Nancy Harayama

Program Director, Undergraduate Program
Senior Lecturer, Special Education

Dr. Nancy Harayama is a senior lecturer in the Special Education program at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & 人类发展. Her work focuses on the assessment and instruction of students with significant cognitive disabilities, more specifically, the adaptations for access to the general education curriculum, augmentative and alternative communication, and positive behavioral supports.

Dr. Harayama also serves as the director of BU Wheelock’s undergraduate program. She collaborates with faculty and staff to ensure that the undergraduate students in the education & human development major develop an interdisciplinary understanding of the impact issues have on children and families—and ways to disrupt systemic inequities. Finally, she also serves as a liaison for the BU Wheelock-Landmark School partnership.

Dr. Harayama is a member of several professional organizations, including TASH and the Council for Exceptional Children. She has served as a consultant for the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment. She also worked as a special education teacher in the multisensory early childhood program and the autism program in the Boston Public Schools.

Pronouns: she/her

Education

EdD, Boston University, Special Education

EdM, Boston University, Special Education

BS, Boston University, Special Education

Courses

WED SE 507: Early Childhood Disabilities/Severe Disabilities: Assessment and Instructional Planning

WED SE 508: Early Childhood Disabilities/Severe Disabilities: Curriculum and Methods

WED SE 534: Classroom and Behavior Management

WED SE 535: Understanding Autism

WED SE 751: Assessment and Evaluation in Special Education: Procedures

Selected Publications

Ryndak, D., Lehr, D., Harayama, N., & Foster, M. (2021). Collaborative teaming for effective inclusive education for students with severe disabilities. In J. McLeskey, F. Spooner, B. Algozzine., & N.L. Walderon (Eds.), Handbook of Effective Inclusive Elementary Schools: Research and Practice (2nd ed.) Routledge.

Ghai, J., Lehr, D., Harayama, N., & Spooner, F., & Protopopova, A. (2021). Animal-assisted interventions as an adjunct to ABA services: Clinician practices and perceptions. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 15, 659–676.

Lehr, D.H. & Harayama, N. (2020). Understanding and meeting the health care needs of students with severe disabilities. In F. Brown, J. McDonnell, & M. Snell (Eds.), Instruction of Students with Severe Disabilities (10th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Lehr, D.H. & Harayama, N. (2017). Understanding and meeting the health care needs of students with severe disabilities. In F. Brown, J. McDonnell, & M. Snell (Eds.), Instruction of Students with Severe Disabilities (9th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Rossetti, Z., Lehr, D., Huang, S, Ghai, J., & Harayama, N. (2016). Parent and teacher perspectives on friendships and social interactions of secondary students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Inclusion, 4(4), 239-256.

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