Two local foundations have made grants to support the expansion of outreach programming at the Center for Children and Families. The Rees-Jones Foundation awarded $125,000 over two years to support the expansion of the Center’s Grow With Me and Play With Me programs. This grant will provide an additional staff member to increase the number of developmental screenings, referrals and early intervention services the center provides for at-risk children in the Dallas area. The Carl B. and Florence E. King Foundation also made a $30,000 one-year grant to expand the Play With Me program in Pleasant Grove. Read more... 

Jose Gaytan, BS'23, is the new coordinator of special programs for CCF. Hired with local foundation funding as noted above, Jose will be supporting children and parents in CCF outreach programs. "I am eager to be part of this wonderful team and look forward to making a positive impact at the Center and with the families it serves. I am very passionate about helping others and believe my time here at CCF will allow me to further develop the skills I need to continue serving the community." Welcome Jose!

Our next cohort of students in our National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates program site have begun their year-long experience with us. We look forward to introducing all 12 of them over the next few months!

CCF has formed a new young professionals advisory board to increase awareness of CCF's research, training, and outreach initiatives while providing charitable and social opportunities for people ages 21-40 years old. Board leadership includes Jose Gaytan BS'23, Nishani Modi BS'18, MS'20, CCC-SLP, Renee Mirick BS'22, MS'23, Adriana Portillo BS'17, MSW, and Aurora Rochin BS'23. Opportunities for young alumni to get involved are coming soon!

Drs. Mandy Maguire and Jackie Nelson recently received an $802,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study resilience and risk in word inferencing and vocabulary growth for grade schoolers from low socioeconomic status homes. The project will use brain and behavioral measures to identify which children struggle vs excel at word learning, in which context (auditory vs written), and why. Results of the study could be used to provide tailored learning plans to help support vocabulary growth for all children in grade school, allowing them to reach their full potential.

Dr. Pumpki Lei Su was among 11 researchers chosen by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) for the 2023 Advancing Academic-Research Careers (AARC) Award. The honor supports the academic careers of early-career faculty in communication sciences and disorders. "I will investigate word learning from infant-directed speech--so-called 'parentese'--in autistic toddlers, building relationships with the local autistic community to practice participatory autism research, where autistic individuals and allies are involved in decision-making about research," Su said. Drs. Emily Touchstone and Andrea Warner-Czyz were among senior collaborators named to those receiving awards. Read more...

It has been a busy month with our research, outreach, and training endeavors. Our REU students are settling into a routine with our families and faculty and it has been a joy to get to know them better. We've submitted a renewal application to the National Science Foundation to extend CCF's Research Experiences for Undergraduates program site for another three years. We are very proud of this important work, supporting research and service opportunities for diverse students that enrich and extend CCF's mission. We're excited to welcome Jose to our team and he has hit the ground running. A wonderful addition! We've begun to schedule speakers for our spring lecture series and are formulating plans for a new spring forum in 2024. We look forward to sharing details in the next few months.

-Margaret T. Owen, PhD, Robinson Family Professor, Director, Center for Children and Families, Interim Dean, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences