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Doctoral Students
Tania Palma Fernandes, Hons. B.A. (McGill University), M.Ed. (McGill University)
Tania is a doctoral student in the School/Applied Child Psychology program at McGill University. She completed a Bachelor of Arts specializing in psychology at McGill University. Soon after graduating, she began working with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and volunteered as a research assistant at the McGill Youth Study Team, a research lab headed by Dr. Jacob Burack. As a result of her passion for learning about and working with children with ASD, she decided to pursue a master’s in Educational Psychology at McGill University. Her master’s research project, which was supervised by Dr. Jacob Burack, examined gestalt processing in high functioning children and adolescents with ASD. Under the supervison of Dr. Eve-Marie Quintin (Behaviour, Autism, and NeuroDevelopment Research Group) and Dr. Jacob Burack (McGill Youth Study Team), her research aims to clarify emotion processing from speech and song in children and adolescents with autism. Ultimately, her goal is to better understand the unique communication style of emotion associated with autism and provide further theoretical support for music-based interventions. Her research is supported by doctoral fellowships from the Fonds de Recherche Québec Société et Culture (FRQSC), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and the Transforming Care Consortium FQRS fellowship. Tania recently completed her psychology internship at the Center of Excellence for Autism at the Lester B. Pearson School Board. She is currently working as a psychological consultant at Summit School and acting as Interim Clinical Director for the Summit Center for Education, Research, and Training (SCERT).
Tania’s doctoral research is supervised by Dr. Eve-Marie Quintin (Behaviour, Autism, and NeuroDevelopment Research Group) and Dr. Jacob Burack (McGill Youth Study Team) and is supported by Fonds de Recherche Québec Société et Culture (FRQSC). Her research interests lie in clarifying emotion recognition abilities in children and adolescents with autism via music and speech prosody. Ultimately, her goal is to better understand the unique communication style of emotion associated with autism. Moreover, she hopes to provide further theoretical support for music based interventions aimed at improving the communication of emotions in speech within this population.
Shalini Sivathasan, Hons. B.Sc. (University of Toronto), M.A. (New York University)
Shalini is a doctoral student in the School/Applied Child Psychology Program at McGill University, and a 2016-2018 Autism Research Training (ART) Program Trainee. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Toronto, and her Master’s degree at New York University, both in psychology. Her MA thesis, supervised by Dr. Anthony Puliafico (Columbia University), examined the psychometric properties and clinical utility of a new psychiatric screening instrument for use in pediatric primary care settings. Shalini has also worked in clinical research positions at the Hospital for Sick Children and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.
Shalini is co-supervised by Dr. Eve-Marie Quintin and Dr. Jacob Burack. Her research interests lie in elucidating processes of emotion recognition across multiple learning modalities in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Additionally, she aims to study the effect of providing multiple response options in emotion recognition tasks, for the purposes of providing insight into the use of effective teaching modalities for children with ASD in mainstream education. Ultimately, she hopes to develop and utilize unique and innovative strategies to improve our understanding of cognition and emotion as implicated in ASD and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Shalini is supported by a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship and a Graduate Research Grant from the Organization for Autism Research. She recently completed her internship in Clinical Assessment and Diagnostics at the Marcus Autism Center/Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.
Gwenaëlle Philibert-Lignières, Hons. B.A. (York University), M.A. (McGill University)
Gwenaëlle Philibert-Lignières is a Ph.D. Candidate in the School/Applied Child Psychology at McGill University. She is also a member of the Transforming Autism Care Consortium (TACC) since 2017 and was a Autism Research Training (ART) Program Trainee in 2016. She completed a Bachelor of Honours in Psychology at York University and her Masters in the School/Applied Child Psychology Program at McGill University. During her undergraduate, Gwenaëlle was a research assistant at the Hospital for SickKids in Toronto where she contributed to the Canadian Pediatric Demyelinating Disease study. She also worked as a language skills tutor, teaching assistant, and instructor at the Learning Disability Services at York University.
