David Gast
Communication Sciences and Special Education (Faculty)
Professor
521 Aderhold Hall
Phone: 706.542.5069
Email: dlgast@uga.edu
Ph.D., Professor, received his Ph.D. in child development and child psychology from the University of Kansas in 1975 with a concentration in mental retardation and severe behavior disorders. In addition to teaching courses in applied behavior analysis, instructional methods for children functioning in the moderate-severe range of mental retardation, single subject research methodology, and autism spectrum disorders, he directs a federally funded project (Collaborative Personnel Preparation in Autism Project, COPPA Project) to prepare teachers at the graduate level to work with children with autism spectrum disorders. Information on this cooperative teacher education program with Gwinnett Co., Cobb Co., Forsyth Co. and Clarke Co. Public Schools can be found on the departmental website. Dr. Gast also directs a service-learning Study Abroad in Ireland program in cooperation with the COPE Foundation that serves individuals with developmental disabilities and their families in Cork, Ireland. Between 1995 and 2005 he directed UGA’s Study Abroad in Peru program in cooperation with Centro Ann Sullivan del Peru. Dr. Gast’s areas of interest include international special education, behavioral methods of instruction, single-subject research methodology, and instructional strategies that facilitate observational and incidental learning. Recent publications (2000-2006, N= 20) with his current and former students on such topics as observational and incidental learning by children with autism, computer-based multimedia instruction, visual activity schedules to facilitate independence, leisure skill instruction, and reinforcer preference assessment procedures have appeared in such journals as Journal of Special Education, Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, Journal of Early Intervention, Journal of Autism and Development Disorders, Exceptionality, Mental Retardation, Therapeutic Recreation Journal, Journal of Physical and Developmental Disabilities, and Education and Treatment in Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Gast is particularly interested in recruiting graduate students from special education and related fields (psychology, child and family development, communication science disorders) who have experience with children with autism spectrum disorders and an interest in applied research.