Charis L. Wahman

Charis Lauren Wahman is an assistant professor of special education at Michigan State University and a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral (BCBA-D). She is also affiliated faculty in School Psychology. Her research aims to understand the contextual factors that hinder or enhance children’s social and emotional development and the impact on families, including the successful adoption of evidence-based social emotional practices by early childhood teachers and their effectiveness for young children from marginalized backgrounds.

Dr. Wahman is Project Director for an OSEP funded grant that trains facilitators of compassion and cultural humility in underrepresented students in school psychology and special education (Project FOCCUS³). She is also Co-Investigator on an NIH funded study that examines the impact of a whole-health intervention on young children’s behavioral outcomes. 

Dr. Wahman has supported children, families, and professionals as a teacher, consultant, and behavioral interventionist for over 20 years. Her empirical and practitioner-oriented work has been published in journals such as Remedial and Special Education, Children and Youth Services Review, Journal of Child and Family Studies. Education and Treatment of Children, Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, Behavior Analysis in Practice, Psychology in the Schools, Early Childhood Education Journal, Young Children, and Young Exceptional Children.