Emre Deniz

Profile

Biography

2011 – 2015: Bachelor of Science in Special Education - Necmettin Erbakan University

2016 – 2019: Master of Science in Special Education - Necmettin Erbakan University

2019 – Present: Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology in Education - The University of York

Emre did his undergraduate and master’s degree in special education in Turkey. After he finished his undergraduate degree, he worked as a special education teacher and taught children with low/high functioning autism spectrum conditions for five years. Furthermore, in his master’s degree, Emre conducted a short-term intense experimental study in which he tested the effectiveness of child-centred play therapy (CCPT) on the social skills development of children with ASC. Results of his master’s dissertation suggested that the short-term intense CCPT is an effective treatment in increasing the social skills of children with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC).

Emre joined the department of education with a strong interest in sibling relationships and how they affect children’s feelings and behaviours. His PhD research aims to delineate causal pathways between sibling bullying and mental health in adolescents with ASC. He is also interested in exploring the cross-cultural variations in sibling bullying and mental health between western and non-western countries.

Emre practices the open-science framework in his PhD in which he aims to make the scientific processes and the results of his study more transparent, accessible, and replicable for the other researchers. Emre follows the Neurodiversity movement which accepts the variations in neurocognitive functioning as a natural part of human development instead of seeing them as neuropathological diseases. Therefore, Emre treats neurodevelopmental conditions, such as Autism Spectrum Conditions, as a difference, not a disorder

Emre is currently a member of the Psychology in Education Research Centre in which he takes part and contributes to the ongoing studies that are related to his research interests. He took part in the Feelings and Behaviours project, co-authored with Dr Umar Toseeb, Dr Kathryn Asbury, Laura Fox, and Aimee Code (in the PERC), and published two articles. He is also a part of the CANDY research group in which he discusses new research ideas, joins and contributes to the new research that is led by Dr Umar Toseeb.

Research

Research

PhD Topic: Cross-Cultural Differences in Sibling Bullying in Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Intercultural Examination of Families in the UK and Turkey.

Emre’s PhD research focuses on sibling bullying and mental health in adolescents with autism spectrum conditions. In one of his studies, he assesses whether the prevalence of sibling bullying changes across a western (the UK) and non-western (Turkey) culture and, if so, whether culture moderates the association between sibling bullying and mental health in adolescents with ASC. In another study, he evaluates the longitudinal association between sibling bullying and mental health by testing the mediator effects of the Theory of Mind and Executive Function skills between sibling bullying and mental health.

Other research experience:

2019 – Present: Child and Adolescent Neurodevelopmental Diversity (CANDY) Research Group (Led by Dr Umar Toseeb)

2020: Feelings and Behaviours Research Project (The effects of Covid-19 on the mental health of children with SENDs and their families)

2021: A systematic review and meta-analysis project on the effectiveness of the play-based interventions for children with social, communication and language needs

Supervisor:

Dr Umar Toseeb

Publications

Publications

Deniz, E. A. (2019). The Effectiveness of the Child-Centered Play Therapy On The Development of Social Skills of Children with Autism (Master's thesis, Necmettin Erbakan University, Department of Education).

Toseeb, U., Asbury, K., Code, A., Fox, L., & Deniz, E. (2020). Supporting families with children with special educational needs and disabilities during COVID-19.

Asbury, K., Fox, L., Deniz, E., Code, A., & Toseeb, U. (2021). How is COVID-19 affecting the mental health of children with special educational needs and disabilities and their families?. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 51(5), 1772-1780.

Seminar talks

• Autism ReseaRCH (ARCH) Seminar -King’s College London

Topic: Longitudinal Associations between Sibling Bullying and Self Esteem in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Conditions: Evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study E Deniz, U Toseeb

Conference presentations

• 2017 II.INES International Academic Research Congress

The Views of the Parents and the Teachers Related To Being Diagnosis, Evaluation and Placement Process of the Individuals

• INES International Academic Research Congress

Effective Communication Methods in the Teaching of Academic Skills for Students with Hearing Impairments

• II.INES International Academic Research Congress

Evaluation The Individualized Education Programs to Prepared For Mentally Disabled Students With Performance Levels of Students in Mathematics Lesson

• III. Education and Social Science Congress

The Examination of Scientific Research on Child-Centered Play Therapy

• III.Education and Social Science Congress

The Examination of Some Therapy Methods Applied in Autism

Grant

2019 – 2023: A full funding for PhD Study (Republic of Turkish Ministry of National Education Directorate General for Higher & Foreign Education)

Find out more about Emre's research on his Google Scholar, Publons and ORCID profiles.