Cooper R WoodardCooper R. Woodard, PhD, has been working in the field of developmental disabilities for the past 30 years. He came to work at the Groden Center in 2002 as the Clinical Director at the school, and is currently Chief Clinical Officer of the program. Dr Woodard has many years of experience in the field of autism, working with children, adolescents, and adults with presentations of this disorder across the spectrum. His training ranges from object relations to behavioral psychology, which provided the knowledge base for much of his work. Dr. Woodard's research areas have included the application of positive psychology concepts to persons with autism, the use of Dextromethorphan as a treatment of behavioral symptoms associated with autism, and sensory sensitivity in autism. He created the only scale that currently exists that assesses positive character strengths in persons with developmental disabilities (ASPeCT-DD), and has a number of publications in the positve psychology area of courage. He has been an adjunct professor at Wheaton College in Norton, MA, and the University of Rhode Island. Most recently, he has focused on a novel theory of how autism may development as a result of altered identification with objects and people. This theory, entitled the Dynamic Behavior Theory of Autism (DBTA) suggests that autism stems from an early impairment in the ability to meta-represent or think about. Read More Read Less