Social-emotional development, Temperament, Trauma-informed Practices in Early Education
My research and teaching interests broadly include the study of temperament and social-emotional development in children from birth to seven years of age, with an emphasis on school readiness and trauma-informed practices in early education. Some of my recent work has been published in Frontiers in Psychology and the Early Childhood Education Journal.
- Readiness for preschool
- Social-emotional and cognitive readiness for the early educational environment
- Temperament and family predictors of readiness
- Early readiness and its association with later academic and cognitive outcomes
- Temperament and typical development
- Individual differences in temperament and social-emotional development
- Temperament and risk for psychopathology
- Development of shyness and anxiety
- Trauma-Informed practices
- The effects of trauma exposure on child development and schooling.
Recent Publications:
Kessler, M. & Miller, M. M. (2022). Research and Teaching Methods for Children who have Experienced Trauma. In Kramer, B. & McKenzie, J., eds. Children and Trauma: Critical Perspectives for Meeting the Needs of Diverse Educational Communities. Gorham, ME: Myers Educational Press, LLC, 135-150.
Miller, M. M. & Kehl, L. M.*(2019). Comparing parentsâ¿¿ and teachersâ¿¿ rank-ordered importance of early school readiness characteristics. Early Childhood Education Journal, 47(4), 445-453. DOI: 10.1007/s10643-019-00938-4
Miller, M. M. & Goldsmith, H. H. (2017). Profiles of Social-Emotional Readiness for 4-year-old Kindergarten. Frontiers in Psychology (8:132). DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00132
Francis, A. & Miller, M. M. (2016). Bi the Dice-Bisexuality Role Play. In Poynter, K., ed. Safe zones: Training allies of LGBTQIA young adults. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 56-57.
Gagne, J., Miller, M. M., & Goldsmith, H. H. (2013). Earlyâ¿¿but modestâ¿¿gender differences in focal aspects of childhood temperament. Personality and Individual Differences (55), 95-100.
Volbrecht, M. M., & Goldsmith, H. H. (2010) Early temperamental and family predictors of shyness and anxiety. Developmental Psychology, 46(5), 1192-205.
Courses Taught:
Psychology 201: Principles of Psychology
Psychology 301: Orientation & Entrance Assessment
Psychology 302: Research Methods
Psychology 303: Statistics
Psychology 310: Adult Development and Aging
Psychology 321: Life-span Developmental Psychology
Psychology 322: Child Development
Psychology 323: Adolescence
Psychology 471: Senior Seminar
Psychology 484: Childhood Trauma: Risk and Resiliency