Janet Spector
janet.spector@umit.maine.edu

Shibles Hall
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5766

(207) 581-2459

Title
Associate Professor, Special Education

Education

B.A., Trinity College, 1972
M.A., University of Connecticut, 1974
Ph.D., Stanford University, 1983

Specialty Areas

• Special Education
• Literacy
• Assessment

Courses taught

• Assessment in special education (SED 553 & SED 554)
• Intervention for reading difficulties (SED 545)
• Reading instruction for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (SED 598)
• Graduate internship and practicum in special education (SED 610, 620, 630)

Current research

• Reading instruction for students with autism spectrum disorders
• Teacher judgments of student achievement in reading
• Assessment of response to intervention

Public service

• Maine Department of Education State Literacy Leadership Team

Recent publications and presentations

• Spector, J. E., Cavanaugh, B. & Artesani, J. (2011). Reading instruction for students with autism spectrum disorders: A survey of special educators. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. New Orleans, LA (April).
• Spector, J. E. (2011). Sight word instruction for students with autism: An evaluation of the evidence base. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 41(10), pp. 1411-1422.
• Doore, B., Spector, J.E., & Coladarci, T. (2010). Preschool teachers’ judgments of students’ alphabetic knowledge. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Denver, CO (April).Spector, J. E. (2009). Reading achievement in elementary students with autism spectrum disorders: Evidence from the ECLS-K. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Diego, CA (April).
• Spector, J. E. (2008). Is there a science to reading instruction for students with autism spectrum disorders? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. New York City, NY (March).
• Spector, J. E. (in preparation). Reading Achievement in Elementary Students with Autism: Evidence from the ECLS-K. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. New York City, NY (April).
• Spector, J. E. (2008). Is there a science to reading instruction for students with autism spectrum disorder? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. New York City, NY (March).
• Spector, J. E. & Coladarci, T. (2006). Teacher judgment and student test scores: Which is the better predictor of subsequent reading performance? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Francisco, CA (April).
• Spector, J. E. (2005). Stability of reading difficulties subtypes among at-risk first grade readers: Application of the double-deficit hypothesis. Reading Psychology, 26, 285-312.
• Spector, J. E. (2005). How reliable are informal reading inventories? Psychology in the Schools, 42, 593-603.
• Spector, J. E. & Moore, P. (2004). Does phonological processing distinguish between students who are more versus less responsive to Reading Recovery? Literacy Teaching and Learning, 8, 1-25.

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