Karin Lifter

PhD

Professor

Applied Psychology


Research

Dr. Lifter is a Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at Northeastern University in Boston. She teaches courses in development, disabilities, assessment and intervention. She directs the Interdisciplinary Certificate Program in Early Intervention, which prepares personnel to serve infants and toddlers with disabilities, or at risk for developmental delay, and their families. Dr. Lifter conducts both descriptive and intervention studies on the play, language, and social development of young children with and without disabilities, bridging cognitive and behavioral theories. She is Principal Investigator of Project Play, which is funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), National Center for Special Education Research, U.S. Department of Education. The objectives are to validate the Developmental Play Assessment (DPA), which she and colleagues developed, and to create and validate a user-friendly version for practitioners (DPA-P). In addition, she and her colleagues developed an online training program for the DPA-P. Dr. Lifter serves on state and national committees regarding early intervention, and on the editorial boards for the Journal in Early Intervention, Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, Young Exceptional Children, and Infants & Young Children. She received the 2016 Merle Karnes Award for Service to the Division for Early Childhood (DEC), Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).

Website

Project Play