Dr Ivana Lessner Listiakova

Since 2010 she has taught undergraduate and graduate level students in courses and modules focused on creative art therapies, sensory integration and sensory processing needs, diversity and inclusion in education, special educational needs and partnership collaborative working with schools and families. She has also supervised a large number students conducting research in their BA and MA dissertations.

PhD Students

Dr Ivana Lessner Listiakova is accepting PhD students with a broad focus on inclusion – inclusive education and social inclusion, interventions and strategies to support vulnerable and marginalised groups and individuals.

Dr Ivana Lessner Listiakova has been involved in research projects focused on evaluating a range of practices in expressive art therapies – specifically dramatherapy and art therapy, and the use of multisensory approaches, focusing on the needs of teachers in inclusive education, young people in social care facilities, and adults in mental health rehabilitation clinics. Recently she worked on research projects exploring experiences of families living autism and teacher trainings in autism and evaluating teacher training in providing autism strategies.

Her expertise is mainly in qualitative research methodologies, interpretative and pragmatic research paradigms, conducting and analysing data collected through interviews as well as other creative methods. She has also conducted mixed-methods research evaluating therapeutic and educational practice.

Recent Publications in English (2014-2021)

Selected publications (see ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6942-2485 for full listing)

Journal articles suitable including primary data research

Preece, D., & Lessner Lištiaková, I. (2021). “There Isn’t Really Anything around Here…”: Autism, Education and the Experience of Families Living in Rural Coastal England, Education Sciences, 11(8), 397. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11080397

Lisak Šegota, N., Lištiaková, I. L., Stošić, J., Kossewska, J., Troshanska, J., Nikolovska, A. P., ... & Preece, D. (2020). Teacher education and confidence regarding autism of specialist primary school teachers. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2020.1829865

Kossewska, J., Preece, D., Lisak, N., Bombińska-Domżał, A., Lessner Listiakova, I., Niemiec, S., Lubińska-Kościółek, E., Płoszaj, M., Stošić, J., & Troshanska, J. (2020). Training needs in the field of autism of contemporary Polish teachers in the context of the international ASD-EAST procject. Social Welfare: Interdisciplinary Approach, 1(9), 82-92. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.21277/sw.v1i9.441

Valachová, D., Lessner Listiakova, I., & Kováčová, B. (2019). Gallery as an explicit stimulation environment in the development of artistic talent. Muzeologia a Kulturne Dedicstvo, 7(2), 49-62. http://www.muzeologia.sk/index_htm_files/mkd_2_19_online.pdf

Lessner Listiakova, I. (2018). Migration as an influencing factor on identity formation. Journal of Exceptional People, 1(12), 37-44. http://jep.upol.cz/2018/Journal-of-Exceptional-People-Volume1-Number12.pdf

Kováčová, B., & Lištiaková, I. (2017). Analysis of early childhood occupational therapy intervention in a group of clients with low graphomotor skills. Journal of Exceptional People, 1(10), 93-106. http://jep.upol.cz/2017/Journal-of-Exceptional-People-Volume1-Number10.pdf

Fábry Lucká, Z. & Lištiaková, I. (2016). Evaluation of programmes in psychomotor therapy. Review of Artistic Education, 6(11-12), 158-166. https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/rae.2016.11.issue-1/rae-2016-0019/rae-2016-0019.pdf

Lištiaková, I., Valenta, M., & Šilarová, L. (2014). Evaluation of dramatherapy process with clients in addictions rehabilitation community. Clinical and Special Psychology, 3/2014, 3. http://psyjournals.ru/en/psyclin/2014/n3/Valenta_et_al.shtml

Lištiaková, I. & Fábry Lucká, Z. (2014). Online assessment, documentation and evaluation tool in early childhood intervention - pilot study in Slovakia in multisensory therapeutic environments. Journal of Exceptional People, 2(5), pp. 59–71. http://jep.upol.cz/2014/Journal-of-Exceptional-People-Volume2-Number5.pdf

Journal articles (Literature review based)

Lessner Listiakova, I., & Preece, D. (2020). In-service education and training for teachers regarding autism spectrum disorder: a review of the literature. Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis: Studia Psychologica, 12. https://doi.org/10.24917/20845596.12.9

Lištiaková, I. (2015). Analysis of three approaches in dramatherapy. In Journal of Exceptional People, 1(6). ISSN 1805-4978. pp. 19–30. http://jep.upol.cz/2015/Journal-of-Exceptional-People-Volume1-Number6.pdf

Book chapters

Kováčová, B. & Lištiaková, I. (2016). Supportive occupational therapy intervention focused on the area of graphomotor skills in children with symptoms of dyspraxia in early childhood intervention. In Special Education : Miscellanaea. Warsawa : Aleksandra Siedlaczek-Swed, 2016. ISBN 978-83-64157-29-5. pp. 143-168.

