Biography

Dr. Barry M. Prizant is recognized as among the world’s leading scholars on autism and neurodiversity, and as an innovator of respectful, person- and family-centered approaches in supporting neurodivergent individuals. He currently is the Director of Childhood Communication Services, a private practice, and an Adjunct Professor of Communicative Disorders at the University of Rhode Island. Dr. Prizant has 50 years of experience as a clinician, an international consultant and researcher. He has served as an Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Brown University Medical School and held tenured professor appointments at Emerson College, Boston and Southern Illinois University.

Scholarship

Dr. Prizant has published five books, more than 150 articles and chapters, and is a co-author of The SCERTS Model: A Comprehensive Educational Approach, now being implemented in more than a dozen countries. He has been a two-time featured presenter (2013, 2017) at the United Nations World Autism Awareness Day in New York City and has given close to 1000 presentations in major universities and medical schools across the US and in more than 25 countries. Dr. Prizant’s recent book, Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism (Simon & Schuster, 2022 expanded edition) has been the best-selling book on autism since 2015, with the audiobook version that he narrated. It is now published in 26 languages and was ranked by Book Authority as #1 of the “100 best books on autism of all time”. Dr. Prizant also co-produces and hosts a podcast, Uniquely Human: The Podcast (www.uniquelyhuman.com) with his friend, Dave Finch, an autistic audio engineer and New York Times best-selling author.