Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
| Ed.D | Special Education |
| Specialization: Early Childhood Special Education and Cognitive Disabilities | |
| Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee | |
| M.Ed. | Special Education |
| Specialization: Cognitive Disabilities, K-12 | |
| University of Memphis, Memphis Tennessee | |
| B. A. | Art History |
| University of Memphis, Memphis Tennessee |
PROFESSIONAL LICENSE
K-12 Teaching License in Special Education for the State of TennesseeK-12 Teaching License in Special Education for the State of Texas
REFEREED ARTICLES
Turner, S.,L. Craig-Unkefer, & Cichy, B. (2010). Understanding the educational and career goals of young adults with exceptionalities. Career Development for Exceptional Individuals, (In Press).
Craig-Unkefer, L. & Hughes, T. (2010). A Survey of the Range of Instructional Practices Used by Early Childhood Educators to Promote Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Focus on Inclusive Education, (In Press).
Craig-Unkefer, L.A. & Camarata, S. (2010). Language Intervention and AAE Speaking Children: Issues and Preliminary Data. Topics in Language Disorders, 30 (3), 205-222.
Loncola, J. & Craig-Unkefer, L. (2010) An examination of the effects of a social communication intervention on the play behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorders. Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities, In Press.
Craig-Unkefer, L., Shinde, S., & McMaster, K. (2009), Integrating advanced technology in teacher education courses. TechTrends,23(3), 80-85.
Fitzgerald, K. & Craig-Unkefer L. (2008). Promoting Humor with Pre-Kindergarten Children Who are At-Risk for Language Delays. Young Exceptional Children, 11(4), 13-23.
Covington-Clarkson, L. & Craig-Unkefer, L. (2007). Reforming mathematics to meet the needs of exceptional learners. Journal of Mathematics Education Leadership, 9(2), 13-16.
Loncola, J. & Craig-Unkefer, L. (2005). Teaching Social Communication Skills to Young Urban Children with Autism. Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities, 40(3),243-263.
Craig-Unkefer, L.A., & Kaiser, A.P. (2003). Effects of social communication intervention with Head Start children with social communication delays. Journal of Early Intervention,25(4),229-247.
Craig-Unkefer, L.A., & Kaiser, A.P. (2002). Improving the social communication skills of at-risk preschool children in a play context. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 22(1),3-14.
Frea, W.D., Craig, L. A., Odom, S. L.., Johnson, D. (1999). Differential effects of structured social integration and group friendship activities for promoting social interaction with peers. Journal of Early Intervention, 22(3), 230-242.
REFEREED NATIONAL PRESENTATIONS
A Comparison of Two Approaches to Enhance the Social Relationships of At-Risk Preschoolers. (1997) Poster presented at Association for Behavior Analysis.
The Effects of Increased Social Communication Skills on Play Quality and Duration. (1998) Poster presented at Gatlinburg Conference on Research and Theory in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.
Improving the Social Communication Skills of At-Risk Children in a Play Context. (1998) Poster presented at Conference on Research Innovations in Early Childhood.
Naturalistic Intervention Research with At-Risk Populations. (1998). Poster presented at Council for Exceptional Children Conference.Social-Communication Interventions to Improve the Language and Behavior Skills of Young Children At-Risk. (1999). Poster presented at Society for Research in Child Development.
Improving the Social Communication Skills of At-Risk Children in a Play Context. (1999). Presentation at The American Association of Mental Retardation.
Preventing Problems in Children’s Social and Communicative Development: Findings from the Head Start Mental Health Consortium (2000). Presentation at the Gatlinburg Conference on Research and Theory in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.
Two Studies Addressing the Issue of Increasing the Social Communicative Skills of At-Risk Children (2000). Presentation at the Conference on Research Innovations in Early Intervention
Promoting Specific Language Use with Children Who Use AAE Dialectic Forms and Are At-Risk for Language Delays (2004). Presentation at the Conference on Research Innovations in Early Intervention
Teaching Social Communication Skills to Young Urban Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (2004). Presentation at The Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Developmental Disabilities 9th Biennial Conference.
Teaching Social Communication Skills To Young Urban Children with Autism (2005). Presentation at the Council for Exceptional Children, on Developmental Disabilities.
Effects of a social communication intervention on play behaviors of young urban children with autism (2005). Presentation at the Third International ABA Conference.
An Evaluation of Factors That Promote and Impede Implementation of Best Practices in Early Literacy in Various Early Childhood Settings (2006). Presentation at the Conference on Research Innovations in Early Intervention
Promoting Literacy Skills of Children in Family, Friend and Neighbor Settings (2006) Division of Early Childhood 22nd Annual International Conference on Young Children with Special Needs and Their Families
Promoting the Literacy Skills of Children in Family, Friend, and Neighbor Settings: An Experimental Evaluation (2008) Presentation at the Conference on Research Innovations in Early Intervention
Play and Joint Attending in Autism: Does a Social Communication Intervention Have an Effect? (2008) Presentation at the Association for Behavior Analysis
Literacy and Language Development of Children in Family, Friend and Neighbor Settings
(2008) Presentation at The Division For Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children, 24th Annual International Conference on Young Children with Special Needs and Their Families
Conversational Recast and Imitation Strategies: A Comparison Study with Young Children who Use African-American English (2009) Presentation at American Speech-Language Hearing Association.
Career Development of Young Adults with Developmental Disabilities: What the Future Holds (2010). Presentations at the Council for Exceptional Children.
Improving how Science Informs Policy: Understanding the Learning Contexts and Existing Knowledge of Policy Leaders: The Research to Policy Gap: Mr. Smith Goes to Preschol (2010) Presentation at the Conference for Research Innovation in Early Intervention.
Career Development of Young Adults with Developmental Disabilities (2010). American Psychological Association: Division 17.
MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
American Speech Language Hearing Association
Council for Exceptional Children, Division of Early Childhood
Council for Exceptional Children, Division of Mental Retardation
Council for Exceptional Children, Teacher Education
Society for Research in Child Development
The Academy on Mental Retardation
The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps
American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Autism Society of America
Best Buddies, International