Kimberly L. Bright, associate professor of special education at Shippensburg University, died the 30 June 2010 in Harrisburg (PA, US).

Born 26 June 1957, she held degrees from several institutions of higher education. She received a bachelor’s degree from Millersville University, a master’s degree from Shippensburg University, and a doctoral degree from the Pennsylvania State University.

Prof. Bright began her career as a special education teacher. Later she became the director of special education for a local education agency in Pennsylvania.

Prof. Bright served as treasurer for the Division for Learning Disabilities (DLD), an organization that she had previously served as the student representative, while completing graduate studies. In addition to her contributions to DLD, Prof. Bright also was active in the Pennsylvania chapter of the Council for Exceptional Children.

In addition to teaching courses about students with disabilities and effective teaching procedures, Prof. Bright also supervised many students during their practica. According to her colleague, David Bateman, “she is considered a mentor by many of the areas best teachers.” To review comments by some of those individuals, read the tributes posted on her Facebook page.

Link to the obituary published by Hoover Funeral Homes.

Ted Carr

Edward Gary Carr, professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, died 20 June 2009 in an automobile accident. Professor Carr, who was know as “Ted” to friends and colleagues, conducted foundational studies about the functions that self-injurious behaviors served and contributed substantially to the development and refinement of methods known as “positive behavioral supports.” In addition, he assessed the benefits of teaching sign language to children with serious language problems such as Autism.

Professor Carr completed a doctoral degree at the University of California San Diego in 1973, worked briefly at the University of California Los Angeles, and then joined the faculty at Stony Brook where, in 2000, he was accorded the honor of an appointment as Leading Professor. During his tenure at Stony Brook he authored or co-authored scores of articles, chapters, monographs, and books; mentored many students; worked with organizations in the US and abroad; and founded and directed the Research & Training Center on Positive Behavior Support for Autism & Developmental Disabilities. His many publications include the books Communication-Based Intervention for Problem Behavior and How to Teach Sign Language to Developmentally Disabled Children.

Early in his career, Professor Carr began examining alternative explanations for self-injurious behavior among individuals with Autism, publishing “The Motivation of Self-injurious Behavior: A Review of Some Hypotheses” in the prestigious journal, Psychological Bulletin in 1977. Over the ensuing years he and colleagues increased the understanding of how self-injurious and other problem behavior might operate on the children’s environments, in effect serving a communicative function. He and others used this knowledge to develop and refine the procedures of functional behavior assessment. The work on humane means of reducing problem behaviors led Professor Carr and others to promote the methods of positive behavioral supports.

Link to biographical information about Professor Carr, a university-maintained page about him, and the Research & Training Center on Positive Behavior Support for Autism & Developmental Disabilities.

Ken Kavale

Kenneth A. Kavale, a noted scholar who studied learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, intellectual disabilities, and special education policies, died Saturday 13 December 2008 in Virginia Beach (VA, US). Professor Kavale, who was born in 1946 in Brooklyn (NY, US) and was most recently a distinguished professor at Regent University in Virginia Beach (VA, US), was widely known for his work on the nature, assessment, and treatment of students with disabilities. He was author or co-author of hundreds of articles, book chapters, and books and had presented scores of papers at professional meetings, conferences, and other public venues.

Professor Kavale, who had previously taught at the University of Georgia, University of Colorado, University of California at Riverside, and University of Iowa, earned a bachelors degree from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and a Ph.D. in 1976 from the University of Minnesota. He was widely known for having examined many aspects of special education policy and practice by systematically reviewing extant research. He was among the first to apply the methods of meta-analysis in education, and many of his reviews, which were conducted with his collaborator Steven R. Forness of the University of California at Los Angeles, revealed the weak or essentially absent scientific basis of some early special education interventions.

Professor Kavale also wrote more traditional analyses of the literature, bringing both a historical and scientific perspective to contemporary topics in special education. He published these works as books with titles such as these:

• The Science of Learning Disabilities (1985; with S. R. Forness);
• Handbook of Learning Disabilities: Dimensions and Diagnosis (1987; with S. R. Forness & M. Bender).
• The Nature of Learning Disabilities: Critical Elements of Diagnosis and Classification (1995; with S. R. Forness);
• Efficacy of Special Education and Related Services (1999; with S. R. Forness & G. N. Siperstein);
• The Positive Side of Special Education: Minimizing its Fads, Fancies, and Follies (2004; with M. P. Mostert);
• Challenging the Refusal of Reason in Special Education (2008; edited with M. Mostert & J. Kauffman.

Professor Kavale was the founding editor of Learning Disabilities Research (now Learning Disabilities Research & Practice) and served on the editorial boards of many other scholarly journals. Among the many honors accorded Professor Kavale were his election in 2008 to serve as president-elect of the Division for Learning Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children and his appointment to the executive board of the Learning Disability Association of America.

Link to Professor Kavale’s biography at Regent University, a bio for the Iowa Academy of Education, and a list of publications accessible via Google Scholar. See a video of Professor Kavale speaking about the discrepancy concept and its contribution to the identification of students with Learning Disabilities (snippet via the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities). Also see the ZoomInfo entry about Professor Kavale.

Original post 12:43 PM Monday 15 December.

Update (5:30 PM Monday 15 December): Regent University has issued a press release reporting Ken’s passing.

Update (5:30 AM Wednesday 17 December): Links to a post on EBD Blog and three posts (one, two, and three) on LD Blog referring to Professor Kavale’s work.

Over on LD Blog I posted an entry about the passing of Helmer Myklebust, one of the giant figures in the early study of Learning Disabilities. Here’s a link to it.

Over on LD Blog I posted a note about the passing of J. Lee Wiederholt. Link to the entry.

Over on EBD Blog there’s post reporting the death of William C. Morse, long-time special education professional.

Sister Joanne Marie Kliebhan, a long-time and resourceful advocate for children with disabilities, died 13 November 2005 in Milwaukee (WI, US) at 80 years of age. My colleague Janet Lerner has written these notes of remembrance, and I posted them as an obituary on LD Blog: Sister Joanne Marie Kliebhan.

Reginald L. Jones

Reginald Lanier Jones died 24 September 2005 in Hampton, Virginia. Born in 1931, he took his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. At Hampton, Professor Jones served as Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Special Education and Director of the National Center for Minority Special Education. Prior to joining the faculty at Hampton, he was Professor of Psychology and of African American Studies at the University of California Berkeley.

Professor Jones’ contributions to education were exceptional, both for their extent and their breadth. He edited many books, including some of the most influential examinations of race as it relates to development and education. His academic career began in the 1950s and continued until recently. During that time he reported orginal research on topics as diverse as the trustworthiness of standardized tests, social perceptions about disabilities, and mainstreaming. The scope of his work spanned the range of disabilities, including studies of children who were blind as well as those who had mental retardation, orthopedic disabilities, learning disabilities, or other problems; in addition, he reported studies about gifted children and youth.

The recipient of many awards, including a Centennial Citation from the University of California, Professor Jones was honored twice by the Association of Black Psychologists for his scholarship. He also served as president of that association from 1971-72. In addition, he served in elected and advisory positions for many other organizations, including the American Psychological Association and the Council for Exceptional Children.