Directory of UVM Developmental Disabilities Researchers

Compiled by the Research and Evaluation Committee at CDCI.

If you would like to be added to this directory or know other UVM faculty who are engaged in research pertaining to children, youth, or adults with developmental disabilities, please contact Michael Giangreco, Research Coordinator)

Click here to download a pdf file of the directory.

Patricia Berry, MPH
Department: Pediatrics/Vermont Child Health Improvement Program
Email: patricia.berry@uvm.edu
Research Focus: Children and family focused; quality improvement in healthcare delivery and healthcare systems; state relations and public policy; public health practice and outcomes.
Michael Cannizzaro, PhD, CCC-SLP
Department:Communication Sciences and Disorders
Email: michael.cannizzaro@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~cnhs/?Page=faculty/cannizzaro.html
Research Focus: My research explores the complex relationships between cognition and communication in typical adults, as well as in persons who experience traumatic brain injury. This work focuses on the use of brain imaging technologies (fNIRS & fMRI) to monitor neural function during cognitive and communicative process. In particular, the frontal lobes are monitored in relation to executive function abilities and during naturalistic communication such as narrative discourse comprehension/production, text reading, and conversation.
Michael Coleman, PhD
Department: Engineering
Email: michael.coleman@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.cem.uvm.edu/~mcoleman/
Research Focus: Enhanced freehand, automated, tactile graphics technology for people who are blind and sight-impaired.
Stephen Contompasis, MD
Department: Pediatrics
Email: stephen.contompasis@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/medicine/pediatrics/?Page=profile.php&bioID=22978
Research Focus: Vermont Interdisciplinary Leadership Education for Health Professionals (ILEHP) Program, interdisciplinary training, developmental disability awareness, developmental screening, autism.
Bryan Dague, EdD
Department: Center on Disability & Community Inclusion
Email: bryan.dague@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~cess/?Page=facbio.php&username=edague
Research Focus: Inclusion of people with disabilities into the workplace (NIDRR grant with UNH); Post-school transition centered on college experiences for young adults with intellectual disabilities (e.g., academic, social, independent living, self-advocacy, integrated work experiences and career skills) -- continued collaboration with the Think-College initiative at the Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass-Boston and Johnson State College.
Susan W. Edelman, PT EdD
Department: Center on Disability & Community Inclusion
Email: susan.edelman@uvm.edu
Website:http://www.uvm.edu/~cess/?Page=facbio.php&username=sedelman
Research Focus: Universal Design for Learning (UDL); education of students with dual senroy impairment and cortical visual impairment (CVI).
Michael F. Giangreco, PhD
Department: Education
Email: michael.giangreco@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~mgiangre
Research Focus: Various aspects of inclusive education for students with disabilities, special education service delivery, alternatives to overreliance on paraprofessionals, related services decision-making.
Betsy Hoza, PhD
Department: Psychology
Email: betsy.hoza@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~psych/?Page=faculty/Hoza.php
Research Focus: My research is geared toward better understanding the social, academic, and self-system functioning of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) from a developmental psychopathology perspective. Of note, most of my research is designed with the end goal of applying what is learned toward developing better evidence-based treatments for children with ADHD.
Jennifer Hurley, PhD
Department: Education
Email: jennifer.hurley@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~cess/?Page=facbio.php&username=jjhurley
Research Focus: Research emphasis is on classroom based social competence interventions for young children in inclusive environments with specific focus on the social validity of social competence interventions from the perspective of professionals in the field. Additional focus is on family and professional priorities for inclusive early childhood settings. More recently research attention on young children who are refugees who may qualify for special education services with specific focus on barriers and facilitators for service provision and classroom based interventions for communication and social competence.
Tiffany L. Hutchins, PhD
Department: Communication Sciences & Disorders
Email: tiffany.hutchins@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/cnhs/?Page=faculty/hutchins.html
Research Focus: My focus of research involves examining the efficacy of social pragmatic approaches for remediating the deficits (social, communicative, behavioral) in autism spectrum disorders. In a related vein, my research has focused on the measurement of theory of mind in typically developing children and individuals with ASD (from across the spectrum).
