Funded projects include examining Deaf-space, and researching equity with Vermont Act 173
The UVM Center on Disability & Community Inclusion (CDCI) and the UVM College of Education and Social Services (CESS) are pleased to announce six new Jean S. Garvin Research Fellows for the 2023-2024 academic year. This year’s fellows are planning to research a wide range of topics pertaining to the lives of students and young adolescents with disabilities in Vermont.
They include:
- Barbara Peabody Collette, a doctoral candidate in Special Education. Her research is on Vermont Act 173. This is a law to make services more effective and fairer for students who need help. Her research examines the challenges and successes with this law in Vermont.
- Stasha Medeiros, a doctoral candidate in Interprofessional Health Sciences. Her project, “Here and This or There and That: An Examination of Indexical Comprehension and Use of Autistic Children” has the goal of creating a tool to better understand autistic children’s communication.
- Alyssa Smith, a doctoral candidate in Interprofessional Health Sciences. Her project, “Integrative Health and Wellness Coaching for Students with Neurodevelopmental Disorders” looks at how health and wellness coaches can help young adults with disabilities.
- Kristabel Stark, Assistant Professor in Special Education and Jayson Capobianco, High School to Adult Transition Consultant at CDCI. Their project is called, “Transition Planning for Vermont Students with Disabilities: Strategies for Navigating Challenging Emotions.” They will speak with students, teachers, and family members to learn how schools support students with disabilities planning for life after high school.
- John Pirone, Assistant Professor in American Sign Language, and Kristabel Stark, Assistant Professor in Special Education. Their project is called, “Providing a Deaf-Centric Space to Promote Signing Deaf Adolescents’ Language, Identity, and Social-Emotional Development.” In this project they will bring together five deaf students who use sign language. They want to learn about deaf student’s experiences in schools and the benefits of deaf students spending time together.
Jean S. Garvin was a Vermont educator and advocate for children in the 1960s through the 1980s.
She was the State’s Director of Special Educational and Pupil Personnel Services, and had a wide influence on education for children with disabilities in Vermont. Her leadership increased inclusive education for Vermont’s children with disabilities.
And through the fellowship funds, Garvin’s leadership continues to support inclusive education research to this day.
Available for Vermont educators, the fellowships are designed to encourage the development and dissemination of knowledge that contributes to the education of Vermont’s children and youth with disabilities by financially supporting related research activities, both ongoing and new. Jean S. Garvin’s estate funded this fellowship in 1985 as an ongoing memorial to her legacy. The fellowship is administered by the UVM Center on Disability & Community Inclusion (CDCI).
To qualify, fellows must be Vermont educators, a term which covers a broad range of occupations and activities, including general and special educators, social workers, librarians, school nurses, allied health therapists, and parents of children with disabilities.
Each year, CDCI convenes a committee of dedicated and experienced educators and researchers to evaluate the fellowship applications. This year’s committee included:
- Nicole Villemaire, a disability self-advocate
- Valerie F. Wood, education researcher and parent of a child with a disability
- Amanda Lamb, a speech language pathologist
- Justin Garwood, Associate Professor in UVM Special Education
- Matthew McClusky, Assistant Professor of UVM Education Leadership & Policy Studies
- Cynthia Herbert, doctoral student in Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Health and Inclusive Education at UVM
- Jesse Suter, executive director of the UVM Center on Disability & Community Inclusion (committee chair)
In regards to this year’s cohort of research fellows, Suter said, “We were incredibly impressed by not just the range of activities this research will cover, but the obvious passion that each fellow brings to this work, and we feel confident that the funded work has true promise for improving the lives of children and youth in Vermont with disabilities — and their families.”
The full cohort of 2023-2024 Jean S. Garvin Research Fellows will share updates on their research at the 2024 CESS Research Symposium, in May of this year.
