Biography

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Professor Ruth A. Wolery is Assistant Professor of the Practice of Special Education at Vanderbilt University and director of the Susan Gray School for Children, which has served typically developing children as well as children with developmental delays or intellectual or physical disabilities for more than 40 years. Prior to joining the faculty at Vanderbilt University in September 2000, Dr. Wolery was an investigator on the Early Childhood Research Institute on Inclusion at the Frank Porter Graham Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also worked as a researcher at Allegheny Singer Research Institute in Pittsburgh, and taught early elementary and primary level special education in Lexington, KY. Wolery is the author of several publications on creating and implementing inclusive preschool programs. She is a member of the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and the National Reading Association. The Susan Gray School is the only Tennessee early childhood and early intervention program that is a part of a national center for research on developmental disabilities. It is also licensed as a child daycare center and serves children 12 months to 5 years old in an inclusive center-based program. Early childhood special educators also make visits to homes and community childcare centers as part of the school's outreach program for children with special needs from birth to 3 years old. Susan Gray School also serves as a training site for future educators and researchers.