Alexis Filippini is an assistant professor in the mild/moderate disabilities program in the Department of Special Education. She received her Ph.D. (2007) from the University of California, Santa Barbara in special education, disabilities, and risk studies with an interdisciplinary emphasis in cognitive science. She teaches graduate courses in literacy, assessment and instruction, and positive behavior supports, and she is active in the joint doctoral program.
Dr. Filippini’s primary research interests are reading acquisition and learning disabilities. She focuses on the identification of risk factors and early intervention, in particular among children from linguistic minority backgrounds. Dr. Filippini also brings clinical experience in behavioral interventions and positive behavior supports to all aspects of her teaching and research. She regularly speaks at national and international research conferences and provides professional development for local schools and organizations.
Selected Recent Publications
Filippini, A., McEnroe, T.H., & Gerber, M.M. (in press) How can I possibly teach a boy who cannot speak or read to his teachers? How Teachers Respond to Responsiveness-to-Instruction. Teaching Exceptional Children.
Gerber, M.M., Solari, E., Matera, C., & Filippini, A. (in press). Responsiveness to instruction and risk for reading failure in young English learners. In A.Y. Durgunoglu & M.M. Gerber (Eds.), Challenges in language and literacy development of language learners. New York, NY: Guilford.
Jiménez, T. C., Filippini, A., & Gerber, M. M. (2006). Shared reading within Latina/o families: An analysis of change in parents’ reading interactions and children’s language use during a storybook reading intervention. Bilingual Research Journal, 30.
Selected Recent Presentations
Filippini, A., Townsend, D.R., & Gerber, M.M. (July, 2008). Structure vs. relationships: Effectiveness of two types of vocabulary instruction for young at-risk English learners. Spoken paper presentation at the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading annual meeting, Asheville, North Carolina.
Filippini, A. (March, 2008). Relations between reading risk and responsiveness to instruction in a sample of linguistic minority grade one students in southern Calif.. Spoken paper presentation at the British Dyslexia Association International Conference, Harrogate, United Kingdom.
Gerber, M.M., Solari, E., Filippini, A, Richards, C., Jimenez, T. (February, 2008). Models of reading risk: A longitudinal study of Spanish-speaking learners. Panel presentation at the Pacific Coast Research Conference annual meeting, San Diego, CA.
Filippini, A., Solari, E., & Gerber, M.M. (July, 2006) Beyond letter sound recognition and phonological awareness: Does kindergarten vocabulary proficiency predict later reading success for English Learners? Interactive paper presentation at the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading annual meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia.
