If you ask an elementary school child to identify their favorite time of the school day, chances are their answer will be recess. Not only is recess a popular time, but it also creates a natural opportunity to develop social competence and build social connections. However, the experiences of students with significant disabilities at recess have not been well studied. Dr. Matthew Brock will discuss recent research using observations of social and play behavior at recess for elementary students with significant disabilities. His research team also interviewed students to understand social networks. These data were then compared to data of typically developing peers. Dr. Brock will share the findings on differences between students with and without significant disabilities as well as group variability.
child development
Developmental brain imaging of human cognition Webinar
Join us for the November Crane Research Forum with Dr. Zeynep Saygin, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at The Ohio State University.
How does uniquely human cognition emerge in the brain? The developmental cognitive neuroscience laboratory at OSU uses noninvasive brain imaging (MRI) to study newborns, infants, and young children before and as they start school. Dr. Zeynep Saygin will discuss recent studies on how individual variability in language, executive function, and reading emerges in the brain. She will also discuss clinical and educational applications, including how early brain data can be used to make individualized predictions about how a child will develop, and ways that this research can inform preventative and intervention research and vice-versa.
Dr. Saygin’s research looks at how specific brain areas become responsible for particular cognitive functions, and how it changes with traumatic injury. Her research has shown that neuroanatomical scans alone can predict a child’s brain function and outcomes including later reading development and dyslexia. Her goal is to offer powerful new strategies to understand, diagnose, and predict treatment outcomes for neurological disorders.
*Please note that if you require any accommodations such as live captioning or interpretation to fully participate in this event, please contact Cathy Kupsky (kupsky.3@osu.edu). Requests made two weeks before the event will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the university will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.
Fathers matter: The importance of father involvement on child development in early childhood Webinar
Join us for the October Crane Research Forum with Dr. Susan Yoon, Crane faculty affiliate and associate professor in the College of Social Work at The Ohio State University.
Fathers can make unique and important contributions to their children’s well-being and positive development. Through a recent project funded by the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, Dr. Susan Yoon will present findings on child and family resilience among families living in households with low income. Specifically, she will discuss distinct patterns of father involvement and their roles in promoting social, behavioral, and cognitive development in their children during early childhood.
Dr. Yoon’s work focuses on promoting resilience and well-being in children who have experienced childhood trauma, including child maltreatment. She also wants to identify what promotes or hinders the development of resiliency following child maltreatment. Dr. Yoon has been recognized for her outstanding contributions to research in the field of child maltreatment from the American Psychological Association.
*Please note that if you require any accommodations such as live captioning or interpretation to fully participate in this event, please contact Cathy Kupsky (kupsky.3@osu.edu). Requests made two weeks before the event will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the university will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.
Moving from efficacy to effectiveness: Understanding the impacts and implementation of a preschool emergent literacy intervention Webinar
Join us for the September Crane Research Forum with Dr. Shayne Piasta, Crane faculty associate and professor of literacies, literatures, and language arts in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University
The Nemours BrightStart! program is a widely available emergent literacy intervention. Dr. Piasta will share findings from a recent Crane Center study in which the intervention was trialed by teachers and community aides in authentic preschool settings. These findings highlight the importance of studying interventions when implemented in real-world conditions and provide insight into supporting preschoolers identified as at-risk for later literacy difficulties.
Dr. Piasta’s expertise is in early literacy development. She wants to better understand how teachers, classrooms, and other factors impact children’s literacy gains. Her research emphasizes using rigorous methods to identify and validate educational programs and practices, including specific curricula and professional development. Among many honors, Dr. Piasta received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
*Please note that this webinar will not be recorded.
*If you require an accommodation such as live captioning or interpretation to fully participate in this event, please contact Cathy Kupsky (kupsky.3@osu.edu). Requests made two weeks before the event will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the university will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.
2023 Symposium on Children- Getting Ready to Read
The first phase of reading development occurs between 0 and 5 years of age, when young children are developing their skills as emergent readers and writers. During this phase, children are developing fundamental understandings of the symbol systems used to read and write, including letters and words. Children will draw upon these understandings in the primary grades, when children are formally taught to read. The Crane Center’s 10th Symposium on Children is designed to enhance fundamental understanding of reading and writing development during early childhood for practitioners, administrators, researchers, and policymakers to support young children as they get ready to read!
