Randi Sarokoff, Ph.D.
Biography
Randi Sarokoff, Ph.D., has been a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst since the first certification exam was introduced in June, 2000. She now carries the title BCBA-D (Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral) after introduction of the new certification in 2009. Dr. Sarokoff is a graduate of the Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY Ph.D., Program in Learning Process Doctoral Subprogram from the Department of Psychology. She is currently the Executive Director of the School of Special Education and Literacy at Kean University and coordinates and teaches courses for the Masters and Post-MA Programs in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Sarokoff has 25 years of experience using the science of applied behavior analysis (ABA) to teach her students. She has experience teaching people with developmental disabilities from eighteen months to 21 years old. Dr. Sarokoff spent much of her career working with the autism community. In addition, Sarokoff has experience educating students with other developmental or academic disabilities including ADHD and dyslexia. Sarokoff has worked in public and private schools, home settings and in the community. She was Executive Director of a small ABA school for children with autism and a District Behaviorist in two different NJ districts. Sarokoff has been published in Professional Journals including The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Behavior Interventions, and Behavior Analysis in Practice. Her seminal article in staff training for Discrete Trial Teaching was published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis in 2004. In 2020, Sarokoff had a poem published in the book, When we turned within, Volume 2: Reflections on COVID-19.
Education
Ph.D., Doctoral Program in Psychology, Subprogram: Learning Processes, The Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York. 2006
M.Phil., in Psychology, Subprogram: Learning Processes, The Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York. May 2005
M.A., Psychology, Queens College, City University of New York. 1999
B.A., Psychology, Queens College, City University of New York. 1996
A.A.S., Data Processing, Kingsboro Community College, City University of New York. 1994
Teaching Philosophy
If a learner does not learn the way I teach, then I will teach the way s/he learns. This philosophy has been challenged over the years in my experience teaching learners with autism a variety of skills. I am passionate about teaching others to be the best that they can be, and I encourage others to find their passion.
Publications
Planer, J., DeBar, R., Progar, P., Reeve, K., & Sarokoff, R. (2018). Evaluating tasks within a high-probability request sequence in children with autism spectrum disorder. Behavior Inventions, 33(4), 380-390.
Delli-Bovi, G. M., Vladescu, J.C., DeBar, R. M., Carroll, R. A., & Sarokoff, R. A. (2017). Using Video Modeling with Voice-over Instruction to Train Public School Staff to Implement a Preference Assessment. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 10, 72-76.
Sarokoff, R. A., & Sturmey, P. (2008). The effects of instructions, rehearsal, modeling, and feedback on acquisition and generalization of staff use of discrete trial teaching and student correct responses. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2,125-136.
*Sarokoff, R. A., & Sturmey, P. (2004). The effects of behavioral skills training on staff implementation of discrete-trial teaching. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 37, 535-538. (Reproduced in Gall, M.D., Gall, J. P, & Borg, W. R. (2007). Educational Research (Eighth ed.). Boston: MA: Pearson Education, Inc.)
Sarokoff, R. A., Taylor, B.A., & Poulson, C. L. (2001). Teaching children with autism to engage in conversational exchanges: Script fading with Embedded Textual stimuli. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 34, 81-81.
*Seminal article