Lynn Ahlgrim-Delzell

Ahlgrim-DelzellAssociate Professor

Faculty Website

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Lynn Ahlgrim-Delzell is an Associate Professor of Research at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with over 20 years of experience conducting research on issues pertinent to individuals with moderate-to-severe developmental disability. She earned her B.S. in Psychology and M.S. in School Psychology from Illinois State University in Normal, IL. She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Research Methodology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She teaches Master’s and doctoral level courses on research methods and statistics. She is passionate about encouraging teachers to use action research to evaluate their instructional practices. Her current research interests include literacy development and assessment, access to academic content, and research methods for individuals with moderate-to-severe developmental disability. She is co-author of the Early Literacy Skills Builder (ELSB) and the Nonverbal Literacy Assessment (NVLA). She served as the co-Principal Investigator on a contract from the Institute for Education Sciences, US Department of Education to develop a software-based curriculum called the Early Reading Skills Builder (ERSB), a phonics curriculum for students who are nonverbal. For fun, Lynn enjoys being outdoors, watching sports (especially soccer and football), jigsaw puzzles, and needlepoint. She is a huge fan of the show Survivor.

Area(s) of Interest and Research:

  • Literacy assessment of individuals with significant cognitive disabilities,
  • Alternate assessment,
  • Research methodology and statistical applications to low incidence populations

Projects:

The Early Literacy Skills Builder, available from The Attainment Company, is an early literacy curriculum for students with moderate-to-severe developmental disability. It provides scripted lessons and materials for teachers to teach early literacy skills such as the conventions of reading, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and listening comprehension.

The Early Reading Skills Builder, also available from the Attainment Company as computer software or iPad app, is a phonics curriculum for students who are nonverbal. Currently all traditional phonics curricula require students to have sophisticated verbal skills to produce the phonemes in order to participate in the instruction. The ERSB uses text-to-speech software to serve as the student’s voice.