensive
Training for Parents
See Workshop Description for
complete details.
Jeffrey Bradstreet, MD, FAAFP
Professional Background:
Dr. Bradstreet graduated from the University of South Florida
College of Medicine and received his residency training from
Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center. As a flight surgeon, he was
involved in aerospace medicine research, and has extensive
experience and training in environmental medicine and
toxicology. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Family
Physicians and a member of the American College of Toxicology.
He is involved in autism related outcome studies and
environmental research with the University of Washington and
UCLA and serves as a adjunct Professor of Child Development and
Neuroscience at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in
Tempe, Arizona. He has offices in Florida and Arizona and is
internationally recognized as a lecturer and researcher in
autism. His son, Matthew, is recovering from autism with the
combined help of biomedical and behavioral interventions.
Session Description: TBA
Julie A. Buckley, MD,
FAAP
Professional Background:
Dr. Buckley is a pediatrician who developed an abiding interest in
Autism Spectrum Disorders when her daughter regressed into the world
of autism at four years of age. Her daughter’s dramatic recovery
ignited a passion for helping other families similarly affected. The
addition of mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy to her practice has
resulted in universally positive changes in children on the autism
spectrum. She maintains a unique practice in Ponte Vedra Beach,
Florida where neurotypical primary care pediatrics meets the DAN!
(Defeat Autism Now!) based approach to healing children on the
autism spectrum. In addition, she has developed a patented
antioxidant formula for peri-vaccination and peri-oxidative stress
use. She co-founded and is the Executive Director of AMEN! (Autism
Music Education Now!), a unique music education program being
piloted at her church. Dr. Buckley also co-founded and is President
of HEAL! (Healing Every Autistic Life!), a non-profit foundation
dedicated to Education about, Awareness of, Treatment for, Research
into, and Prevention of Autism Spectrum Disorder. She is actively
involved in research, writing a book, and raising a family with the
help of a wonderfully supportive husband and mother.
Session Description: TBA
Doreen Granpeesheh, Ph.D., B.C.B.A.
Professional Background:
Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh is the Founder and Executive Director of the
Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) and President of the
Board of Autism Care and Treatment Today (ACT Today).
Dr. Granpeesheh received her Ph.D. in Psychology from UCLA and is
licensed by the Medical Board of California, the Texas State Board
of Psychologists and the Arizona State Board of Psychologist
Examiners.
Dr. Granpeesheh holds a Certificate of Professional Qualification in
Psychology from the Association of State and Provincial Psychology
Boards, is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and has been
providing behavioral therapy since 1979.
In 1990, Dr. Granpeesheh founded The Center for Autism and Related
Disorders (CARD) and through its 17 offices worldwide, she has
provided diagnosis, assessment and behavioral treatment for
thousands of children with Autism and related disorders.
In 2005, Dr. Granpeesheh founded Autism Care and Treatment Today, a
non profit organization that provides support and funding to
families of children with Autism. In addition, Dr. Granpeesheh is
also a principle member of the Thoughtful House Center for Children,
a charity organization that provides behavioral services in
collaboration with medical treatment and research.
Dr. Granpeesheh is member of the Defeat Autism Now Executive
Council, on the Scientific Advisory Board of the US Autism and
Asperger’s Association and First Vice Chair of the National Board of
Directors of the Autism Society of America.
Session Description: TBA
 David Kirby
Professional Background:
David Kirby is an investigative journalist and the author of
"Evidence of Harm - Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic:
A Medical Controversy"
Session Description:
Mr. Kirby will present an update on many of the recent
developments from the vaccine-autism debate, from the fields of
science, law, policy and politics. Among the subjects he will
discuss are a recent case in the US Vaccine Court in which the
federal government conceded that vaccines induced autism in one
little girl – and updates on other cases in the court; Growing
evidence of a link between mitochondrial dysfunction and
autistic regression, and case studies of several ASD children
with mitochondrial issues; State-of-the-art research underway at
top universities on the connection between environmental toxins,
mitochondrial function, oxidative stress, glutathione depletion,
neuro-inflammation and autistic encephalopathy; Declarations by
leading politicians that autism is epidemic and calling for more
research into vaccines and mercury as possible causes; Recent
studies linking ASD risk with heavy metals and other
contaminants in air pollution.
