Elisa Cruz, Ed.D., BCBA-D is an Instructor in the Department of Special Education at FAU in Boca Raton, FL, where she also earned her Doctorate in Education in 2015. Her areas of expertise are in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (E/BD), and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). She is currently, where she prepares pre-service and in-service professionals to work with students on the autism spectrum and maintain effective classroom management.

Dr. Cruz is also the Verified Course Sequence (VCS) Coordinator for FAU’s ABA Program, serving as the liaison between the University and the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) and the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), maintaining the program’s coursework and teaching requirements and advising students seeking their certification.

Additionally, Dr. Cruz coaches and consults with families and professionals working with children and adolescents with autism and related disabilities. She provides continuing education trainings for various professional organizations and has given numerous national and local presentations on utilizing evidence-based practices to support students with special needs in homes, schools, and the community.

Key Words: autism; applied behavior analysis; challenging behavior; classroom management; parent training; technology; coordinator; supervision

Courses

• EDG 4419: Classroom Behavior Management
• EEX 4616:Classroom Management for Inclusive Elementary Schools
• EDG 6408 :Classroom Behavior Management
• EEX 5612 :Applied Behavior Analysis
• EEX 6095 :Nature & Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorders
• EEX 6210 :Diagnosis, Assessment, and Instructional Decision Making in ASD
• EEX 6298 :Interventions for Social, Communication, Academic, and Functional Skills for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders
• EEX 6626 :Behavior Analytic Supervision & Management
• EEX 6747 :Ethics in ABA

Grants

January, 2013 – Autism Speaks $5,000 Community Grants Grant for Project iCAN: Using the iPad to Communicate and Access Needs providing income eligible families with iPads and a communication app. Project focused on coaching parents in navigating, customizing, and using the iPad and app to promote effective communication skills in their children with ASD and included in-home follow-up support to maximize procedural fidelity.

July, 2016 – CS/SB 230 – Missing Persons with Special Needs Bill approved by the Governor addresses personal safety of persons with special needs who elope (wander) by providing personal safety devices to aid search-and-rescue efforts for such persons and $100,000 funding for each of three pilot study projects.

In collaboration with FAU College of Business and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, FAU Center for Autism and Related Disabilities tested the effectiveness of search-and-rescue technology, including unmanned aerial systems, when used in combination with personal safety devices to reduce search and rescue recovery time associated with wandering and elopement cases.

Publications

Chapters in Books Chapter:

Cruz-Torres, E. (2020). Working with behavior challenges. In Cunningham, A. Counseling adults with autism: A comprehensive toolkit (pp. 158-181). Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis/Routledge

Journal Publications:

Randolph, K.M., Chubb, C. S., Hott, B. L., & Cruz-Torres, E. (2021) iCoaching behavior-specific praise in a rural classroom. Rural Special Education Quarterly, 40(2). doi:10.1177/8756870520982302

Cruz-Torres, E., Duffy, M. L., Brady, M. P., Bennett, K., & Goldstein, P. (2020). Promoting daily living skills for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder via parent delivery of video prompting. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 50, 212–223. doi: 10.1007/s10803-019-04215-6

Magazine Publications:

Cruz-Torres, E. (2020, April). How to incorporate technology to build a lifetime of skills. Autism Parenting Magazine, 101, 14-18.

Research Interests

Dr. Elisa Cruz coaches and consults with parents, educators, and other professionals working with students with challenging behaviors to promote academic, communication, social and daily living skills. Her research interests incorporate the use of evidence-based practices to promote independence and quality of life for all. She utilizes her classroom and behavior analytic experiences to coach, mentor, and supervise students seeking their behavior analyst certification.

Service

General statement about your services activities, including a summary of editorial service, presentations (number, important conferences, international presentations, number of keynotes), consulting you have done and/or could do, community activities. If this is an area on which you focus, you could include subheadings below your general statement.

Professional & Community Service:

• Reviewer for Journal of Autism & Developmental Disabilities
• Task force member for ABAI’s newly established Behavior Analysis Special Interest Group on Supervision (BASIGS) aimed at supporting the development, promotion and advocacy for exemplary training of Behavior Analysts as supervisors by promoting best practices in the supervision of Behavior Analysts to ensure effective and ethical service provisions that lead to improved quality of health and education for all those served.