About me
Dr. Patricia (“Pat”) Snyder is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Special Education and Early Childhood Studies, an affiliate Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, the David Lawrence Jr. Endowed Chair Emeritus, and the founding Director Emeritus of the Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies at the University of Florida. Pat has worked in community-based and academic settings for five decades, focusing on children from birth to age 5 and their families. Initially trained as a speech-language pathologist and early interventionist, she has been a direct service practitioner in early intervention and inclusive preschool programs, an early learning program administrator, a faculty member, a researcher, and a higher education administrator. Pat was a long-standing member of the Recommended Practices Committee for the International Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children, which produced the 1998, 2000, and 2014 versions of the practices and related materials. She has been a principal investigator or co-principal investigator for numerous research, demonstration, and training projects, collaborating with networks of community, state, national, and international partners. These collaborative partnerships have helped inform effective practices in the field, including embedded learning, the Pyramid Model, practice-based coaching, caregiver coaching, assessment, and data-informed decision making. Her current work centers on supporting and studying the implementation of effective practices in early intervention and inclusive early learning settings, as well as examining associated system, program, practitioner, family, and child outcomes. Pat has a steadfast commitment to integrating practice, research, and policy across disciplines to enhance and advance services, practices, and systems for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and their families, as well as the practitioners, coaches, program leaders, and policymakers who support them.
