UNC School of Education

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

“Research has informed us that the role of a child’s family and caregiving environment are critical variables in determining a child’s outcome. Thus, as educators, we must work with and for families to help them become informed advocates and consumers of services for their children.”

- Harriet Able

Overview

Prior to joining the faculty in 1993, Harriet Able was an assistant professor at the University of Colorado at Denver, taught preschool and elementary school and served as a state consultant for the Colorado Department of Education.

Able’s areas of expertise include special education (birth to age eight), interdisciplinary collaboration, teacher preparation with a focus on campus community collaborations, ethics and early childhood interventions and working with families from diverse sociocultural backgrounds. She has received many interdisciplinary personnel preparation grants from the U.S. Office of Education focused on collaborative teaming initiatives between special education and the allied health professions.

Her research focuses on innovative personnel development models as well as ethics and early childhood interventions. She has published and presented papers regarding the preparation of interdisciplinary personnel, preparation of social inclusion facilitators for preschool and elementary settings, hospital-based early interventions and ethics and early intervention. She has studied the effectiveness of interdisciplinary models of personnel training by measuring graduates’ competencies and skills and by documenting their effects on young children’s learning and development. Through extensive interviews with families, she has documented the effects of developmental therapy and family- centered interventions in health care settings. Her primary research interests focus on the ethical dilemmas of practice in early intervention settings in which she has conducted ethnographic interviews with professionals and family members and conducted focus groups with professionals.

Currently, Able is interested in community practice models for integrating research and teacher education. She is pursuing work with teachers and families in school communities.

Educational Background

• Ph.D. 1986 - Vanderbilt University/Education and Human Development
• M.S. 1980 - Furman University/Special Education, Mental Retardation and Physical Disabilities
• B.S. 1976 - Presbyterian College/Special Education, Mental Retardation

Research Interests

• Personnel Preparation in Early Childhood Intervention
• Ethics and Public Policy for Young Children and Their Families
• Family Centered Assessment and Intervention Strategies

Teaching Areas

• Early Childhood, Family and Literacy Studies

Courses

• EDUC 403: Working with Socioculturally Diverse Families
• EDUC 404: Infant/Toddler Assessment and Intervention
• EDUC 664: Families and Teams in Early Childhood Intervention: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
• EDUC 665: Early Childhood Assessment Strategies
• EDUC 667: Infant/Toddler Curriculum and Learning Environments
• EDUC 669: B-K Teacher as Researcher Internship
• EDUC 761: Professional Development and Leadership in Early Childhood Intervention
• EDUC 862: Teaching and Personnel Development

Honors & Awards

• 2006, Most Distinguished Article Award, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education
• 2003, Ethics Fellow, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Interdisciplinary Ethics Program
  The Institute for the Arts and Humanities
• 2000, North Carolina Division for Early Childhood Award for Contributions to Early Intervention at the National Level
  
• 1996, North Carolina Division for Early Childhood Award for Contributions to the State Organization

Funded Research

• 2007-2010, Interdisciplinary Preparation of Culturally Responsive Practitioners in Early Education, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education (H. A. Boone & S. Ritchie)
• 2007-2010, Preparation of Interdisciplinary Leadership Personnel in Teaching, Research, and Service Focused on Young Children with Autism and Their Families, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education
  (E. R. Crais, L. Watson, G. Barenek, S. Resnick, H. A. Boone, and S. L. Odom)
  
• 2007-2008, The Impact of Service Learning on PreService Professionals’ Dispositions Toward Diversity, Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education
  (H. A. Boone & J. Glazier)
  
• 2007, The Impact of Service Learning on Preservice Students’ Dispositions towards Diversity, Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education (with J. Glazier)

Selected Professional Affiliations

• American Education Research Association
• The National Association for the Education of Young Children
• The National Council for Exceptional Children, Divisions for Early Childhood, Research, Mental Retardation, and Teacher Education
• The National Center for Clinical Infant Programs

Selected Publications

Hollingsworth, H., Able Boone, H., Crais, E. (2009). Individualized inclusion plans at work in early childhood classrooms. Young Exceptional Children, 13 (1), 19-35.

Lim, C., Maxwell, K. L., Able Boone, H., & Zimmer, C. R. (2009). Cultural and linguistic diversity in early childhood teacher preparation: The impact of contextual characteristics on coursework and practica. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 24, 64-76.

Lim, C., & Boone, H. A. (2006). Diversity competencies within early childhood teacher preparation: Innovative practices and future directions. Early Childhood Teacher Education, 26, 225-238.
Most Distinguished Article Award of 2006

Freund, P. J., Boone, H. A., Barlow, J. H., & Lim, C. I. (2005). Health care and early intervention collaborative supports for families and young children. Infants and Young Children, 18 (1), 25-36.

Able-Boone, H., Freund, P., Barlow, J. H., Van Ark, G.G., & Wilson, T.K. (2004). Community pathways: Hospital based early intervention services individualizing supports for families and young children. Young Exceptional Children.

Crais, E. A., Able-Boone, H., Harrison, M., Freund, P., Downing, K., & West, T. (2004). Interdisciplinary personnel preparation: Graduates’ use of targeted practices. Infants and Young Children.