Rita S. Eagle

Rita S. Eagle received her B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University,

and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from New York University. She has forty five years of experience in assessment, therapy, teaching and research, with a focus on cognitive and emotional development in individuals with developmental disabilities, including autistic spectrum disorders, mental retardation and cerebral palsy. Dr. Eagle has also worked in child welfare matters, with a particular interest in the separation experience of children who have lost or been denied access to their parents. She has worked in private practice, and in clinical,educational and research venues in New York City, Toronto, and California,including Master's Children Center in New York City (with Drs. Margaret S, Mahler and Fred Pine), the Research Center for Mental Health at New YorkUniversity, the Rusk Institute for Rehabilitative Medicine at New York University Medical Center, and the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry and Surrey Place Center in Toronto. Currently, she is associated with Harbor Regional Center in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Eagle has published research and clinical papers in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry,Canadian Psychology, the Journal of Psychotherapy, Research and Practice, the Journal of Divorce; and the Journalof Developmental Disabilities. She has three children, including Benjamin, the inspiration for this book, now thirty-six years old, who has mental retardation and features of an autistic spectrum

disorder. She has three grand -children, and of course a beagle -(see Sniffy the Beagle) .