Cognition and Student Learning in Special Education
Dr. Celia Rosenquist
(202) 219-2024
Celia.Rosenquist@ed.gov
The purpose of the Cognition and Student Learning in Special Education (Cognition) research program is to improve developmental outcomes for infants and toddlers with disabilities and learning for students with disabilities by bringing recent advances in cognitive science to (1) explore malleable factors1 (e.g., instructional practices, children's skills) that are associated with better child outcomes for children with disabilities or children at risk for disabilities, as well as mediators or moderators of the relations between these factors and child outcomes, for the purpose of identifying potential targets of intervention; (2) develop innovative interventions — instructional approaches, practices, and curricula — to improve developmental outcomes for infants and toddlers with disabilities and for improving student learning for children with disabilities or at risk for disabilities; (3) establish the efficacy of existing interventions and approaches for improving student learning with efficacy or replication trials for infants and toddlers with disabilities and children with disabilities or at risk for disabilities; and (4) develop measurement tools that can be used to improve developmental outcomes for infants and toddlers with disabilities and student learning and achievement for children with disabilities or at risk for disabilities and that are intended for use by practitioners.
The long-term outcome of this program will be an array of tools and strategies (e.g., instructional approaches, computer tutors) that are based on principles of learning and information processing gained from cognitive science and that have been documented to be efficacious for improving developmental outcomes for infants and toddlers with disabilities and learning for students with disabilities or at risk for disabilities in preschool through Grade 12.
