Repetitive and Restricted Behaviors and Interests in Autism Spectrum Disorders: From Neurobiology to Behavior

Eynat Gal, Ph.D., is an occupational therapist specializing in the area of developmental disabilities and specifically in Autism spectrum disorders. She received her Ph.D., completing her doctoral dissertation, “An investigation of the relationship of sensory differences and intellectual level to stereotyped and self-injurious movements in children" in 2006. She received IMFAR's “Best Autism Dissertation Award” for this work in 2007. She is a faculty member of the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Haifa, Israel, where she is the head of the Masters program. Her research focuses on the investigation of underlying mechanisms that stand at the base of autistic behaviors, such as sensory and social deficits as well as functional aspects of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other developmental disabilities. She has developed several instruments for assessing developmental disorders, including a tool for assessing sensory processing disorders, vocational assessments to enable people with disabilities to participate in jobs according to their abilities, and an assessment for eating problems and patterns of children with ASD. She co-leads the Laboratory of Autism Research at the University of Haifa. Research funding has been received from Cure Autism Now, Autism Speaks Foundation, the EU, and various Israeli foundations. She is the adviser of masters- and doctorate-level students who currently investigate various aspects of repetitive and restrictive behaviors and interests (RRBI) in ASD. She publishes widely on developmental disabilities as ASD, including a book chapter on restricted behaviors and interests in ASD in the International Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Johnny L. Matson and Peter Sturmey, editors (Springer, 2011).

NuritYirmiya, Ph.D., earned her doctorate in Developmental and Clinical Psychology from UCLA and is currently a Professor of Psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where she served as the Chairperson of the Lafer Center for Women and Gender Studies and as Dean of Students. She is internationally known for her research in the field of autism, especially regarding the very early prodrome of autism. Professor Yirmiya served as the Associate Editor of the prestigious Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry as well as on many national and international committees. She has published more than 100 papers and co-edited 2 books as well as special issues in leading journals. From 2014 to 2016, she served as the Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Space in Israel, responsible for R&D policy making and funding of the Ministry on national and international levels. She also served as the chairperson of the Israeli National Council for the Advancement of Women in Science and Technology as well as a board member of the United-States Israel Binational Science Foundation and the acting co-chair of the German-Israel Foundation for Scientific Researchand Development.