Alumni Spotlight: Rebecca Etlinger
Rebecca Etlinger graduated from RIT’s School Psychology program in May 2002, and currently works for Monroe #1 BOCES at the Lois E. Bird School, a center-based elementary school in East Rochester. She recently published a children’s book that she worked on for her Master’s project. The title of the book is, To Be Me: Understanding what it's like to have Asperger's Syndrome. The WPS Creative Therapy Store published the book in 2005. Her project advisor, Paul McCabe, Jennifer Lukomski (second chair,) and illustrator Mark Tomassi worked collaboratively and finished the book during her second year as a graduate student in the program.
To Be Me: Understanding what it’s like to have Asperger’s Syndrome is a children’s book geared towards upper elementary school age kids, but can easily be used with a wide range of children. This book was written so that teachers, parents, psychologists and other school staff will have a tool to teach their students and children about Asperger's Syndrome. To Be Me is especially useful when a child with Asperger's Syndrome is a student in the classroom. The current movement in public schools is to include children with special needs, and this book can be utilized to facilitate discussions about differences in general as well as other disorders. If other children are educated, hopefully they will begin to accept children with differences and the environment will be conducive for learning for all students. Parents may also find it helpful to have a tool with which to teach their children about Asperger's Syndrome when a sibling has this diagnosis.
For more information on Rebecca’s book, please go to www.aspergersbook.com and it can be purchased at www.creativetherapystore.com or www.amazon.com
Professor Accomplishments: Recent Publications, Presentations and Press Exposure
Dr. Pandolfi:
Dr. Vincent Pandolfi’s most recent presentations and publications reflect his interest in Autism research. More specifically, his research investigates appropriate assessment tools and intervention techniques that can be used with Autistic children. Dr. Pandolfi is presenting posters entitled “Factor structure evaluation of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale” and “Including students with autism in the general education setting: Program development and evaluation” at the International Meeting For Autism Research in Montreal, CA within the upcoming year. Dr. Pandolfi has also made significant contributions to Autism research with the following publications:
Magyar, C.I., Pandolfi, V., & Peterson, C. (in press). Psychoeducational assessment. In
Jacobson, J. & Mulick, J.A. (Eds.). Handbook of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.
Magyar, C.I. & Pandolfi, V. (under review). Designing inclusive programming for
elementary students with autism: Initial program evaluation.
Magyar, C.I. & Pandolfi, V. (under review). Factor structure evaluation of the Childhood
Autism Rating Scale.
Dr. Lukomski:
Dr. Jennifer Lukomski’s most recent presentation and press exposure reflect diverse areas of interest. Her interests range from working with the deaf and hearing impaired, to investigating developmental issues. She presented a poster entitled “The Utility of the Life Difficulties Section of the 16PF-APQ for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students” at the NASP conference in March 2006. Furthermore, Dr. Lukomski was quoted by the San Diego Tribune in October 2005 in an article about how fear manifests in young children on Halloween. This article is available at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20051015-9999-1c15fearm.html
Dr. Granney:
Dr. Graney is an activist for Response to Intervention (RTI), and much of her current research deals with this current trend in the field of school psychology. Dr. Graney is part of a state-level expert's workgroup in Albany charged with developing recommendations for New York State in implementing RTI. She is one of two school psychologists in this group, and her role is to represent NYASP. Dr. Graney plans on continuing working with this group until the state has figured out how best to implement RTI. Furthermore, she participated in a panel discussion at NYASP with Rosemary Flanagan, Patrick Grehan, Mark Fugate, and Vincent Alfonso on how to integrate RTI with traditional assessments in training programs. She also presented "RTI and the New York School Psychologist" to the NYASP board back in September 2005, and then again at the Chapter G meeting in October 2005. More recently, she presented a paper at NASP in March 2006 entitled "Accuracy of class room teachers' judgments of student reading progress."
Dr. Graney is also a member of the College of Liberal Arts Strategic Planning Steering Committee here at RIT. The committee’s goals are to develop a vision and mission statement for the College as well as outline strategic issues and core values, and help to envision the future of the College over the next 5 years or so. This work is likely to continue into next year, and she notes that student input is welcomed and encouraged in this process.
