Teaching Young Children with Disabilities in Natural Environments

Dr. Noonan coordinates the Graduate Teacher Preparation Program for Students with Severe Disabilities and the Ph.D. in Education Program, Exceptionalities Specialization, at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She has been the director of several early childhood special education grants as well as teacher education and leadership training grants. She has worked extensively as a consultant throughout the Pacific Basin region and is the author of many articles and chapters concerning early childhood special education and teaching students who have severe disabilities. Dr. McCormick coordinates the Early Childhood Special Education Teacher Training Program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Prior to 1979, when she joined that faculty, she had had experience as a teacher-counselor working with children with behavior disorders, as state coodinator of infant and preschool services, as director of outpatient programs for children under the Tenessee Department of Mental Health, and as a member of the faculties of Peabody College (Vanderbilt University) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her areas of research and expertise include early intervention and early childhood special education, language intervention, inclusion/co-teaching, and severe disabilities. She has conducted workshops in the Pacific Basin and Taiwan and has served as principal investigator for numerous research and personnel preparation grants with an emphasis on early intervention.