Johnny Matson

Johnny Lee Matson (born 1951) is professor and distinguished research master in the Department of Psychology at Louisiana State University. He was also named to 'Thomson Reuters' 2014 list of "The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds," for his work in the social sciences. Matson is recognized for his work on development, assessment and treatment of co-morbid conditions in developmental intellectual disabilities. Matson has extensively researched people with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. However, his high number of self publications, self citations and peer review practices have been questioned by many in the field.

Matson was born on June 23, 1951, in Watseka, Illinois. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Biology from Eastern Illinois University in 1973, a Master of Science degree in Counseling Psychology, also from Eastern Illinois University the following year. Matson received a Ph.D. in Psychology from Indiana State University in 1976 and completed his internship in Clinical Psychology at Central Louisiana State Hospital, Pineville, Louisiana. He served as the program director at the Jemison Center, Partlow State School and Hospital, Tuscaloosa, Alabama from 1977 to 1978. Matson then accepted a position as assistant professor of child psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh from 1978 through 1981. Matson then moved to Illinois to accept a position at the Department of Learning, Developmental and Special Education, Northern Illinois University as an associate professor from 1981 through 1984 and Professor from 1984 through 1985. Since 1985, Matson been professor in the Department of Psychology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Matson has an extensive career researching and writing on people with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. He is currently the editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. With over 800 published journal articles and 46 books, Matson focuses attention on accurate assessment of various aspects of treatment and functioning of people with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. Matson has extensively researched and developed measures in the areas of psychotropic medication side effects, social skills of children and adults, psychopathology, symptoms of autism spectrum disorders, problem behavior, behavioral function, feeding problems, and seizure medication side effects. Due to the often limited verbal abilities of people with developmental disabilities, Matson supports the use of indirect assessment measures, as means of assessing symptoms, side-effects, and treatment progress.

Among the measures that Matson is credited with developing/co-developing is the Psychopathology Inventory for Mentally Retarded Adults (PIMRA), which was the first measure of psychopathology that was used to assess people with intellectual disabilities. Another is the Questions About Behavior Function (QABF) measure, an indirect functional assessment tool, which is the most extensively researched measure of its kind. Matson is also the co-developer of the Functional Assessment for Multiple Causality (FACT) measure, which has been found to have superior psychometric properties to the QABF, when a given behavior is reinforced by multiple factors.

Matson has been recognized for his efforts by the American Association of Publishers in 1983 with an award for Best Book in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, the National Association on Dual Diagnosis with the Frank Menolascino Award, Career Research Award in 2001, and most notably, Distinguished Research Master by Louisiana State University in 2003.