This year’s Symposium on Children will feature Dr. Sonia Cabell, associate professor at Florida State University and research faculty at the Florida Center for Reading Research, and a recognized expert on early language and literacy development. Dr. Cabell will discuss the science of early childhood reading and writing development and ways to support skill development among young children as they get ready to read.
Following the keynote, attendees can choose to attend a breakout session before coming back together for brief flash talks will feature innovative early literacy work from around the state with implications for both early literacy policy and practice. We look forward to welcoming you back in-person for this very special 10th anniversary of the Symposium on Children. This event is free and open to all, but registration is required.
For information on the Schoenbaum Family Center (SFC) and Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC): https://earlychildhood.ehe.osu.edu/
Crane Research Forums Spring 2022: Executive Functions and Academic Outcomes (Virtual)
When: Wednesday, March 2 from Noon to 1 p.m.
Where: Online via Zoom
Each semester, the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy features research on emerging or key topics affecting children. The Spring 2022 line-up seeks to further our understanding on how to improve academic outcomes for all children as well as how the pandemic is impacting families of young children. These virtual events are free and open to all, but registration is required.
Executive functions are one of the most investigated variables in both cognitive science and education given its high correlation with numerous academic outcomes. Given its moderate relationship with reading and mathematics, some efforts have ensued to train executive functions in hopes that these trainings would translate to improved skills in domain specific areas, like reading and mathematics. Hear Dr. Dana Miller-Cotto present on prior and current work demonstrating the relations between reading and executive functions as well as mathematics and executive functions in children from kindergarten to third grade. During this forum, she will also theorize why these relations may exist for all children with and without learning difficulties and provide insights on what findings from executive function trainings may tell us about these skills.
Crane Research Forums Spring 2022: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Student Learning in Ohio (Virtual)
When: Wednesday, Feb. 2 from Noon to 1 p.m.
Where: Online via Zoom
Each semester, the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy features research on emerging or key topics affecting children. The Spring 2022 line-up seeks to further our understanding on how to improve academic outcomes for all children as well as how the pandemic is impacting families of young children. These virtual events are free and open to all, but registration is required.
Drs. Vladimir Kogan and Stéphane Lavertu conducted detailed analyses of how the COVID-19 pandemic affected student learning using data from Ohio’s state tests in the spring of 2021. Hear an overview of COVID-related learning disruptions for different student subgroups, district types, and modes of learning, as well as discuss new evidence on the impacts of online and hybrid learning on student learning gains in third-grade English and language arts.
The Contribution of Fathers in Emotion Socialization Webinar
Emotion socialization is the idea that learning, understanding, expressing, and regulating emotions happens in social contexts. This process directly connects with future socioemotional outcomes for children. Dr. Xin Feng will discuss her recent study of how fathers uniquely contribute to this development in 3- and 4-year-old children. Dr. Feng’s research centers on the interplay of temperament, emotion regulation, parent-child interaction, and contextual influences (e.g., parental mental health and culture) in the development of adaptive and maladaptive socioemotional functioning throughout childhood.
Crane Research Forum: Tax Policies and Child Development Webinar
Please join us for the September Crane Research Forum with Dr. Lauren Jones, Crane Center faculty affiliate and assistant professor in both the Department of Human Sciences and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs.
A family’s socio-economic status is often evaluated as a predictor of a child’s future educational, health, and professional outcomes. Because tax policies directly impact household finances, Dr. Lauren Jones will discuss what we know about how household income and tax policies affect child well-being.
For accommodation requests such as live captioning or interpretation, please indicate as you register. Requests made by Monday, August 30 will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the university will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.
Challenging Ourselves: Rethinking Family Engagement – Crane Center 2021 Symposium on Children Registration Open
Partnering with families to enhance their children’s learning and development must take into account the diverse socioeconomic and racial backgrounds of families as well as their engagement needs. Dr. Angel Harris, professor of sociology at Duke University, researches social inequity, policy, and education and joins us for this year’s Symposium to discuss family engagement. Dr. Harris’ book, The Broken Compass, examines engagement strategies for diverse socioeconomically and ethnically diverse backgrounds. Prepare for a day of provocative discussion and learning regarding 1) family engagement strategies tailored to meet family needs and 2) why particular engagement strategies work best for certain families.
Registration and more details can be found here.
