Families and Phenotypes lecture

About Speaker:

Jan Blacher received her A.B. in Psychology from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and her Ph.D. in Special Education/ Developmental Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is currently Professor of Education at the University of California, Riverside. She is known nationally for her research on mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. Over the years, Dr. Blacher has served as consulting editor for the American Journal on Mental Retardation and Mental Retardation; she has served as reviewer for numerous other journals focused on child development and developmental disabilities. She has written extensively on such topics as: out-of-home placement of children and young adults with severe disabilities; relationship between family functioning and mental retardation; dual diagnosis in mental retardation; and the impact of mental diagnosis, assessment, services, and coping in Latino children and families. Dr. Blacher's current research, which is longitudinal in nature, focuses on families of children and young adults with retardation; disability and family coping in a cultural context; issues of dual diagnosis in Anglo and Latino families; and the transition to adulthood for young adults with severe retardation and their families.