Youngok Jung, PhD
Department: Education
Email: youngok.jung@uvm.edu
Reserach Focus: Personal narratives of children with autism with regard to emotional understanding, theory of mind, global coherence, and story grammar.
Lutz Kaelber, PhD
Department: Sociology
Email: lutz.kaelber@uvm.edu
Websites: http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/children/
http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics/
Reserach Focus: Commemoratin of crimes against people with disabilities in Nazi Germany, and in the U.S. in the context of state eugenic sterilizations.
Colby Kervick, M.Ed. (Doctoral Candidate)
Department: Education
Email: colby.kervick@uvm.edu
Research Focus: Fostering positive collaborative teaming experiences with families of children with disabilities, dual-endorsement undergraduate teacher training as a model to prepare highly competent teachers.
Tammy Kolbe, Ed.D.
Department: Leadership and Developmental Sciences
Email: tammy.kolbe@uvm.edu
Research Focus: Allocation of educational resources in states, districts and schools, and the economic evaluation of educational policies and programs, with a focus on programs for students with special learning needs (e.g., students with disabilities, students at-risk for academic failure); special education funding and finance; application of quantitative research methods and use of large-scale education datasets to study policies, practices and resources for students with disabilities.
George S. Leibowitz, PhD
Department: Social Work
Email: george.leibowitz@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~cess/?Page=facbio.php&username=gleibowi
Research Focus: Sexual development and behavioral issues; neurodevelopment; mental health; trauma and maltreatment among adolescents in the justice system (primarily quantitative); prevention and intervention with children and adolescents.
Deborah O’Rourke, PT PhD
Department: Rehabilitation and Movement Science
Email: deborah.orourke@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~cnhs/?Page=faculty/orourke.html
Research Focus: Health-related quality of life in children with cerebral palsy and their families; Pain in children with disabilities (cross-sectional and descriptive research, quantitative analysis for both).
Marie-Christine Potvin, PhD, OTR
Department: Center on Disability & Community Inclusion
Email: marie-christin.potvin@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~vtilehp/?Page=Faculty/potvin.htm
Research Focus: Recreational participation and Quality of Life in children with autism; research related to the integration of evidence-based practice.
Patricia A. Prelock PhD
Department: Communication Sciences & Disorders
Email: patricia.prelock@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~pprelock
Research Focus: Nature and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders (joint attention training, parent training, emotion regulation, theory of mind, social stories & comic strip conversations, peer play).
Michael J. Rosen, PhD
Department: Engineering
Email: michael.rosen@uvm.edu
Research Focus: Development of a kit of adaptable alternative controls for children and others who cannot use joysticks for control of power wheelchairs (funded via an NIH R21 with University of Florida); Development of raised-line drawing technologies for collaborative graphical communication by blind students and professionals (NIH proposal pending, current supported through the senior design course by the National Federation of the Blind).
Susan M. Ryan, PhD
Department: Center on Disability & Community Inclusion
Email: susan.ryan@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~cess/?Page=facbio.php&username=sryan1
Research Focus:Life histories of older Vermonters who experience developmental disabilities; Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (educational and life outcomes; interventions and supports); post secondary education for students with intellectual disabilities (strategies for success).
George Salembier, EdD
Department: Education
Email: george.salembier@uvm.edu
Reserach Focus: Transition of high school students with developmental disabilities to adult life; early and adolescent literacy and numeracy; formative and summative assessment; differentiating instruction for inclusive classrooms; curriculum design and alignment to the common core standards; leadership for inclusive schools; and models for implementing school-wide Response to Intervention approaches.
Judith Shaw, EdD, MPH, RN
Department: Pediatrics/Vermont Child Health Improvement Program
Email: judith.shaw@uvm.edu
Research Focus: Children and family focused; quality improvement in healthcare delivery and healthcare systems; state relations and public policy; public health practice and outcomes.
Katharine Shepherd, EdD
Department: Education
