Aaron Thompson, Ph.D.
MPSI Associate Director
Home Mizzou School: School of Social Work
Email: thompsonaa@missouri.edu
Phone: 573–882‑0124
717 Clark Hall, Columbia MO
Dr. Aaron M. Thompson completed his Ph.D. in Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to this, Aaron worked as a counselor and special educator in a juvenile detention facility, as an educational disability evaluation specialist, and as a public school social worker and principal. Currently, Aaron is a Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Missouri and the Associate Director of the Missouri Prevention Science Institute. Aaron’s research interests include the origins of mental and behavioral health issues among youth, training for school-based mental health service providers, and the development and evaluation of early prevention and intervention efforts to improve school readiness and reduce disruptive and aggressive behaviors for high-risk children. Aaron is the developer of The Self-Management Training and Regulation Strategy (STARS), and the Principal Investigator on a $3.5M US Department of Education award to test the effects of STARS using a randomized control trial with 5th-grade students who present challenging classroom behaviors. Aaron is also the Principal investigator on a $4.1M contract with Boone County, Missouri to develop the Family Access Center of Excellence of Boone County and the Co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Wendy Reinke on the Boone County Schools Mental Health Coalition.
Expertise:
- School and Community Service Agency Collaborations;
- School-Based Interventions for Children with Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Health Concerns;
- Building Self-Determination for Students with Educational Disabilities’ Site-Based Information System to Inform Tiered Response Models.