Skip to main content

Hemmeter Lab

Meet the Doctoral Students

Adrienne Golden

Adrienne Golden is a 4th year doctoral student in the Early Childhood Special Education program at Vanderbilt University. As a Graduate Research Assistant in Dr. Hemmeter’s lab, Adrienne supports numerous projects. She is currently working with colleagues on the Education Innovation and Research grant to adapt the Pyramid Model for kindergarten, coaching teachers on the Instructionally Enhanced Pyramid Model project, and doing data and scheduling management on the Group Coaching Approach project. Prior to returning to Vanderbilt to pursue her doctoral degree, Adrienne taught for six years, one in the Sumner County, TN school district and five at the Susan Gray School at Vanderbilt. In Sumner County, Adrienne taught in an autism-specific preschool classroom focused on communication and social skill development. At the Susan Gray School, Adrienne taught in inclusive preschool classrooms where she implemented the Pyramid Model. While at Susan Gray, in addition to teaching, Adrienne mentored and supervised Early Childhood Special Education Master’s students completing practicum and student teaching placements, worked collaboratively with Metro Nashville Public School and private related service providers to support children with disabilities within the classroom, and worked collaboratively with colleagues to modify curricula to best meet the needs of the children. Adrienne is interested in sustainable teacher coaching models, effective ways to build collaborative relationships between classroom staff and service providers (e.g., OT, PT, SLP), designing and modifying curricula to be meaningful for all learners and supporting development and training around the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT) for preschool and kindergarten.

Education

  • B.S. in Early Childhood Education from Boston University
  • M.Ed in Early Childhood Special Education from Vanderbilt University

 

Certifications/Licenses

  • BCBA
  • Early Childhood Education PreK-3rd Professional Teaching License
  • Special Education Preschool/Early Childhood PreK-3rd Professional Teaching License

Publications

  • Hemmeter, M. L., & Golden, A. (2014). Assessing early childhood environments: Planning high-quality learning environments for young children. In M. E. McLean, M. L. Hemmeter, & P. A. Snyder (Eds.), Essential elements for assessing infants and preschoolers with special needs. Boston, MA: Pearson.
  • Golden, A. K., Taylor, A. L., Korba, J., & Hemmeter, M. L. (2021). Teaching social problem solving. In M. L. Hemmeter, M. M. Ostrosky, & L. Fox (Eds.), Unpacking the Pyramid Model: A Practical Guide for Preschool Teachers. Brookes Publishing Co.
  • Golden, A. K., Hemmeter, M. L., Edmonds, M., & Ledford, J. R. (2021). Reciprocal peer   coaching and teaching teams’ use of Pyramid Model practice. Journal of Early Intervention. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053815121993225
  • McLeod, R., Golden, A., & Hemmeter, M. L. (in press). Special education services for preschool-aged children. In D. Fisher (Ed.), Routledge encyclopedia of education. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

 

Trudy Little

Trudy Little

Trudy Little came to Nashville to attend the doctoral program at Vanderbilt University in Special Education in the fall of 2018.  Prior to attending Vanderbilt, Trudy was the Preschool Special Education Consultant at Region 14 Education Service Center in Abilene, TX, providing professional development and coaching for teachers of young children.   In the past 18 years, Trudy as taught in general education and special education, elementary and high school, certified and pre-service teachers. Trudy has a passion for providing quality professional development and practical instructional and behavioral strategies to teachers who work with special populations and consequently help all children with special needs reach their greatest potential.

Education

  • BS in Early Childhood Education, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
  • MS of Education in Teacher Leadership, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX

Certifications

  • General Education Teaching License grades 1-8
  • Special Education Teaching Licenses grades PK-12
  • Google Trainer
  • CIRCLE Trainer
  • Growing Up WILD Trainer
  • CPI Trainer

abby1429bw

Abby Taylor

Abby Taylor works as a Graduate Research Assistant and is a 2nd year doctoral student in the Hemmeter lab. She has been supporting teachers and childcare programs in the Nashville area in implementing the Pyramid Model on several Hemmeter lab projects since 2016. Currently, Abby is working on the development of a blended Pyramid Model and language intervention in toddler classrooms for the Toddler Talk grant in collaboration with Ann Kaiser and our colleagues at the University of Washington. As part of her student research, Abby is working to develop and test effective interventions for teaching children how to solve social problems. Before returning to work in Dr. Hemmeter’s lab, Abby spent five years as a lead teacher in inclusive preschool classrooms implementing the Pyramid Model and learning to support teachers in implementing positive behavior support and promoting social emotional development. Abby has always loved working with children spending her early work as a nanny, teaching swim lessons, and teaching in child care and has always been passionate about spreading the Pyramid Model in order to support teacher’s promotion of children’s social emotional development and ability to provide positive behavior support to all children.

Education

  • B.A. in English Literature from Belmont University
  • M.Ed. in Early Childhood Special Education from Vanderbilt University

Certifications

  • Special Education Preschool/Early Childhood PreK-3rd Teaching License

Publications

  • Pokorski, E. A., Barton, E. E., Ledford, J. R., Taylor, A. L., Johnson, E., & Winters, H. K. (2019). A comparison of antecedent activities for increasing engagement during a small group activity in a child with ASD. Education and Treatment of Children, 54(1), 94-103.
  • Ledford, J. R., Barton, E. E., Rigor, M., Stankiewicz, K., Chazin, K. T., Harbin, E. R., & Taylor, A. G. (2019). Functional analysis and treatment of pica on a preschool playground. Behavior Analysis in Practice. doi: 10.1007/s40617-018-00283-9
  • Golden, A. K., Taylor, A. L., Korba, J., & Hemmeter, M. L. (2021). Teaching social problem solving. In M. L. Hemmeter, M. M. Ostrosky, & L. Fox (Eds.), Unpacking the Pyramid Model: A Practical Guide for Preschool Teachers. Brookes Publishing Co.

 

KN_Headshot

Kate Nuhring

Kate Nuhring works as a Graduate Research Assistant in Dr. Hemmeter’s lab. She is a doctoral student studying Early Childhood Special Education. She started working in the field of Early Childhood as a teacher with Head Start in Oregon sparking her interest in working with young children with disabilities in inclusive settings. As a teacher she worked with the Head Start program to implement Program-Wide Pyramid Model Practices for 8 years. She then served as a Staff Development Coordinator for a Head Start program in Middle Tennessee to coach teachers to implement Pyramid Model Practices in their classrooms. She received her master’s degree in Early Childhood Special Education at Vanderbilt University in 2020. She is passionate about working with teachers and early childhood programs to guide their support of children who exhibit challenging behaviors. Her research interests include improving systems to support coaching for teachers, anti-racist curricula, refining methods for training teachers, social-emotional curricula, and bridging the research to practice gap in settings that serve primarily low-income families.

Education

  • B.S. in Psychology – Child Development from Portland State University
  • M.Ed in Early Childhood Special Education from Vanderbilt University