Richard Saunders, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist, Research and Training Center on Independent Living
The University of Kansas, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue
Room 4089 Dole, Lawrence, KS 66045-7561
Phone: (785) 785-864-1618, FAX 785-864-5063, TTY (785) 864-0706
e-mail: rrsaun@ku.edu

Professional Biography

Richard Saunders conducts research with his wife Muriel Saunders in the areas of intellectual, physical and developmental disabilities, including adaptive switch technology, supported routines, health promotion, and weight loss interventions.

Dr. Saunders is also affiliated with KU's Parsons Research Center, the Weight Management Center, and the Kansas Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Center.

Recent Grants

Principal Investigator: Communication of People with Mental Retardation
Agency: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Type: P01 (HD18955, Years 21-25) Period: April 10, 2007 – March 31, 2012
Objective: To discover ways to prevent or remediate incomplete language development often associated with intellectual disabilities.

Principal Investigator: Reducing the Incidence of Obesity in Adults with Developmental Disabilities in Kansas
Agency: Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities/Administration on Developmental Disabilities
Type: DDP 07-831 Period: October 1, 2006-September 30, 2009
Objective: To assist overweight adults with developmental disabilities to lose weight. Methods, results, and lessons learned with these participants are updated at www.diet.ku.edu.

Principal Investigator: Closing the Loop: Exploring Best Practices in Healthy Athletes Referral Follow-up
Agency: Special Olympics International
Type: Contract  Period: January 15, 2010-January 15, 2011
Objective: To examine follow-up to dental screening recommendations by Special Olympics Athletes

Co-Investigator: Weight Loss by Individuals with Physical Disabilities
Agency: Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
Type: FIR Period: October 1, 2009-September 30, 2012
Objective: To compare the NHLBI  (recommended care) diet with a meal replacement diet with adults with mobility impairments.

Co-Investigator: Weight Loss and Maintenance by Adults with IDD
Agency: National Institute of  Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Type: R01  Period: September 1, 2010-August 31, 2015
Objective: To compare the NHLBI  (recommended care) diet with a meal replacement diet with adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Selected Publications

Mellstrom, B. P., Saunders, M. D., Saunders, R. R., & Olswang, L. B. (2005). Interaction of biobehavioral state and microswitch use in individuals with profound impairments. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 17, 35-53. 
 
Saunders, R. R., Chaney, L., & Marquis, J. (2005). Equivalence class establishment with two-, three-, and four-choice matching to sample by senior citizens. The Psychological Record,55, 539-559.

Saunders, R. R., McEntee, J. E., Saunders, M. D. (2005).Interaction of reinforcement schedules, a behavioral prosthesis, and work-related behavior in adults with mental retardation. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 38, 163-176
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Saunders, R. R., Spradlin, J. E., & Sherman, J. A. (2006). The communication of people with mental retardation program project. In R. L. Schiefelbusch & S. R. Schroeder (Eds.), Doing science and doing good (pp. 351-369). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

Saunders, R. R., Saunders, M. D., Struve, B., Munce, A. L., Olswang, L. B., Dowden, P. A., & Klasner, E. R. (2007). Discovering indices of contingency awareness in adults with multiple profound disabilities. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 112, 246-260.

Saunders, R. R. (2007). Residential and day services. In J. W. Jacobson, J. A. Mulick, & Rojahn, J. (Eds.). Handbook of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, (pp. 209-226). New York: Springer.

de Souza, S., Goyos, C., Silvares, E. F. M., & Saunders, R. R. (2007). Emergence of printing and spelling skills from constructed-response matching-to-sample instruction (CRMTS). European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 8, 49-64.
Elias, B, C., Goyos, C., Saunders, M., & Saunders, R. (2008). Teaching manual signs to adults with mental retardation using matching-to-sample procedures and stimulus equivalence. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 24, 1–13.

Saunders, M. D., Questad, K. A., Cullinan, T. B. & Saunders, R. R. (2011), Adapted digital music players for individuals with severe impairments. Behavioral Interventions, 26(2), 161–166.

Saunders, R. R., Saunders, M. D., Donnelly, J. E., Smith, B. K., Sullivan, D. K., Guilford, B., & Rondon, M. F. (2011). Evaluation of an approach to weight loss in adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 49(2), 103-112.

Saunders, R. R., & Saunders, M. D (2011). Innovation of a reinforce preference assessment with the difficult to test. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32(5), 1572-1579. [Presently online at: http://www.sciencedirect.com.www2.lib.ku.edu:2048/science/journal/08914222]

Current Professional Service

Consulting Editor, American Journal on Mental Retardation
Board of Editors, Behavioral Interventions
Board of Editors, Research in Developmental Disabilities