Post-Doctoral Research Training Program in Special Education: Evidence-Based Practice in Early Intervention and Early Learning

Fellows worked with their mentors to develop an Individual Fellowship Plan based on their strengths and needs relative to each of the competency domains as well as their research interests and career goals. Some aspects of the plan were standardized and others were customized for the individual fellow. The major components of the training included mentorship in designing, implementing, evaluating, and disseminating early intervention and early learning research; didactic coursework in research methods; research-to-practice and policy colloquia; and situated learning within the context of federally funded early intervention and early learning research projects. Fellows were involved in up to two research projects, including (but not limited to) (1) a randomized controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of a professional development intervention to promote early literacy; (2) the development and testing of a tiered model for promoting the social-emotional growth of infants and toddlers; (3) the development and testing of a web-based tool for supporting practitioners' use of data to individualize services for children at risk for cognitive delays; and (4) a measurement project to provide preschool teachers informational support for treating children who are not responding to intervention. In addition, over the course of their fellowship, fellows designed and implemented independent research studies culminating in peer-reviewed publications and practice briefs.