Brittney Root has worked in both community and research settings to better understand and help improve service systems for children with special needs. As a PhD candidate in Educational Sciences, she studies the educational trajectories of students with special educational needs and the factors that influence them, with her advisors Prof. dr. Martijn Meeter (VU Amsterdam), Dr. Mariëtte Huizinga (VU Amsterdam), and Dr. Anika Bexkens (Universiteit Leiden). For more information about the project, please see the project information for "Predicting Learning in Special Education" below.
As a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and SKJ registered Orthopedagoog, she has worked in schools and clinical centers, creating and implementing behavior support plans for children and adolescents with autism and other developmental disabilities for almost 10 years, with experience in both the U.S. and in the Netherlands. Brittney also recently sat on an advice team for ABA research, conducted by the Netherlands Autism Register at VU Amsterdam.
During and after her master’s studies, she was a research assistant under Dr. Jessica Suhrheinrich at San Diego State University within the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center (CASRC), a multi-institution research consortium. Within this role, she studied the implementation of evidence-based practices (research-practice gap) for pupils with autism in schools.
