Rebecca Davis

Dr. Rebecca Hacker is an Assistant Research Professor at Juniper Gardens Children’s Project (JGCP) in the Life Span Institute. She received her Ph.D. in Special Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and then was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at JGCP. Dr. Hacker is an early career scholar with an interest in supporting young individuals who have disabilities that have communication needs and use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Her research focuses on investigating the diverse early childhood environments, and training and coaching their natural communication partners to use evidence-based practices. These individuals may include parents, teachers, peers, and siblings. Given her years of experience working with individuals with developmental disabilities in the classroom and home environments, her research has an interdisciplinary focus on improving social communication outcomes for young children with disabilities who have communication delays.