Faculty / Staff Resources Student Resources
University of Southern California
University of Southern California
USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
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Elizabeth Isralowitz MA BCBA

Faculty Mentor: Sharon Cermak EdD, OTR/L, FAOTA
Research Lab: Sensory Adapted Dental Environments (SADE)
Year of Entry: 2019

Elizabeth Isralowitz

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.

Education

Selected Publications