Dr. Catherine Corr

Dr. Catherine Corr

Associate Professor/Special Education, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

[email protected]

Lessons Learned

• Started focusing upon raising awareness and understanding in the hope that others would care and start to address problem. Have learned that it is not that people do not want to do this work, they often do not have training or funding to focus on this work. This has resulted in a focus on finding funding to conduct research, develop programs, and provide trainings. Funding allows people to have time to really focus on these issues. Funding also signifies areas of importance or priority (in our field or others).
• The research that I do as an academic is great for other researchers, but it is not available to parents and K-12 educators. Now, I spend a lot of time trying to craft material for parents and professionals...ones they can actually use in their day-to-day work.
• I have learned that while the work is very difficult, there are others who are also working on this topic. These “others” reinforce me, make my work better and establish a community of collaborators.

Resources Developed

• The major journals on this topic, e.g., Child Maltreatment & Child Abuse & Neglect. One possibility is using “Google Scholar” to find pertinent articles. “Research Gate” is another search tool that is available to the public.
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA)
• Equity-centered Trauma-informed Education: Transforming Classrooms, Shifting Systems. Use it with doctoral and master degree students to inform them re. good practices re. trauma informed instruction.

Suggested Resources

• Center for the developing child Harvard University...focus on early childhood education and how trauma impacts on early dev and what is trauma
• The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity Use book as a text for graduate classes. Very easy read + accessible and informative re. trauma and adversity re.health and development.
• The film “Resilience: The biology of Stress & The Science of Hope” We use this to establish the topic of trauma with educators and students. Serves to establish why the topic of trauma is important and why it should be addressed by professionals

Collaborative Areas of Interest

• Early childhood and the complications of working with kids that too young to communicate
• Changing teacher preparation programs re. topic. Received a grant to dev a program re. trauma informed practice. This info will be shared at the 2023 TED conf.
• Research methodology that can be effectively used to research topics of maltreatment and trauma with children with disabilities.