Welcome to the third episode of In Other Words... We interview Dr. Jamie Barstein a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in the assessment and treatment of individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities such as autism across the lifespan. Dr. Barstein leads sex education groups for adolescents and young adults with ASD and is passionate about developing effective sex education programming and supports for neurodivergent adults. In this episode, she reflects on her previous work and her talk, "Let's Talk about Sex... Education! Sexuality and Sex Education for Neurodivergent Individuals." Listen to learn more! 

Welcome to the second episode of the UCLA Tarjan Center's podcast In Other Words! Today, we have invited Dr. Elina Veytsman to speak about her research and recent lecture entitled “Navigating the Road from Adolescence to Adulthood for Youth with and without Developmental Disabilities: Parent Perspectives.”

Dr. Elina Veytsman is a postdoctoral clinical psychology fellow at the UCLA PEERS Clinic, where she facilitates social skills, career skills, and dating skills programs for adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their parents, and trains mental health professionals and educators in the implementation of these programs. 

Dr. Veytsman earned her PhD in School Psychology at UC Riverside, where she studied the experience of parents of youth with developmental disabilities during their transition out of high school and into adulthood. Dr. Veytsman recently completed her Doctoral Psychology Internship at The Help Group, where she conducted individual therapy, parent training, and diagnostic assessments for youth with a range of neurodevelopmental conditions. 

Dr. Veytsman has conducted the PEERS program in both group and individual formats across clinical and school settings, and has researched the efficacy of the PEERS intervention for Latinx teens with ASD in the Inland Empire. In addition to publishing her research in top journals (e.g., the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders), Dr. Veytsman has presented at conferences around the world and has received several awards for her research, including the American Psychological Association’s student research award.

Thank you for listening to the first episode of the UCLA Tarjan Center Podcast, a series where we interview our speakers from the UCLA Tarjan Center Distinguished Lecture Series. Please join Kecia Weller, Self-Advocate for the Tarjan Center, as she interviews our first lecturers Dr. Camille Wilson, Sapna Shetty, and Dr. Jasper Estabillo. In their lecture titled, “Using Silence to Hear the Voices of the AAPI Community in Autism Diagnosis and Treatment,” our three lecturers cover the cultural complexities of working with AAPI families in clinical settings, and describe cultural considerations for diagnosis and treatments of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this episode, they explain the motivation for their research, the goal of their talk, and takeaways from the talk that be applied to our lives and experiences.