Bonnie Klein-Tasman, Ph.D. (she/her)
I am a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. I am also the director of the Child Neurodevelopment Research Lab and the UWM Child Assessment Clinic.
I completed my Ph.D. in Psychology at Emory University, with specializations in Clinical Psychology and Cognition & Development, and an internship in Child Clinical Psychology. I also had post-doctoral training in Pediatric Neuropsychology at the University of Chicago, Department of Psychiatry. As director of the UWM Child Neurodevelopment Research Lab, my research focuses on the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral characteristics of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. I have published research about the cognitive, adaptive, and personality characteristics of children with Williams syndrome, about the behavioral phenotype of children with 7q11.23 Duplication syndrome, and about the cognitive and behavioral phenotype of children with neurofibromatosis type 1.
Current research projects in the Child Neurodevelopment Research Lab related to Williams syndrome include development and dissemination of a manualized developmentally-informed cognitive-behavior therapy intervention for the treatment of anxiety and fear in young children with Williams syndrome. Current research related to neurofibromatosis type 1 includes longitudinal examination of cognitive and psychosocial functioning beginning in the preschool years, social, cognitive, and academic outcomes in school-age children with NF1, the reliability and validity of measures of attention in the preschool years, the effectiveness of a telehealth group intervention to improve the social functioning of teens with NF1, and neural indicators of attention difficulties in children with NF1.
My current teaching activities largely consist of graduate teaching (guest lectures in Assessment and Developmental Psychopathology), graduate clinical supervision (primarily within the Assessment Practicum), and graduate and undergraduate research mentorship within the Child Neurodevelopment Research Lab.
I also serve as faculty in the Wisconsin LEND: Milwaukee Link program that provides interdisciplinary leadership training to graduate trainees and practitioners from the areas of occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech language pathology, nursing, exceptional education, and psychology.
I currently have a half time administrative appointment as Associate Dean for Research Professional Development in the Graduate School and the Office of Research.
Outside the University, I serve as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders and on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. I also serve on the Clinical Care Advisory Board of the Children’s Tumor Foundation and on the Scientific Advisory Boards of both the Williams Syndrome Association and Duplication Cares.