Welcome — I’m so glad you’re here

Published April 24^th, 2026 · By Dr. Debra Reisinger

If you’ve landed on this page, chances are you care about someone with a neurodevelopmental difference. That may be a child you’re raising, a student in your classroom, a client on your caseload, or perhaps yourself. Whatever brought you here, welcome. I’m really glad you came.

I’m Dr. Debra Reisinger, a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in neurodevelopmental health. My work centers on autism, fragile X syndrome, intellectual disability, and the everyday challenges that come with emotion regulation and behavior. I work alongside families, schools, clinics, and research teams. Through this space, I want to share more of what I’ve learned along the way. I have never seen myself as a gatekeeper of resources or knowledge and I hope this site allows me to share my expertise.

How I got here

Honestly? I thought I was going to be a lawyer. My husband still tells me I made the wrong call. He often says my arguing abilities were wasted on psychology and I should have stuck with law school. I also do not like being wrong, so we’ll keep it between us that he may have been slightly right.

What actually pulled me in a different direction were two wonderful humans: my niece and nephew. Being their aunt has been one of the great gifts of my life, and watching them grow up sparked a real curiosity in me about something that still drives my work today —how much the environment a child grows up in shapes their outcomes, and how kids build resilience despite their biology, not because of it. Years later, becoming a mom myself has only deepened those questions. Parenting has a way of turning every textbook concept into a lived one — humbling in the best possible way.

That curiosity led me to an undergraduate practicum at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where I was first immersed in the world of autism and neurodevelopmental disorders. That experience really solidified my career path for me. Every child I met was completely their own person — no two days were ever boring or alike, and my favorite part of the work, then and now, was finding each individuals strengths.

From there, the path unfolded. I obtained a Bachelors in Psychology at Mount St. Joseph University, a PhD in School Psychology at the University of South Carolina, completed a predoctoral internship at Kennedy Krieger Institute/Johns Hopkins, and eventually a postdoctoral fellowship back at Cincinnati Children’s — a full-circle return to the place that started it all. Along the way I had the privilege of training with some of the most thoughtful clinicians and researchers in the field, and I carry their lessons into every family meeting, classroom consult, and research project I take on today.

Most recently, I have become a mom. Motherhood has humbled me the most and clarified my work all at the same time. Raising my own child has given me a new kind of respect for every parent sitting across from me in my therapy sessions, and a deeper appreciation for how much of this work happens in the small, ordinary moments between big ones.

What I believe about this work

A few things guide almost everything I do:

Behavior is information. A meltdown, a refusal, a sudden withdrawal — these aren’t problems to be eliminated. They’re communication signals we need to understand. When we get curious instead of frustrated, we usually find something important underneath.

Families are the experts on their kids. My job isn’t to hand down answers. It’s to bring evidence-based tools to the table and partner with the people who know the child best. I also understand to importance of partnering with all caregivers involved whether its extended family, school staff, or support staff.

Schools and clinicians deserve support, too. So much of what makes an intervention work isn’t written in the manual. It’s in the small, daily choices teachers and therapists make. I want to make those choices easier.

Good science belongs in plain language. Research only helps people when it leaves the journal and reaches the kitchen table, the classroom, and the therapy room.

What you’ll find here

I’m planning to use this blog as a place to share the kinds of things I find myself explaining again and again — to parents in my office, to teachers on consultation calls, to graduate students asking “how do I even start?” Expect a mix of:

• Plain-language breakdowns of research on autism, fragile X, and related conditions
• Practical strategies for emotion regulation and behavior at home and at school
• Honest reflections on what I’m seeing in clinical practice
• Resources for educators, clinicians, and caregivers who want to go deeper
• Occasional posts about the science itself — what we know, what we don’t, and where the field is headed

I won’t promise a strict posting schedule, because life with clinical work and research rarely cooperates with one. I will promise that every post here is written with real families and real practitioners in mind.

If you’re a caregiver reading this

The path you’re walking is hard, and it’s also full of more meaning than most people ever get to experience. You are not failing. You are doing something genuinely difficult, and you’re doing it on purpose, with love. I hope something you read here makes tomorrow a little lighter.

If you’re an educator or clinician reading this

Thank you for the work you do, especially the invisible parts of it. I hope this blog gives you something useful to bring back to your students and clients, and a little reassurance that the hard calls you make every day matter.

Let’s stay in touch

If there’s a topic you’d like me to write about, a question you’ve been sitting with, or a resource you wish existed, send me a note through the contact page. I read everything, and I would love for the questions readers send me to become future posts.

Thank you for being here at the very beginning. More soon.