Early Education & Development | CYFS | Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools

New database enhances early childhood research collaboration

A new faculty database has streamlined the process of identifying collaboration opportunities among University of Nebraska early childhood researchers.

The Nebraska Academy for Early Childhood Research has released the Find a Researcher database, an online directory of early childhood researchers. The database enables faculty to identify potential research partners from across the University of Nebraska system. Searches can be customized by researchers’ specific content areas, populations of interest, preferred research approach, research tools and methods. Full Article

Hong hosts Brazilian researchers for early childhood science collaboration

Visiting scholar Gisela Wajskop discusses literacy-based play with undergraduates in the Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies. Wajskop is researching early childhood science teaching with UNL's Soo-Young Hong. — Visiting scholar Gisela Wajskop discusses literacy-based play with undergraduates in the Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies. Wajskop visited Lincoln, Nebraska, as part of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln/Brazil Early Childhood Initiative. View photo gallery.

CYFS faculty affiliate Soo-Young Hong, associate professor of child, youth and family studies, recently hosted Brazilian researchers Gisela Wajskop and Patricia Pastorello for a weeklong visit in Lincoln, Nebraska, as part of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln/Brazil Early Childhood Initiative. Full Article

Faculty provide training, outreach to support international Zika study

Natalie Williams (right), assistant professor of child, youth and family studies, visits with mother in Recife, Brazil. Williams recently traveled to Recife as part of an international collaboration studying how families are affected by Congenital Zika Virus Syndrome. — Natalie Williams (right), assistant professor of child, youth and family studies, visits with a mother in Recife, Brazil. Williams is part of an international research collaboration studying how to help families affected by Congenital Zika Virus Syndrome. View photo gallery.

Recife is the capital city of Pernambuco, a northeastern state in Brazil — and one of the regions most affected by the Zika virus outbreak.

Natalie Williams, assistant professor of child, youth and family studies, and Christine Marvin, professor of special education and communication disorders, recently traveled to Recife, Brazil, as part of a joint study with Brazilian researchers at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco. Full Article

Researchers fine-tune global measurement standards for early childhood learning

Natalie Koziol, CYFS research assistant professor, and Abbie Raikes, associate professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center — Natalie Koziol and Abbie Raikes

Implementing standard measurements of early childhood development and learning worldwide has its challenges. But University of Nebraska researchers are working with the United Nations and other international organizations to ensure global measurement tools are not restrained by borders. Full Article

Bhatia receives Buffett dissertation fellowship

Sonya Bhatia, doctoral student in school psychology, has received the 2017-18 Buffett Early Childhood Institute Graduate Scholars fellowship. The $24,980 fellowship will fund Bhatia’s dissertation project, “An Examination of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation’s Effects on Teacher-Student Interactions.” Full Article

White receives dissertation award to study early childhood self-regulation

Andrew White, CYFS graduate assistant and doctoral student in school psychology, recently received a dissertation award from the Society for the Study of School Psychology. His thesis is titled “Using Self-Regulation to Predict Preschoolers’ Disruptive Behavior Disorders.” Full Article

Study aims to support Brazilian early childhood development

Identifying what is developmentally normal for young children—and what is not—can lead to earlier interventions and better outcomes. Two Nebraska researchers are addressing this need for the world’s fifth most-populated country: Brazil.

Leslie Hawley, CYFS research assistant professor, and Natalie Koziol, CYFS postdoctoral scholar, are creating a screening tool to detect developmental delays in Brazilian children. They are collaborating with Denise Ruschel Bandeira, a professor at Brazil’s Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, as part of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln/Brazil Early Childhood Initiative. Full Article