News
Bridging the Gap: Grant to Expand Coaching Availability to Serve Children with Autism
Two-year-old Baylee Shriner plays with toys like other children her age now, but that wasn’t the case several months ago. Baylee, who has autism spectrum disorder, had trouble interacting with the world around her and could not communicate with her mother, Linzi Shriner, of Tonganoxie, Kan. ...
Workshop to help faculty use applied improvisation to improve the communication of research
New Study Offers Data-Driven Definition of Unhealthy Yet Pervasive Hyper-Palatable Foods
A popular U.S. brand of potato chips once promoted itself with the slogan “betcha can’t eat just one!”...
Research Gauges Neurodegeneration Tied to Genetic Disorder by Measuring Motor Behavior
The neurological disorder FXTAS (pronounced “fax-tas”) stems from a genetic premutation seen in one of every 151 women and one of every 468 men, called the FMR1 premutation. ...
Scientist Honored with Early Career Award
Derek Reed, Associate Professor of Applied Behavioral Science and Scientist in the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment, is the 2019 recipient of the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS) Early Career Impact Award for the Association for Behavior Analysis International. The award is presented...
KU to Host Conference on Genetic Disorders
The Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute and the Kansas Chapter of the National Fragile X Foundation will co-host a conference on FMR1 gene disorders that will bring together family members, caregivers, researchers, educators, therapists and individuals who want to learn...
Technology may lead to a way for those unable to physically talk to speak virtually
A pioneering research project at KU may one day give voice to individuals robbed of their speech by neuromuscular diseases such as ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. ...
KU Names New Director, Additional Leadership for Center for Service Learning
Undergraduate Studies at the University of Kanas has named Jomella Watson-Thompson, associate professor of applied behavioral science, as director of the Center for Service Learning (CSL). ...
New Book Explores How Ordinary People Make Decisions When Confronted with Uncertainty
For decades, statisticians, economists, philosophers and mathematicians have studied how to make decisions in the face of uncertainty, and typically their analyses have focused on how to use probability theory from mathematics to harness this vexing problem. ...
Sesame Workshop Senior Vice President Will Talk About New Book Oct. 4
When Rosemarie Truglio was growing up in Hoboken, New Jersey, “Romper Room” was the closest thing to educational programming on television. Like other children across the country, she waited for the host of that "live kindergarten" program to hold up her magic mirror and call out the names of children...
Seeking a better understanding of the motor problems experienced by individuals with autism spectrum disorder
The child in the chair looks like she’s preparing to play a video game. She leans toward the monitor in a darkened room, the dim light of the screen illuminating her face. A dot appears on the screen. But instead of zapping the dot with a game controller, she tracks...
Training your working memory may help curb chronic health conditions
We have all had moments when we chose to skip the gym and eat the piece of cake or take the extra helping, even though we knew that we wanted to lose weight. ...
Researchers Will Test System Customized to Help Individual Students Succeed
As no two students learn the same way, educators are relying more on systems with a variety of methods to improve students’ educational opportunities. To that end, University of Kansas researchers will test a systems-level framework known as the Comprehensive, Integrated, Three-Tiered (Ci3T) Model of Prevention, designed to provide customized...
Addiction Treatment Program for Community Members to Expand
LAWRENCE - A free University of Kansas program that helps community members with addictions is set to expand thanks to a local grant and support from Douglas County. ...
Study Finds People with Autism Show Atypical Brain Activity When Coordinating Visual and Motor Information
A new study in the Journal of Neurophysiology by researchers at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute is the first to look at functional brain activity in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) while they performed precision visuomotor behavior — in this case, a grip-force test. ...
Study Shows Adults with Disabilities Have Challenges with Insurance, Despite Improvements to ACA
LAWRENCE — Expansion of the Affordable Care Act in 2014 improved access to insurance and represented gains in health care for adults with disabilities. But while those gains were documented, what wasn’t known was what challenges still existed in accessing care for that population. A new study from the University...
KU Researchers Land Grant to Develop Eating Disorder Screening Tool for Military VA
LAWRENCE — When one thinks of the military, images of elite, highly fit soldiers often come to mind. Conversely, talk of eating disorders generally steers toward undernourished individuals, often young women. However, data has shown that the prevalence of eating disorders in the military is roughly the same as in...
Workshop series designed to boost health of Native American children
Native American parents of young children are invited to a workshop Tuesday, April 2, in Mayetta to help foster the health and development of Native American children from local tribal communities. The program is part of a partnership between University of Kansas researchers and area urban and rural Native American...
Project to pilot tools to meet STEM learning goals in California classrooms
LAWRENCE — Just as the tools of the classroom have changed from slates and blackboards to tablets and computers, so, too, have the learning goals changed. ...
KU researchers to develop virtual reality to improve social competencies for students with disabilities
Students with disabilities often do not learn social skills or pick up on social cues at the same pace as their peers. The Office of Special Education and Programs in the United States Department of Education granted KU researchers $2.5 million for a five-year program to implement VR that delivers...
'Hope 22' exhibition examines mental health in the military
Beginning Nov. 10, the Spencer Museum of Art will host the exhibition “Hope 22,” which features 22 portraits of veterans and active duty personnel accompanied by written accounts of their experiences with the military and mental health. The traveling exhibition, co-sponsored at the University of Kansas by the Lt. Gen. ...
Largest study of its kind gauges community efforts to combat childhood obesity, a key risk factor for later chronic disease
SWIFT Education Center lands $17M grant to train principals, boost school achievement
KU center part of $27M grant to boost literacy for struggling Kansas readers
LAWRENCE — The Center for Research on Learning at the University of Kansas has been selected to be part of a $27 million federal grant to help schools across the state boost language and literacy skills for struggling readers. ...
$2 million gift establishes addictions research center at KU
LAWRENCE — The opioid crisis has brought heightened attention to the effects of addiction on individuals, families and communities. As health practitioners, politicians and families grapple with solutions, the University of Kansas is establishing a new resource in the region to better understand and treat addiction in its many forms. ...
Research hones interventions for kids with developmental language disorder
LAWRENCE — In an average kindergarten class of 30 students, about two are experiencing developmental language disorder, meaning they learn language more slowly than their peers. While DLD is just as common as dyslexia or ADHD, fewer people have heard of the disorder, and less research and funding go into...
Six were honored by the Friends of the Life Span Institute
Six recipients were honored at this year’s Friends of the Life Span Institute dinner celebration: two graduate research assistants, and for the first time three investigators and one LSI staff member. Announced in the fall of 2017, the awardees were officially recognized in Friday, April 27, 2018. ...
Researchers link dietary supplement DHA to higher fat-free body mass in children
LAWRENCE — University of Kansas researchers have reported that pregnant women who consumed a supplement of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), a nutrient added to U.S. infant formulas since 2002, tend to have children with higher fat-free body mass at 5 years old. ...