Cuentos de la Vida: Exploring Cultural Heritage through Storytelling

NICHD
ID: 2R44HD059283-02
PI: MELISSA DEROSIER, PhD
TERM: 09/10 – 05/14

Perceptions of a closed school community have been found to create or exacerbate problems with academic performance, educational aspirations, and behavioral-emotional functioning for Latino youth. Intervention and prevention research suggests social acceptance of Latino students and integration into the school community are key environmental factors that promote positive functioning. Cultural Heritage Stories for Kids: Latino Series(CHSK:LS) is a school-based cultural heritage curriculum for upper elementary school students that includes a story library of traditional and acculturation stories from different Latino cultures (e.g., Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban), presented by professional Latino storytellers in both English and Spanish. CHSK:LS will provide school professionals with an innovative, effective universal classroom intervention specifically designed to celebrate Latino cultural heritage, promote understanding of cultural diversity in the classroom, and engender a more integrated, accepting classroom environment.

In prior Phase I funding, feasibility test results provided substantial support for continued development of the intervention. Phase I findings also provided essential constructive feedback that will inform the direction of this development (e.g., additional activity choices to provide greater variety; shortening the text and lowering the literacy level in parental materials). School professionals, parents, and children strongly endorsed the CHSK:LSintervention.

Once the CHSK:LS product is completely developed, it will undergo rigorous scientific testing. The efficacy trial will include treatment and control conditions to evaluate the intervention. Before and after the intervention, teachers, students, and parents will complete rating scales on (a) individual student-level social, behavioral, emotional, and academic functioning at school and (b) overall classroom climate. Efficacy of the intervention will be examined by comparing pre- and post-intervention data for treatment and control groups. If the efficacy trial is successful, it will provide schools with a much needed evidence-based intervention package to promote multicultural awareness and integration, and address behavioral health disparities for Latino students.

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DEB CHILDRESS, PHD

Chief of Research and Learning Content

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Childress obtained her PhD in psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to 3C Institute, she served as a research associate and a postdoctoral fellow in the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working on a longitudinal imaging study aimed at identifying the early markers of autism through behavioral and imaging methodologies. She has 19 years of autism research experience, during which she has examined the behavioral, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals with autism and their family members. Dr. Childress also has experience developing behavioral and parent report measurement tools, coordinating multi-site research studies, and collecting data from children and families. She has taught courses and seminars in general child development, autism, and cognitive development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Expertise

  • autism
  • early development
  • behavioral measurement
  • integrating behavioral and biological measurement

Education

  • Postdoctoral fellowship, Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (Institutional NRSA-NICHD), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • PhD, developmental psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • BS, psychology (minor in sociology), University of Iowa

Selected Publications

  • Elison, J. T., Wolff, J. J., Heimer, D. C., Paterson, S. J., Gu, H., Hazlett, H. C., Styner, M, Gerig, G., & Piven, J. (in press). Frontolimbic neural circuitry at 6 months predicts individual differences in joint attention at 9 months. Developmental Science.
  • Wassink, T. H., Vieland, V. J., Sheffield, V. C., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., Childress, D. & Piven, J. (2008). Posterior probability of linkage analysis of autism dataset identifies linkage to chromosome 16. Psychiatric Genetics,18(2),85-91.
  • Losh, M., Childress, D., Lam K. & Piven, J. (2008). Defining key features of the broad autism phenotype: A comparison across parents of multiple- and single-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 147B(4):424-33.
  • Wassink, T. H., Piven, J., Vieland, V. J., Jenkins, L., Frantz R., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., … Sheffield, V.C. (2005). Evaluation of the chromosome 2q37.3 gene CENTG2 as an autism susceptibility gene. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 136, 36-44.
  • Barrett, S., Beck, J., Bernier, R., Bisson, E., Braun, T., Casavant, T., Childress, D., … Vieland, V. (1999). An autosomal genomic screen for autism. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 88, 609-615. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8628(19991215)88:63.0.CO;2-L
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Landa, R., Santangelo, S., Jacobi, D. & Childress, D. (1997). Personality and language characteristics in parents from multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 74, 398-411.
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Jacobi, D., Childress, D. & Arndt, S. (1997). Broader autism phenotype: Evidence from a family history study of multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 185-190.