Lillian Durán has a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education and Clinical Sciences at the University of Oregon and an Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the College of Education. Her research is focused on improving instructional and assessment practices with preschool-aged multilingual learners. She delivers presentations focused on recommended practices in assessment and intervention with young children of Color with and without identified disabilities who are immigrants and/or speak languages other than English
How did you begin your career in early childhood?
I began my career as preschool special education teacher for children with moderate-severe disabilities in Maryland after completing an Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) funded early childhood special education training program at George Washington University. From there I moved to rural Minnesota where I was a home visitor in a Birth- Three program and supported Latino families who were 30-40% of the population. I was the only early childhood teacher in nine school districts that spoke Spanish. This is where my interest began in serving dual language learners (DLLS), and when I began focusing more on evidence-based work and culturally sustaining and linguistically [...]