Janet Spector
Associate Professor Emerita of Special Education
spector@maine.edu
Shibles Hall
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5766
Bio: Janet Spector is an associate professor emerita of special education at the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development. She has an M.A. in special education from University of Connecticut and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Stanford University. Janet is a former special education teacher (K-6 in West Hartford, Conn.) and special education consultant (Eastern Maine Medical Center). Her research focuses primarily on reading difficulties, including investigations aimed at improving assessment methods for identifying at-risk students and evaluating their progress, studies of cognitive factors that place students at-risk for early reading difficulties, and evaluation of reading instructional practices in use with students with disabilities.
Education
Ph.D., 1983, Stanford University
M.A., 1974, University of Connecticut
B.A., 1972, Trinity College
Courses taught at UMaine
- SED 545: Intervention for Reading Difficulties
- SED 553: Assessment in Special Education
- EHD 690: Seminar in Prevention & Intervention Studies: Academic Learning
Sample publications
- Spector, J. E. & Cavanaugh, B. J. (2015). The Conditions of Beginning Reading Instruction for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Remedial and Special Education, 36(6), 337-346. DOI: 10.1177/0741932515579277.
- Spector, J. E. (2011). Sight word instruction for students with autism: An evaluation of the evidence base. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41, 1411-1422. DOI 10.1007/s10803-010-1165-x
- Spector, J. E. (2005). Instability of double-deficit subtypes among at-risk first grade readers. Reading Psychology, 26, 285-312. DOI: 10.1080/02702710590967834
- Spector, J. E. (2005). How reliable are informal reading inventories? Psychology in the Schools, 42, 593-603. DOI: 10.1002/pits.20104
- 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.
- Spector, J.E. (1992). Predicting progress in beginning reading: Dynamic assessment of phonemic awareness. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 353-363.