Lilly Padía

  • Assistant Professor
  • Early Childhood Education
  • Email: lilly.padia@uri.edu
  • Office Location: Tyler Hall Room 208

Biography

Lilly Padía, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of early childhood education with a specialization in special education. Her scholarship explores liberation for children, families, and communities through the intersections of disability, language, and race. She collaborates with classroom teachers, children, and family members to create frameworks and curriculum for culturally sustaining bilingual inclusive education. Her scholarship has been published in journals such as Race Ethnicity and Education; Journal of Critical Study of Communication and Disability; and Theory Into Practice. She is the author of the book ‘Teaching Beyond Spoken Words: Communicating With Bilingual Nonspeaking Children in the Classroom.’

Education

  • PhD, New York University
  • MPhil, New York University
  • Bilingual Education Extension-Spanish, The City College of New York, CUNY
  • MST, Pace University
  • BA, New York University

Selected Publications

Padía, L. (2025). Early Childhood Ecologies of Belonging and Refusal: Early Head Start and Head Start Educators Practicing Inclusive Dual Language Pedagogy. Perspectives & Provocations.

Padía, L. & Bernard, L. (2025). Families & Teachers Co-Writing Culture & Curriculum: A Model for Culturally Sustaining Bilingual Special Education. In Revealing and Resisting Ableism in the Deficit Positioning of Families, eds. Love, H. & Beneke, M. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood (CIEC).

Padía, L., Osorio, S., & Melendez, L. ( 2025). Holistic Multilingual Early Learning. Special Issue: Engaging ECE in times of chaos and authoritarianism. (Eds.) Castner, D.J & Luna, S.M. Global Education Review.

Padia, L. (2025). Teaching Beyond the Spoken Word: Communicating with bilingual nonspeaking children in the classroom. Teachers College Press.

Padía, L., Phuong, J., Cioé-Peña, M. (2024). Mending The Intersectional Gap: Supporting Emergent Multilinguals Labeled as Disabled Through Translanguaging Universal Design for Learning. Theory Into Practice.

Padía, L. (2023). Towards A Model of Reciprocal Carry-over: Learning from Communication Systems of Families of Nonspeaking Bilingual Children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.

Padia, L. & Traxler, R. (2021). Traerás Tus Documentos (You Will Bring Your Documents): Navigating the Intersections of Disability and Citizenship Status in Special Education. In S.A. Annamma, B. Ferri, & D. Connor (Eds.), Race Ethnicity & Education (REE) Special Issue.