CARD® Founder

Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh has dedicated over forty years to helping individuals with autism lead healthy, productive lives. She is licensed as a psychologist in California, Texas, Virginia, Oregon, Colorado, Michigan and Arizona and holds a Certificate of Professional Qualification in Psychology from the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards. She is a doctoral level Board Certified Behavior Analyst and is licensed as a behavior analyst in Arizona, New York, Nevada, Louisiana and Virginia.

Dr. Granpeesheh began her studies in autism as an undergraduate at UCLA earning a bachelor’s degree in 1984, and a Master’s degree in psychology in 1987, followed by a Ph.D. in psychology from UCLA in 1990. While completing her degrees, Dr. Granpeesheh worked with Dr. Ivar Lovaas on the groundbreaking outcome study published in 1987 which showed a recovery rate of close to 50% among the study’s research participants. Dr. Granpeesheh built on Dr. Lovaas’s work, developing the CARD Model, which is a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to treating autism. 

In 1990, Dr. Granpeesheh founded the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, also known as CARD.  Under Dr. Granpeesheh’s 30 years of leadership, CARD became one of the world’s largest providers of ABA-based treatment for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. With over 260 locations throughout the United States and internationally, CARD employed over 6,000 highly skilled professionals, and was a leading employer of Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) providing behavioral treatment to thousands of families worldwide. 

CARD’s highly regarded behavior management and skill acquisition programs were the culmination of decades of research in the field of autism treatment. As part of the nation’s third largest non-governmental organization contributing to autism research, CARD researchers published groundbreaking studies that contributed significantly to the field of autism treatment research. In 2011, Dr. Granpeesheh founded Autism Research Group, a nonprofit organization whose mission was to identify and conduct treatment research that improves the quality of life for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. 

To increase access to evidence-based treatment, Dr. Granpeesheh founded Skills™, an innovative web-based platform that optimizes treatment programs for individuals with autism spectrum disorder.  Skills™ provides comprehensive assessment and curriculum, positive support planning for challenging behavior, progress tracking, and treatment evaluation.  and enables healthcare professionals, teachers, parents, and/or caregivers to design and manage comprehensive, individualized treatment programs for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder as well as tracking progress in real time by collecting and uploading data electronically.

From 1990 to 2019, as CARD’s CEO and chief clinician, Dr. Granpeesheh developed extensive state-of-the-art training programs for CARD’s clinical employees, parents and caregivers, and school personnel.  As demand for CARD training programs increased, Dr. Granpeesheh established the Institute for Behavioral Training which provides web-based and in-person training programs targeting the specific training needs of school districts, parents and caregivers, physicians, and autism treatment providers.

Dr. Granpeesheh has been a member of numerous scientific and advisory boards including the US Autism and Asperger’s Association, The Autism File Journal, Autism 360-Medigenesis, the 4-A Healing Foundation and the Defeat Autism Now coalition.  In addition, Dr. Granpeesheh has served on the National Board of Directors of the Autism Society of America (ASA), the practice board of The Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) as well as the Autism Human Rights and Discrimination Initiative Steering Committee, the Early Intervention Taskforce of the Senate Select Committee on Autism and Related Disorders and the Oversight Committee of the Department of Developmental Disabilities. 

In 2008, Dr. Granpeesheh produced and co-directed the documentary “Recovered: Journeys through the Autism Spectrum and Back”, a film about 4 children diagnosed with Autism who, after three years of intensive intervention, recovered and now lead productive and healthy lives. This documentary received significant recognition including “Best Documentary” in the Director’s Chair Film Festival, official selection in the Victoria Independent Film Festival and special recognition in the ReelHeART International Film Festival of Toronto.  

As one of the foremost experts in autism diagnosis and treatment, Dr. Granpeesheh has appeared on numerous TV shows including Dr. Phil, the Doctors, Fox and Friends and other notable news segments to shed light on and answer questions regarding autism.  

In August 2009, her research entitled “Retrospective Analysis of Clinical Records in 38 Cases of Recovery from Autism” was published in the Annals of Clinical Psychiatry, showing that recovery from autism is possible with early, intensive intervention using ABA. This study echoed the results of Dr. Lovaas’s earlier study and garnered Dr. Granpeesheh the prestigious George Winokur Clinical Research Award.

In 2014, Dr. Granpeesheh co-authored the book Evidence-Based Treatment for Children with Autism, a comprehensive description of the model of treatment she developed over her 30 years of leadership at CARD. She has also authored over 50 peer reviewed publications on subjects concerning the diagnosis and treatment of Autism. In 2015, Dr. Granpeesheh co-authored a series of 4 articles that were published in the prestigious journal Pediatrics. These articles were the culmination of work from several think tanks concerning the early diagnosis and treatment of autism and continue to define the guiding principles of therapeutic process for medical and psychological professionals today.  

In 2020, the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis honored her by establishing the “Doreen Granpeesheh Fund for the Interdisciplinary Approach to the Treatment of Autism”, whose objective is to support educational pursuits that complement the behavioral treatment of autism with knowledge and expertise from related fields and with consideration of the individual as a whole. 

Dr. Granpeesheh remains committed to improving treatment efficacy by expanding the knowledge of behavior analysts to include a broad understanding of the diagnostic criteria, dietary protocols, and biomedical interventions currently in use for the treatment of autism.