Naima Bhana-Lopez

Naima Bhana-Lopez
Utah State University | USU · Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation

Ph.D. in Special Education and BCBA-D

About

21
Publications
3,748
Reads
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97
Citations
Introduction
My research focuses on developing naturalistic interventions and caregiver-implemented strategies to enhance social-communication skills of young children with developmental disabilities, particularly those who benefit from augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system. Additionally, I seek to amplify and serve the needs of ethnically diverse students and families, particularly Latino communities. This work extends to ensuring a more inclusive and representative workforce.
Additional affiliations
August 2021 - July 2024
Niagara University
Position
  • Assistant Professor
August 2017 - December 2020
Pennsylvania State University
Position
  • Research Assistant
Education
August 2017 - July 2021
Pennsylvania State University
Field of study
  • Special Education
January 2008 - May 2013
Florida State University
Field of study
  • Exceptional Student Education

Publications

Publications (21)
Article
Full-text available
Objectives Children with autism spectrum disorder experience communication difficulties that can make it challenging to engage in conversations. Their caregivers also often struggle with finding ways to support the child’s communication. Parent-implemented interventions and visual supports are evidence-based practices to support the communication s...
Article
Full-text available
Over 8 million children under the age of 14 live with a disability in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. These children are often denied educational opportunities and related services that have the potential to enhance their quality of life. In this qualitative study, we conducted a secondary analysis of interviews with eight parents of...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose The purpose of this study was to analyze secondary data from three mother-child dyads in order to evaluate how family photographs and training in naturalistic strategies affected the way mothers reminisce with their children with autism spectrum disorders. Method A secondary analysis (i.e., collateral effects) of a single-case dataset was...
Article
Full-text available
In the era of inclusive education, every educator can expect to have students with disabilities in their classroom. Unfortunately, preservice teachers who are not specifically pursuing special education licensure are often only expected to take one course focused on teaching students with disabilities. Given the increased emphasis on less restricti...
Article
Full-text available
Culturally sensitive practices when working with young children with disabilities and their families are key to producing socially valid goals. In this article, we provide teachers with guidelines on how to best support Muslim families who have children with extensive support needs. Islam is the second-largest religion in the world, yet many non-Mu...
Preprint
Professionals in education and healthcare, such as early interventionists in special education and behavior analysts (RBTs, BCBAs), frequently collaborate with families to develop academic and life skills goals for students or clients with disabilities. However, the lack of diversity within these fields can lead to the creation of goals that are no...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Peer mentoring is an effective way to give and receive support, learn skills, and build community among colleagues. In this manuscript, we will discuss lessons learned from an online special education peer mentoring group for doctoral students which started during the Covid-19 pandemic. Guidelines for establishing peer mentoring groups and future d...
Article
Full-text available
In a joint effort, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR) published instructional practice guides for special educators called High-Leverage Practices (McLeskey et al., 2017). These High Leverage Practices focus on four areas of practice (collaboration,...
Article
Background Students with developmental disabilities frequently present with both limited vocal speech and challenging behavior. Functional communication training (FCT) with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) supports, is a commonly recommended intervention to reduce challenging behavior for these students, while also increasing approp...
Article
Full-text available
Tener una comunicación escuela-casa potencia que los niños y las niñas con capacidad verbal limitada tengan recursos para expresar y comunicarse de forma efectiva. Los sistemas de comunicacion aumentativa y alternativa (SAAC) son una herramienta de soporte para esta tarea.
Article
Paraeducators play an important role supporting children with developmental disabilities in early childhood settings, and the current educational system has come to rely heavily on paraeducator supports. Unfortunately, most paraeducators receive limited training prior to engaging in their classroom roles and responsibilities, and teachers receive l...
Article
This paper describes the benefits of Visual Scene Display (VSD) technology during shared storybook reading activities to support the literacy instruction of children with a diverse range of disabilities, particularly students with complex communication needs. VSDs are a novel technology that allows practitioners to transform traditional books and p...
Article
Full-text available
Joint engagement involves a child coordinating their attention between a person and a shared event. Children with autism present with impaired joint engagement. Playdates are a common way that children socially engage yet have been largely overlooked in the social skills literature. Requesting skills have been conceptualized as pivotal, producing c...
Preprint
This is a pre-print of this manuscript and is currently under-review. Students with developmental disabilities frequently present with both limited vocal speech and challenging behavior. Functional communication training (FCT) with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) supports, is a commonly recommended intervention to reduce challengin...
Article
Full-text available
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present with social skills difficulties, which can create barriers for them to develop friendships with their peers. Playdates are a common way that young children practice play and friendship skills in home and community environments. Few studies have trained parents to embed social skills instruction i...
Poster
Full-text available
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present with social skills difficulties, which can create barriers for children with ASD to develop friendships with their peers. Playdates are a common way that young children practice play and friendship skills in home and community environments. Few studies have trained parents to embed social skills...
Article
Full-text available
Objective Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at an increased risk to develop problem behavior, which can have deleterious effects on child and parental well-being. Because of this, parents are often provided with Behavioral Parent Training (BPT). However, attrition rates in BPT are high, and there is a relative dearth of research inve...

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