Rebecca Silverman Assistant Professor Department of Special Education 1308 Benjamin Building College Park, MD 20742 Voice: 301-405-6465 rdsilver@umd.edu Specialty Area: Language, Literacy and Learning Disabilities

A former elementary school teacher and an endorsed reading specialist, Dr. Silverman's teaching and research are focused on early prevention and intervention for children who may be at risk for experiencing reading difficulties. Dr. Silverman is particularly interested in the relationships between children's individual characteristics and teachers' instructional methods.  She has concentrated primarily on vocabulary development and instruction, having conducted studies evaluating methods of early vocabulary instruction during storybook reading, comparing the vocabulary development of young English-Only and English Language Learning children, and investigating the effect of multimedia enhanced vocabulary intervention on children's vocabulary development.  In the future, she plans to investigate the potential longitudinal influence of early vocabulary and oral language instruction on the reading and writing development of children with diverse backgrounds and abilities.

Dr. Silverman is a member of the International Reading Association, the National Reading Conference, the Council for Exceptional Children, and the American Educational Research Association.

Education: Ed.D., Harvard Graduate School of Education, Language and Literacy