Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Background: I taught inclusion prekindergarten as well as elementary resource and inclusion classes in urban schools for six years in Baton Rouge, LA. My learners were young children with varying abilities and disabilities as well as different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. My passion for early childhood and my belief in the importance of inclusion has led me to currently focus on early literacy interventions that can be implemented in an inclusion context. Current Interests: I am interested in how best to design and evaluate AAC supports and interventions to promote the literacy skills of learners with complex communication needs. In particular, my focus is on providing young children with developmental delays/disabilities rich early literacy experiences that promote the growth of early literacy skills. I am also interested in creating inclusive early literacy activities (e.g., shared reading) that both children with developmental delays and their typically developing peers can participate in and grow as equal partners. My goal is to help make such activities simple and easy to implement by teachers and paraprofessionals in inclusive early childhood classrooms.
ASHA Financial Disclosures:
This research was supported by grant #90REGE0014 from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) to the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (The RERC on AAC).
View a global list of converted local start times Session ID: 70 Objectives: 1. Describe the importance of literacy instruction for people who use and/or benefit from AAC 2. […]