She is currently supervised by Dr. Eve-Marie Quintin (Behaviour, Autism, and NeuroDevelopment Research Group). Her research interests lies in the cognitive mechanisms and benefits of music for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Her Ph.D. thesis investigates the use of music as a method to evaluate working memory abilities in children and adolescents with ASD. Using a strength-based framework, the overarching objective is to support the use of alternative assessment methodology to capture the true cognitive potential abilities of people with ASD. She was the recipient of the 2016 Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Master's bursary, the Fonds de recherche santé-Québec (FRSQ) Doctoral Award and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Award. She is currently completing her doctoral internship at the Centre de réadaptation Marie-Enfant (CHU Sainte-Justine).
Hadas Dahary, Hons. B.A. (York University), M.A. (McGill University)
Hadas is a doctoral candidate of the School/Applied Child Psychology Program at McGill University and has developed a profound interest in facilitating the social inclusion of neurodiverse children, adolescents, and young adults in her capacity as a researcher- and clinician- in training. While completing her Bachelor of Arts degree in the Specialized Honours program for Psychology at York University, Hadas was involved in various research projects that evaluated interventions for supporting memory strategy use and social emotional learning for children on the autism spectrum. Her undergraduate thesis, supervised by Dr. James Bebko, explored visual search strategies when processing audio-visual information among school-aged children on the autism spectrum using eye-tracking technology.
Upon entrance into the School/Applied Child Psychology program, Hadas completed her master’s project under the supervision of Dr. Eve-Marie Quintin, where she compared the perception of basic emotions in faces and music of adolescents on the autism spectrum, which provided support for the potential use of music as a novel strength-based modality for optimizing social and emotional functioning. Hadas is currently motivated to extend this work by pursuing her doctoral research on assessing the musical strengths of neurodiverse children and examining how these strengths can be leveraged into school interventions for facilitating their social development. Her work in the BAND research group has been supported by the 2017 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Master's bursary and is currently supported by a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship. Hadas was also a former trainee of the national Autism Research Training (ART) program and is a current trainee of the Quebec Autism Research Training (QART) program.
Charlotte Rimmer, Hons. B.A. (York University), M.A (McGill University)
Charlotte is a doctoral student in the School/Applied Child Psychology Program at McGill University. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in the Specialized Honours program for Psychology at York University, Glendon Campus, and her Masters in the School/Applied Child Psychology program at McGill University. In 2018, she was a trainee in the Autism Research Training (ART) Program, which provides autism researchers from across Canada with transdisciplinary training and mentorship. Currently, Charlotte is supervised by Dr. Eve-Marie Quintin (Behaviour, Autism, and NeuroDevelopment Reseach Group). Her research interests lie in examining the association between music and emergent literacy skills of children on the autism spectrum. Her aim is to improve educational intervention programs for individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions. She has also worked at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, ADHD Clinic, conducting cognitive and academic assessments for the Clinical and Pharmacogenetic study of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. She was the recipient of the 2018 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Master's bursary and is currently supported by a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship.
Samantha Wong, B.Sc. (University of British Columbia), M.A. (McGill University)
Samantha is a doctoral student in the School/Applied Child Psychology (SACP) Program at McGill University with a clinical and research interest in working with children with neurodevelopmental conditions. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in behavioural neuroscience at the University of British Columbia, where she explored research in cognitive neuroscience relevant to linguistic processes under the supervision of Dr. Todd S. Woodward; and research related to body modification and prostate cancer under the supervision of Dr. Richard J. Wassersug, both supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). She developed strong research skills in functional neuroimaging, survey study design and management through these projects.
Her recent master’s project in the SACP program under the supervision of Dr. Eve-Marie Quintin investigated the musical strength of children on the autism spectrum and characterized the quality of their pitch and melodic memory. Samantha plans to extend this work through doctoral research on characterizing the neural correlates of rhythm perception and sensorimotor synchronization, as well as potential neural plasticity with music intervention.
