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Researcher Profile

Dorothea Lerman, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology, School of  Human Sciences and Humanities

Director, Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities

Dr. Lerman’s research focuses on early intervention, parent and teacher training, and assessment and treatment of behavior disorders in children with autism and other developmental disabilities. Through the UHCL Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, graduate students supervised by Dr. Lerman work with children in Houston-area school districts, private clinics, and day-treatment programs. The Center has a variety of on-going research projects that examine strategies to improve the functional assessment of behavior problems (e.g., aggression, self-injury), increase communicative and social behavior, and prevent the development of behavior disorders. Over the past seven years, Dr. Lerman and her students also have developed and evaluated a model program designed to prepare teachers in evidence-based practices for students with autism and other developmental disabilities. Approximately 100 certified special education teachers and paraprofessionals in Louisiana and Texas have participated in this intensive teacher preparation program. The model, which combines didactic and performance-based instruction, has been shown to be highly successful for training educators to instruct students effectively in both structured and unstructured situations. Dr. Lerman and her students also conduct basic (laboratory) research. They are developing a methodology for evaluating factors that may influence observer accuracy and bias in behavioral assessment. In addition, they have recently initiated a line of research to demonstrate how applied problems can guide the design of animal studies to obtain knowledge that will directly inform clinical practice. Graduate students work with rats in the operant laboratory to further evaluate factors that are directly relevant to the assessment and treatment of behavior disorders.

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