Our first peer-reviewed article about Roots of Resilience has been published in Children and Youth Services Review!

Our initial results from the first two pilots indicate that the online-based course and coaching is feasible,

 increases knowledge, and applied practice.

For a brief summary of the article, click here:

Strengthening Children’s Roots of Resilience_Brief

The full article can be accessed at:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740919301859

We would like to thank our teachers for their participation and feedback to help ensure future teachers would benefit from Roots of Resilience.

Roots of Resilience will be presenting research at the Society for the Study of Human Development 11th Biennial Meeting in Portland, OR. This meeting will focus on Stress, Resilience, and Character Development across the Life Span.

Friday evening will feature Roots of Resilience team member, Aubrey Sills and her poster “Parenting, household chaos, and children’s stress system activity as predictors of externalizing behaviors in preschool.”  Our team will also be presenting the poster “Teacher-child relationships moderate effects of adverse childhood experiences on social and behavioral skills and problems in preschool.”

Sunday afternoon’s Relationship-oriented Interventions to Promote Resilience among Children and Youth who have Experienced Adversity Symposium will feature Dr. Shannon Lipscomb, presenting hot-off-the-press data from our recent data collection.

Our ever-busy research team will also be presenting non-Roots of Resilience research as well!

Hillary Lewis will be presenting additional posters on Friday evening: “Adverse childhood experiences and family-teacher relationships in early care and education” and “Children’s activity in the stress response system within preschool classrooms: The role of classroom quality.”

Jamie Jaramillo will be presenting in the same symposium as Dr. Lipscomb on “Supporting Siblings in Foster Care: Nurturing Relationships and Resilience among Youth in Foster Care.”

Hope to see you there!

Your partners in resilience,

The Roots of Resilience Research Team

Happy Summer, everyone, and thank you, Central Oregon Early Childcare Teachers!

The Roots of Resilience Team has been working with early childcare teachers in Central Oregon to assess the effectiveness of online-professional development for teachers who work with children impacted by trauma. The principles of the Roots of Resilience program are also good teaching and learning strategies for all children because positive adult-child interactions nurture children’s brain development. 

In this July blog we want to share general information about the teachers and children who have been participating in this study. Between October, 2018, and July, 2019, we worked with over 30 teachers in 24 classrooms at 18 separate locations (child care homes, centers, preschools, and Head Start programs). A total of 292 children returned a parental consent form and/or a parental survey, providing valuable information about young children in Central Oregon. From the 292, we selected up to 4 children per classroom to participate in individualized observations and assessments. Approximately 85 children assented to playing a movement game to measure self-regulation, completing numbers and letters tasks, and holding a cotton swab in their mouth to collect saliva to test for the stress hormone cortisol. 

The research team also clocked 490 hours observing children, peers, and teachers during their regular activities. We also collected valuable information from Central Oregon Teachers about their experiences with the Roots of Resilience program (course and/or coaching). So far, 14 teachers have completed the 6-week online coaching program worth 6 Set 2 training hours and 13 teachers have finished the online course, earning 30 Set 2 training hours. Eight teachers will have or have completed both the coaching and the course. 

Again, we thank you, the teachers, for allowing us into your classroom and participating in the research. Next month, we hope to share with you preliminary results!

Your partners in resilience,

The Roots of Resilience Research Team

Our Roots of Resilience team offers four professional development opportunities: a 3-hr workshop, a 10-hr workshop, a 30-hr online course, and a 6-session coaching program. Click here for descriptions.

To inquire about bringing Roots of Resilience to your local community, or to sign up for the waitlist for the next section of the online course (coming soon) please email: Cascadesrr@gmail.com

Current and Upcoming Opportunities

10-hour workshop

• April 12-13, 2019 (free!) at Oregon State University-Cascades. To register email Deniseh@neighborimpact.org.
• June 24-25, 2019 (free!) at the Oregon Early Learning Summer Institute located at Oregon State University-Cascades: https://earlychildhoodsummerinstitute.org/

3-hour workshop

• April 26, 2019 at the Central Oregon Early Learning Conference: http://www.earlylearning.co/
• May 19, 2019 at the Oregon Parenting Educators Conference: https://health.oregonstate.edu/hallie-ford/oregon-parenting-educators-conference
• June 19, 2019 at the Hallie Ford Center Training Institute in Corvallis, OR. Registration is coming soon!

Online Course and Video-Based Coaching Programs

We are conducting a research project with these programs through Summer, 2019. Enrollment is currently closed.

Coming soon! A new section of the online course is anticipated for Fall, 2019 to make it available to early childhood professionals throughout Oregon and across the United States!

We are currently recruiting teachers for Fall 2018 Roots of Resilience: Teacher’s Awakening Children’s Healing!

The FREE professional development programs supports teachers to support children who may have experienced trauma.

Please look at our recruitment flyer for more information or contact us for more information!

Recent Human Development and Family Sciences graduate, Alicia Miao, was awarded one of two Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) post-doctoral state policy fellowships. She will be mentored by Dr. Shannon Lipscomb.

Both Alicia and Dr. Lipscomb are part of the Oregon School Readiness Research Consortium, led by Professor Megan McClelland, as well as Andy Mashburn at PSU and Katherine Pears at the Oregon Social Learning Center in Eugene. Alicia will work with the Oregon Early Learning Division on policy relevant questions related to school readiness.

Roots of Resilience: Teachers Awakening Children’s Healing is looking for early learning teachers for our second year of development.

Roots of Resilience is an online professional development program about the impact of trauma on children and how early learning teachers can strengthen resilience. The program consists on an online course and a video-based coaching program. This year, teachers can choose to do either the course or the coaching or both! Teachers will receive 30 hours of Set Two training for the online course and 2 hours of Set One training and 6 hours of Set Two training for the coaching.

Are you interested in gaining knowledge and skills about working with children who have experienced trauma? Do you believe there are children in your care who may have been exposed to child abuse or neglect, domestic violence, parents with untreated mental health or substance abuse problems? Our free online program could be a good fit for your learning needs.

Contact emiko.goka-dubose@osucascades.edu for more information.

Join our Roots of Resilience team at this year’s Oregon Parenting Educators Conference on May 22nd at Oregon State University in Corvallis! We will be presenting posters regarding the online course and coaching portions of our first pilot year.

Hope to see you there!

The first validation study of Oregon’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) is complete! Dr. Lipscomb posted the report here on our Connect Research Group website.

The Central Oregon Regional Health  Assessment Expanded Early Childhood Wellbeing Data Report: Early Learning, Education, and Wellness focuses on the conditions, health & wellbeing, and education of children in Central Oregon.For the full report, visit: www.earlylearninghubco.org.

Connect Research Group team members Dr. Lipscomb and Ms. Goka-Dubose collaborated on this report together with the Early Learning Hub of Central Oregon and its partners.