Johnny Matson

Johnny Lee Matson (born 1951) is Professor and Distinguished Research Master in the Department of Psychology at Louisiana State University. Matson is known for his extensive research with people with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders.

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 1977-1978. 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 has served as 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 two peer-refereed journals, Research in Developmental Disabilities and Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. With nearly 500 published journal articles, books, and books chapters, 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 measures as means of assessing symptoms and side effects, and treatment monitoring. One measure, the Psychopathology Inventory for Mentally Retarded Adults (PIMRA) is the first measure of psychopathology used with people with intellectual disabilities. The Questions About Behavior Function (QABF), an indirect measure of functional assessment, is the most extensively researched measure of its kind.

Matson's expertise has been called upon by numerous organizations, including government agencies. Matson has consulted with Departments of Mental Health in California, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas, as well as the United States Department of Education and United States Department of Justice. Additionally he has served as a consultant to ABC 20/20, CBS Eye to Eye, and the landmark case, Wyatt v. Stickney as an expert witness. Matson has also participated in the development of the DSM-III-TR.

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.