Member of Lasalé
Céline Chatenoud
Associate Professor, UNIGE, Geneva, Switzerland
“My study trajectory was influenced by meeting Gisela Chatelanat, professor at UNIGE, who has greatly helped develop the field of early specialized education in Geneva. I am currently taking over the management of the University of Geneva's master's degree in special needs education pedagogy, with the specialism specialised early education [Education Précoce Spécialisée – EPS], as well as the management of the team: Prévention Intervention Support en EPS, https: //www.unige.ch / fapse / prinseps / fr / accueil /, which for me are two of these many legacies. Very early in my career as a researcher, Gisela Chatelanat helped me to understand the importance of developing research with the people and not about the people; and specifically with regards to the issue of families, where there is a plethora of representations being conveyed about parents' experiences. I try, as my research work progresses, to respect this principle and even to push it further by developing studies where the parents are themselves research partners.”
Profile
Holding a dual qualification in educational sciences and in psychology, both from the University of Geneva, Céline Chatenoud received an excellence scholarship from the Swiss National Scientific Research Fund in order to supplement the remainder of her doctoral studies in education with a stay in Quebec, joining researchers specializing in the social participation of people with disabilities – specifically young children – and in parent-professional partnerships. She then joined the Chaire de recherche du Canada en Intervention Précoce [Canada Research Chair in Early Intervention] at the Université du Québec in Trois-Rivières, and after this became a professor in the Département d’éducation et formation spécialisées [Department of Special needs Education and Training] at the Université du Québec in Montreal (UQÀM) and a collaborator at the Centre d'Études et de Recherches pour Favoriser l'Apprentissage (CERFA) [Centre for Studies and Research to Encourage Learning] for students with communication and language disorders (CERFA).
Research
She is interested in the developmental progress and learning of children with a neurodevelopmental disorder (an intellectual disability, an autism spectrum disorder, dysphasia, or a multiple disability) as well as educational approaches and innovative teaching strategies promoting their social participation and the development of their self-determination from an early age. The adaptation and quality of life of these children and their families in relation to the quality of the services and support that are provided to them are also at the heart of her research. Céline Chatenoud is currently working on several research projects which address important transition periods in the development of services aimed at young children with special educational needs and their families, two of the main ones being:
- The first addresses the time period that is experienced by parents just before a diagnosis is reached and puts into place a program for early support – named E-pats (Early Positive Approaches to Support) which has demonstrated its scientific validity in England (Gore 2014, Gore et al., 2019) – and aims to provide early support for families suspecting a developmental disorder in their child. This program is innovative because it involves the active participation of partner-expert parents (called “parent- facilitators”) in all the stages of its development: it is therefore a project for parents, devised by them, and evaluated and implemented with them. Thus, parents are recognized as expert citizens, because “they are the most expert, most capable of telling what it is to be them” (Speraw, 2009, p 736).
- The second addresses the transition period from preschool services to school, the experience of families and their perceptions of the quality of the service trajectory during the transition from early autism spectrum disorder intervention (TSA) to nursery school.
For the time being, these two studies are taking place in Quebec, but we have started collaborations with Geneva to initiate similar investigations in Switzerland.
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