She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses to students in education, social work, and liberal arts and sciences, and has mentored doctoral students and part-time faculty in teaching at UIC. She has three primary lines of research: one in the delivery of effective mental health interventions for urban youth; a second on multiple informant assessments of youth mental health problems; and a third on the effective delivery of special education through school leaders and their instructional teams. Dr. Talbott was chair of the department of special education at UIC for 10 years, and now serves as chair of public policy for the Council for Exceptional Children-Division for Research.