Department Of Special Education

By Jane Sevier A five-year, $6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs will continue funding of the IRIS Center at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of education and human development. The center, founded in 2001, bridges the research-to-practice gap through a free,… Read More

Vanderbilt Peabody College Professor Mary Louise Hemmeter has received an $11.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education to expand the Pyramid Model for Promoting Social Emotional Competence in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms in diverse districts across the country. Read More

The Institute of Education Sciences recently awarded a five-year, $4 million grant to a research team based at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development and the University of Texas at Austin to examine the efficacy of Sound Partners, a reading intervention, delivered through cross-age peer tutoring. Read More

President Joe Biden has appointed Vanderbilt Peabody College research professor Douglas Fuchs to serve on the 15-member National Board for Education Sciences. The appointment was announced Oct. 27. Read More

The Neural Enhancement of Learning (NEL) Lab in the Vanderbilt University Department of Special Education is seeking individuals ages 18–40 who are right-handed and native English monolingual speakers for a research study investigating brain-based learning enhancement through a non-invasive brain stimulation method called high-definition transcranial alternating current stimulation (HD-tACS). Read More

Noel Ifeanyi Alumona, a master’s degree student in special education at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development, was among 26 young leaders from conflict-torn regions who travelled to India in September to meet with the Dalai Lama. In August he was recognized with the AFS Award for Young Global Citizens.  Read More

This fall Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development welcomed three new faculty members to its acclaimed Department of Special Education. They exemplify not only the diversity of expertise at Peabody, but also of identities and lived experiences that reflect the communities Peabody serves. Read More

Researchers within Vanderbilt University’s Department of Special Education are currently seeking caregivers of children ages 2–22 with special health care needs, especially children with disabilities, to participate in a research study examining experiences transitioning from a hospital to a school setting. Read More

Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development is offering a new master’s degree program in Applied Behavior Analysis for licensed special education teachers who want to practice ABA in educational settings or are specifically interested in training focused on school-based applications that integrate best ABA and special education practices. Read More

Rachel Schles, MEd’12, is Peabody College’s new coordinator for its master’s program in visual disabilities in the Department of Special Education. By Jane Sevier Professor Rachel Schles knows she has big shoes to fill, and she’s eager to take up the challenge. In assuming the… Read More

By Jane Sevier When the coronavirus sent many parents and children home, Peabody Professor Erin Barton and the 14 graduate student researchers who make up the Barton Research Lab decided to use social media to offer evidence-based resources they had created to families of children with disabilities or challenging… Read More

Donna and Jeffrey Eskind, whose generous gifts have advanced Vanderbilt research that is improving lives, have made a new commitment of $2 million to endow a new chair in autism spectrum disorder research in the School of Medicine. Read More

As schools nationwide prepare for the new academic year during the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty researchers from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of education and human development are available to comment on trends in K-12 and higher education. Read More

In recent years a cadre of energetic, productive faculty members have joined Peabody's special education department, building on the legacy of high-caliber research and teaching that began in the 1950s with Lloyd Dunn and developmental psychologists Nicholas Hobbs and Susan Gray. Read More