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College of Education and Human Development - George Mason University

Dr. Linda H. Mason
PhD, University of Maryland
Professor
Director, Helen A. Kellar Institute for Human disAbilities
Professor-in-Charge, Special Education: Specialized Reading Instruction
Special Education
Special Education: General Curriculum

Contact Information

Send email to Dr. Mason

Phone: (703) 993-5080
Fax: (703) 993-3681
Email: lmason20 (@gmu.edu)

George Mason University
Fairfax Campus
Finley Building 208A
4400 University Dr.
MS 1F2
Fairfax, VA 22030

Profile

Dr. Linda H. Mason is a Professor of Special Education and the Endowed Director of the Helen A. Kellar Institute for Human disAbility at George Mason University. Prior to completing her doctorate at the University of Maryland, Dr. Mason was an elementary school learning support teacher for seven years, during two of which she served as student support team leader. Dr. Mason has received over six million dollars in funding to support her research in content reading comprehension and writing interventions to support students with learning disabilities in inclusive classrooms. She is the former Editor-in-Chief of  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice and currently a Co-Editor of the Journal of Inclusive Post-Secondary Education. She has published over 75 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and three co-authored books (English and French translation), and presented at 150+ presentations at academic- and practitioner-focused conferences. Dr. Mason served as President for the Division of Learning Disabilities, Council for Exceptional Children and is a Fellow and Board Member, International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities. In 2011, Dr. Mason was awarded the Council for Exceptional Children, Division of Research Distinguished Early Career Award was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach graduate courses in learning, attention, and behavioral disabilities at the University of Szeged, Hungary. In 2021, she was awarded the Council for Exceptional Children Research Award. Dr. Mason especially enjoys international collaborations; in addition to multiple international presentations, she has worked closely with teachers and researchers in Mexico, the Netherlands, and China.

Current Funded Projects

Mason, L.H., (Principal Investigator), Berkeley, S., Ciullo, S., & Collins, A. (2019-2024). Writing in Middle School Science and Social Studies: Exploring Instruction and Support for Students with Disabilities (Project Explore). National Center for Special Education Research, Institute of Education Science, USDOE, 84.324C. Awarded $1,399,877.00.

Mason, L.H. (Co-PI). Effectiveness replication of the self-regulated strategy development(SRSD) instructional model for writing in the general curriculum. Subcontract University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill/IES; Hooper, S. (PI), Costa, L. (Co-PI). Awarded $486,287.

Berkeley, S., PI; Mason, L.H., Co-PI; & Weiss, M., Co-PI (2019-present): Virginia is forLeaders: Development of Experts In Evidence-based Literacy Practices for Students with Disabilities, OSEP USDOE, Awarded $1,164,865.00.

Sikdar, S., PI; Co-PIs: Rangwala, H., Thompson, J., Seshaiyer, P., Peixoto, N.; Senior Personnel: Bray, L. Mason, L.H., Nelson, J., Matto, H.; External Evaluator: Martone, J.. (2019-present): Transdisciplinary Graduate Training Program in Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions, NRT-HDR, NSF. Awarded $2,999,183.00.

Mason, L.H., PI (2018-2023) Technical Training and Assistance Center (TTAC) – Early Childhood Special Education (Region 4). Cooperative Agreement: 619 Funds, VDOE Awarded Approximately $400,000.00 each year.

Mason, L.H., PI (2018-2023)Technical Training and Assistance Center (TTAC) – Early Childhood Special Education (Region 4). Cooperative Agreement: 611 Funds, VDOE. Awarded approximately $60,000.00 each year.

Inclusive Development Partners/USAID (2019-2023). Multi-Country Study on Inclusive Education (MCSIE): Study in Cambodia, Malawi, and Nepal.  Awarded $3,085,000.00. (Role: Learning Disabilities Advisor) 

Recent Publications

Books

Mason, L.H., Reid, R., & Hagaman, J. (2016).  L’enseignement explicite de la lecture et de  l’écriture: 40 leçons pour hisser les élèves vers la réussite. Adaptation: Lyne Legault. Cheneliere Education.

Mason, L.H., Reid, R., & Hagaman, J. (2012).  Building comprehension in adolescents: Powerful strategies for improving reading and writing in content areas. Brooks Publishing Co. Inc.

Harris, K.R., Graham, S., Mason, L. H., & Friedlander, B. (2008). Powerful writing strategies for all students.  Brooks Publishing Co. Inc.

Selected Journal Articles (2015-present)

Mason, L.H., Ciullo, S., Collins, A., Brady, S., Elcock, L., & Owen, L. S. (2022). Exploring inclusive middle-school content teachers’ training, perceptions, and classroom practice for writing. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, 20(2), 111-128.

Lavin, C. E., Francis, G. L., Mason, L. H., & LeSueur, R. F. (2022). Inclusive education in Mexico City: An exploratory study. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 69(3), 1065-1079. https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912X.2020.1749572

Ciullo, S., Mason, L. H., & Judd, L. (2021). Persuasive quick-writing about text: Intervention for students with learning disabilities. Behavior Modification, 45(1), 122-146. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145445519882894

Sanders, S., Rollins, L., Mason, L.H., Shaw, A., & Jolivette, K. (2021). Intensification and individualization of self-regulation components within self-regulated strategy development. Intervention in School and Clinic, 56(3), 131-140. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053451220941414

Lavín, C. E., Mason, L. H., LeSueur, R. F., & Haspel, P. (2020). The dearth of published intervention studies about English learners with learning or behavior disabilities in special education. Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 25, 18–28.

