CV: Download

Ciara Ousley joined the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders as an assistant professor in August 2022. Ousley is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst – Doctoral (BCBA-D) and a former special educator in the states of Ohio and Nebraska. She returned to Nebraska after completing her doctorate in special education at Pennsylvania State University in the spring of 2022. 

Ousley’s research and publications have focused on supporting the social communication skills of young children with autism and other developmental disabilities who have limited to no vocal speech, including those who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to communicate. Ousley supports and coaches families and practitioners (e.g., educators, SLPs, behavior analysts) in the use of naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBIs), which blends the sciences of applied behavior analysis (ABA) and developmental psychology. 

During her doctorate program, Ousley studied AAC and ABA. While pursuing her Ph.D., she also gained experience as an instructor for the undergraduate special education program at Penn State for two years, as well as a graduate-level adjunct faculty in the ABA program for Niagara University in the spring of 2022. Ousley earned her master’s degree in special education with an endorsement in Autism Spectrum Disorders from Saint Joseph’s University while teaching elementary special education in Athens, Ohio, and Elkhorn, Nebraska. 

She graduated from Nebraska-Lincoln in 2015 with a dual bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Special Education (K-6). Ousley was also a student-athlete for the Husker Swimming and Diving team as an undergraduate, earning Distinguished Scholar, Academic All-Conference and Sportsmanship Awards from the Big Ten Conference during her career.