About Dr. gardner

Dr. Sarah Gardner is a Neuropsychologist and Licensed Psychologist with experience providing neuropsychological, psychological, autism, developmental (5-years old and younger), and achievement testing. Prior to earning her Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology degree from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Washington D.C., Dr. Gardner worked as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor after graduating from Johns Hopkins University with a Masters of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in 2015. She also holds a Masters of Arts in Clinical Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Her two-year Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Pediatric Neuropsychology was completed at Moore Counseling Center in Oklahoma assessing children for autism and testing children with epilepsy, cerebral palsy, tumors, genetic conditions, and many other medical challenges. She also holds a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Autism Studies from Towson University, as well as a Certificate in Choice Theory/Reality Therapy from the William Glasser Institute.

Therapy: Dr. Gardner’s experience as a therapist is vast, working with most mental health conditions ranging anywhere from mood disorders, trauma responses, sexual conditions, and severe mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, etc.), neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g., autism). Dr. Gardner has training and experience providing pivotal response training and other modified applied behavior analysis umbrella therapies to children with autism spectrum disorder, with prior employment with various Autism Waiver agencies in Maryland. Dr. Gardner provides individual therapy to patients across the lifespan, including older adults. For adults, Dr. Gardner is a Certified Community Provider for Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), a 12-15 session, evidence-based therapy to treat PTSD and other trauma conditions, with experience working with our Nation’s Veterans along with civilians with other trauma related experiences. Additionally, Dr. Gardner offers Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), a 6-session therapy for adults to address insomnia. Sometimes patients just need to address better managing life stressors and Dr. Gardner provides interventions for this, as well.

Autism: Dr. Gardner is an expert in assessing for autism spectrum disorder in children with and without medical conditions. Her training has provided her with a strong background in testing children of all ages, including infants and toddlers. Autism-specific experiences include working with Autism Waiver agencies in the capacity of an individual therapist providing Discrete Trial Training, Pivotal Response Training, and modified ABA to children on the spectrum and in the capacity of Family Consultant; providing autism neuropsychological evaluations at Children’s National Medical Center; providing in-home and in-clinic individual therapy and family therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental conditions at Community Services for Autistic Adults and Children; and working at Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Center for Autism and Related Disorders.