Paul Y
- Research Program Mentor

PhD at University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill)

Expertise

language development, prelinguistic development, early intervention, children with disabilities

Bio

I've a Ph.D in Special Education with additional training in developmental psychology, speech-language pathology, and statistical analysis. I was a teacher of young children with language problems before enrolling in my Ph.D. program to learn how to do research with children who have special needs. I've a long-standing interest in understanding how language develops and why some people have difficulty learning to speak. My research topics included developing and testing the effectiveness of language-teaching methods for children with developmental disabilities (e.g., autism, Down syndrome). I loved teaching doctoral students how to conduct competent research on such topics. My hobbies include nature study (I'm a Tennessee Naturalist), woodworking, and hiking. I love to share my love of the outdoors with others, which do through a local nature sanctuary. I've made most of the furniture in our home and love to make wooden boxes for others. One of my favorite hiking spots is amongst the Coastal Redwoods in Northern California. I'm happily married, have one son, and one grandchild.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Does music (or other types) therapy help children with autism learn to talk?

I conducted, and guided students in conducting, this type of literature review many times during my career as a university professor. Students have the opportunity to learn how to use search engines to find relevent articles, use a tool that helps students find relevant information from the articles, and summarize the articles' findings that are relevant to answering the research question posed in the title of the paper. Finally, students will have the opportunity to present their findings in a power point or research paper.

Teaching experience

I mentored Ph.D. students in special education for 33 years. I taught research methods and observational measurement. Both courses were graduate level courses.

Credentials

Work experience

Vanderbilt University (1986 - 2019)

Professor

Education

Louisiana State University

BS Bachelor of Science (1978)

Psychology

Vanderbilt University

MS Master of Science (1979)

Special Education

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill)

PhD Doctor of Philosophy (1985)