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Dr. Lisa E. Cyzner, PhD, OTR/L
Dr. Cyzner opened the doors of Cyzner Institute in
2003 after identifying a strong need in the greater
Charlotte community for a resource center to support
children with special learning needs and their families.
She has put to practice her extensive education and
experience as an OT to develop differentiated learning
environments for children. Her belief is that early
intervention combined with individualized therapeutic
services/programs lay the foundation for future success
for many of these children.
Lisa E. Cyzner, PhD, OTR/L graduated from the University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor with a bachelor of arts degree
in English in 1990. Lisa received her master’s degree
in occupational therapy from Columbia University,
New York, NY in 1993. While at Columbia, she was a
recipient of the Veteran’s Administration Health Professional
Scholarship, awarded to a select group of occupational
therapy students throughout the country, based upon
their academic achievement. Lisa also received the
National AMBUCS Award and Columbia University Incentive
Award for academic scholarship and leadership. In
May of 2009, Lisa was awarded the Maxwell J. Schliefer
Distinguished Service Award from Exceptional Parents
Magazine, 2009.
Lisa completed all requirements for her Ph.D. from
the Department of Occupational Therapy at New York
University, New York, NY in November of 2000. Her
doctoral dissertation is entitled: Occupational
Therapy Embedded in Daily Life: The Parents’ and the
Therapist’s Reported Experiences of Participating
in Occupational Therapy Invention for Children with
Difficulty with Self-Regulation. She received
the Metropolitan New York Occupational Therapy Association
Small Grants Fund to assist with data collection,
analysis, and management processes for her dissertation.
Other research that Lisa has conducted and/or participated
in has included topics related to: foundations of
child and family policy and policy research, services
for children with pervasive developmental disorder,
development of a set of guidelines for occupational
therapy clinical practice for children with difficulty
with self-regulation, and evaluation of children with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. While at
New York University from 1996-1999, Lisa was an instructor
and guest lecturer for several classes for entry-level
occupational therapy students.
Lisa has had many years of experience working in both
adult and pediatric occupational therapy settings
including the home, schools, and private practice.
While working in adult rehabilitation, Lisa provided
services in a spinal cord injury unit and nursing
home care unit. Lisa has always been self-employed
when working in pediatric settings which have included
working with children with regulatory disorders, autism,
pervasive developmental disorder, multi-system developmental
disorder, sensory integrative dysfunction, attention
deficit disorder with and without hyperactivity, and
sensory modulation disorders with related social,
emotional, and behavior problems. Lisa has also worked
with children post cerebral vascular accidents and
with children with cerebral palsy, developmental delays,
and speech and communication delays. She has chosen
to specialize and focus her life work on working with
families and their children whose greatest areas of
need are related to sensory modulation and self-regulation.
In August of 2003, Lisa and Rosanne Manus, MA, (owner
of Manus Academy) founded what was then called the
Therapeutic Children’s Center and is now known as
Cyzner Institute (CI). Lisa is the director and owner
of CI. Cyzner Institute offers an intensive training
program for young children with special needs, including
a day school (weekday school program). Other services
include parent training; motor, music and social skills
groups; additional speech-language, occupational therapy,
and music therapy services, and the integration of
biomedical services. Please contact the office for
more information regarding all that CI offers. Lisa
has developed the fine motor and gross motor curriculums
with sensory-based strategies for this program along
with other materials. Research studies have been conducted
at Cyzner Institute to study program efficacy.
Lisa has participated in extensive and comprehensive
continuing education related to the evaluation and
treatment of sensory processing disorders. She has
also participated in further education and clinical
training including (note these are samples of courses
taken over the past 17 years): Sensory Integration
Today: Research, Theory, and Practice, Therapeutic
Listening and Listening with the Whole Body with Sheila
Frick, OTR and Colleen Hacker, MS, OTR, Emotional
and Developmental Challenges of Infancy and Early
Childhood with Dr. Stanley Greenspan, and Behavioral
Intervention in Autism, a conference sponsored by
The Foundation for Educating Children with Autism
and The National Alliance for Autism Research with
featured presenters including: Dr. Eric Courchesne,
Ph.D., Dr. O. Ivar Lovaas, Ph.D. (Applied Behavioral
Analysis), Dr. Eric London, M.D., and Dr. Isabelle
Rapin, M.D. Lisa is also trained in Therapeutic Listening™
and is a certified Interactive Metronome® trainer.
Lisa’s first national presentation was at the American
Occupational Therapy Association’s 1999 Annual Conference
and Exposition in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her second
presentation at AOTA was in April of 2008 when she
was a featured presenter at the AOTA Mental Health
Special Interest Section and presented on her Life
Approach Model and the Cyzner Institute, the first
research studies conducted at CI, and the integration
of a biomedical approach. As part of the honor for
speaking at this event, Lisa also published an article
in OT Practice in April of 2008. Her first
publication, a chapter entitled, “Ability/Disability
Continuum and Activity Match,” appeared in February
of 2000 in the textbook, Activities, the Texture
of Life: Describing Purposeful Activities. In
April of 2003, she was asked to update her chapter
for a second edition of this text, and most recently
in early 2009, she finished the update for the third
edition of this text. In 1999, her short story entitled:
“Cecilia Gets Unglued” about a young girl with a regulatory
disorder and her family’s involvement in her occupational
therapy intervention was submitted and accepted for
publication in the book, Ordinary Miracles: True
Stories About Overcoming Obstacles and Surviving Catastrophes
(available from Slack Publishers-publication 2002).
Soon after, Lisa was asked to write an article with
Dr. Deborah Labovitz, former chair of the Department
of Occupational Therapy at New York University, for
an issue of Exceptional Parent magazine. Lisa’s doctoral
dissertation, Occupational Therapy Embedded in
Daily Life: The Parents’ and the Therapist’s Reported
Experiences of Participating in Occupational Therapy
Invention for Children with Difficulty with Self-Regulation
© 2000 is available from UMI ®, a Bell & Howell Company.
Lisa is a member of the American Occupational Therapy
Association. She is licensed by the State of North
Carolina, the State of New York, and is certified
by the National Board for Certification in Occupational
Therapy. Lisa and her husband, Dr. Ronnie Cyzner,
offer biomedical treatments are part of the comprehensive
and integrative services provided at the institute
in addition to those already provided through the
Charlotte Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental
Disorders.
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