Bianca Boyer is assistant professor in the unit of Developmental and Educational Psychology. She studies the effectiveness of treatments for children and adolescents with neurobiological developmental disorders, particularly ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

More information about Bianca Boyer

Bianca Boyer is an associate professor in the unit of Developmental and Educational Psychology. She studies the effectiveness of treatments for children and adolescents with neurobiological developmental disorders, particularly ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Research on treatment of ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders

Scientific knowledge about ADHD and ASD often struggles to reach practical applications. Conversely, the same is true: science is often driven by intriguing research questions that turn out to be of little practical use. Boyer aims to bring these two worlds closer together to improve research and care for these children and adolescents.

She does this in three ways. By using clinical practice as inspiration for science, studying mechanisms to optimise treatment for this group, and implementing scientific knowledge into clinical practice.

Before starting her research, Boyer often engages with the target audience of her research, such as young people with ADHD, their parents, or teachers, in focus groups to ensure that her research aligns with their daily practice and needs. She then develops treatments or utilises existing and tested treatments to assess their effectiveness in a pilot study and subsequent Randomized Clinical Trials

Short CV

In addition to her work at Leiden University, Boyer is co-owner of Psychologenpraktijk Kuin in Haarlem. Here, she works as a GZ psychologist, cognitive behavioural therapist and supervisor specialising in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD and Autism.

Boyer obtained her PhD in Clinical Developmental Psychology from the University of Amsterdam in 2016. She developed 'Zelf Plannen', a cognitive behavioural therapy to teach adolescents with ADHD to plan and organise their school and homework. In her thesis, she investigated whether adolescents with ADHD find it harder than neurotypical adolescents to plan and whether you can treat this with 'Zelf Plannen'.

She was then able to implement 'Zelf Plannen' in clinical practice with a grant from ZonMw and was able to investigate by whom Zelf Plannen is used, how 'Zelf Plannen' is used and how effective it is in regular clinical practice. Meanwhile, based on her research, CBT aimed at planning skills of adolescents with ADHD has been included in the mental health care standards.

Besides 'Self-Planning', she has also written other treatment protocols that she researched, including: 'Inventing Solutions Yourself' and 'My Sleep Plan'.

From 2006 to 2023, she worked at the UvA as a research assistant, PhD student, and associate professor, teaching the courses Infant Mental Health, Clinical Conversation Skills and Developmental Psychopathology. For this, she received the Christiaan Hamaker Lecturer of the Year award at UvA in 2015.

PhD's

1. With the help of a grant from NRO, Boyer and PhD student Kim Wolters are conducting research into the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at learning to plan (Plannen op School: PLOS) within secondary education. This research is in collaboration with Prof Dr Saskia van der Oord (KU Leuven) and Prof Dr Barbara van den Hoofdakker (Accare Research Centre Groningen).
2. PhD student Finja Marten is researching the predictors of sleep problems and the relationship with underlying mechanisms in adolescents with ADHD. This research is in collaboration with Prof Dr Saskia Van der Oord, Prof Dr Dieter Baeyens and Prof Dr Marina Danckaerts of KU Leuven.
3. PhD student Lena Keuppens is researching the effectiveness of a cognitive behavioural sleep intervention (SIESTA) in adolescents with ADHD. This research is in collaboration with Prof Dr Saskia Van der Oord, Prof Dr Dieter Baeyens and Prof Dr Marina Danckaerts of KU Leuven.
4. PhD student Luka Todorovic is researching digital well-being in adolescents with and without ADHD. This research is in collaboration with Dr Helle Larsen and Dr Annabel Bogaerts of the University of Amsterdam.

Publications