James Adams, Ph.D. is a President’s Professor at Arizona State University, where he directs the Autism/Asperger’s Research Program. His research is focused is on the causes of autism and how to treat it. He is also president of the Autism Society of Greater Phoenix, and co-leader of the Autism Research Institute Think Tank. He is the proud father of a daughter with autism.

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Lois Jean Brady is a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist, Certified Autism Specialist (CAS) & Assistive Technology Specialist. Career accomplishments include: Benjamin Franklin Award for, Apps for Autism, and an Ursula Award for Autism Today TV. Lois is also registered in Animal Assisted Therapy and Computer Based Intervention. In addition to Apps for Autism, she has co-authored Speech in Action and Speak, Move, Play and Learn with Children on the Autism Spectrum. Currently she is researching and developing products to enhance communication.

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Dr. Edwards is a Consulting Pediatrician working in Chatham-Kent, Ontario. She completed her pediatric residency in Toronto, at the Hospital for Sick Children, where she was chosen to act as chief resident in her final year. Dr. Edwards also has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and before attending medical school, worked as an oncology nurse at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Dr. Edwards' own son was diagnosed with autism at the age of three. He is now fully verbal, with a wonderful sense of humour and lots of friends. He has never required an Educational Assistant or modifications to the school curriculum and achieves excellent grades.

Dr. Edwards now has a large autism practice seeing children with autism from all across Ontario and Canada. She currently sits on the board of the Autism Canada Foundation and the Option Institute of America, where the Son-Rise program for autism was developed.

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Doreen Granpeesheh, Ph.D., is clinical psychologist. She is the Founder and is Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD), a clinic that implements early, intensive Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy. Dr. Granpeesheh is also the founder and president of ACT Today! (Autism Care and Treatment Today!), which provides financial support to families who are unable to pay for validated treatment. Dr. Granpeesheh also co-created Skills—an online assessment and ABA treatment guide for children with autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders.

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David Humphrey is an attorney and President, C.E.O., and owner of Kirkman Group, Inc., a group of companies including Kirkman®, a nutraceutical company, Kirkman Labs, a pharmaceutical company and he is co-owner of Purity Laboratories, Inc, an environmental laboratory.

He is a National Board Member of the Northwest Autism Foundation, THE FORUM, Neurological Health Foundation, and a co-founder of Autism Treatment Network, a joint project with 20 top tier-treating hospitals.

Mr. Humphrey is the co-founder and Director of the physician training group, Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs (MAPS).

He was also executive vice chairman and Board Member of the Autism Society of America and the Autism Research Institute.

For the past 11 years, Mr. Humphrey has devoted much of his time to the research and study of autism.

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Tom Malterre MS, CN holds both a Bachelors and Masters degree in nutrition from Bastyr University. Tom is a faculty member of the Autism Research Institute, a member of the medical affairs team at Thorne Research, and a clinical nutritionist for Whole Life Nutrition. Mr. Malterre has trained with the Institute for Functional Medicine for the last 7 years and is soon to be one of the first practitioners with an advanced certification in functional medicine. He specializes in whole body wellness, looking at all factors of a person's life to bring about healing. Stress, environmental toxicants, nutritional deficiencies, and epigenetics all contribute to a decline in health. Whole Life Nutrition encompasses all aspects of life to get to the root of the health issues.

Mr. Malterre co-authored, with his wife, the best-selling cookbook, The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook, with over 50,000 copies sold, as well as their newest cookbook and guidebook for raising healthy children, Nourishing Meals. He and his wife have five beautiful children and enjoy organic gardening, wild harvesting, hiking in the mountains, food preserving, and cooking together as a family.

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Friendships, occupy a central place in children’s social lives. Research suggests that friendship is not only associated with children’s social, emotional and cognitive development but is also a determining factor for social adaptation and adjustment (Hartup, 1996; Ladd, 1990). Studies show that children with mutual friends are more socially competent and better adjusted than children without friends. These children tend to have higher self-esteem, are more sociable and cooperative, and better able to cope with change and manage interpersonal conflicts (Berndt, 2002; Gest et al., 2001). Further, children with positive and stable friendships exhibit higher engagement, better adjustment and greater achievement in school (Berndt, 1999). Studies also reveal that children without close friends are decidedly lonelier than children with close friends (Parker & Asher, 1993). The presence of even one close friend has been associated with a child’s happiness and sense of belonging.

Children on the autism spectrum encounter significant challenges learning how to play and socialize with peers (Boucher & Wolfberg, 2003; Wolfberg & Schuler, 2006). Hallmarks of ASD include a “lack of varied and imaginative or imitative play” as well as a “failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level”. Problems in these areas are intricately tied to characteristic impairments in reciprocal social interaction, communication and imagination (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).

Despite inherent problems, there is strong evidence to suggest that children with ASD share many of the same desires and capacities for play, companionship and peer group acceptance as typical children (Bauminger & Kasari, 2000; Boucher & Wolfberg, 2003; Jordan, 2003). What differs is that their intentions are expressed in ways that are uniquely their own. Unfortunately, their subtle or awkward attempts to socialize and play are frequently misinterpreted by peers as signs of deviance or limited social interest. Without a system of support, they are highly vulnerable to being rejected or neglected by peers and thus deprived of opportunities to actualize their potential to socialize and play.

Friend 2 Friend Model. The Friend 2 Friend (F2F) model was developed out of deep concern for children who face peer rejection, neglect and bullying. The model is designed to foster mutual friendships between children with ASD and they peers by building awareness, empathy and understanding in their peers, siblings and classmates (McCracken, 2004; 2005abc; 2009, 2010, Wolfberg, McCracken & Tuchel, (2009). Friend 2 Friend offers innovative educational programs that include Puppet Presentations targeting children (ages 3-11) and Simulation-Game Presentations targeting children (ages 12 and up). These programs are designed in an age-appropriate and sensitive manner, offering demystification by modeling, labeling, explaining and normalizing characteristics of autism and providing prosocial communications strategies to help peers socialize and play with a child with autism.

Geared to educators, clinicians and families, this presentation will use videos and hands-on activities to introduce the principles and practices of the Friend 2 Friend model while illustrating the experiences of a wide range of children representing diverse ages, abilities, cultural, linguistic, ethnic and socio-economic groups. .