Laura Marshak
Professional Background:
Laura Marshak is a professor in the Department
of Counseling at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and NAA Advisory
Board Member. In addition,
she is a licensed psychologist at North Hills Psychological Services
where she works with many parents of children with disabilities as
well as others. Her expertise includes professional and personal
experience. She has written five books on aspects of adjustment to
disability. Many of her publications have been with Fran Prezant.
Session Description:
The co-author of Married with Special-Needs
Children [a couple’s guide to staying connected] will lead a
workshop based on this book but tailored specifically to families
with children on the autism spectrum. Topics covered in the
workshop include how parents can protect their relationships, coping
with problems such as spousal denial, disagreements over child
rearing, and managing stress. In addition, attention will be paid to
strategies that strengthen marriage and long-term relationships and
some insights obtained from some of the hundreds of couples who
participated in the research for this book.
Julie Matthews
 Professional Background:
Julie Matthews is a Certified Nutrition
Consultant specializing in autism spectrum disorders (as well as
healthy pregnancy and babies). She provides parents and
practitioners who believe recovery is possible with the proven
scientific understanding of why diets help. Her work and her book,
Nourishing Hope, are based on a fundamental comprehension of the
biochemistry of ASDs and the role of nutrition to restore health.
She presents at the leading biomedical autism conferences, teaches
cooking classes, hosts a weekly radio show, and has a private
nutrition practice in San Francisco.
Session Description:
Nourishing our children through food and
essential nutrients is an important first step to healing autism.
Julie will give a high-level overview of the respective autism diet
options discussed in the autism community– including GFCF, SCD, Body
Ecology, Feingold, low oxalate, and more. Her presentation will
include the scientific rationale for dietary intervention, the
foundations of a healthy diet, making changes that work for the
whole family, and tips for picky eaters.
Mitchel D. Perlman, Ph.D.
Professional Background:
Mitchel D. Perlman, Ph.D., focuses on the
assessment and treatment of children and adolescents who have
specialized needs and/or who are involved in
chaotic-intense-traumatic-critical situations. Known for the
comprehensiveness of his investigatory assessments (psychodiagnostic,
psychoeducational, neurocognitive), Dr. Perlman is often called on
to be the impartial independent examiner in juvenile, family, civil
and special education proceedings. He lends his expertise and keen
insights to children/teens who have stepped away from the mainstream
and/or who have gotten themselves in over their heads emotionally,
legally or in relation to others. He is involved in assessing some
of the most fascinating individuals, and he has a knack for
detecting and/or explaining things that have often gone unnoticed or
that have been misunderstood. For example, in many children who had
been diagnosed with autism and mental retardation, Dr.
Perlman has found near-gifted to gifted
intelligence and has been instrumental in guiding parents to the
resources to unlock it.
Session Description:
Special Education Law: Intensive Training
for Parents
See Workshop Description for complete
details.
 Dan Rossignol, MD, FAAFP
Professional Background:
Dr. Dan Rossignol received his Doctorate of
Medicine at the Medical College of Virginia and completed his
residency in family medicine at the University of Virginia. He is
now a staff physician at the International Child Development
Resource Center (ICDRC) in Melbourne, FL. The father of two children
with autism, ages seven and five, he has written several papers,
including three on the use of HBOT in autism, one on the use of
urinary porphyrins data in autism, and another on mitochondrial
dysfunction in autism.
Session Description: TBA
Anju Usman, MD
Professional Background:
Dr. Usman is director of True Health Medical Center in
Naperville, Illinois. She specializes in the treatment of
biochemical imbalances in children with ADD and Autism. She has
been involved in research involving copper/zinc imbalances,
metallothionein dysfunction, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and
chronic infections in ASD patients. She is actively involved in
the Defeat Autism Now (DAN) movement as a speaker and
researcher. Her treatment philosophy is discussed in the book
“Healing the New Childhood Epidemics” by Dr. Ken Bock. Dr. Usman
received her medical degree from Indiana University. She
completed a residency in Family Practice at Cook County
Hospital, in Chicago, Illinois and is board certified in Family
Practice. Session Description: TBA
Andrew J. Wakefield, MD
 Professional Background:
Dr Wakefield is an academic gastroenterologist. Trained as a GI
surgeon and experimental gastroenterologist in London and Toronto.
Published widely on inflammatory bowel disease and latterly, autism
and its links to intestinal disease.
Session Description:
TBA |
