Fall 2015 Department Newsletter

Ar'Reon Watson, a School Psychology doctoral student, has been selected to receive the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship award for 2023. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is designed to foster the development of a diverse, high-quality workforce that can contribute to the advancement of science and engineering in the United States. Ar'Reon's selection for this award is a testament to his exceptional academic performance and research potential.

Oceann Gittens, just received the prestigious Society for the Study of School Psychology (SSSP) Dissertation Grant Award.

A team of military leaders and researchers including LSU associate professor of psychology Raymond Tucker (clinical) received a 3-year 2.7 million dollar grant from congressional appropriation funds to implement a series of community-based suicide prevention initiatives for active duty military serving in remote areas and overseas. The research study will implement a community psychology-based approach and will be conducted in four phases. Phase I (Formation) will build effective working relationships with military command and leaders and integrate select members into a suicide prevention task force or working group. Phase II (Data collection) will initiate preliminary data collection and analysis based on working group recommendations. Phase III (Pilot Purpose-Driven Leader Intervention) will train military leaders in purpose-driven leadership activities and test their effect on suicide within their units. Phase IV (Knowledge products) will consolidate findings and draft the prototype purpose-driven leadership suicide prevention manual as well as publications and dissemination of collected data. This project is a collaboration with researchers and leaders at University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and LSU.

Most tests used for early identification of Developmental Language Disorder have not been designed for all children who live in Louisiana, a state well-known for its culture and diversity in dialects including rural and urban varieties of African American English, Southern White English, Cajun and Creole English and Spanish-influenced English. As a result of poor test construction, children may be misdiagnosed or overlooked for Developmental Language Disorder if they do not speak the dialect targeted on the test.LSU Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders Professor Janna Oetting, Pennington Biomedical biostatistician Stephanie Broyle, LSU Department of Psychology Professor Janet McDonald, and LSU speech-language pathologist and project manager Christy Wynn Moland have been gathering extensive data and developing tools to accurately assess and treat Developmental Language Disorder within Louisiana and elsewhere. The National Institutes of Health is continuing to support this research with a new $2.8 million grant that will help the researchers further develop and test their Disorder within Dialects framework and their materials and methods.