Dr. Monika Suchowierska, assistant professor at the Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities in Poland, will speak at 3 p.m. Thursday, May 30, in room 2W22 of the Memorial Student Center on Marshall University’s Huntington campus.
Suchowierska, who earned her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, is also the director of the Step-by-Step Treatment Center for preschoolers with autism in Warsaw. She will speak on the topic “Perceiving Autism as Organized Patterns of Characteristic Behaviors.”
Dr. Joseph W. Wyatt, professor of psychology at Marshall, says the behavioral treatment Suchoweirska will talk about is applied behavior analysis. Under the West Virginia autism insurance law, providers must be certified in this method.
“It is a pleasure to welcome Dr. Suchowierska back to the Marshall University campus,” says Dr. Barbara Becker-Cottrill, executive director of the West Virginia Autism Training Center at Marshall University. “She has vast experience in the field of behavior analysis and critical practical experience from her work with preschoolers with autism in Poland. I would encourage everyone who has an interest in autism spectrum disorders to attend.”
Suchowierska and Wyatt also work together in the consortium among Marshall, the Warsaw school and the University of Debrecen in Hungary that offers a transatlantic dual degree program in psychology. Wyatt is the academic adviser and coordinator for Marshall’s part of the project and Suchowierska serves in a similar capacity in Poland.
Wyatt says that to date, 29 Marshall University students have studied in Poland for a semester and 23 continued their studies abroad in Hungary. Twenty-one of those students have received dual degrees in psychology from Marshall and the University of Debrecen. A similar number of European students have come to Marshall to pursue their studies.
Suchowierska’s lecture is being presented by the West Virginia Autism Training Center at Marshall University, the Marshall psychology department, the U.S. Department of Education and the European Commission. It is free and open to the public and no pre-registration is required.
