The Schuck Child Development Lab

Dr. Sabrina Schuck is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine at UC Irvine and the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for The Craig School in Irvine.  She has worked in the field of child development for over 30 years, with considerable experience in school-based behavioral health, and clinical research at UCI. Her work focusses on developing integrative strategies which best support resilience and health for children with ADHD and Autism.

Schuck’s research examines ways to enhance or complement evidence-based interventions with novel, acceptable, and feasible strategies.  In the last decade she conducted the first large-scale, randomized-controlled trial examining Animal Assisted Interventions with therapy dogs for children with ADHD funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health & Human Development (NICHD). In 2020, she was awarded a second NICHD pilot research grant to examine potential physiological responses to AAI. Most recently, this year, together with colleagues in the school of Informatics & Computer Sciences at UC Irvine and Chapman University, and in Psychiatry at UC Riverside, this multi-disciplinary team was awarded a 5-year NIH grant to examine the benefit of digital health interventions (DHI) for children with ADHD and their families.

Notably, in 2019, Schuck worked to establish The Craig School in Irvine, modeled after the Child Development Lab School at UC Irvine.  The Craig School, non-profit organization which provides a school-based positive behavioral health services for children with neurodevelopmental disorders and their families, is now certified by the California Department of Education to provide Special Education services. She also teaches Behavioral Parent Education at The Craig School for the Orange County community and facilitates teacher and parent training seminars in private and public schools.

Schuck is dedicated to growing the next generation of catalysts for change. At UCI and at The Craig School, she supervises and provides mentorship for residents, fellows, developing teachers, volunteers, and undergraduate researchers.  Her mentorship aims to inform future physicians, teachers, and mental health practitioners to build interdisciplinary teams to improve systems for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders.