The Play Pals Team
Play Pals is a collaborative partnership between the Departments of Communicative Disorders and Special Education and Multiple Abilities. Students training to become speech language pathologists and special educators receive hands-on training in implementing high quality, evidence-based practices with young learners. Play Pals is also supported by students in the School of Music, who provide music therapy sessions with the children twice a week.
Jennifer Morgan Baggett is the Director of Play Pals. She is a speech-language pathology clinical educator and instructor in the Department of Communicative Disorders at The University of Alabama. She began her career in the Tuscaloosa City School system in 2008 where she worked with elementary and middle school students. She transitioned to the University of Alabama Autism Spectrum Disorders Clinic in 2014 to serve on an interdisciplinary diagnostic team and provide speech-language therapy to children with autism. In 2018, Ms. Baggett served as the interim Clinic Director of the UA ASD Clinic and began teaching for the Department of Communicative Disorders.
Contact Ms. Baggett: jennifer.m.baggett@ua.edu
Megan Fedewa is the special education teacher at Play Pals. She is a PhD candidate
with a focus in autism in the Department of Special Education & Multiple Abilities, and she holds an MA in collaborative special education from The University of Alabama. Megan’s interests include supporting social skills, specifically play development, of children with autism. Her work focuses on Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBIs) and including typically developing peers in interventions to support social communication and play. Her goal is to implement evidence-based interventions that support children’s success in inclusive environments.
