Sandra Harris
Emeritus

Title: Professor Emeritus
Formerly Professor II and Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor
Area: Clinical Psychology
Phone: 732-445-2118/732-442-3017x155
Email: sharris@rci.rutgers.edu
Campus: Busch
Building: GSAPP A345/DDDC
Website: gsappweb.rutgers.edu/dddc/

Professor Sandra Harris has been immersed in research and practice issues concerning people with autism and their families since she founded the on-campus Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center (DDDC) in 1972. She and her Research and Clinical faculty colleagues at the DDDC, Lara Delmolino Gatley, Ph.D., Jan Handleman, Ed.D., Robert LaRue, Ph.D. and Mary Jane Weiss, Ph.D., have a variety of current on-going research projects including an examination of outcome data for treatment of very young children with autism, the use of functional assessment procedures to gain a greater understanding of the factors that motivate challenging behavior in the classroom, and evaluation of various interventions for autism based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis.

Students who wish to pursue research at the center are urged to first take at least one semester of Field Work at the DDDC in order to gain an understanding of the special challenges that face learners with autism and the most effective ways to support their learning.. Each year we have several undergraduate research students who are invited to join us in the various projects that are underway. This research experience is geared toward those students who do not elect to do an honors project but who wish to gain an appreciation of what is involved in doing research and how one develops a plan for a research project.

For more information about opportunities for undergraduate students at the DDDC see our website at http://gsappweb.rutgers.edu/dddc/