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Project identifies, enhances alternative communication opportunities for children with autism

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. Full Article

Research collaboration aims to streamline children’s motor skills evaluation

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. Full Article

CHIME enhancing well-being among Head Start, Early Head Start educators

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. Full Article

Study finds intergenerational co-parenting benefits children’s well-being

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. Full Article

Early Childhood Research Summit helps connect research, practice, policy

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. Full Article

Video available for MAP Academy presentation featuring Pavel Chernyavskiy

Pavel Chernyavskiy, assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Virginia, led the spring presentation of the 2025-26 Methodology Applications Series April 24 at the Nebraska Union.

Video is now available of Chernyavskiy’s presentation, titled, “Everything is Important and Everything is Correlated: Challenges and Opportunities of Working in Correlated Data.” Full Article