EDUCATION
| Ph.D. | Child, Family, and School Psychology | University of Denver |
| M.A. | Child, Family, and School Psychology | University of Denver |
| B.A. | Psychology | University of Wyoming |
AWARDS AND HONORS
| Year | Award |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 2022 reviewer of the year – School Psychology Training and Pedagogy |
| 2022 | 2020 Emerging Scholar – Child, Family and School Psychology |
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Intellectual Disability
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Assessment
INTERESTS
Service delivery to students with intellectual disability
Family-community-school partnerships
Collaborative and therapeutic assessment
Student voice in school psychology research
CURRENT RESEARCH AND GRANT PROJECTS
- Frameworks & Practices to Build Collaborative Partnerships
- Identity-Affirming Scholarship
- Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often encounter stigma and exclusion from service providers, researchers, and our broader culture. These projects propose and explore ways that school psychologists can use approaches from disability studies and the neurodiversity movement to better include the voices and strengths of individuals with IDD in our research and professional approaches.
- Leveraging Psychoeducational Assessment
- Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) frequently participate in assessment for special education eligibility, diagnostic clarification, and intervention planning. These projects examine ways that school psychologists can more accurately evaluate students with IDD, utilize assessment to foster self-insight and self-advocacy, and foster shared expertise and partnership with families and self-advocates.
- Pedagogy for Collaborative Partnerships
- Targeted graduate and undergraduate training is vital for preparing future educators to partner authentically with families, approach students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) with a strength-based lens, and advocate for educational parity for students with IDD. These projects explore the training that school psychology graduate students receive related to IDD and illustrate instructional frameworks to better prepare future practitioners to serve this population.
- Identity-Affirming Scholarship
- Research Exploring Service Delivery to Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
- Trauma & Grief
- Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities are at increased risk of experiencing bereavement, layered loss, and traumatic events. However, they are less likely to access mental health intervention than their typically-developing peers. These projects offer IDD-specific recommendations for implementing trauma-informed practices, adapting grief interventions, and conceptualizing mental health needs related to adverse events.
- Sexual Health
- Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities are often excluded from school-based sexual health education. Despite this, self-advocates with IDD share that they want to make decisions about their romantic relationships, and family members of individuals with IDD share that they need resources to support this decision-making. Interventions that increase sexual knowledge also reduce the risk of relational and sexual violence. These projects explore themes in sexual health curricula that were developed for students with IDD and offer actionable steps for educators who want to use and disseminate these resources.
- Post-Secondary Transition
- High-quality transition practices are vital for improving post-secondary outcomes in education, employment, and well-being for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). These projects identify best practices for school psychologists who want to engage in transition programming.
- Trauma & Grief
Student Projects
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Exploring Service Delivery to Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Frameworks & Practices to Build Collaborative Partnerships
HIGHLIGHTED PUBLICATIONS
Exploring Service Delivery to Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Trauma & Grief
Jackson, H., Erpelding, M., & Snider, L. A. (2023, November). Delivering universal trauma-informed care to students with intellectual disabilities [poster session]. 2023 Alabama Association of School Psychology Conference, Birmingham, AL.
Snider, L. A., Talapatra, D., & Parris, L. (2021, February). Conceptualizing and supporting grieving students with intellectual disability [Practitioner conversation]. National Association of School Psychologists Annual Convention, Virtual.
Talapatra, D., Parris, L., & Snider, L. A. (2020). Considerations for implementing school-based trauma-informed care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Research and Practice in the Schools, 7(1).
Parris, L., Talapatra, D., & Snider, L.A. (2020, February). Hidden wounds: Trauma-informed care for students with intellectual disabilities [Practitioner conversation]. National Association of School Psychologists Annual Convention, Baltimore, MA.
Sexual Health
Snider, L. A., Contino, S., Simoni, M., Talley, J., & Talapatra, D. (2023). Don’t go it alone: Locating the sexual health curricula available to families of students with intellectual disability. Psychology in the Schools, 60(12), p. 5145 – 5166.
Contino, S., Snider, L.A., Talley, J., Jaramillo, I., & Talapatra, D. (2020, February). What’s out there? Mapping sexuality education for students with disabilities [Practitioner conversation]. National Association of School Psychologists Annual Convention, Baltimore, MA.
Contino, R., Snider, L.A., Talley, J., Simoni, M., & Talapatra, D. (2020, May). What’s out there? Mapping sexuality education for students with intellectual disabilities [Poster]. University of Denver Undergraduate Research Center’s Virtual Research Showcase, Denver, CO.
Post-Secondary Transition
Segall, M., Snider, L.A., Abernathy, H., & Holbel, D. L. (2021, March). Setting functional goals for transition-age youth with autism [Poster]. Council for Exceptional Children’s Learning Interactive Virtual Event (CEC-LIVE), Virtual.
Talapatra, D., & Snider, L.A. (2021). Considerations for applying college and career readiness laws within the TPIE framework. Contemporary School Psychology.
