About
90
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1,102
Citations
Citations since 2017
Additional affiliations
August 1978 - present
July 1978 - present
Position
- Professor and Coordinator of Doctoral Program in Curriculum and Instruction
Education
August 1973 - August 1978
Publications
Publications (90)
Increasing numbers of young children are experiencing mild to moderate mental health issues that require support in addition to that typically provided by family members and teachers. The services of professional counselors can be particularly useful when children need help adjusting to and coping with various stressors and situations. Many school...
A facility dog in a school is a comparatively recent category of working dog. These dogs typically are trained at the assistance, or service dog, level and are thoroughly prepared for their role. The school facility dog accompanies an owner/handler, who is a professional employee of the school, to work on a regular basis. Research on human-canine i...
There is little question that COVID-19 has had profound implications for the care and education of young children as well as work with their families. This volume gathers together the informed perspectives of researchers in the field as they have struggled to understand and address the many challenges associated with a worldwide health pandemic. Th...
The COVID-19 world health crisis has profound implications for the care and education of young children in homes and schools, the lives of preservice and inservice teachers, and the work of college/university faculty. This article begins by discussing the implications of a world health pandemic for education and the challenges of conducting a liter...
Amid COVID-19, children’s interactions with pet animals in the household were at times strengthened, strained, or established anew. Extensive periods of confinement made the home environment not only the site for most family activities but also the hub for children’s school and many adults’ work. Research on the role of pets during the pandemic has...
When families and educators identify the characteristics they hope to see in young children, prosocial behaviors—such as sharing, cooperating, and helping--frequently are included on their lists. Decades of research suggest that, paradoxically, while the rudimentary forms of these traits can emerge quite early in life, they often take a long time t...
Intergenerational volunteering in early childhood education and care (ECEC) occurs when older adults invest their time in unpaid work that supports young children who are not their kin. One important outcome of this type of volunteer activity is a sense of intergenerational solidarity, defined as form of social cohesion that transcends age group bo...
The loss of memory due to traumatic brain injury or illness is widely regarded as a tragedy; therefore, the opposite process—namely, the construction of memory that commences in early childhood—merits careful study. Memory formation is much more than mental storage of experience over time. Memories are formed as the individual identifies significan...
Learning may be defined in the psychological literature as an enduring change in behavior that relies on experience. Although postsecondary education programs for inmates attract media attention, they are the exception rather than the rule. Barriers to educating the incarcerated include such things as negative public perceptions, security issues su...
Most prison dog programs (PDPs) have instituted a variety of practices that recognize the contributions of inmates, staff, volunteers, organizations, and sponsors. This chapter begins with a discussion on the dynamics between informal observations of dog behavior and empirical research. Next, it describes the persistent tensions between two models...
Programs housed in correctional facilities that provide care and training for dogs have been in existence in the United States since the 1980s. More recently, directors of these programs have incorporated forms of recognition to document the expertise that inmates acquire through participation. This chapter begins with insights from the research li...
Prison dog programs rely on positive relationships between and among people and dogs. The downside of these strong attachments is that inmate/handlers have to grapple with the issue of ending their time with a bonded dog and watching it leave the corrections context. This chapter begins by discussing the many different types of loss that offenders...
The establishment of a successful prison dog program requires considerable effort and patience on the part of all of the partners: corrections staff, inmates, community volunteers, and the group representing the dogs. One of the most important considerations in the establishment of dog training programs is determining which inmates from among those...
Most prison dog programs begin on a trial basis. Even though considerable planning and preparation goes into a program launch, the various stakeholders need to tolerate a certain amount of ambiguity to get the project started. The literature on change theory suggests that, in order for an innovation to “take” in a particular context, the new idea m...
A common criticism of the research on the human-animal bond is that it is overly reliant on first- person accounts of experience and, if the field is to be taken seriously, it should focus on experimental design research only. This chapter deliberately challenges the widespread practice of dismissing verbal and written accounts of life experiences...
Professionals who work with incarcerated populations continually search for interventions sufficiently powerful to change behavior and rehabilitate inmates so that they can make a successful reentry into society. Human-animal interaction (HAI) is a burgeoning field of research that spans different disciplines: justice, psychology, education, social...
Interactions between children and dogs may be commonplace yet research on this topic is surprisingly scarce. Most studies of human-animal interaction have focused on all possible animals kept as pets and on adults or children who are old enough to answer a survey independently. This book is a departure from these customary approaches in several imp...
