Vanderbilt Kennedy Center News Monday, April 19, 2021

Kennedy Center Lectures on Development and Developmental Disabilities: "The Challenge of Health Equity in Clinical Research"

Kennedy Center Lectures on Development and Developmental Disabilities: "The Challenge of Health Equity in Clinical Research"

Last Updated: 4/8/2021 12:01:06 PM

New research suggests targeting the nucleus accumbens for certain pathologies.

Histamine signaling and the stress response

Last Updated: 4/8/2021 9:51:37 AM

Chancellor Daniel Diermeier presented prestigious awards to seven academic leaders at the Spring Faculty Assembly. The awards recognize teaching, research, service and commitment to diversity. Recipients are honored for their contributions and commitment to the university.

Seven faculty members honored at Spring Faculty Assembly

Last Updated: 4/8/2021 9:47:43 AM

Kennedy Center Lectures on Development and Developmental Disabilities: "Charting Four Decades of Changing Mental Disorders, From Childhood to Midlife" (VIRTUAL)

Kennedy Center Lectures on Development and Developmental Disabilities: "Charting Four Decades of Changing Mental Disorders, From Childhood to Midlife" (VIRTUAL)

Last Updated: 4/8/2021 9:42:11 AM

Douglas Fuchs, who holds the Nicholas Hobbs Chair of Special Education and Human Development, has received the 2021 Award for Contributions to Research, Practice, and Advocacy from the Learning Disabilities Association of America. It is the highest honor bestowed by the nonprofit organization, which is devoted to supporting, educating and advocating for individuals affected by learning disabilities.

Learning Disabilities Association honors Douglas Fuchs

Last Updated: 4/1/2021 8:15:10 AM

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Breaking Ground with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center IV

Last Updated: 3/30/2021 4:48:07 PM

Seven-year-old Tinsley Bellar loves to dance — her mother describes it as TikTok dancing with cheerleader moves. She also loves to run. She completed her school’s fun run last year with the whole school cheering her on.

Clinic helps children with cerebral palsy regain mobility

Last Updated: 3/24/2021 1:54:04 PM

A team of researchers at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development has been awarded $1.6 million to examine the effects of practice-based coaching at early childhood learning sites.

Peabody College faculty awarded $1.6M grant to examine impacts of practitioner coaching at early learning centers

Last Updated: 3/16/2021 1:45:18 PM

Educate to Advocate 2021 Public Policy Workshop (VIRTUAL)

Educate to Advocate 2021 Public Policy Workshop (VIRTUAL)

Last Updated: 3/5/2021 9:56:28 AM

Vanderbilt researchers are prolific and resolute in their pursuit of transformative research and innovation. During the Research Ramp-up process, more than 3,000 Vanderbilt research personnel have returned to in-person research activities, while many others have continued remotely through perseverance and ingenuity. On campus and at home, they are making discoveries that advance knowledge and improve lives.

Despite limitations of pandemic, research continues at Peabody, College of Arts and Science

Last Updated: 3/4/2021 11:55:48 AM

Vanderbilt researchers are prolific and resolute in their pursuit of transformative research and innovation. During the Research Ramp-up process, more than 3,000 Vanderbilt research personnel have returned to in-person research activities, while many others have continued remotely through perseverance and ingenuity. On campus and at home, they are making discoveries that advance knowledge and improve lives.

Despite limitations of pandemic, research continues in Basic Sciences, Engineering

Last Updated: 2/26/2021 12:54:14 PM

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center is proud to introduce its latest issue of "Tennessee Kindred Stories of Disability," dedicated to telling the stories of Direct Support Professionals in Tennessee.

VKC introduces 2021 issue of Tennessee Kindred Stories of Disability: Direct Support Professionals

Last Updated: 2/25/2021 1:50:38 PM

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, school closures and the shift to remote learning have disrupted educational progress across the nation, disproportionately affecting students from low-income communities and those with learning disabilities, according to faculty experts from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College.

Low-income and students with learning disabilities disproportionately affected by COVID-19 learning loss, Peabody College experts say

Last Updated: 2/19/2021 9:19:18 AM

Bruce Carter, professor of biochemistry and an associate director of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute, has been appointed to the scientific advisory board of the CMT Research Foundation. He joins a team of international experts assisting the foundation with its research directions and funding strategy in combating Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

Bruce Carter joins CMT Research Foundation scientific advisory board

Last Updated: 2/15/2021 9:24:23 AM

As part of an ongoing commitment to foster inclusion and celebrate diversity at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, two new Employee Resource Groups have recently been formed, bringing the total to six. All employees are invited to join these groups and participate in their activities.

Employee Resource Groups provide vital connection, support

Last Updated: 2/4/2021 2:52:27 PM

Brain inflammation plays a role in human epilepsy, but most studies have focused on acquired epilepsies, such as those due to head trauma, viral infection or other insults. Neuroinflammation has never been reported in genetic epilepsy associated with ion channel gene mutations.