Her work in the BAND research group has been supported by the 2018 Quebec Autism Research Training fellowship and 2019 Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Master's bursary. Her upcoming doctoral research will be supported by the CIHR Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Doctoral Scholarship and the Fonds de recherche santé-Québec (FRSQ) Doctoral Award. Samantha is also a current trainee of the Quebec Autism Research Training (QART) program.
Masters Students
Mira Kaedbey, B.Sc. (McGill University)
Mira is a master’s student in the School/Applied Child Psychology Program at McGill University. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at McGill University. Currently, Mira is supervised by Dr. Eve-Marie Quintin (BAND group). Her research interests lie in examining the effect of a music intervention on student-teacher relationships and problem behaviours in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability. Mira has been interested in research on autism spectrum disorder ever since she joined the Behaviour, Autism and Neurodevelopment (BAND) Research Group as a research assistant, where she later became their lab coordinator. She has also worked at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, under the supervision of Dr. Bruno Debruille, collecting data for an Event Related Potential experiment regarding the effects of social context and Autism on semantic processing. Mira’s first year as a master’s student in the BAND research group is currently supported by the 2020 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Master's bursary and her second year will be supported by the 2021 Quebec Autism Research Training (QART) program. Mira is also a current trainee of the Quebec Autism Research Training (QART) program.
Cassiea Sim, B.A. (McGill University)
Cassiea is a master’s student in the School/Applied Child Psychology Program at McGill University. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a specialization in Behavioural Science and a minor in Linguistics. Cassiea also conducted her undergraduate research with Dr. Richard Koestner on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement on the lives of Black young adults from Montreal. Her master’s research, under the supervision of Dr. Eve-Marie Quintin, will focus on music cognition and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Cassiea’s hope is to participate in the ever-growing field of autism research and to be able to help neurodivergent individuals reach their full potential by assisting them in acquiring the tools they need to navigate a world not designed for them whilst prioritizing their strengths.
Alumni
Dianne Macdonald, B.A. Linguistics (McGill University), M.Sc. Communication Disorders (University of British Columbia), Ph.D. Human Development/Autism and Hyperlexia Research (McGill University)
Dianne is a PhD graduate of the Human Development Program in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University. She is a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist and owner of Communication Works Speech and Language Therapy, focused on reading disorders of children, adolescents, and adults. Her clinical work provided the impetus to pursue a doctoral degree at McGill to delve deeper into reading disorders specific to children with autism spectrum disorder. Supervised by Dr. Eve-Marie Quintin and Dr. Gigi Luk, her research centers on harnessing the strength and special interest in early word reading of children with autism and hyperlexia to support their challenges with reading comprehension and oral language comprehension. Dianne developed an app-based, parent-supported intervention that targets reading comprehension and oral language comprehension for preschoolers with autism and hyperlexia. Her research, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (JADD), earned first place in Holland Bloorview’s 2021 Pursuit Award competition for outstanding contributions to childhood disability research. The Organization for Autism Research (OAR); Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music (CRBLM), and Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Société et Culture (FRQSC) all supported her research. She is currently a part-time lecturer in Concordia University’s Child Studies program.
Sandy Stanutz, B.A. Mus (St. Francis Xavier University), Ph.D. Music Education/Research (McGill University)
Sandy was the Miriam Post-Doctoral Researcher of the School of Applied Child Psychology and Human Development in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University. She researches the quality of musical memory in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Sandy and her supervisors, Dr. Jacob Burack and Dr. Eve-Marie Quintin, were awarded a Grammy Foundation Grant to investigate absolute pitch ability, a rare memory for pitch and melody, in children with ASD. The implication of determining musical strengths in ASD is that they could be used as tools to enhance other areas of development. Sandy has developed a music curriculum for use with children aged 3-6 at the Abe Gold Learning Centre, Miriam Foundation, Montréal.