Understanding the process of attachment formation in children has been a focal point in child development research for decades. However, children’s attachments are not only with human beings; they also form bonds with companion animals, particularly dogs (canis familiaris). Given the number of dogs that are kept by families and the amount of time t...
Behaviorally healthy relationships between children and dogs are characterized by reciprocal trust, respect and affection that result in a secure attachment bond. Statistics gathered by leading organizations and self-report data collected from families suggest three themes related to the expectations for family dogs. The first theme is “for the chi...
In this final chapter we consider the impact of more enlightened ideas about dogs kept as companion animals, new roles for therapy and service dogs, and advances in research methods used to study canine-human interaction. We begin by discussing limitations in common terminology and the need to respect each dog’s requirements for health and fulfillm...
Incorporating trained, registered, and insured dogs into animal-assisted activities has gained support in professional practice and research. This chapter begins by defining therapy dogs—both what they are and what they are not. It then provides an evidence based rationale for therapy dogs as a complementary part of animal-assisted activities. Next...
Dog bites and dog-related injuries to children are an international health and safety concern. This chapter begins by examining ways that dog bites are defined and reported. Next, it discusses how children’s typical behavior can be interpreted as threatening to a canine and precipitate an incident. A synthesis of the dog safety concepts from leadin...
A service dog is an individually trained canine that performs important tasks for a person with a diagnosed disability. Interest in acquiring service dogs for children with physical and psychological issues has increased dramatically in recent years. This chapter begins by defining service dogs—what they are and what they are not. It then describes...
This book brings together authoritative information about the child/dog bond as it is manifested with family dogs, visiting therapy dogs, and service dogs trained to assist children with disabilities. Despite the widely accepted view that participating in a dog’s care and interacting with dogs in behaviorally healthy ways is a route to becoming res...
Expectations for academic writing and publication have intensified in Academia. Doctoral students in colleges of education are advised to publish even before they graduate and evidence of successful publication is influential in hiring, tenure, and promotion decisions. The purpose of this research was to study the process of writing for professiona...
Internationally, one of the most pressing issues for early childhood educators is challenging behavior in young children, defined as disruptive, aggressive, and violent behavior that inflicts mental or physical harm to others. Addressing this concern requires teachers and families to support the young child’s budding sense of empathy, which is a ma...
For many early childhood professionals, their initial foray into writing for publication consists of preparing a conference proposal for a workshop/training type of session and producing a manuscript suitable for publication as a practical article in a professional journal. The primary purpose of the article is to provide authors with templates, in...
Publishing outlets in the field of early childhood vary widely in terms of emphasis on theory, practice, and research as they relate to the care and education of the very young; these outlets also have different readerships (i.e., primarily for teachers, the teachers of their teachers, or the fellow scholars/researchers). Included in the mixture of...
College and university faculty members specializing in early childhood education face some unique challenges in scholarly writing. The purpose of this research was to use open-ended interviews as a way to gather the collective wisdom of a group of key informants about academic writing and publishing in the field. Twenty-two editors and/or authors,...
The complexity of words makes vocabulary development a multi-faceted process that presents challenges to early childhood educators,
offers benefits to young learners, and must be supported through evidence-based strategies. All students, regardless of socio-economic
status or background, need to make significant gains in receptive and expressive vo...
Try to imagine, if you will—the ‘‘Age of Revolutions’’—a time when political ideologies collided throughout the world. During the mid-nineteenth century, Great Britain’s era of colonialism was at its apex under Queen Victoria’s reign, Napoleon was in power after the French Revolution, China was in the midst of repeated rebellions, and Russian Tsar...
One of the timeless messages of early childhood education is to treat children with respect and value their unique perspectives
on the world. This editorial tells the stories of three young children who wanted to be helpful and accept responsibility.
It also tells the story of three professionals who identified with the child and responded supporti...
Recent advances in research have furthered understanding of the many roles that emotions play in fostering effective learning.
This editorial argues, against fashion, that the affective domain is neither separate from nor less significant in the learning
process than the cognitive domain. It begins with a vignette of a struggling reader. It then de...
Whenever I teach child development, I begin the class with this question: ‘‘Based on various indicators of quality of life, are children today better off, about the same, worse off, or much worse off than they were previously?’’ Most education majors are convinced that circumstances for the very young are ‘‘worse’’ or even ‘‘much worse’’ than in by...
