Birth to age 3 are critical years for development, especially for children with disabilities who need extra support. Early interventionists meet with families and provide services such as occupational, speech or physical therapy to help children learn and grow.
The College of Education and Human Sciences and the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools will host a fall series of research presentations beginning Sept. 9, covering social, behavioral and educational challenges important to Nebraska and beyond.
For the nearly 7 million American children who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and have not developed functional vocal speech, communication can be difficult — and frustrating.
One promising option is augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), including speech-generating devices that support, supplement or replace vocal speech. Research suggests that using AAC in early interventions through play and other everyday activities may enhance language, social communication and play skills in children with autism.
Michaela Schenkelberg, associate professor of health and kinesiology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, is collaborating with MAP Academy personnel to make it easier to evaluate young children’s gross motor skills — the basic, whole-body movements that lay the foundation for lifelong physical activity.
For many, work-related stress is often seen as part of the job, with emotional exhaustion, burnout and turnover reported across nearly every industry in the U.S.
For the early childhood workforce, however, such stress can reach beyond teachers’ well-being and into the classroom. Research shows that when educators are navigating ongoing stress and emotional exhaustion, it can affect how they respond to children and families, shaping the tone of interactions and the overall learning environment.
Family dynamics among caregivers tend to be complicated. They can become even more complex when grandparents take on co-parenting roles.
Weiman Xu, postdoctoral fellow at the Nebraska Academy for Methodology, Analytics and Psychometrics (MAP Academy), recently explored the association between intergenerational co-parenting and children’s social-emotional development. Funded by a graduate scholars grant from the Buffett Early Childhood Institute, Xu investigated the role grandparents play in raising children and how co-parenting between grandparents and parents relate to children’s well-being.
Sungeun Kang, assistant professor of school psychology, is the 2026 recipient of the CYFS Signature Research Impact Program (SRIP) award, which was developed to address critical issues affecting Nebraska’s children, youth, families, schools and communities.
Creating connections among early childhood research, practice and policy — and how each can enhance the lives of young children and their families — provided the central theme of the 2026 CYFS Early Childhood Research Summit .
Almost 200 attendees, including researchers from across the University of Nebraska system, practitioners, administrators, community partners and policymakers, gathered April 28 at Nebraska Innovation Campus for the daylong, seventh biennial summit, which highlighted the latest research to advance early childhood education and development, and implications for practice and policy.
