Howie Knoff, Ph.D.

Dr. Howie Knoff is one of the most experienced, successful, conscientious, creative, and retained K-12 and child/adolescent psychology Expert Witnesses in the country. He focuses on the details of each case, connecting information that initially appear unrelated while finding missing nuances and links that other experts miss.

A Licensed Psychologist (FL), Nationally Certified School Psychologist, Past-President of the National Association of School Psychologists, and past Senior Fellow (Center for Model Schools), Howie has been an Expert Witness in innumerable Federal and State Court cases, as well as Due Process Hearings and mediations nationwide since 1993. These cases have focused on IDEA and Special Education Procedures, School Psychology Assessment/Intervention Disputes, Psychological Misdiagnoses and Mental Health Services, 504 Accommodations and Disability Rights, Title IX Sexual Harassment Violations, Disproportionality and Racial Discrimination/Equity, Emotionally Disturbed and Autistic Students, Seclusion and Restraints, Educational Malpractice, School Safety and Violence, Social-Emotional Learning and Positive Behavioral Supports, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, Bullying and Physical Aggression, Discipline and Corporal Punishment, IEP Disputes and Due Process Hearings, FAPE and LRE, Learning Disabilities and ADHD, Stress and Trauma, TBI and hospital/medical errors.

Howie has been the Expert Witness for (a) two State Attorney Generals (cases on autism, corporal punishment, state-wide seclusions and restraints); (b) many state Office of Disability Rights special education disputes; (c) cases involving the discrimination and abuse of Black students; and (d) other cases involving the physical segregation and abuse of students with autism. He was the Expert Witness for the precedent-setting Chris D. and Cory M. special education cases, and he works on cases for both Plaintiffs and the Defense across the country.

For past Expert Witness cases, see list at bottom of upper left-hand column.

Howie received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University in School Psychology. There, he took special education law and advocacy courses from some of the historical figures responsible for the Education for All Handicapped Children’s Act (see http://bitly.ws/KGrz). After working in the field as a school psychologist (MA, NY); he taught at two Research I Universities (SUNY-Albany and then primarily at the University of South Florida) for over 20 years in their doctoral School Psychology Programs–leaving as a tenured Full Professor with over 100 publications; he then worked in the Special Education Unit at the Arkansas Department of Education for 13 years as the Special Projects Coordinator for the state’s Director of Special Education; and he has consulted in schools across the world for over 40 years.

For example, Howie has consulted with a number of state departments of education, the Department of Defense Dependents School District during Desert Storm, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. An expert in school safety and student discipline, SEL and PBIS, and interventions with behaviorally challenging students, he was on the writing team that produced “Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools” for President Clinton in 1988 after the first wave of school shootings. Howie was awarded the Lightner Witmer Award from the American Psychological Association’s School Psychology Division for early career contributions in 1990; he is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association’s School Psychology Division; he is trained in crisis intervention, mediation processes, and trauma-based interventions; and he has received over $50 million dollars in Federal grants to work in the schools (see his vita at http://ml6.in/TwoAQ).

Frequently interviewed by the media and a Keynote Speaker at conferences across the world, Dr. Knoff has been on the NBC Nightly News, innumerable television and radio talk shows, and he was highlighted on an ABC’s 20/20 program on “Being Teased, Taunted, and Bullied.”

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