“Failure doesn’t feel good, and we know that failure in school leads to a myriad of other consequences including psychopathology, depression, anxiety. Often time it leads to delinquent behaviors and it can impact a child’s social skills and ability to have friends as well… a child who is hitting is doing that for a reason. Maybe it’s because they know they don’t get what those things on the paper are, and maybe it’s because they just can’t communicate what they need. Or they haven’t learned the skills to even sit for five minutes…. For me looking at it at all ages, the biggest thing is that you have to look at the whole child. Even if it’s subtle, behavior and academics are always going to go hand in hand.” – Elizabeth Isralowitz

Fast Facts about Elizabeth

1. Full name: Elizabeth Isralowitz, MA BCBA
2. Years teaching:  10 years teaching, 3 years of clinical work and school administration (Behavior Specialist/Board Certified Behavior Analyst), over 20 years working with children with special needs
3. Grades taught: Early Intervention to 22 years
4. Current position: PhD student/graduate student researcher at University of California, Riverside: SEARCH Family Autism Resource Center
5. Current city: Los Angeles and Riverside, CA
6. Favorite books:
   • Professional
     • Savage Inequalities, Jonathan Kozol
     • Language and Learning: The Debate between Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini
     • The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language, Steven Pinker
   • Personal: All the Harry Potter Books!
7. Why teach? Every day is different, a triumph, a challenge, an accomplishment, and a chance to change the lives of children and their families.

Useful Resources Shared by Elizabeth!

• Autism Classroom Resources
• The Autism Helper
• Behavior Babe
• Comprehensive Autism Planning System (CAPS), Shawn Henry, PhD, and Brenda Smith Myles
• Cornerstone website and eBook, by Angela Watson
• Crafting Connections, Mitchell Taubman, Ron Leaf, and John McEachin
• Early Start Denver Model for Young Children with Autism, Sally Rogers and Geraldine Dawson
• The Iris Center
• Teaching Individuals with Developmental Delays, Ivar Lovaas
• SEARCH Family Autism Resource Center

   

Elizabeth is a wealth of knowledge and hopes to use Linkedin, in the new year to begin sharing some of her professional development workshops and intervention resources. If you found her podcast useful and informative, be sure to let her know in the comments below.