Talapatra, D., Gladstone, P. Z., & Snider, L.A. (2018). College to career readiness: Helping handout for the school and home. In G.G. Bear & K. Minke (Eds.) Helping Handouts to Support Students at School and Home. Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.
Talapatra, D. & Snider, L.A. (2017). Federal Legislation to Support College and Career Readiness in Students with Developmental Disabilities. Colorado Society of School Psychologists Newsletter, 31(2), 3 & 9.
Frameworks & Practices to Build Collaborative Partnerships
Identity-Affirming Scholarship
Talapatra, D., Snider, L. A., McCreadie, K., Cullen, E. (2023). Elevating Disabled voices: De-centering power in school psychology scholarship. School Psychology International.
Talapatra, D., & Snider, L. A. (2023). Positive identity development for individuals with intellectual disability: Current status and next steps for identity-affirming practices. International Review of Research in Developmental Disabilities, 65, p. 1 – 41.
McCreadie, K., Snider, L. A., & Talapatra, D. (2023, February). Absent voices: Including families and self-advocates in disability research [Practitioner conversation]. National Association of School Psychologists Annual Convention, Denver, CO.
Leveraging Psychoeducational Assessment
Snider, L. A., & Talapatra, D. (2024, February). “Tests feel shallow”: Practitioner-identified challenges in assessment of intellectual disability [Paper]. National Association of School Psychology Annual Convention. New Orleans, LA.
Snider, L. A., Corcoran, S., & Dorceus, S. (2024, February). Branching out: Infusing collaborative and therapeutic assessment in our practice [Practitioner Conversation]. National Association of School Psychology Annual Convention, New Orleans, LA.
Talapatra, D., & Snider, L. A., Coleman, J., Thompson, T., Reinhardt, J., Hessl, D., & Riley, K. (2023). Deviation scores: An innovative approach to interpreting cognitive test results for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 36(5), p. 1218 – 1228.
Talapatra, D., Snider, L. A., & Miller, G. (2023). Using assessment to build partnership between students with intellectual disabilities, families, and educators. In S. Handler, S. Dada, & R. Banderjee (Eds.), Handbook of Inclusive Education for Teacher Educators (pp. 308-323). Routledge India.
Snider, L. A., Talley, J., & Talapatra, D. (2023, February). “Being gentle yet direct'”: Supportive assessment feedback about intellectual disabilities [Practitioner conversation]. National Association of School Psychologists Annual Convention, Denver, CO.
Snider, L.A., & Talapatra, D. (2022, February). Meaningfully interpreting adaptive behavior assessments using the CASC framework [Practitioner conversation]. National Association of School Psychologists Annual Convention, Boston, MA.
Snider, L.A., Talapatra, D., Miller, G., & Zhang, D. (2020). Expanding best practices in the assessment of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Contemporary School Psychology.
Thompson, T., Coleman, J., Riley, K., Hessl, D., Snider, L.A., Howard, L., & Sansone, S (2018). Standardized assessment accommodations for individuals with intellectual disability. Contemporary School Psychology.
Pedagogy for Collaborative Partnerships
Segall, M., & Snider, L.A. (2022, October). Reflections on Neurodiversity: An undergraduate seminar [Paper]. College Autism Summit 2022, Nashville, TN.
Talapatra, D., Snider, L. A., & Starr, E. (2022, February). Preparing graduate students for developmentally-appropriate practice: Coursework in intellectual disabilities [Practitioner conversation]. National Association of School Psychologists Annual Convention, Boston, MA.
White, L. C., Snider, L. A., Talley, J. M., & Talapatra, D. (2021, March). Building school psychologists’ awareness and prioritization of sexual health curriculum for students with intellectual disability [Poster]. Trainers of School Psychologists Annual Conference, Virtual.
BIOGRAPHY
Laurel A. Snider, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the School Psychology program at the University of Alabama. Dr. Snider received her doctoral degree in Child, Family, and School Psychology from the University of Denver. She has extensive clinical experience with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) ranging from pre-K to adulthood, and across a wide array of contexts in school, clinical, and community settings. Dr. Snider completed her doctoral internship with the Center for Mental health at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and Postdoctoral training in Education and Transition Services at the Emory Autism Center. As a graduate student in Denver, Colorado, Dr. Snider received clinical training as a LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities) Fellow at JFK Partners and as a Clinical Child Psychology extern at Children’s Hospital of Colorado’s Pediatric Mental Health Institute. Her research is primarily focused on identifying opportunities for collaboration between school psychology practitioners, community members, educators, and families to improve service delivery to students with IDD. Her research has explored how assessment and feedback can foster self-insight and family-school partnerships, themes in IDD-specific training reported by school psychology graduate students, frameworks for adapting school-based interventions to support students with IDD, and the role that schools play when the families of students with IDD navigate complex systems of care.