Dr. Laura Grofer Klinger, Ph.D.

Dr. Laura Grofer Klinger is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama. She is a clinical child psychologist whose research and clinical work focuses on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).   She is the Director of the University of Alabama Autism Spectrum Disorders Research Clinic, the Director of the University of Alabama Autism Spectrum Disorders College Transition and Support Program, and the Coordinator of the Clinical Child Psychology graduate program at the University of Alabama.  Dr. Klinger received her B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University, her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Washington, and completed her clinical internship at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Klinger’s research focuses on learning differences that underlie the social and language symptoms of autism spectrum disorders. 

She also conducts research examining the effectiveness of social skills interventions for individuals with autism.  She has received funding from NIH to study implicit learning in individuals with ASD and Down syndrome and served as a member of the NIH Child Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities study section.  She is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.  She is the chairperson for the Alabama Autism Conference, an annual conference that provides interdisciplinary training for more than 500 professionals.