The U.S. Department of Education reports that more than 60 percent of preschool-aged children receiving special education services are doing so in traditional early childhood programs. What models for providing individual educational programs in this setting have produced the best outcomes? Which offered high quality programs? Which is the most cost effective?Dr. Samuel L. Odom, an expert in this field, will present three different program models during a research colloquium series hosted by the Center of Excellence in Early Childhood Learning and Development in East Tennessee State University’s Claudius G. Clemmer College of Education.

The program will take place on Friday, Feb. 5, at 10 a.m. in Dining Room 2 in the D.P. Culp University Center.

Odom is director of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina and principal investigator of the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders.

While Odom was a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Educating Children with Autism, the organization published a report on effective educational programs for children with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Odom has authored or co-authored numerous refereed journal articles and edited or co-edited seven books on early childhood intervention and developmental disabilities.

Recent articles with his doctoral students have addressed the efficacy of a variety of focused intervention approaches, such as peer-mediated interventions, social skills training, sibling-mediated intervention approaches, parent-child intervention to promote joint attention, and an independent work systems approach to promote learning.

In 2007, Odom received the Outstanding Research Award from the Council for Exceptional Children.

For more information, to request special accommodations, or to obtain a visitor’s parking pass, contact Julia Herwig, coordinator of services, at ECCONFERENCE@mail.etsu.edu or (423) 439-7614, or Dr. Jim Fox, foxj@etsu.edu or 439-7556.

Author