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Dr. Adrianna Amari is the Inpatient Consultation Coordinator for the Pediatric Psychology Consultation Service and Clinic, Department of Behavioral Psychology, at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Dr. Amari is also an Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Biographical Sketch:
Dr. Amari received an interdisciplinary undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Purchase. While pursuing her advanced degree, she was employed on the Neurobehavioral Unit as a Clinical Specialist and Program Specialist, as well as Research Project Coordinator and Case Manager for the Pediatric Psychology Consultation Service. She received her doctoral degree in Applied Developmental Psychology in 2005 from the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. She is a member of the Association for Behavior Analysis and the American Psychological Association, and has been a Psychology Associate in the State of Maryland since 1996.
Research Summary:
Dr. Amari’s research interests focus on the development and evaluation of interventions to promote child coping and adjustment to acute and chronic medical conditions and associated medical treatments. Specifically, she is interested in the application of behavior analysis methods, such as functional and stimulus choice assessments and use of differential reinforcement and shaping, to facilitate optimal mental and physical health outcomes in children with a wide array of conditions. She has just completed a study that assessed food preferences compatible with the ketogenic diet in children with seizure disorders, and future research will examine if such preferences predict diet compliance and/or efficacy.
Other areas of current investigation include: utilization of systematic data collection and analysis to enhance accuracy of pain assessment during rehabilitation in individuals with developmental disabilities, and assessment of the efficacy of environmental shaping and desensitization in the treatment of children with chronic pain and functional disability.
Recent Publications/Presentations:
Gorski, J., Slifer, K. J., Townsend, V., Kelly-Suttka, J., & Amari, A. (2005). Behavioral treatment of non-compliance in adolescents with newly acquired spinal cord injuries. Pediatric Rehabilitation, 8, 187-198.
Slifer, K. J., Amari, A., Diver, T., Hilley, L., Beck, M., Kane, A., & McDonnell, S. (2004). Social interaction patterns of children and adolescents with and without oral clefts during a videotaped analogue social encounter. The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal., 41, 175-184.
Switkin, M. C., Gelfand, K. M., Amari, A., Dahlquist, L. M., Slifer, K. J., Eskenazi, A. (2002). The impact of types of distractors on child critical statements during chemotherapy injection: A case study. Children’s Health Care, 31(4), 311-319.
Amari, A., Slifer, K. J., Gerson, A., Schenck, E., Kane, A. (1999). Treating selective mutism in a paediatric rehabilitation patient by altering environmental reinforcement contingencies. Pediatric Rehabilitation, 3(2), 59-64.
Amari, A., Slifer, K. J., Sevier, R. C., Spezio, J., Tucker, C. L. (1998). Using differential reinforcement to treat functional hypophonia in a pediatric rehabilitation patient. Pediatric Rehabilitation, 2(2), 89-94.
Slifer, K. J., Tucker, C. L., Gerson, A. C., Sevier, R. C., Kane, A. C., Amari, A., Clawson, B. P. (1997). Antecedent management and compliance training to improve adolescents' participation in early brain injury rehabilitation. Brain Injury, 11(12), 877-889. |
