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Projects

Kate Saunders’ Reading Project,
Dean Williams’ Laboratory Project,
and Foster Care Treatment

(9/8/08) For 6 weeks this past summer, Dean Williams’ and Kate Saunders’ labs were host to 3 research interns. These interns are current students of faculty at other universities who worked with Kate and Dean as a graduate student or postdoc. One intern, Ryan Brackney, has nearly completed his master’s thesis at the University of North Texas, where former postdoc Manish Vaidya is now an Associate Professor. Two of the students, Mambu Sherman and Rhonda Clay, are undergraduates at Savannah State University, where former graduate student Kathy Stewart is an Assistant Professor. The students became involved in Dean’s laboratory work on environmental conditions that might promote aberrant behavior, and Kate’s work on early reading skills. They observed and participated in all aspects of lab operation, including screening potential participants, creating computerized research sessions, conducting sessions, summarizing data, and planning new procedures. During their time here, Mambu and Rhonda began work on a study with Kate that will be continued, along with their advisor Kathy Stewart, now that they are back in school.

Mambu and Rhonda also participated with Foster Care Treatment and completed individual projects. Each intern worked with a child with challenging behavior in a community setting.Project therapists assisted the interns to define target behavior, conduct observations, and develop a presentation of the findings. While Mambu and Rhonda gained experience by providing services in natural settings, Foster Care Treatment benefited from the additional data collection and input the interns provided.