As a PhD student, clinician, and educator I aspire to contribute to the growing body of research aimed at improving the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. I am currently working in the SADE lab on a federally funded U01 grant. The study’s main aim is to reduce the stress experienced by children with developmental disabilities during dental visits through environmental adaptations. My role in the lab includes setting up the adapted dental environment, conducting focus groups and interviews, and collecting and processing data, including coding electrodermal activity.
My primary research interests relate to intervention for young children with or at risk for developing ASD. I hope to explore sensory features of young children with ASD and how these features impact parent-child interactions and later developing social-communication and self-regulation skills. I am particularly fascinated by the transactional relationship between parent and child and how the adaptation of each contributes or inhibits the development of ASD symptoms and family quality of life. I hope to contribute to research on the impact of early sensory differences on parent-child interactions, biobehavioral synchrony, and social-communication development.
Richter, M., Isralowitz, E., Polido, J. C., Cermak, S. A., & Stein Duker, L. I. (2025). Oral care experiences for children with Down syndrome: Caregiver and dentist perspectives. Healthcare, 12(9), 999. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13090999 Show abstract
2025 *Richter, R., *Isralowitz, E., Polido, J.C., Cermak, S.A., & Stein Duker, L.I. (2025). Oral care experiences for children with Down syndrome: Caregiver and dentist perspectives. Healthcare (Basel), 13(9), 1-17. doi: 10.3390/healthcare13090999
Background/Objectives. Children with Down syndrome (DS) have distinct oral care needs and challenges, yet research on their care experiences, exploring caregiver and provider perspectives, is limited. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the barriers and facilitators to oral care for children with DS, as reported by caregivers and dental professionals.
Methods. In this qualitative inquiry, semi-structured questions were used to elicit narratives describing oral care experiences from one caregiver focus group (n = 5), individual caregiver interviews (n = 9), and individual dentist interviews (n = 8). The transcripts were coded and thematically analyzed.
Results. Three themes emerged in both groups. The first theme, Access, described the challenges in locating a dentist willing and knowledgeable about how to treat children with DS, and the variability in experiences between different contexts (i.e., community-based vs. specialty clinics). The second theme, Pre-visit Preparation, noted the potential impact of dental trauma on dental visits and recommended the use of preparation strategies, such as desensitization appointments, strategic scheduling, and visual or verbal scripts or social stories, to introduce dental encounters. The final theme, Dental Encounters, dealt with the importance of communication and interpersonal connection, as well as concerns about and support for active/passive immobilization techniques and pharmacological intervention. Sensory strategies for auditory, tactile, and vestibular input were discussed, in addition to distraction techniques, the timing and pacing of dental encounters, and parental presence/absence.
Conclusions. Tailoring dental care around the unique sensory and behavioral needs of children with DS and building effective partnerships between children, parents, and dentists were emphasized for optimizing the dental care experiences of children with DS.
Keywords. Down syndrome; dental care; oral care; children with special healthcare needs
Isralowitz, E. B., Sideris, J., Stein Duker, L. I., Baranek, G. T., & Cermak, S. A. (2023). Comparing sensory processing in children with Down syndrome to a mental age matched sample of children with autism, other developmental disabilities, and typically developing children. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 134, 104421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2022.104421 Show abstract
Background. Atypical sensory processing impacts children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Research has focused on SP in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); comparatively, little has been written regarding individuals with Down syndrome (DS) and IDDs.
Aims. We compared patterns of sensory processing in children with DS to children with ASD, other IDDs, and typically developing (TD) peers examining the relationship among different sensory processing measures.
Methods and procedures. We analyzed cross-sectional data using two caregiver questionnaires (SP, SEQ) and one observational measure (SPA). Groups were compared on three sensory processing patterns: hyporesponsiveness; hyperresponsiveness; and sensory interests, repetitions, and seeking (SIRS) via ANOVA. We assessed concordance through correlations.
Outcomes and results. Children with DS, IDD, and ASD demonstrated more atypical sensory processing behaviors than TD peers. Children with ASD exhibited the most atypical responses across all measures, significantly more than DS children on all but one subscale. The IDD and DS groups differed on several measures. Measurement concordance was higher between caregiver-report versus observational assessment.
Conclusions and implications. Differences between three clinical groups indicate that sensory processing features may differ across clinical populations regardless of cognitive functioning. Lower concordance between caregiver-report and observation measures highlights the need to understand sensory processing expression across different tasks and environments.
Tapia, V., Isralowitz, E. B., Deng, K., Nguyen, N. T., Young, M., Como, D. H., Martinez, M., Valente, T., & Cermak, S. A. (2022). Exploratory analysis of college students’ occupational engagement during COVID-19. Journal of Occupational Science, 29(4), 545–561. https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2022.2101021 Show abstract
Introduction. During the COVID-19 pandemic, college students experienced occupational disruptions to their daily routines and alarming mental health outcomes. This paper seeks to examine associations between college students’ occupational engagement and psychological well-being; identify potential protective and risk factors for gender, race, and ethnic identities; and explore the impacts of occupational disruptions during COVID-19.
Method. Undergraduate students (n = 152) were recruited through social media and ResearchMatch and completed an online survey. Associations and differential impacts on identity were analyzed for occupational balance, satisfaction with participation in discretionary activities, depression, fatigue, general anxiety, stress, loneliness, and COVID-19 behaviors, beliefs, and experiences (CBBE).
Results. Occupational engagement had significant negative correlations with the five mental health measures. Females reported more fatigue, anxiety, and stress than males. Hispanic/Latinx participants reported greater occupational engagement. Black/African American participants reported greater occupational balance than their multiracial peers. Occupational Impairment subscale was positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Participants who lost their job were more depressed. Males reported a greater increase in alcohol, cigarette, and recreational drug consumption than females. The COVID-19 Preventative Action subscale was positively correlated with COVID-19 Worry. Females both engaged in more preventive actions and worried more than males.
Conclusion. Overall, this study reveals that increasing occupational engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic could be beneficial for mental health and well-being, that COVID-19 had differential impacts on occupational engagement and mental health outcomes based on identity, and that behaviors, beliefs, and experiences shifted with the global occupational disruption.
Keywords. Occupational science, Occupational balance, Occupational engagement, Mental health, College students, Occupational disruption, COVID-19
