For families raising a child with autism spectrum disorder, everyday moments of connection can be difficult. The disorder affects about 1 in 36 children in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and often hinders social communication skills essential for personal, professional and academic growth.
A transformative program designed to help educators use mindfulness and reflection in their daily work is expanding its global reach.
Holly Hatton, associate professor of child, youth and family studies, is collaborating with researchers in Ghana to adapt CHIME — Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators — an interactive compassion- and mindfulness-based program developed at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The program will support caregivers, young children and college students in the small west African country.
For new mothers, returning to work often means deciding whether to continue breastfeeding. But systemic barriers often make it difficult to do so.
To explore the relationship between breastfeeding and returning to work, Kailey Snyder, assistant professor in the School of Health & Kinesiology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, partnered with the Nebraska Academy for Methodology, Analytics and Psychometrics (MAP Academy) to examine a decade’s worth of national lactation data.
As student populations grow and change throughout American schools, teachers face new challenges in meeting students’ needs and preparing them for long-term success.
For educators, both practicing and in training, experience is key.
Jillian Harpster, assistant professor of practice in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, recently led a project to help preservice middle school teachers broaden their practical experiences, and to provide seventh and eighth graders with the opportunity to engage in the college experience.
Research shows children starting kindergarten often know less about science compared to reading and math. Despite this, science activities typically make up the smallest proportion of the preschool day.
The science opportunity gap is even more pronounced in rural communities, where limited educational resources and lower emphasis on science education widen the divide.
As computers become more and more ubiquitous in nearly every aspect of daily life, the demand for teachers who can prepare the next generation of tech leaders is more pressing than ever.
Leen-Kiat Soh, professor of computing, is leading a project to ensure future generations of K-12 teachers are equipped with the skills and knowledge to bring the cutting-edge computer science into the classroom.
Family dynamics among caregivers tend to be complicated. They can become even more complex when grandparents take on coparenting roles.
Weiman Xu, graduate research assistant at the Nebraska Academy for Methodology, Analytics and Psychometrics (MAP Academy) and a doctoral student in the Global Family Health and Well-being program within the Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies, is exploring the association between intergenerational coparenting and children’s social-emotional development.
In early childhood, healthy eating habits lay the foundation for lifelong wellness, helping prevent many chronic health issues.
Promoting these habits is particularly important for children in rural communities, where resources are sometimes limited. Research shows that rural children are 26% more likely to experience obesity than their urban peers.
