Lourdes has been a part of Project SELF: Social-Emotional Learning Foundations from its inception.  She was a member of the research team dedicated to writing the SELF curriculum for students in kindergarten and first grade.  Her dissertation focused on the effects of the SELF intervention on children’s emotional vocabulary development.  Her dissertation work has earned her the Fien Dissertation Award as well as the honor of being selected as a Doctoral Student Scholar for the Council for Exceptional Children – Division of Research.

As a doctoral candidate in the Department of Special Education, School Psychology & Early Childhood Studies at UF, my research is focused on the impact of Executive Function on Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. Previously, I spent more than 2 decades in leadership positions in various corporate environments, while simultaneously working with children and youth with developmental and behavioral disorders. I plan to utilize my extensive experience in project and personnel management as I work to improve outcomes for students with EBD through teacher training and program development and implementation. I have taught courses in classroom management, behavior management and instruction for diverse student populations, and have supervised pre-service teachers interning in general and special education classrooms.

I have been a team member on three federally funded curriculum development projects. Tools for Getting Along, a social problem-solving and anger management curriculum for upper elementary students; Project SELF (Social-Emotional Learning Foundations), a curriculum that imbeds social/emotional learning in literacy instruction for early elementary aged children; and I Control, an Executive Function skill intervention to support improved self-regulation in middle school students with EBD.

My current research focuses on the identification and treatment of neurocognitive deficits that contribute to self-regulatory failure in students with EBD.  My research has been presented at national professional conferences, and has earned me the honor of being selected as a Doctoral Student Scholar for the Council for Exceptional Children – Division of Research.

I am a doctoral candidate in Special Education at the University of Florida.  Previously, I was a learning specialist, working with students from kindergarten through eighth grade with mild to moderate learning disabilities.  Since 2013, I have been a graduate research assistant on I Control.  My research interests include the identification and treatment of neurocognitive deficits underlying emotional and behavioral problems, with a focus on toxic stress and executive function development and mindfulness.