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Dr. Burnham Riosa is an Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Applied Disability Studies at Brock University. She is a Behaviour Analyst and has been working in the disability field with children, youth, and adults with autism, as well as their families, for over 23 years.  

Broadly, Dr. Burnham Riosa and her team use different research approaches to understand and support well-being and quality of life. Most of her work focuses on people with disabilities. Some of Dr. Burnham Riosa's specific research interests include strengths-based interventions for Autistic people and their families, exploring the effectiveness of rapport-building and cultural humility training for practitioners, evaluating the service and support needs of people with neurodevelopmental disabilities, and implementing participatory research approaches to engage people with lived experience throughout the research process.

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