Department of Special Education Special Education Faculty

Adelle Renzaglia

Head/Professor

I have recently been involved in developing a teacher preparation program that is collaborative with elementary and secondary education and expanding to art, music and physical education. The program, funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education, provides students in general and special education with collaborative coursework and practicum experiences to facilitate successful inclusion. My program of research related to the preparation of teachers has included investigating the impact of different supervision strategies on the teaching skills of practicum students in teacher preparation programs. More recently, I have conducted research on reflective teaching.more information...

Johnell Bentz

Clinical Assistant Professor

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Janis Chadsey

Professor Emeritus

I am concerned with the social integration experienced by youth and young adults as they make their transition from school to adulthood. Through the Transition Research Institute, I have studied the social interactions and relationships experienced by youths in both school and employment settings; have conducted research designed to teach social skills; and have studied the meaning of social integration from the perspective of youths themselves. In addition to this research, I have conducted research studying practices that facilitate spontaneous communication and expand pragmatic functions of learners with low incidence disabilities. I am actively involved in our teacher certification program.more information...

Stacy Dymond

Associate Professor

My research interests focus on curriculum and instruction for students with significant cognitive disabilities in inclusive school and community settings.  I am particularly interested in the use of service learning as a form of pedagogy for promoting access to academics and life skills curriculum.more information...

Tweety Felner

Research Assistant Professor

Tweety Yates' research interests include parent-child interaction and personnel development issues in early childhood. She is currently evaluating the validity and feasibility of a parent-child relationship-based model of early intervention in culturally and geographically diverse settings. She is also involved in training, outreach, and evaluation of a story-based creative arts curriculum derived from a variety of cultural and ethnic traditions designed to promote child learning and early literacy skills.more information...

Susan Fowler

Professor

Susan Fowler is active in research related to families of young children with developmental delays and issues involving access to early care and education. She involves graduate students in her research and scholarship. Recent studies with graduate students have included survey and analysis of early care and education providers with a focus on ECSE teachers; involvement of families in story book reading routines with children at risk for school problems and assessment of family supports in helping children with developmental delays develop friendships. She receives funding for her work from state and federal agencies.more information...

Janet Gaffney

Professor

Janet S. Gaffney is a professor in the Department of Special Education with affiliate appointments in the Departments of Educational Psychology and Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Her research focuses on developing teachers' expertise to facilitate the independent literacy learning of children who are not making adequate progress. She is currently implementing a high-impact literacy intervention for adolescents with significant difficulties in reading and writing informational text in a collaborative, district-wide model (Gaffney, Methven, & Bagdasarian, 2002).more information...

James Halle

Professor

For more than 20 years I have been involved in research related to communication and language development of children with disabilities. This program of research has focused on examining both social communication of young children with significant intellectual disability, and the ecological factors that facilitate and discourage communicative growth. I have also worked on developing interventions to encourage more effective and efficient communication by these children. Recent projects include assessing current dictionaries of prelinguistic forms used by children with severe disabilities to communicate and the functions (e.g., request, protest, comment) these forms serve for the children.more information...

Robert Henderson

Professor Emeritus

Professor Henderson’s research activities during his 50 years at Illinois cover four areas: prevention of brain damage by early detection and dietary treatment of inborn errors of metabolism, especially Phenylketonuria (PKU); effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery systems for students with disabilities; equity in financing special education programs in the USA and Canada; comparative evaluation of service delivery systems worldwide. He serves on the editorial board of several USA and international professional journals in Special Education.more information...

Nancy Hertzog

Associate Professor

At the core of my research program is the question, "In what ways can teachers challenge all children in inclusive elementary classrooms?" This question ties two thrusts of my research program together: interest in instructional strategies that challenge all children; and interest in gifted programming practices. Beginning with my introduction into research methodology, I have been approaching this broad research question systematically by looking at instructional practices which have typically been designed for students regarded as gifted, and I have been examining the impact and perspectives of gifted programming practices from the students and families who have been involved in them.more information...