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Michael Siller, PhD
Program Director
Associate Professor, Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics
Michael Siller, PhD, received his doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to joining the faculty at Emory University in 2016, Dr. Siller held a position as associate professor of psychology at Hunter College of The City University of New York.
Dr. Siller published the first pair of longitudinal studies to show that responsive parental behaviors reliably predict the long-term (16-year) language gains in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). He also completed two clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of focused playtime intervention, a parent-coaching intervention that aims to improve the quality of parent-child communication during shared toy play.
In addition, Dr. Siller has collaborated with primary care and Early Head Start providers to enhance early identification of autism in ethnically diverse and low-resource communities. His articles have been published in a number of leading journals, including Developmental Psychology, the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and the Journal of Early Intervention. Dr. Siller coedited the "Handbook of Parent-Implemented Interventions for Very Young Children with Autism”.
Dr. Siller codirects education sciences research at Marcus Autism Center, as well as the Preschool Program. He collaborates with his colleagues to develop, evaluate and implement community-viable educational innovations for children, adolescents and young adults with autism in Georgia and beyond.
Publications
- Hotez, E., Shane-Simpson, C., Obeid, R., DeNigris, D., Siller, M., Costikas, C., Pickens, J., Massa, A., Giannola, M., D'Onofrio, J., & Gillespie-Lynch, K. (2018). Designing a summer transition program for incoming and current college students on the autism spectrum: A participatory approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 46.
- Siller, M., Hotez, E., Swanson, M., Delavenne, A., Hutman, T., & Sigman, M. (2018). Parent coaching increases the parents' capacity for reflection and self-evaluation: results from a clinical trial in autism. Attachment and Human Development, 20 (3), 287–308.
- Kasari, C., Siller, M., Huynh, L. N., Shih, W., Swanson, M., Hellemann, G. S., & Sugar, C. A. (2014). Randomized controlled trial of parental responsiveness intervention for toddlers at high risk for autism. Infant Behavior and Development, 37 (4), 711-721.
- Morgan, L., Leatzow, A., Clark, S., & Siller, M. (2014). Interview skills for adults with autism spectrum disorder: a pilot randomized controlled trial.Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44 (9), 2290-2300.
- Siller, M., Swanson, M., Gerber, A., Hutman, T., & Sigman, M. (2014). A parent-mediated intervention that targets responsive parental behaviors increases attachment behaviors in children with ASD: results from a randomized clinical trial. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(7), 1720-1732.
- Siller, M., Swanson, M. R., Serlin, G., & George, A. (2014). Internal State Language in the Storybook Narratives of Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder: Investigating Relations to Theory of Mind Abilities. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8 (5), 589-596.
- Swanson, M. R., & Siller, M. (2014). Brief report: broad autism phenotype in adults is associated with performance on an eye-tracking measure of joint attention. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44 (3), 694-702.
- Eilam-Stock, T., Xu, P., Cao, M., Gu, X., Van Dam, N. T., Anagnostou, E., Kolevzon, A., Soorya, L., Park, Y., Siller, M., He, Y., Hof, P. R., & Fan, J. (2014). Abnormal autonomic and associated brain activities during rest in autism spectrum disorder. Brain: A Journal of Neurology, 137 (Pt 1), 153-171.
- Erstenyuk, V., Swanson, M. R., & Siller, M. (2014). Pupillary responses during a joint attention task are associated with nonverbal cognitive abilities and sub-clinical symptoms of autism. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8 (6), 644-653.
Speaking Engagements
- Siller, M. (2018, April). Focused playtime intervention: Engaging young children with autism in shared toy play. Presented at the 9th Annual Chattanooga Autism Conference, Chattanooga, TN.
- Siller, M. (2018, April). Feeding the brains of students with autism: Social emotional learning in the classroom. Presented at the 9th Annual Chattanooga Autism Conference, Chattanooga, TN.
- Siller, M. (2018, January). Parent-mediated interventions to increase responsive parental behaviors and child communication in autism. Presented as part of the Ralph George Family Lecture Series, Berry College, Rome, GA.
- Siller, M. (2017, August). Feeding the brains of students with autism: Social skills instruction or a context for social emotional learning? Presented at the North Georgia Autism Conference, Dalton, GA.
- Morgan, L., & Siller, M. (2016, November). Interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder: From the clinic to the classroom. Presented at Egleston Grand Rounds, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA.
Media Placements
- Fox5 (March 2018). Atlanta preschool teaches autistic and 'typical' two-year old's social skills.
- WSBTV (May 2018). Marcus Autism Center gives pre-school children a head start on learning.