Associate Professor
Special Education and Communication Sciences and Disorders
123 John W. Porter Building
Dr. Kraai is a professor in the learning disabilities area of the Special Education Program. She has acquired many years of experience working in both the speech-language pathology field as well as the field of special education. Working in different environments in four different states in various setting such as: public schools, hospital, home healthcare, hospice, charter school and university settings has been a highlight of her professional career. Dr. Kraai has served as an Honors College Faculty Fellow and has recently received the College of Education Innovative Teaching Award.
Dr. Kraai is involved in a number of different projects. She has received a Provost's New Faculty Research Award which focuses on researching people with disabilities and faith communities in the State of Michigan. Another interest where research has been conducted and disseminated is with special education preservice teachers and Academic Service Learning which the office of Academic Service Learning on campus helped to fund. A third area of interest is with metacognitive strategy use during spelling tasks which she conducted with second grade students with learning disabilities.
Hardy, K. & Kraai, R.V. (2020) Lingering Effects of Dyslexia in College Age Students.
Poster Presentation at Michigan Council for Exceptional Children, Grand
Rapids, MI.
Kraai, R.V. (November, 2017) Turning an Introduction to Special Education Course into
a U.S. Diversity Course. Presentation at Teacher Education Division of CEC,
Savannah, GA.
Kraai, R.V. (March, 2016) Learning Disabilities and the Law. Presentation to
Ph.D. Psychology class,EMU, Ypsilanti, MI.
Kraai, R.V. (March, 2015) Special Education and Writing. Presentation at the
EMU National Writing Project, Ypsilanti, MI
Kraai, R. V. (March, 2015) Disabilities and Faith Communities in the State of
Michigan. ) Presentation at the Michigan Council for Exceptional Children,
Grand Rapids, MI
Kraai, R.V. (November, 2014). Serving Students with Disabilities: Lessons from
Service Learning Experiences. Presentation at the TED Conference of
Council for Exceptional Children, Indianapolis, IN
Kraai, R.V., (November, 2014). Faith Communities and Disability in the State of Michigan.
Presentation at the Brehm Conference: Connecting the Dots,
Ypsilanti, MI.
Kraai, R.V., Desiderio, J., and Stiefel, G. (May, 2014). From Feeblemindedness to
Exceptionality. Presentation at the EMU Department of Special Education 100th
Anniversary Research Symposium, Ypsilanti, MI.
Kraai, R.V., (May, 2014). Speech and Language Development. Professional development for
workshop for the visiting Korean teachers. EMU Department of Special Education,
Ypsilanti, MI.
Kraai, R.V., (2014) (February, 2014). Writing and Learning Disabilities. Presentation
at the EMU Writing Center, Ypsilanti, MI.
Leon, R., Kraai, R.V., and Dowd, K. (November, 2013). Academic Service Learning
and Students with Disabilities.
Presentation at the Brehm Symposium, Connecting the Dots Conference,
Ypsilanti, MI.
Leon, R., Kraai, R.V. and Dowd, K. (October, 2013). Lessons from Serving Students
with Disabilities. Presentation at the Michigan College Personnel Association,
Grand Rapids, MI.
Kraai, R.V. (April, 2013). The Church’s Role in Serving People with Disabilities. Poster
presented at the Council for Exceptional Children’s Conference (CEC), San
Antonio, TX.
Kraai, R.V. (April, 2012). Metacognitive Strategy Use in Spelling. Poster presented at
the Council for Exceptional Children’s Conference (CEC),
Denver, CO.
Kraai, R.V. (October, 2011). Metacognitive Strategy Use in Second Grade Students with Learning Disabilities During Written
Spelling Tasks.
Paper presented at the Michigan Association of Teacher Educators Conference,
Detroit, MI.