3cisd

3C Institute

Cuentos de la Vida: Exploring Cultural Heritage through Storytelling

NICHD
ID: 1R43HD059283-01
PI: MELISSA DEROSIER, PHD
TERM: 06/08 – 05/09

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, people of Latino origin constitute the largest minority group in the nation, with predictions that 24% of the U.S. total population will be of Latino origin by 2050. Numerous studies have demonstrated that Latino children experience significant behavioral health disparities, including academic and social difficulties, compared to non-Latino white children. Culturally-relevant programs are needed to decrease behavioral health disparities among Latino youth. Interventions that celebrate Latino cultural heritage, promote acceptance of diversity, and educate students about similarities among cultures can effectively engender an integrated accepting school environment, thereby fostering behavioral health benefits.

This Phase I grant developed a curriculum prototype of Cuentos de la Vida: Exploring Cultural Heritage through Storytelling, a program featuring professional Latino storytellers sharing cuentos de la vida (life stories) from a Latino cultural heritage perspective. The prototype includes a Professional Manual (administrative guidelines, lesson scripts, activities), DVD featuring a Latino professional storyteller, parent handouts, and web resources. Feasibility testing of the prototype product involved detailed product evaluation by school professionals and focus groups with students in grades 3-5 and their caregivers. Results indicated extremely high product prototype ratings from professionals and caregivers in terms of quality, value, and usefulness. Materials were rated as interesting and engaging for children. In addition, 100% of professionals recommended continued development and testing of the product for teachers to use in their regular education classrooms.

Phase II funding for Cuentos de la Vida: Exploring Cultural Heritage through Storytelling was sought to achieve the following goals: 1) revising the product based on Phase I feedback, 2) expanding the product to include four additional Latino storytellers and accompanying lesson scripts and materials, and 3) conducting a randomized treatment-control research study examining changes in students’ academic, social-emotional, and behavioral functioning at school, as well as the overall school climate.

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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.