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The Research Institute
Research to Practice • Practice to Research
February 2016
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How Touch Informs Vision and Hearing
by Lyn Ayer
 Before you start reading this article, consider these questions:
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In your view, what are the similarities or differences between touch and vision?
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How are touch and cognitive/intellectual functions connected?
Hint: Think of how each of us uses touch on a daily (functional) basis.
Touch is the first sense to develop. According to some researchers, touch is the sense that “educates” vision and hearing. It is how we associate tangible ideas with the distance senses of vision and hearing. We could be looking at something that we know is “soft,” but the only reason we really KNOW this, is because we have touched it or something like it, and thus learned the concept of “soft.” Vision didn’t teach us this.
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Life Experiences Inspire Crucial Research into Health Disparities for Latino Children
by Carol Dennis
 Imagine the scene.
A neo-natal unit at a small city hospital. Two babies lie side-by-side, both kicking their little legs under their individual plastic enclosures, hooked up to wires and tubes.
One baby is continuously nurtured by her parents. Her mother is there almost round-the-clock to be sure her baby gets breast milk and is held, and all the things that research has shown can improve a premature baby’s chance to thrive.
The other baby is cared for mostly by the nursing staff, with occasional family visits from mom and dad and grandmother – looking confused and lost and exhausted.
“You’re such a good mom,” the staff tells the first mother, acknowledging her constant devotion to her child. But what of the other family? Not as dedicated? Not as in love with their newborn? Or is this more a tale of access and resources?
Read more . . .
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Healthy Masculinity Campus Athletics Project at WOU
by Carol Dennis
 It was a cold January morning in Monmouth, Oregon. The Columbia Room on the ground floor of the university center was filled with coaches representing all the athletic departments at Western Oregon University. About 30 people sitting behind tables set up in a circle, so an interactive conversation could take place.
The topic is not a typical one in the world of athletics. How often are these men and women asked to explore the meaning of masculinity – and to discuss what “healthy masculinity” might look like?
But that’s what they had gathered to do, facilitated in the discussion by representatives from two national organizations – Men Can Stop Rape, and Positive Coaching Alliance.
The Men Can Stop Rape website asks and answers an important question: "Why should you care about healthy masculinity? Because men who choose it choose to be strong without being violent. It’s a life-changer that benefits women and men.”
Read more . . .
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TRI's Blasco, Acar, and Enright Published in the Journal of Intellectual Disabilities
 TRI is proud to announce the publication of the article "Re-conceptualizing developmental areas of assessment for screening, eligibility determination and program planning in early intervention" in the Journal of Intellectual Disabilities. This is a special issue on Early Intervention.
This article, written by TRI's Serra Acar, Ph.D., and Patricia Blasco, Ph.D., and Hunter College's Bonnie Keilty, Ed.D., with graphic contributions from TRI's Eric Enright, calls for the examination of early childhood constructs that impact a child’s ability to learn and develop, such as executive function (EF), mastery motivation, self-regulation and self-determination, specifically in the infant-toddler period.
Contemporary recommended practices in early childhood assessment strive to gain a holistic picture of child learning and development to inform screening, eligibility, and program planning decisions. These practices have traditionally focused on competencies reflected in developmental domains with limited attention to the approaches to learning used to acquire those competencies.
Read more . . .
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TRI's Staff to Present at the Conference on Research Innovations in Early Intervention (CRIEI) 2016
TRI's Serra Acar, Ph.D., Patricia Blasco, and Ph.D., Sybille Guy, Ph.D., will present at the Conference on Research Innovations in Early Intervention (CRIEI) 2016. They will be involved in three sessions during the two-day conference located in San Diego, California:
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Translation of Developmental Screening Tools: A perspective of cultural and linguistic appropriateness
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Project EF: Executive Function in Infants and Toddlers Born Low Birth Weight (LBW) and Preterm
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Working Together to Enhance the Quality of Inclusive Early Care and Education
CRIEI is a biannual, multidisciplinary conference created by researchers, specifically for researchers in early intervention (birth-8). It is a unique 2½-day meeting focusing on methodological advances, research in progress, innovative approaches to combining methodologies, issues in conducting research, and controversial topics related to interventions with young children with disabilities or those at risk for developmental delays and their families.
Read more . . .
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TRI to Present at 18th National Symposium on Teacher Induction
The Research Institute's Mary Ellen Dello Stritto, Ph.D. and Christina Reagle, Ed.D., will be joined by Tanya Frisendahl, Education Specialist, Oregon Department of Education to present:
What is the Value of Evaluation?
Evaluation is critical to an induction program’s fidelity, improvement and sustainability. Mentoring programs are viewed as a value-added educational strategy that builds capacity toward a culture of leadership, professionalism, continuous improvement and excellence for beginning teachers and administrators. How does evaluation assist the Oregon Mentoring Program with these three foundational components in order to meet the program goals?
This presentation will discuss the evaluation of a state-wide mentoring program that demonstrates increases in student learning and growth, improvement in instructional practices, and retention of effective teachers and administrators.
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