Gounah Choi
Biography
Gounah Choi, Ph.d., is a lecturer in the Department of Special Education. She lectures and supervises Early Childhood Special Education Practicum Students.
Dr. Choi has been certified as a behavior analyst for seven years. As a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and a former special education teacher, she has worked with young children with developmental delays/disabilities in various settings, including home, public/private school, and clinic. She also worked as an instructor and a practicum supervisor for special education teacher candidates at the University of Washington. Her research interest is in parent-implemented interventions for social-emotional learning of children with disabilities/delays, particularly those from underrepresented communities. She has participated in various research projects related to promoting children’s social emotional development through improving teachers' and families' implementation fidelity of evidence-based practices.
Education
2023 Ph.D. in Special Education, University of Washington
2016 M. Ed. in Early Childhood Special Education, Vanderbilt University
2013 B.A. in Psychology, University of Southern California
Honors and Awards
2022 Dissertation Fellowship
2021 Haring Family Endowed Fellowship
2020 National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI) Fellowship
2019 Alice Hayden Scholarship
Publications
Fettig, A., Zulauf-McCurdy, C., Choi, G., & McManus, M. (2022). Qualitative investigation of educator and parent experiences of education services during COVID-19. Journal of Early Interventions.
Artman-Meeker, K., Fettig, A., Cunningham, J., Chang, H., Choi, G., & Harbin, S. (2021). Iterative design and pilot implementation of a tiered coaching model to support social-emotional teaching practices. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education.
Barton, E. E., Choi, G., & Mauldin, E. G. (2019). Teaching sequences of pretend play to children with Disabilities. Journal of Early Intervention, 41(1), 13–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053815118799466 Qiu, J., Barton, E. E., & Choi, G. (2018). Using system of least prompts to teach play to young children with disabilities. The Journal of Special Education.
Barton, E. E., Pokorski, E. A., Gossett, S., Sweeney, E., Choi, G., & Qui, J. (2018). The use of email to coach early childhood teachers. Journal of Early Intervention.
Barton, E. E., Harris, B., Leech, N., Stiff, L., Choi, G., & Joel, T. (2015). An analysis of state autism educational assessment practices and requirements. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Research
Dr. Choi's research focuses on supporting the social-emotional development for young children with disabilities. She is interested in studying factors that influence educators' and caregivers' implementation fidelity in implementing evidence-based practices. Another area of Dr.Choi's research is on culturally responsive, family-centered practices in early childhood education settings to enhance family-educator partnership and maximize children's learning opportunities in natural environments. She utilizes mixed methods research approaches to explore her research interests.