CCCRT Chair & Consultants

Susan Brooks, BS
Chair, CCCRT
Executive Director, Creative Preschool
Child Development Specialist

Susan Brooks has more than 30 years of experience working with young children and their families. She has directed the pre-school program at the Creative Pre-School for over 20 years. As Director she is responsible for the total pre-school program, all teacher organization and training, and parent conferences. Ms. Brooks holds a Bachelors Degree from Florida State University in Child Development She is a very knowledgeable early childhood professional, who has been a CDA trainer and is constantly engaged in all on-site staff training experiences.

She is the current Board Chair of The Creative Center for Childhood Research and Training. In this capacity she organizes tours through the Creative Pre-School program provides supervision for students in training., and has over site responsibility for research activities Ms. Brooks has been a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children since 1984 and participates in local, state, and national conferences.

Pamela C. Phelps, Ph.D.
Vice-Chair, CCCRT
Owner, Creative Preschool
Early Childhood Specialist

Dr. Pamela Phelps is the creator of the Creative Pre-School Model Program. After nine years of teaching kindergarten and first grade in Florida's public schools, she retired from the system to start her own early childhood program. With the help of talented, dedicated staff, she has perfected the programming and today the Creative Pre-School is recognized as a national and state model for the inclusion of children with disabilities, accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and a Florida "Gold Seal" program.

She is the Vice-Chair of CCCRT and active in local, state, and national professional organizations. She works as an advocate for young children and their families on both the state and national levels. She is a past chair of the State of Florida’s Coordinating Council for Early Childhood Services appointed by the Commissioner of Education for the State of Florida and a past member of The Florida Interagency Council for Infants and Toddlers. She has published articles in professional early childhood and special education journals; directed research in early childhood settings; and regularly conducts workshops for educators and parents on play and play environments, behavior management, and numerous other topics related to young children.

During the fall of 1992, Dr. Phelps was recognized as Volunteer of the Year by The Florida Association of Volunteer Agencies for Caribbean Action and as the Child Care Advocate of the Year for her work on behalf of young children by Big Bend Community Coordinated Child Care. In March of 1994, she was chosen Public Citizen of the Year by The Big Bend Unit of the National Association of Social Workers, Inc.; and in May of 1998, she received The Outstanding Women Award from the Tallahassee Branch of the American Association of University Women. Most recently, Dr. Phelps was presented the Research in Education Award by the Florida State University chapter of Phi Delta Kappa in August of 2002.

Mary K. Eckhart
Secretary/Treasurer, CCCRT
Administration

Louise Boothby-LLorente, Ph.D.
Board of Directors, CCCRT
Special Education Consultant

Dr. Louise Boothby-LLorente is a special education consultant who has over 25 years experience observing and evaluating children in their early learning environments. A former special education teacher, Dr. Boothby-LLorente completed her Ph.D. in 1989 at The Florida State University and began working at the Creative Pre-School, a nationally accredited, inclusion model program in Tallahassee, Florida. She is actively involved with their early childhood consulting/training efforts through the Creative Center for Childhood Research and Training, Inc. (CCCRT).

In 2002, Dr. Boothby-LLorente worked with Dr. Phelps and colleagues from CCCRT and staff from the Creative Pre-School to perfect, as a train the trainer model, the Creative Pre-School Program Model, “Beyond Centers and Circle Time:  Scaffolding and Assessing the Play of Young Children©.  This model has been used by The School Readiness Quality Initiative located at The Florida Children’s Forum in collaboration with the Florida Partnership for School Readiness to improve the quality of care provided for children across the state of Florida.

In the fall of 2000, Dr. Boothby directed a research project for CCCRT and Florida State University.  This was a federal research grant that focused on the play of young children with and without disabilities.  The findings from this work have helped further substantiate the value of a quality play environment in the development of young children.

Past appointments include the University of South Florida, College of Education, Department of special Education where she taught early childhood development classes and conducted early intervention research; a clinical appointment was held for 6 years with the College of Medicine, Department of pediatrics, Division of Child Development and Neurology where she evaluated children at pediatric development clinics and practiced play-oriented, strengths-based assessments for infants, toddlers, and their families.

Dr. Boothby-LLorente currently observes and evaluates children privately in their home and school settings as well as in community child care centers, setting up quality learning environments to support their optimal development. She co-authored a book chapter and previously contributed to "Early Education and Care", "The American Journal of Family Therapy", the "Encyclopedia of Special Education", "Communications in Statistics", "Children Our Concern", and a statewide newsletter for infants and toddlers in Florida.

Laura Stannard, Ph.D.
Board of Directors, CCCRT
Kindergarten/Literacy/School Readiness Specialist

Dr. Stannard has over 25 years of experience teaching young children. She began her career in the public school system, has taught the Creative Preschool Kindergarten for over 20 years, and has participated in training sponsored by the Gesell Institute. She approaches and plans each kindergarten child's experience for a total development perspective.

Dr. Stannard completed her Ph.D. in the Spring of 1999 at Florida State University. Her research was a longitudinal study linking the construction play of four-year-old children to success in mathematics in later school years. This study correlated the level of construction play evidenced by four-year-old children enrolled at the Creative Preschool in 1982 with their math test scores and grades. Her work substantiates the importance of construction play for young children.

In addition to teaching young children, Dr. Stannard was formerly an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Special Education at Florida State University. She is currently an early childhood consultant with the First Words Project at the Department of Communication Disorders at Florida State University. She is also a board member with the Creative Center for Childhood Research and Training, Inc.

Dr. Stannard has been the director of the Creative Family Literacy program during the past two years.  This program is funded by the Florida Department of Education and consultants from CCCRT co-ordinates activities through Tallahassee Community College.  This program has provided behavior management, conflict resolution, and school readiness/literacy workshops for over 300 families in a three county area.

Dr. Stannard has presented at educational conferences on the national level including The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the American Educational Research Association.