College of Education
Christi Kasa-Hendrickson
Assistant Professor, Special Education
College of Education
1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
(719) 262-4581
Christi Kasa-Hendrickson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. She received here Ph.D. in Teaching and Leadership from Syracuse University in 2002.
Christi began her career in education as an elementary school teacher in the publics schools of Southern California. Her primary role was to serve as an inclusion facilitator for students with ignificant disabilities. Although she has left her role as a classroom teacher Christi remains active in schools through research and volunteer activities.
Christi’s research interests include inclusive schooling, access to academics for students with significant disabilities, and access to meaningful communication. Christi is currently conducting a qualitative research project funded by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services titled: The Early Childhood Literate Community: Supporting Citizenship for Young Children with Significant Disabilities
In addition Christi is a team leader in the Breaking the Barriers project funded by the NLM Family Foundation. This project supports self-advocates to educate and advocate for the right to communicate for all citizens. See www.breaking-the-barriers.org for more information.
Education
Ph.D.
Teaching and Leadership, Syracuse University 2002
M.A.
Special Education, Chapman University 1998
B.A.
Liberal Studies, California State University Long Beach 1993
Teaching
Current Topics in Special Education
Teaching Students with Significant Support Needs
Professional Seminar in Special Education
Scholarship
Christi is published in the American Educational Research Journal (AERJ), The International Journal on Inclusive Education, Disability and Society, and The Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps. Christi is a co-producer of the award winning documentary, Inside the Edge: A Journey to Using Speech through Typing.
- Kasa-Hendrickson, C. (2005).
'There's no way this kid's retarded:' teachers optimistic constructions of students ability.
International Journal of Inclusive Education 40(1), 55–69. - Kasa-Hendrickson, C. (2006).
Who may be literate? Disability and resistance to the Cultural Denial of Competence.
American Educational Research Journal 43(2), 163-192. - “We have to start with inclusion and work it out as we go." Purposeful inclusion for non-verbal students with autism.
- "Say just one word at first:" the emergence of reliable speech in a student labeled with autism.