Although it is commonplace for early childhood educators to include a theme or unit on pets, opportunities to incorporate
safety goals frequently are overlooked. Approximately 400,000 incidents of dog bites to children are documented in the United
States annually and this estimate may be low, due to the fact that not all injuries are reported. Youn...
While browsing through a conference program I noticed a session on ‘‘brain-based learning.’’ My first reaction was, ‘‘I certainly hope so!’’ What would make anyone think that it is possible to learn without using the brain? The headline of an online newsbyte article proclaimed, ‘‘Students Being Encouraged to Fidget’’—no doubt an oversimplification...
Understanding and respecting young children’s religious background is an important way of respecting diversity. Due to the
traditional separation of church and state, many professionals tend to ignore the significant influence of religious belief
and training during the early childhood years. Sharing high-quality picture books simultaneously enable...
Influences in contemporary society such as blended families created by remarriage, international adoptions, and reproductive
technology have expanded the definition of sibling relationships. Bonds with brothers and sisters occur early and exert a
profound effect on young children’s overall development. This chapter synthesizes the research on sibli...
Listening and reading comprehension can be assessed by analyzing children’s visual, verbal, and written representations of
their understandings. “Talking Drawings” (McConnell, S. (1993). Talking drawings: A strategy for assisting learners. Journal of Reading, 36(4), 260–269 is one strategy that enables children to combine their prior knowledge with...
Children's listening habits and skills are a good predictor of oral language proficiency, reading and writing skills, and later school success. Good listening skills do not simply develop naturally--they must be taught and practiced--yet many teachers do not get training on how to teach children to listen. Using clear language and real-life example...
What are the attributes of a high-quality early childhood education program worldwide? An group of experienced early childhood educators that represent diverse international backgrounds attempts to respond to this question by examining six dimensions of quality set forth by the Association for Childhood Education International: (1) philosophies and...
Trained therapy dogs are becoming an increasingly common sight in many educational and health care settings. This article, coauthored by a college professor, a Therapy Dogs International, Inc., Evaluator and local program director, and a registered nurse reviews the research on using registered therapy dogs as adjuncts in school programs and health...
This article identifies the types of common and toxic mold that are found in homes, schools, and child care centers; explains the negative health effects of mold for infants and young children; discusses ways of preventing and controlling mold in homes, schools, and child care centers; and recommends appropriate responses to the international healt...
Wordless books—picture books that rely entirely on illustrations to tell a story—are an excellent resource for educators of young children. This article provides a research-based rationale for using wordless books, offers a developmental sequence for introducing children to stories told through pictures, suggests a general strategy and wide array o...
Comprehensive and logically sequenced, this guide seeks to helps educators publish on topics such as classroom experience, conference presentations, or research projects. Included in the guide are practical strategies, concrete examples, recommended resources, and advice from experts. The guide focuses on writing and how it is approached and accomp...
This article is a synthesis of research on the consequences of obesity for all stakeholders in the field of early childhood: young children, family members of young children, and teachers of young children. The article examines the effects of obesity on the wellness, self-esteem, peer relationships, and social status of children/families and early...
Designed to offer more than slogans and buzzwords to practitioners who are grappling with an array of education controversies, this book provides classroom teachers with a spectrum of information about current controversies so that they will be better equipped to blend action with reflection. The book deliberately resists extremes and argues for le...
When you think about it, many of the things we do are expressly designed to maintain a sense of wonder because once it is lost, childhood is lost. I still vividly recall a class discussion with one of my teachers about the existence of Santa Claus when I was 10 years old. By that time, nobody in the class was a believer. Sister Christopher told us...
When you think about it, many of the things we do are expressly designed to maintain a sense of wonder because once it is lost, childhood is lost. I still vividly recall a class discussion with one of my teachers about the existence of Santa Claus when I was 10 years old. By that time, nobody in the class was a believer. Sister Christopher told us...
This book for teachers, administrators, and teacher educators suggests that teachers' stories are central to the type of inquiry and reflection that lead to professional development and personal insight. The book contends that it is through careful examination of real-life classroom experiences that teachers explore the complexities of what it mean...
Defines censorship and differentiates censorship from selection. Reviews the history of censorship and recent research trends. Describes typical censorable content and the consequences of censorship for libraries, books, and authors. Suggests strategies educators can use in dealing with censorship. (BC)
There are two methods by which men arrive at an opinion of their worth: By comparing themselves with the idea of perfection and by comparing themselves with others. The first of these methods is sound, the second is not.
