Vanderbilt University’s No. 1 ranked Department of Special Education has been awarded more than $19 million in federal funding to support intensive interventions for children, young people and adults with a wide array of disabilities.
Researchers at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development are the primary investigators on 11 grants received this summer and fall from the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health.
“These awards allow Vanderbilt’s special education department to carry on our mission to pursue research and training that will transform the lives of people with disabilities and support the schools that educate them,” said Associate Professor of Special Education and Department Chair Joseph Wehby. “It will enable us to prepare master’s students to use cutting edge research, thus improving the delivery of effective special education practices in classrooms around the country. At the same time, our new and ongoing doctoral training grants allow us to mentor high quality scholars who will become the next generation of leaders in special education research.”
Peabody College is recognized as a locus for intensive intervention for individuals with severe learning and behavioral disabilities. The school’s Department of Special Education is ranked No. 1 in the 2019 U.S. News and World Report specialty rankings for graduate schools of education, a position it has held for 12 of the past 15 years. In the overall rankings, Peabody is ranked No. 6, having been among the top 10 graduate schools of education nationally for 25 years running.
“These latest grants demonstrate that Peabody College continues to drive discovery and professional training in special education,” said Camilla P. Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development. “We are proud of our history of contributions to the field and look forward to advancing understanding and practice even further.”
The grants are:
Project i3: Training Certified Behavior Analysts to Provide Intensive Interdisciplinary Intervention for School-Age Children with Disabilities and High-Intensity Needs
U.S. Department of Education/Office of Special Education Programs
- $1,250,000 to fund 20 master students (14 in special education, six in psychology and human development).
- Principal Investigator: Blair Lloyd
- Co-PIs: Vicki Harris, Jennifer Ledford, Erin Barton and Nina Martin
Preparing Certified Behavior Analysts to be Leaders in Special Education
U.S. Department of Education/Office of Special Education Programs
- $1,240,052 to train five doctoral students
- Principal Investigator: Erin Barton
- Co-PIs: Jennifer Ledford, Blair Lloyd and Joseph Lambert
I-TEACHING: Interdisciplinary Teaming to Increase Expectations for and Achievement of Children with High Intensity Needs
U.S. Department of Education/Office of Special Education Programs
- $1,249,802 to train 15 master’s students in early childhood special education and child studies.
- Principal Investigator: Jennifer Ledford
- Co-PIs: Erin Barton, Blair Lloyd and Vicki Harris
National Center for Leadership in Intensive Intervention
U.S. Department of Education/Office of Special Education Programs
- $6,426,659 to train 28 doctoral students at Vanderbilt and six other universities.
- Principal Investigator: Joseph Wehby
- Co-PIs: Marcia Barnes, Douglas Fuchs, Lynn Fuchs and Jeanne Wanzek
Doctoral Training Consortia to Train Doctoral Students in Early Childhood Intervention for Infants and Young Children with High-Intensity Needs with IDD (subcontract with the University of Connecticut)
U.S. Department of Education/Office of Special Education Programs
- $414,428 to train two early childhood doctoral students at Vanderbilt.
- Co-Principal Investigators: Ann Kaiser, Mary Louise Hemmeter, Erin Barton and Jennifer Ledford
Project BASE: Supporting Children with High-Intensity Behavioral, Academic, Social and Emotional Needs
U.S. Department of Education/Office of Special Education Programs
- $1,250,000 to train 24 master’s students (18 in special education and six in school counseling).
- Principal Investigator: Kimberly Paulsen
- Co-PIs: Nicole Cobb, Marcia Barnes, Jeanne Wanzek, Gina Frieden and Andrew Finch
Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Employment of Transition-Age Youth with Disabilities (subcontract with Virginia Commonwealth University)
Administration on Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services
- $884,963 to study the effects of early work experiences on post-school employment outcomes for students with severe disabilities.
- Principal Investigator: Erik Carter
- Co-PI: Julie Lounds Taylor
Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Employment of People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (subcontract with Virginia Commonwealth University)
Administration on Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services
- $916,894 to study the effects of parent mentoring on elevating employment for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
- Principal Investigator: Erik Carter
- Co-PIs: Julie Lounds Taylor and Elise McMillan
Understanding Word-Reading & Calculations Comorbid Learning Disabilities
- $3,588,797 to deepen understanding about connections between early reading and math among first graders with serious difficulties across both domains.
- Principal Investigators: Douglas Fuchs and Lynn Fuchs
- Co-PIs: Marcia Barnes and Sonya Sterba
Supplement to Improving Reading and Mathematics Outcomes for Students with Learning Disabilities: Next Generation Intensive Interventions
Institute of Education Sciences
- $748,547.41 to determine the sustainability of strong positive effects of a prior intensive math intervention for students with math disabilities.
- Principal Investigators: Douglas Fuchs and Lynn Fuchs
Examining the Efficacy of a Content Area Reading Comprehension Intervention for Students with Disabilities (subcontract with the University of Texas)
Institute of Education Sciences
- $1,217,974 to test the efficacy of reading comprehension intervention PACT (Promoting Adolescents’ Comprehension of Text) for middle school learners with disabilities.
- Co-Principal Investigator: Jeanne Wanzek
Learn more about the special education department and graduate programs at Peabody College.