Samantha Didrichsen is an Arthur A. Schomburg fellow & PhD student at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) in the Curriculum, Instruction and the Science of Learning program (CISL). She is also earning an advanced certificate in qualitative methodology at the same institution. Samantha’s background is in early childhood special education and has cared for and supported the growth of young children with developmental delays and disabilities for close to a decade. Her dissertation, titled “Losing Joy: Understanding the Phenomenon of Burnout in Early Childhood Special Educators”, is a mixed method phenomenological study that seeks to understand how the phenomenon of burnout is described by early childhood special educators and how to best support their mental well-being. This study won the first-place award for Mixed Methods Research in the Kaleidoscope poster presentation session at TED 2025.
Samantha is currently set to present her final defense in March 2026 and graduate with her PhD in May 2026. She is open to interview for faculty positions in Western New York and remotely for Fall 2026.
Samantha believes that all young children, no matter their skills or abilities, should have access to high quality educators that encourage their children to learn through play and interacting with their environment. However, young children with developmental delays and disabilities in Western New York are not receiving this level of support and education because of a lack of providers. Samantha Didrichsen is interested in tackling this call to action by generating a new preservice early childhood special education teacher preparation program in the region following the recommended personnel standards constructed by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), Division for Early Childhood (DEC), and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), of which she is an active member of all three.
Bio:
A native of Long Island, NY, Samantha earned her BSEd. in Early Childhood Education in 2015 from the State University of New York at Fredonia under the guidance of the late Dr. Mira Berkley. She completed her undergraduate student teaching through a grant from the SUNY Urban Teacher Education Center (SUTEC) and was able to student teach in NYC. She then attended Hofstra University and received her MSEd. in Special Education Early Childhood Intervention in 2017 through a grant funded program supervised by Dr. Stephen Hernandez. Her teaching career began by caring for and supporting young children with disabilities in the South Bronx. Samantha moved to Buffalo with her husband in 2020 and has since called the city home. She has worked under Dr. Claire Cameron as her graduate assistant on Project Equity to capture and better understand young children’s language, and on feasibility and equity opportunities with the gamification of the self-regulation task HTKS (Heads-Toes-Knees-Shoulders) (1, 2). Currently, Samantha is supporting Dr. Brianna Devlin in her research endeavors surrounding young children’s early learning of mathematical concepts.
Contact Information:
Email: srdidric@buffalo.edu
Samantha Didrichsen, MSED. 