Garwood, J. D., Werts, M. G., Mason, L. H., Harris, B., Austin, M. B., Ciullo, S., Magner, K. M., Koppenhaver, D. A., & Shin, M. (2019). Improving persuasive science writing for secondary students with emotional and behavioral disorders educated in residential treatment facilities. Behavioral Disorders, 44, 227-240.

Mason, L.H. & Zheng, S. (2018). Writing from text in eight middle school learning support classrooms: Ascertaining aspects of intensive intervention. Learning Disabilities: A  Multi-Disciplinary Journal, 23, 87-101.

Ciullo, S., & Mason, L.H. (2017). Prioritizing elementary school writing instruction: Cultivating middle school readiness for students with learning disabilities. Intervention in  School and Clinic, 52, 287-294.

Gersten, R., Harris, K.R., & Mason, L.H. (2017). Beyond reading: The less addressed aspects of research in learning disabilities: Introduction to the special issue. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 32, 137-139.

Mason, L.H., Mong Cramer, A., Garwood, J., Varghese, C., Hamm, J., & Murray, A. (2017). The efficacy of SRSD instruction for developing writers with and without disabilities in rural schools: A randomized controlled trial. Rural Special Education Quarterly, 36, 168-179.

Foxworth, L.L., Mason, L.H., & Hughes, C.A. (2016). Improving narrative writing skills of secondary students with disabilities. Exceptionality. 

Li, M., Murphy, P.K., Wang, J., Mason, L.H., Firetto, C.M., Wie, L., & Sun Chung, K. (2016). Promoting reading comprehension and critical-analytic thinking: A comparison of three approaches with fourth and fifth-graders. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 46, 101-115.

Sennott, S., & Mason, L.H. (2015). AAC modeling with the iPad during shared storybook reading pilot study. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 36, 1-13.

Datchuk, S.M., Kubina, R.M., & Mason, L.H. (2015). Effects of sentence instruction and frequency building to a performance criterion on elementary aged students with behavioral concerns and EBD. Exceptionality, 23, 34-53.

Selected Book Chapters (2015-present)

Harris, K. R., & Mason, L. H. (2023). Self-regulated strategy development: Reading source materials to learn and write. In Z. Philippakos, & S. Graham (Eds.), Writing and reading connections (pp. 143-162). Guilford.

Mason, L. H., Datchuk, S., & Brady, S. (2022). Writing in inclusive elementary schools: research and practice. J. McLesky, N.L. Waldron, F. Spooner, & B. Algozzine (Eds.), Handbook of effective inclusive elementary schools: Research and Practice. Routledge.

Mason, L.H., & *Brady, S. (2021). Promoting executive functions throughout the writing process.        T. Limpo, & O. Thierry (Eds.), Executive functions and writing (pp. 181-206). Oxford University Press.

Mason, L.H., Mamlin, N., & Stewart, K. (2019). Evidence-based writing intervention: Three tiers of instruction for elementary students.  In P. C. Pullen M. J. Kennedy (Eds.), Handbook on response to intervention (pp.218-232). Routledge.

Harris, K.R., Graham, S., Mason, L.H., McKeown, D., & Olinghouse, N. (2018). Self-regulated strategy development in writing: A classroom example of developing executive functioning and future directions.  In L. Meltzer (Ed.), Executive functioning in education (pp. 326-356). Guilford Press.

Mason, L.H. (2018). Literacy for students with learning, attention, and behavioral disabilities. In USAID Toolkit to promote literacy for students with disabilities. Global Reading Network, USAID, and World Bank.

Mason, L.H., & Reid, R. (2018). Individual and group differences in self-regulation of      learning and performance self-regulation: Implications for individuals with special    needs.  In D. Schunk & J. Greene (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation of learning and  performance, 2nd edition. Routledge.

Dunn Davison, M, & Mason, L.H. (2017). A road less traveled:  Writing research for diversestudents with disabilities, In M.T. Hughes & E. Talbott (Eds.). The handbook of research on diversity in special education (pp. 277-298). John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Mason, L.H., & Reid, R. (2017). Individual and group differences in self-regulation of  learning and performance self-regulation: Implications for individuals with special needs.  In D. Schunk & J. Greene (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation of learning and performance, 2nd edition. Routledge.

Klinger, J., Brownell, M., Mason, L.H., Sindelar, P.T., & Benedict, A. (with Griffin, C., Lane,  K., Israel, M., Pia Oakes, W., Mariah Menzies, H., Germer, K., & Park, Y.) (2016).   Teaching Students with Special Needs in the New Millennium. In D.H. Gitomer & C.A. Bell (Eds.) AERA handbook of research on teaching, 5th Edition (pp. 639-716). American Educational Research Association.

Mason, L.H. (2017). Writing to Learn Instruction that Works. Fidalgo, R., Harris, K. R., Braaksma, M. (Eds.), Design principles for teaching effective writing. Brill Editions.

Mong Cramer, A., & Mason, L.H. (2015). “Thank you for helping me write a better paper:” Peer support in learning to write. L. Meltzer, & K. R. Harris (Eds.). The power of peers. Guilford Press.

Other Information

Co-Managing Editor

Journal of Inclusive Postsecondary Education