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CYFS hosts ‘Getting Ready’ training for special education providers

Lisa Knoche presents during the June 6 Getting Ready training in Lincoln, Nebraska. CYFS faculty and staff are training Nebraska special education providers in the Getting Ready approach, which focuses on strengthening relationships between parents and children, and parents and early education professionals.
Lisa Knoche presents during the June 6 Getting Ready training in Lincoln, Nebraska. View photo gallery. For more information, visit the Getting Ready website.

CYFS faculty and staff hosted ‘Getting Ready’ training sessions June 6-9 in Lincoln, Nebraska, for early childhood special education providers, service coordinators and supervisors across the state.

Developed by CYFS faculty and affiliates, Getting Ready is a research-based program that enhances school readiness for children birth to age five. It focuses on strengthening relationships between parents and their children, as well as parents and early childhood professionals. Full Article

Sheridan, Kim edit newly released research series

CYFS director Susan Sheridan and postdoctoral affiliate Elizabeth Moorman Kim (not pictured) serve as editors for a family-school partnership research series. The first volume, “Foundational Aspects of Family-School Partnership research,” was released by Springer Publishing Company this June.
CYFS director Susan Sheridan and postdoctoral affiliate Elizabeth Moorman Kim (not pictured) are the editors for a new family-school partnership research series. The series’ first volume, “Foundational Aspects of Family-School Partnership Research,” was released by Springer Publishing Company this June.

Five years ago, CYFS hosted the Interdisciplinary Alliance for Partnerships Research (IAPR), a national working meeting, and facilitated a future course for family-school partnerships research.

The meeting’s ultimate goal hinged on a unique variable: identifying unexplored areas of research. Full Article

Radio interview highlights “Teachers and Parents as Partners”

Susan Sheridan
Susan Sheridan

A collaborative intervention continues to connect children, parents and teachers across the state of Nebraska.

Teachers and Parents as Partners (TAPP), formerly referred to as Conjoint Behavioral Consulation, is team-oriented approach to improving student behavior at home and school. Sue Sheridan, CYFS director, discussed the program in a recent radio spot with the Nebraska Ag Almanac. Full Article

Program creates pathways to graduation

Michael Scheel, right, with graduate students from the Building Bridges Program.
Michael Scheel, right, with graduate students from the Building Bridges Program.

Donning black gowns and caps, they joined their peers among Lincoln Northeast High School’s 2014 graduating class. They waited patiently to cross the stage, grasp their diploma and finally, after four years, flip the tassel.

They are 37 of the 41 Lincoln Northeast students who, in ninth grade, joined the Building Bridges program — a dropout prevention initiative led by CYFS affiliate Michael Scheel and Gina Kunz, CYFS research associate professor. The program is designed to help freshmen transition to high school and navigate a four-year path to graduation. Full Article

CYFS examining intervention’s effects on early obesity

Obesity intervention
Reseachers studying intervention impacts on early obesity include (from left) Brandy Clarke, Susan Sheridan, Jung-Min Lee & Lorey Wheeler.

A family-school partnership program shown to improve children’s behavior, academics and social skills will now take a seat at the table of another early childhood challenge.

CYFS researchers recently earned two grants to study whether obesity among children ages 3-5 can be curbed by a collaborative intervention known as Teachers and Parents as Partners, or TAPP. Full Article

Sheridan authors guide to help teachers partner with parents

The Tough Kid: Teachers and Parents as PartnersCYFS director Susan Sheridan has authored a newly published practice guide designed to help teachers and school professionals engage parents in partnerships that support children’s learning.

Available from Pacific Northwest Publishers, “The Tough Kid: Teachers and Parents as Partners” takes its name from a family-school intervention approach developed and extensively researched by Sheridan. Full Article

CYFS partnership model featured in Lincoln Journal Star

The Lincoln Journal Star illustrated the application and impacts of a CYFS family-school partnership model in a May 2 feature.

The story includes interviews with the mother and teacher of a third-grade student who participated in the Teachers and Parents as Partners intervention. Formerly known as Conjoint Behavioral Consultation, the intervention approach was developed by CYFS director Susan Sheridan and has been employed by urban, suburban and rural communities throughout Nebraska. Full Article

Researchers author chapter on parenting chess prodigies

Researchers author chapter on parenting chess prodigiesLaser-like focus? Check. Keen memory? Check. Intrinsic motivation? Check.

Parental support? Checkmate.

The development of chess prodigies owes much to the parents who foster their innate talent, according to a book chapter recently co-authored by two CYFS researchers – one of whom can speak from personal experience. Full Article