NCPMI Fellows

Erin E. Barton, PhD, BCBA-D, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. As faculty for the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations she developed a state-wide approach to support the scale-up and sustainability of Pyramid Model practices into early intervention programs with families. The approach merges evidence-based practices for coaching families, promoting social emotional competence, and understanding how to support implementation of a family coaching model within states, agencies, and programs. She also provides technical assistance related to implementing high quality early childhood inclusion. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and directs research projects related to evidence-based practices for young children, policies and practices that support high quality inclusion, and effective professional development systems. Specifically, she has completed multiple single case studies related to identifying practices that support play and social skills in young children with disabilities, early childhood teachers’ use of recommended practices, and caregivers use of practices that address their child’s social emotional competence and reduce challenging behaviors.

Kathy Bigelow, Ph.D. is an Associate Research Professor at the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project (JGCP) in the Life Span Institute, and Courtesy Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science at the University of Kansas. Dr. Bigelow received her Ph.D. in Developmental and Child Psychology (currently Applied Behavioral Science) at the University of Kansas, and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the JGCP. Her research focuses on interventions for culturally and linguistically diverse children and families experiencing multiple risks. Specifically, her work focuses on developing and testing evidence-based interventions aimed at promoting early childhood social-emotional and language development within both center-based and home-based early childhood education programs. She is one of the developers of the Teaching Pyramid Infant-Toddler Observation Scale (TPITOS), and currently, serves as Principal Investigator (PI) of an IES-funded project focused on developing and testing a professional development model for implementing the Pyramid Model in infant-toddler care settings. She has also served as a PI or Co-PI on projects focused on the development and testing of the Promoting Communication Tools for Advancing Language in Kids (PC TALK), aimed at improving child language and communication outcomes for young children. Presently, she serves as PI of an IES-funded project aimed at developing a professional development and coaching model for supporting implementation of PC TALK in home visiting and early intervention settings. She is also leading the Kansas Maternal, Infant, Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program’s Continuous Quality Improvement efforts. Her work has also focused on how technology can promote engagement and enhance the implementation of evidence-based interventions, such as through the development of the mobile app, Talk Around Town, for promoting parent-child interaction in the community.

Dr. Carta is a Senior Scientist in the Institute for Life Span Studies and Professor of Special Education at the University of Kansas. She has directed a number of federally funded research centers and projects focused on developing practices that teachers and parents can use to promote children’s early learning particularly in vulnerable populations. Her key research and policy interests include tiered intervention models for advancing children’s language, early literacy, and social-emotional development, methods for monitoring children’s progress, and community-wide interventions for promoting early learning. She was one of the co-developers of the TPITOS and is currently a co-PI of an IES-funded project to develop a tiered model for promoting social-emotional learning in infants and toddlers.

Glen Dunlap has been involved with the Pyramid Model since its original development, and has conducted extensive training, technical assistance and research on the social and behavioral functioning of young children. Over the past 45 years, he has also worked in the areas of positive behavior support, autism and other developmental disabilities, foster care, family support, and emotional and behavioral disorders. He lives in Reno and is affiliated with the University of Nevada, Reno.

Lise Fox, PhD., is a Professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies and the Co-Director of the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities, the University of South Florida Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. She is the principal investigator of the OSEP-funded National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations and a faculty member with the OSEP-funded Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (ECTA). Her work in Pyramid Model implementation has included research and development related to classroom practices in preschool classrooms, the implementation of the framework within Part C home visiting, the development of the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool, design of program-wide implementation guidance and training materials, the development of the behavior incident report system and other data decision-making tools, addressing equity issues through practice-based coaching, guiding implementation and scale-up within states and local programs, and the development of materials related to family engagement.

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Mary Louise Hemmeter, PhD, is a professor of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. Her research focuses on effective instruction, social emotional development and challenging behavior, and coaching teachers. Dr. Hemmeter has been the PI on numerous research and training projects funded by the US Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. She directed the National Center on the Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning for ten years. During this time, she co-led the development of the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Young Children. As PI of funded research projects as well as the National Center for Quality Teaching and Learning, she was instrumental in the development of the evidenced-based Practice Based Coaching model. In addition, her work related to the Pyramid Model has included: a) co-developer of the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT) and the Teaching Pyramid Infant Toddler Observation System (TPITOS); b) development of Program Wide Supports for Pyramid Model Implementation; and c) initial work around developing training and support materials related to “taking the Pyramid to kindergarten”.

Phil Strain, PhD, is a Professor at the University of Denver. Phil has worked in the field of early intervention since 1974, is the author of over 250 scientific papers and he serves on the editorial boards of over a dozen professional journals. His primary research interests include: a) intervention for young children with early onset conduct disorders; b) remediation of social behavior deficits in young children with autism; c) design and delivery of community-based, comprehensive early intervention for children with autism; and d) analysis of individual and systemic variables affecting the adoption and sustained use of evidence-based practices for children with severe behavior disorders. He is one of the developers of the Pyramid Model and Prevent-Teach-Reinforce-Young Children.