Teaching: Dr. Elder teaches mental health nursing and research at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She is a Howard Hughes Institute mentor and advises PhD students whose dissertation research focuses on caregiving, children with a variety of psychiatric disorders, and socialization and transition of adolescents into adulthood.
Research: Dr. Elder has spent the last 27 years studying autism and related child neuropsychiatric disorders. She has developed and tested a variety of in-home parent training components, evaluated the effects of a gluten-free, casein-free diet on children with autism, and participated in several interdisciplinary autism projects. She is currently the Principal Investigator on a four-year R01 grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research at NIH ($1.1 million) to continue evaluating the effects of father-directed training for children with autism. This includes a newly developed web-enhanced component.
Service: Dr. Elder is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and serves as an international autism consultant. She reviews grants for NIH’s Center for Scientific Research, Small Business Innovation Research study sections. Dr. Elder has served on National institue of Nursing Research Advisory Committee of Sigma Theta Tau International and numerous committees within the University of Florida College of Nursing. She is a member of Florida Nurses Association, Southern Nursing Research Society, International Society of Psychiatric Nursing, Autism Society of America, Society for Research in Child Development, and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society.
Administration: . Elder is the Chair of the Department of Health Care Environment and Systems.
Education: Dr. Elder received her BSN in Nursing at the Medical College of Georgia. She received her MSN in Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing and her PhD in Nursing Science at the University of Florida.
Selected Publications:
Elder, J. H. (2005). Enhancing reliability and validity of behavioral observations. Applied Nursing Research, 12(4), 206-209.
Seung, H. K., Ashwell, S., Elder. J. H., & Valcante, G. (2006). Verbal communication outcomes in children with autism after in-home father training. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 50, 139-50.
Elder, J. H. (in press). Peer play and the autism spectrum. [Review of the book Peer play and autism spectrum]. Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice.
Elder, J. H., Shankar, M., Shuster, J., Theriaque, D., Burns, S. & Sherrill, L. (2006). The gluten-free, casein-free diet in autism: Results of a preliminary double blind clinical trial, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36 (3), 413-420
Elder, J.H., Valcante, G., Won, D., & Zylis, R. (2003). Effects of in-home training for culturally diverse fathers of children with autism. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 24, (3), 273-295.
Elder, J.H., Valcante, G., Yarandi, H., Groce, S., & Carlton, M. (2002). Social interactions of children with autism: A comparison of father-child and mother-child clinic and home play sessions. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 28, 573-58.
Elder, J.H. (2002). Current treatments in autism: Examining the scientific evidence and clinical implications. Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 34, 67-73.
Elder, J. H. (1999). Enhancing reliability and validity of behavioral observations. Journal of Applied Nursing Research, 12, 206-209.
Elder, J. H. (1997). Single subject experimentation for psychiatric nursing. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 11 (3), 133-8.
Elder, J. H,, & Goodman, J. J. (1996). Social turn-taking of children with neuropsychiatric impairments and their families. Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing, 19, 249-261.
Elder, J. H. (1997). Defining parent training for practice and research. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 3,103-110.
Elder, J. H. (1995). In-home communication intervention training for parents of multiply handicapped children. Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice, 9, 71-92.
Seung. H.K., Rogalski, Y., Shankar, M. & Elder, J.H. (in press). The Gluten-and Casein-Free Diet and Autism: Communication Outcomes from a Preliminary Double-Blind Clinical Trail. Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology.
Cormier, E. & Elder, J.H.(2007). Diet and Child Behavior Problems: Fact or Fiction?, Pediatric Nursing, 33(2), 138-143.
Seung, H.K., Siddiqi, S., & Elder, J.H. (2006). Intervention outcomes of a bilingual child with autism. Journal of Medical Speech Language Pathology, 14, 1, 53-63.
Seung, H.K., Ashwell, S., Elder, J.H., & Valcante, G (2006). Verbal communication outcomes of children with autism after in-home father training. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 50,0139-150.
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