Email: katharine.shepherd@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~cess/?Page=facbio.php&username=kgshephe
Research Focus: Transition of high school students with developmental disabilities to adult life; strategies for supporting families of students with developmental disabilities in developing their skills in leadership and collaboration; family-centered approaches to IEP and transition plan development; leadership for inclusive schools; and models for implementing school-wide Response to Intervention approaches.
Sondra Elice Solomon, PhD
Department: Associate Professor, Psychology; College of Arts and Sciences, Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry; College of Medicine
Email: sondra.solomon@uvm.edu
Research Focus: Stigma, HIV, chronic illness, genetic disorders and facial distinctions (e.g., disfigurement). I am curious about resilience and examine the mechanisms of adaptive coping among those whose physical appearance, psychological well-being and physical health departs from mainstream norms of acceptance and am developing empirically validated interventions to provide support to affected individuals and their families.
Lance Smith, PhD
Department:Leadership and Developmental Sciences (Graduate Program in Counseling)
Email: lance.smith@uvm.edu
Reserach Focus: The development of a critical consciousness scale intended to measure one's critical consciousness regarding disability and social justice issues in society. We are defining critical consciousness as the capacity for critical reflection and critical action regarding social discourses that serve to perpetuate existing structures of inequality. The scale will ideally measure the subtle distinctions between those individuals who take a well intended, but more superficial position towards critical consciousness and social justice, and those who have more complex and nuanced understandings and behaviors. The purpose of the scale will be twofold: a) to assess the critical consciousness of counseling students, educators, supervisors, and practitioners to determine their level of competence with regard to working with marginalized populations and; b) to use as a clinical tool with clients from who identify as having a disability to determine if critical consciousness development would be a useful treatment goal in counseling.
Timothy R. Stickle, PhD
Department: Psychology
Email: timothy.stickle@uvm.edu
Research Focus: Developmental psychopathology of aggression and antisocial behavior with a primary focus on adolescents in the juvenile justice system. Research emphasizes understanding vulnerabilities to developing psychopathic traits and antisocial behavior incurred by deficits in emotional recognition, emotional responsiveness, executive functioning, and maltreatment.
Jessica Strolin-Goltzman, PhD
Department: Social Work
Email: jessica.strolin@uvm.edu
Reserach Focus: Cross system collaboration to provide effective integrated services to children in child welfare facing multiple challenges including learning and emotional/behavioral disabilities.
Jesse C. Suter, PhD
Department: Center on Disability & Community Inclusion
Email: jesse.suter@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~jsuter
Research Focus: Interests include the development, research, and evaluation of school and community-based interventions for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities. He is pursuing a line of research in wraparound, a team-based planning process for meeting the needs of students with serious emotional and behavioral disabilities and maintaining them in their homes, schools, and communities. In a related area, he collaborates on research examining ways to improve special education service delivery for students with disabilities.
Shelley L. Velleman, PhD
Department: Communication Sciences and Disorders
Email: shelley.velleman
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/cnhs/?Page=faculty/velleman.html
Research Focus: I specialize in the speech development and deficits (and, to a much lesser extent, the literacy development and deficits) of children with various syndromes, including Williams syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Down syndrome, and 7q11.23 syndrome, most of which include developmental disability as a significant feature.
Haley Woodside-Jiron, PhD
Department: Department of Education
Email: haley.woodside-jiron@uvm.edu
Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~cess/?Page=facbio.php&username=hjiron
Research Focus: The focus of my research concentrates on educational policy and school change efforts in high poverty schools. My areas of expertise include reading and literacy education. Currently I am invested in multidisciplinary partnerships focused on translating basic science findings in the field of neuroscience to the field of education. My recent presentations and publications focus on how stress and anxiety affect the learning process and how that, in turn, impacts curriculum development, pedagogical needs, and student outcomes.

Last modified February 06 2013 02:24 PM