Newsletter, November 2022
Autism Study Underscores Need for Early Diagnosis
Dr. Pamela Rollins, professor of speech, language, and hearing and CCF faculty affiliate, recently published a study showing that an intervention for young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder leads to significantly improved social communication skills but only when delivered before a child turns three, underscoring the need for early diagnosis. “Today, we better understand the developmental unfolding and interrelationships among mutual gaze, early social responsiveness, joint attention and social communication, and how a disruption in one of these areas can have cascading effects on later social learning and language in autistic children,” Rollins said. Read more...
Meet the New REUs!
Our newest cohort of students in our National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates program site began their year-long experience with us in August. We are enjoying working with all 11 of them!
Paola Golemon

"I am most excited about having the opportunity to learn about psychology and child development through research. I can't wait to be a part of a program that also gives back to the community and cares so deeply about the development of children and their relationships with their parents."
Yanet Admansu

"I have been enjoying having the hands-on experience on how to help both children and families through our Play With Me sessions. I also enjoy our weekly discussion on previous/current research pertaining to different aspects of child development. I find it very informative, and the conversations are eye-opening and inspiring, challenging us to explore different ways that we can have a societal impact, especially in underserved communities."
Dr. Candice Mills and The Santa Project
Dr. Candice Mills, associate professor of psychology in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and CCF faculty affiliate, conducts research examining how children learn from others. Dr. Mills aims to characterize these developmental changes in children to advance ideas on how to best encourage thinking and learning abilities. A new line of work in her lab examines how children think about fantastical beings like Santa Claus. Read more...
CCF Nominated for Nonprofit Award of Excellence
CCF is a proud nominee for CNM's Night of Light nonprofit awards of excellence. The event honors the organizations who have demonstrated real, positive change in communities across DFW. CCF was nominated for an award for "Continuous Improvement." See a listing of other nominees here. We are honored to have been nominated!
Animated Virtual Therapist Breaks Barriers for Kids with Dyslexia
Virtual reality technology developed by a University of Texas at Dallas professor is at the core of a new national initiative to enhance the teaching of children with dyslexia. In collaboration with Scottish Rite for Children in Dallas, research professor Marjorie Zielke PhD’07 has developed an animated virtual therapist that helps children with reading, speech and language issues. “There are shortages of teachers and therapists, which has resulted in a lack of expertise in areas where students are particularly vulnerable and need help,” she said. “Being able to develop something that can help those children is so rewarding.” Read more...
From the Director
The past month has been an exciting one with lots of teaching, training, and talk about new initiatives for our region. We are grateful to be recognized for our program evaluation work via CNM's Night of Light. CCF works hard to ensure that our programs are utilizing the latest research in child development and that we are reviewing and implementing program improvements on an on-going basis. I am thankful for our staff and students in conducting this important work!