Human Development & Family Studies | Michigan State University

Education

NICHD Training Grant Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan, 2006-2008, Pathways to Literacy Project, PI: Frederick Morrison Ph.D., Risk & Prevention in Education Sciences, University of Virginia, 2006 Dissertation: Maternal use of instructional support during phonological awareness intervention for children with specific language impairment Dissertation committee: Laura Justice (Chair), Robert Pianta, Sara Rimm-Kaufman, and John Nesselroade M.A., Developmental Psychology, University of Virginia, 2002, Thesis: Theory of mind and social skills in low-income preschoolers M.A., Social Sciences, University of Chicago, 1998 B.A., Psychology, The College of New Jersey, 1997

Bio

Lori Skibbe focuses on individual differences in the development of literacy skills, with an emphasis on three themes: (1) children's literacy development in the context of schools and families, (2) the long-term consequences of language impairment on emergent literacy skills, and (3) the development of appropriate techniques for assessing emergent literacy skills, with a focus on children who are typically developing as well as those with special needs.

Dr. Skibbe's research on risk and protective factors in early literacy development has been funded by the Association for Children & Families, and the American Speech & Hearing Association. Along with her co-authors, she received the 2004 Editor's Choice Award for the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology for her paper on "Relations between maternal, child, and demographic factors and the persistence of preschool language imparement."

Dr. Skibbe is the Director of Research at the Child Development Laboratories (www.cdl.msu.edu) (CDLs) at MSU. She manages the ongoing data collection efforts at the East Lansing and Haslett sites, overseeing a team of graduate and undergraduate research assistants who gain invaluable research experience and skills as they assist in the studies at the CDL. As part of this project, she works to understand children's early literacy and socioemotional development from 18 to 60 months of age. Approximately 200 children are currently enrolled in the lab schools. As well as being a resource for research and training sites for students, both CDL schools meet the highest quality standard for instruction and are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. If you are interested in getting involved in this project, please contact her for more information (skibbelo@msu.edu).

Dr. Skibbe is a co-director of the Early Language and Literacy Investigations (ELLI) Laboratory at Michigan State University which engages undergraduate and graduate students in research project focused on young children's language and literacy development. She is also a principle investigator in the Literacy Achievement Research Center (LARC) (www.msularc.org/).

Dr. Skibbe teaches the following undergraduate and graduate courses.

ISS 210 Pathways to Language and Literacy Development

HDFS 211 Child Growth & Development

HDFS 822 Assessment of the Young Child

Web

Focus Area

Child Development

Areas of Interest

• Early literacy development in the context of families and schools
• Assessment of literacy skills during preschool
• Associations between children's language and literacy development

Vitae

CV_LoriSkibbe_1_13.pdf