Valenta, M. & Listiakova, I. (2016). Evaluation of dramatherapeutical process for clients with neurotic disorder. In Routledge international handbook of dramatherapy. Abingdon : Routledge, 2016. ISBN 978-1-138-82972-5. pp. 240-249. https://www-routledgehandbooks-com.ezproxy.northampton.ac.uk/doi/10.4324/9781315728537.ch24

Lištiaková, I. (2015). Tertiary education in expressive therapies in the European context. In I. Listiakova (Ed.) International Context of Tertiary Education in Expressive Therapies. Olomouc : Univerzita Palackého. pp. 12-35. http://tera.expresivniterapie.cz/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/09_Terciary-education-in-the-area-of-art-therapies-in-international-context.-ISBN-978-80-244-4611-0%C2%A0.pdf

Lištiaková, I. (2015). Tertiary Education in Dramatherapy. In LIŠTIAKOVÁ, I. (Ed.). International Context of Tertiary Education in Expressive Therapies. Olomouc : Univerzita Palackého. pp. 118-133. http://tera.expresivniterapie.cz/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/09_Terciary-education-in-the-area-of-art-therapies-in-international-context.-ISBN-978-80-244-4611-0%C2%A0.pdf

Conference proceedings chapters

Ťulák Krčmáriková, Z. & Lessner Lištiaková, I. (2018). Sensory aspects of art therapy work with clay. In 5th International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on Social Sciences & Arts SGEM 2018, Vol. 5, Issue 6.2, pp. 101-108.

Lištiaková, I. & Valenta, M. (2015). Therapist self-evaluation instrument in dramatherapeutic process: a pilot study. In F. Uslu (Ed.). Proceedings of INTCESS15-2nd International Conference on Education and Social Sciences.  Istanbul: Ocerint. pp. 88-94. http://www.ocerint.org//intcess15_e-publication/papers/135.pdf

Lištiaková, I. & Fábry Lucká, Z. (2014). Multisensory environments in early childhood intervention. In ICECI2014: Book of abstracts, Antalya: Eurlyaid, 2014, p. 295.

Lištiaková, I. (2014). Through dramatherapy core processes towards interdisciplinary inclusive education practice. In Jinakost ve speciálněpedagogickém kontextu. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci. pp. 93–99. http://new.uss.upol.cz/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Hutyrov%C3%A1-%E2%80%93-Jinakost.pdf

Link to Research Gate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivana_Lessner_Listiakova2

Link to Twitter https://twitter.com/listiaki

Link to LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivana-lessner-listiakova-phd-fhea-94b10184/

She has worked with international schools providing support to teachers, families and children with autism and learning difficulties.

She has conducted trainings for teachers and other helping professionals in sensory integration as well as the use of expressive arts therapies.

She was involved in collaborative projects with local settings, for example FermynWoods Contemporary Arts, Northamptonshire in research evaluation of their practice with young people in alternative provision education, or providing and evaluating creative arts sessions for families with children with SEN at The National Museum of Computing in Milton Keynes.

She was a national coordinator in several international LLP Leonardo da Vinci projects focused on early childhood intervention (ECI2.0, ICF-TRAIN) and mental health in families (Kids Strengths) collaboratively conducted in Austria, Germany, Finland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Portugal and Spain. Most recently she led workstreams in an Erasmus+ project ASD-EAST focused on training of specialist teachers working with children with autism in Croatia, Poland and North Macedonia.

She studied in Slovakia (Comenius University in Bratislava) and Hungary (ELTE Barczi Gusztav in Budapest); and she was a visiting scholar in at NYU Steinhardt in New York, USA.

She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA, D2).

She is a member of ProLP Association of Therapeutic Educators in Slovakia, editorial board member of Preschool Education Journal in Slovakia and a peer-reviewer for several international academic journals (British Journal of Special Education, International Journal of Early Years Education, International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, Journal of Exceptional People.

Journal for Reattach Therapy and Developmental Diversities, Croatian Review of Rehabilitation Research, Journal of the Association of Speech-Language Pathologists of the Czech Republic).