Including Neurodiverse Workers into Self-Directed Teams

Barry is Research & Operations Director, for Nathan Speech Services, LLC., located in Pittsburgh, PA. An industrial-organizational psychologist by training, much of his early work was as a researcher or consultant on organizational culture, employee selection, and performance management. He published a book, book chapters and numerous articles on performance management, selection, and training. In 2018 his article, Employee Engagement in Nonprofit Organizations was one of the 20 most downloaded articles in Employee Relations Today. He has also published two trade journal articles on safety and personality. Over the past six years he has committed himself to autism. He became interested in autism through his wife, Janice Nathan, MS., CCC-SLP, whose private practice specializes in working with autistic individuals. Janice grew up in an autistic family, and received an autism diagnosis in November, 2021. With Janice, he is coauthor of Building Reasoning and Problem-solving Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Thinking in Speech® Intervention (2018), Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Ltd.

Barry and Janice’s autism research includes “Turning Behavior and Anxiety into Communication for Social Problem-Solving by Thinking in Speech®,” presented at the 12th Annual International Autism Europe Congress, in Nice, France (September, 2019); and two current funded research projects at the University of Pittsburgh: “Addressing Autism in African American Families,” led by Dr. Valire Carr Copeland of the School of Social Work, and “Neurocognitive Therapy for Children with Autism,” led by Dr. Barbara Baumann of Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine. Their research poster, “Innovative Neurocognitive Therapy Intervention for Autistic Children: Preliminary Results from a Remote, Synchronous Training Program for SLPs” will be presented at the INSAR 2022 Annual Meeting. In 2019, Barry and Janice participated in the NSF-funded Pitt Ventures First Gear program of the Pitt Innovation Institute, the only clinical project invited to participate. In 2020, Thinking in Speech was one of only nine recipients to received a Pitt Innovation Challenge (PInCh) award from the University of Pittsburgh Clinical & Translational Science Institute (https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfwjx24cst8). Their manuscript, “Thinking in Speech: A neurocognitive intervention to help autistic individuals improve their self-regulation ability,” will be submitted for peer review publication in Fall, 2023.

Barry was the facilitator of a panel discussion on “Autism and the School-to-Prison Pipeline,” presented at the 2019 University of Pittsburgh School of Education Center for Urban Education Summer Educator Forum (CUESEF), and a co-presenter with Jamie Upshaw, M.S., Executive Director of Autism Urban Connections Inc., at the 2019 Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership Summit, “Addressing Autism in the Black Community: Autism Urban Connections, Inc.” Barry is a blogger for Therapist Neurodiversity Collective, Inc. (therapistndc.org), where he writes about problems with Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). Barry was an honorable mention for 2018 Noir Nation Golden Fedora Poetry Prize in International Crime Fiction.

David B. Camp, PE is a New York State licensed (#049035) and Michigan State licensed (#5216752) Professional Engineer with over 40 years of experience in industry. He has gained expertise in new product development, product launch, leadership and management, empowerment, planning and organizing, creative and nonconventional problem solving, and team building and communications, just to name a few.
Specifically, David has worked as Operations Manager for Quality Liaison Services where he handled all operations for the company, including setting up projects, all personnel management, troubleshooting, inventory control and billing.
He has also worked as Project Manager, on-site, at Ford Motor Company where he worked on the Super duty Platform to assist with their Lean Enterprise initiative which retained the position of most profitable platform at Ford.
In addition, he has worked as project manager for Eastman Kodak Co. where he diversified project management accomplishments, not only in discipline but also in dollar size ($10K to $20MM). He was responsible for project plans and led research, design, development, and launch of a motion picture film, hailed by customers as "the best color print film in the world." He also led the development and launch of an MV copier (OEM product) which later became the model for all OEM copier products.
With the same company, he worked as Corporate Commercialization Process where he designed an interactive training course for over 100 people which resulted in higher quality work efforts and less time needed to work. He gained specialization as a change agent. He also worked as a consultant/facilitator for top management to create strategic 5-year plans by contributing a neutral perspective and diverse business experiences from other business units. As plant engineer, he managed two paper mills and increased cost reductions, efficiency, and safety.