School psychology: affiliated projects and centers

Early Childhood Research Programs
This program area within the Institute on Community Integration supports a variety of projects focused on the development and intervention needs of young children who have, or are at risk for, disabilities. It also provides services to the families of these children. 

Several projects operate in collaboration with local schools and other agencies to develop and evaluate intervention programs to promote the development and adjustment of young children in a variety of settings, including preschool classrooms and day care centers. Other projects are examining the developmental consequences of prenatal exposure to drugs and/or alcohol and other risk factors and developing interventions for children from varied circumstances. Additionally, the Early Childhood Research Programs support students pursuing advanced training in early intervention, as well as students interested in direct service careers. (Director: Scott McConnell)

Center for Applied Research & Educational Improvement (CAREI)
CAREI is a collaborative organization linking Minnesota school districts and the College of Education and Human Development. It provides incentives and assistance for cooperative school-based research on issues confronting schools. CAREI provides information to educators about current research that will improve practice. (Director: Geoffrey Maruyama)

Center for Early Education and Development
The center draws upon resources from several academic departments and disciplines concerned with early childhood education. Its mission is to coordinate and expand training in early childhood education for undergraduates, graduate students, and community-based professionals; provide continuing education for practitioners; facilitate interdepartmental knowledge of and communication about research in the field; prepare related research information for publication; and disseminate information on early childhood development and education to practitioners and the community.

Center for Excellence in Children's Mental Health (CECMH)
The center was launched in 2003 as part of the University of Minnesota President's Initiative on Children, Youth, and Families. CECMH promotes children's mental health and collaborative action in the state of Minnesota by effectively linking research, practice, and policy. For more information, contact cmh@umn.edu.

Children, Youth, and Family Consortium
The Children, Youth and Family Consortium (CYFC) brings together research and resources to address a variety of issues facing children, youth and families. More than 8,000 individuals and organizations participate in the Consortium, including faculty, staff, and students from the University, educators, mental health care professionals, foundation leaders, business people, and public officials from throughout the state. CYFC also coordinates several national initiatives, including an annual conference on family policy issues moderated by Vice President Al Gore, and an extensive internet resource, which includes research, expert perspectives, and discussion groups addressing the most critical and current issues affecting children and families.

Developmental Disabilities: Rehabilitation Research and Training Institute on Community Integration
The center, established to improve the community integration of persons with mental retardation, emphasizes research, training (pre-service, technical assistance, and curriculum development), and dissemination of information in the following five areas: (l) community living arrangements, (2) financial support, (3) extended service options for community integration, (4) social skills and interpersonal relationships, and (5) personal independence and choice. (Directors: Charlie Lakin and Robert H. Bruininks)

Institute on Community Integration (A University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities)
The mission of the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) is to improve the quality and community orientation of both professional services and social supports available to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. ICI staff members are at the forefront in developing opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities to live, learn, work, and participate socially alongside persons without disabilities. 

Almost all the service projects conducted by ICI involve extensive research evaluation and dissemination. 15 projects with a total funding of $6 million support the applied research, dissemination, and information service projects of ICI.

Minnesota Twin/Family Study (MTFS)
MTFS is the largest research initiative within the Department of Psychology the College of Liberal Arts. It is a longitudinal, multidimensional study of 11- and 17-year old twins and their families. Most of the male twins born in Minnesota from 1972 through 1982 and most of the female twins born from 1975-78 and 1981-84 will be recruited for participation if the twin pair is still intact and healthy and the family still resides in Minnesota. 

The twins and their parents are brought in for their initial assessment when the twins are in their 11th or 17th year and will be brought back for reassessment every three years, until the younger cohort reach age 20 and the older twins age 26. We expect to include more than 600 families of both male and female twins, a total of some 1,300 families and some 5,000 individuals. 

Allowing for inevitable shrinkage over time, when the last assessments are completed in the year 2004 we hope to have data on at least 1,000 twin families who will have spent four one-day visits to our laboratories, at three-year intervals, with intensive updates conducted by telephone annually between visits. (Co-Directors: Bill Iacono and Matt McGue)

National Center for Youth with Disabilities (NCYD)
NCYD is an information, resource, and policy center focusing on adolescents with chronic illnesses and disabilities and the issues surrounding their transition to adult life. NCYD is affiliated with the Society for Adolescent Medicine and is located in the Division of General Pediatrics, Adolescent Health Program. The center's mission is to raise awareness of the needs of youth with disabilities and foster coordination and collaboration among agencies, professionals, parents, and youth in planning and providing services to address those needs. 

NCYD maintains the National Resource Library of information about youth with disabilities. This comprehensive computerized database includes up-to-date expertise programs and literature of all relevant disciplines. The library focuses on the bio-psycho-social needs of youth rather than on strict clinical treatment issues. A strong cross-disciplinary approach is emphasized so that materials from education, social services, psychology, vocational rehabilitation, and law augment health-related information. (Project Director: Robert Blum)

Project Competence
This study focuses on competence and resilience in development. A community sample of 205 children was recruited from elementary school in the late 1970s, and 98% were followed up in adolescence. Assessments included multiple measures and perspectives on adversity, behavioral and emotional problems, age-appropriate facets of competence, personality, family functioning, intelligence, and other potential protective factors. Integrative analyses have the following main objectives: a) corroborating conceptual models of competence from late childhood to late adolescence; b) examining the linkages between psychopathology and competence; c) testing the effects of adversity on adaptation; and d) testing models of compensatory, vulnerability/protective, and adversity-preventive/ producing processes that may underlie resilience. (Co-Principal Investigators: Ann S. Masten, Norman Garmezy, and Auke Tellegen)

Research and Training Center on Community Living-RRTC (an affiliated Center of ICI)
Focuses on community supports for persons with developmental disabilities and their families, providing research, evaluation, training, and technical assistance activities in eight areas: national data collection and analysis, personnel research and training, self determination and self advocacy, integrated recreation and leisure, quality assurance and quality enhancement, positive behavior management and communication, international coinvolvements, and information and dissemination projects. Contacts: Charlie Lakin, lakin001@tc.umn.edu, 612-624-5005. There are 31 different projects conducted by the RRTC and funded by the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.