Inflammation in genetic epilepsy

Last Updated: 1/25/2021 12:05:36 PM

Education Week recently released the 2021 Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, an annual list highlighting education researchers who have demonstrated the greatest influence over educational policy and practice. Six researchers from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of education and human development were selected for inclusion this year.

Six Peabody researchers recognized by Edu-Scholar Influence ranking

Last Updated: 1/19/2021 8:47:00 AM

A unifying explanation of the cause of autism and the reason for its rising prevalence has eluded scientists for decades, but a theoretical model published in the journal Medical Hypotheses describes the cause as a combination of socially valued traits, common in autism, and any number of co-occurring disabilities.

Autism theory 25 years in the making

Last Updated: 12/18/2020 9:28:50 AM

Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development is offering a new master’s degree program in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for licensed special education teachers who want to practice ABA in educational settings or are specifically interested in training focused on school-based applications that integrate best ABA and special education practices.

Peabody College adds master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis

Last Updated: 12/18/2020 9:27:53 AM

Ann Kaiser, Susan W. Gray Professor of Education and Human Development and director of the Vanderbilt KidTalk lab, is an early childhood language and intervention researcher. If someone had told her a year ago that she would be assessing the language development of toddlers over Zoom, she would have said, “Not a chance.” And yet, since the beginning of June, Kaiser and her team have been doing just that, discovering not only that virtual intervention works, but also that, in many ways, it may have unique benefits when compared to in-person intervention.

Kaiser’s KidTalk lab returns to early childhood language intervention research during Research Ramp-up to support kids with language delays

Last Updated: 11/30/2020 11:10:41 AM

Seven Vanderbilt faculty recently were elected as fellows in the Association for Psychological Science and the American Psychological Association. Six are in the Department of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development, and one is in the Department of Psychological Sciences in the Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science.

Seven Vanderbilt faculty members elected as fellows in prominent psychological science associations

Last Updated: 11/24/2020 8:51:31 AM

Several Vanderbilt University diversity and inclusion programs are being recognized by a federal office with a strong commitment to protecting workers, promoting diversity and enforcing nondiscrimination laws for government contractors.

Vanderbilt disability inclusion programs receive national recognition

Last Updated: 11/16/2020 12:23:59 PM

On Oct. 19, Velma McBride Murry, university professor of health policy and human and organizational development in Peabody College and the School of Medicine, and the Lois Autrey Betts Chair of Education and Human Development at Peabody College, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

Murry elected to the National Academy of Medicine for outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service

Last Updated: 11/5/2020 12:15:20 PM

H. Carl Haywood, professor of psychology, emeritus, former Kennedy Center director, and colleague of Peabody College’s foundational triumvirate of Nicholas Hobbs, Susan Gray and Lloyd Dunn, died Oct. 12 in Nashville. He was 89.

Haywood, early director of Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and pioneer in research on developmental disabilities, has died

Last Updated: 10/30/2020 3:41:51 PM

Research Ethics Grand Rounds (Virtual) Lecture: "Ethical Considerations for Delivering ABA Services via Telemedicine"

Last Updated: 10/22/2020 2:12:46 PM

Kathryn Humphreys, assistant professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development, was awarded a Young Investigator Grant from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation in an announcement made September 21.

Vanderbilt’s Humphreys receives Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Grant

Last Updated: 10/8/2020 8:39:06 AM

When the coronavirus sent many parents and children home, Peabody Professor Erin Barton and the 14 graduate student researchers who make up the Barton Research Lab decided to use social media to offer evidence-based resources they had created to families of children with disabilities or challenging behaviors.

Barton Lab offers pandemic resources for families of children with disabilities

Last Updated: 9/23/2020 8:21:37 AM

NSF grant aligns with school’s Inclusion Engineering focus

Vanderbilt leads $5 million project to revolutionize neurodiverse employment through AI

Last Updated: 9/22/2020 10:12:00 AM

Donna and Jeffrey Eskind, whose generous gifts have advanced Vanderbilt research that is improving lives, have made a new commitment of $2 million to endow a new chair in autism spectrum disorder research in the School of Medicine.

Eskind Chair to strengthen Vanderbilt research on autism spectrum disorder

Last Updated: 9/17/2020 8:39:51 AM

Bingham appointed as Chair of Tennessee Council on Autism Spectrum Disorder

Last Updated: 8/27/2020 3:24:11 PM

Vanderbilt University has named Bunmi Olatunji, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Psychology, as interim dean of the Graduate School. Olatunji currently serves as associate dean of academic affairs for the Graduate School and takes over as Dean Mark T. Wallace returns to the faculty starting Sept. 1.

