Early Social-Emotional Development

Dr Nicole Megan Edwards is currently an Assistant Professor of Special Education at Rowan University and previously worked at Georgia State University as Associate Director of a statewide early intervention professional development initiative. She began her career as a center-based and home-based early intervention provider in New York City, working with infants and toddlers with special needs and their families. She earned her M.Ed in Early Childhood Special Education from New York University and Ph.D in Special Education from University of Maryland, College Park and became a university faculty member in 2013. Dr. Edwards teachers several courses, including Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. She is a member of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) and Teacher Education Division (TED) of the Council for Exceptional Children, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Zero to Three, and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). She is an annual conference proposal reviewer for DEC and AERA, reviews for Early Education and Development and Journal of Early Intervention, serves on the editorial board for TEACHING Exceptional Children, serves as co-leader of the Division for Early Childhood's Early Intervention Special Interest Group, and disseminates research at professional conferences and in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Edwards' research interests include improving access to and quality of early intervention early childhood/ early childhood special education (across birth five settings), family–provider collaboration and capacity building, the perceived role of caregivers and providers in early emotional development, and roadblocks to implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. She lives with her husband and two sons in Pennsylvania.