Vanderbilt appoints Olatunji as interim dean of Graduate School, launches search committee for graduate education leadership role

Last Updated: 8/27/2020 9:19:07 AM

ACM gift aims to improve lives of children with autism spectrum disorder

Last Updated: 8/14/2020 12:58:24 PM

The ancient Egyptians were the first to mention the brain in writing—preserved on a 2,700-year-old papyrus that details the symptoms of head injuries—but the importance of the organ escaped them. They believed it was the heart, not the head, that controlled human thought and emotion.

Vanderbilt Brain Institute has emerged as a hub of discovery as neuroscience’s influence expands

Last Updated: 8/6/2020 8:05:58 AM

When Amy Ladd first began taking her 5-year-old son, Wesley, to SeRenade, a music class at Vanderbilt providing parent training and peer inclusion for kids with autism spectrum disorder, he had difficulty doing everything from putting on clothes in the morning to

Music Cognition Lab is dedicated to the scientific study of how music affects the brain and behavior

Last Updated: 8/6/2020 8:00:03 AM

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‘Brave in the Attempt’: Early history of TN Special Olympics closely tied to Peabody, Vanderbilt

Last Updated: 7/30/2020 8:54:50 AM

The pandemic is having profound effects on mental health for people around the world. One of the first longitudinal studies to assess COVID-19 related stressors and mental health symptoms led by Autumn Kujawa, assistant professor of psychology and human development, shows that many people will recover as the situation improves.

Early empirical study on COVID-19 related depression and anxiety gives reason for optimism

Last Updated: 7/24/2020 11:54:55 AM

Science has proven that biodiversity is essential for healthy ecosystems and that diverse thinking yields better decision making in business. To follow the logic, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently launched the Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) Awards program to build more diverse talent pools within undergraduate students. Vanderbilt is among a select number of universities with a significant number of mentors with NIH or other extramural research support to win this award.

Vanderbilt receives NIH award to enhance student diversity in biomedical sciences

Last Updated: 7/23/2020 11:10:48 AM

Daniel Lookabaugh, a 20-year-old electrical engineering student who has epilepsy, has never driven a car because of violent seizures and had to put his schooling on hold last year.

ROSA technology helps ease patient’s violent seizures

Last Updated: 7/16/2020 2:27:32 PM

Limited vocabulary development in children from families of low socio-economic status can delay learning and create a word gap that widens as they reach school age.

Enhanced e-book helps close the word gap in children from families of low socio-economic status

Last Updated: 7/1/2020 8:54:41 AM

The Tennessee Department of Education announced members and objectives of the statewide COVID-19 Child Wellbeing Task Force, which was convened to support the holistic needs of Tennessee children in response to extended school building closures.

Brown, Webster named to statewide COVID-19 Child Wellbeing Task Force

Last Updated: 6/19/2020 11:59:04 AM

Statement on the Death of George Floyd

Statement on the Death of George Floyd

Last Updated: 6/12/2020 1:55:17 PM

Finding the best ways to support people with disabilities, and the people who work with them, defines the culture of Peabody’s Department of Special Education. In recent years a cadre of energetic, productive faculty members have joined the department, building on the legacy of high-caliber research and teaching that began in the 1950s with Lloyd Dunn and developmental psychologists Nicholas Hobbs and Susan Gray.

Peabody Special Education applies best-in-class academic research to solve real-world challenges

Last Updated: 6/1/2020 12:39:14 PM

“The Promise of Discovery” is a new podcast hosted by the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC) that highlights research in intellectual and developmental disabilities in plain language, making it accessible to the general public. The podcast launched May 8, with the premiere of the first three episodes.

Communicating disabilities research in plain language

Last Updated: 5/28/2020 10:23:18 AM

For people with disabilities, the impact of COVID-19 brings new challenges, including increased barriers to healthcare, information and much needed support systems. Additionally, practicing social distancing and taking preventive measures can be more difficult for those with disabilities, who may be at greater risk of disability-related complications if they were to get the virus.

Ask an Expert: What do people with disabilities face during the pandemic?

Last Updated: 5/21/2020 2:33:03 PM

Parents with greater depression symptoms report experiencing less empathy—even toward their own children, according to a new Vanderbilt report published in PLOS ONE. This phenomenon could lead to significant long-term negative impacts for these children, the researchers say.

Parent depression linked to reduced empathy, putting kids at risk for adverse outcomes

Last Updated: 5/19/2020 9:00:47 AM

As Next Steps at Vanderbilt marks its 10th anniversary throughout 2020, the year also brings another significant milestone: The first class of Next Steps at Vanderbilt students will graduate from its expanded four-year program.

Next Steps at Vanderbilt celebrates first four-year class, 10th anniversary

Last Updated: 5/6/2020 1:27:05 PM

Early behavioral intervention — often delivered by parents — appears to improve outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Studies show, however, that the parents are experiencing high levels of psychological stress. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), which can reduce stress and improve sleep, health and life satisfaction, may be useful for parents of children with ASD.

Reducing stress in parents of children with autism

Last Updated: 4/30/2020 11:33:47 AM