This thesis addresses the need for more accessible, high-quality early childhood STEM resources for early childhood educators, caregivers, and parents of young children to use during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. As the primary researcher, I assisted a team of educators and researchers with creating STEM learning experiences which are freely available on Pinterest and our website (www.STEMintheEarlyYears.com). To ensure the team is producing high-quality resources, I explored users' perceptions of our resources' pedagogical quality, technical/design quality, and user satisfaction with a questionnaire that I created which included closed-and open-ended questions. Statistical analyses results suggested that respondents (who used our resources) perceived our resources to have good pedagogical and technical/design quality and were satisfied. However, respondents perceived our resources' pedagogical quality to be significantly better than the technical/design quality. Furthermore, respondents' perceptions about the pedagogical and technical/design quality influenced their satisfaction with our resources; with technical/design quality having a stronger influence on their satisfaction. The reflexive thematic analysis results also indicated that respondents perceived our resources to be of good pedagogical and technical/design quality and were satisfied; however, I captured respondents' recommendations on how the resources' quality may improve within the generated themes. The STEM in the Early Years' team will use the results to reflect on our resources' successes and will consider modifying the resources according to the areas that respondents suggested needed improvement.

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Power to the Profession is focused on equitably advancing an effective, diverse, and well-compensated early childhood education profession across states and settings. Our children live in an increasingly diverse world, and they both need and benefit from a workforce that reflects and embodies that world. As such, when our current systems cause harm to educators, they can also harm children and their families. The inverse is also true: when our systems help educators, we help children and their families. We know that higher education plays a critical role, with many opportunities to support the workforce. If we are going to see our vision through and reimagine what could be, we have to take stock of the progress we have made, identify missed opportunities and barriers, and develop an action plan. Our panel will share perspectives and experiences from different parts of the higher education system and discuss key issues including equity, compensation, pathways, leadership, and financing, and will share recommendations for an aligned system designed to support early childhood educators.

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We will explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in preschool, why to include this content in library story times and programs, and how to get started. With many years of experience working with preschool teachers, families, and with libraries, Dr. Lange will demystify STEM and early STEM education. We hope attendees will leave with inspiration to include more STEM concepts in their programming for young children in a way that builds on what children and families are already doing, and that empowers children, families, and library staff to find the STEM all around them every day. We will discuss many examples of how STEM concepts can be easily incorporated into preschool programs.

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This research considers the predictive utility of 10 decoding skills on a student's ability to read. The 10 skills are Consonant Blends/Digraphs, Decode Multi-Syllable Words, Decode Patterns/Word Families, Letter Identification, Manipulation of Sounds, Matching Letters to Sounds, Phoneme Identification, Phonological Awareness, Syllable Types: CVC, CVCe, R-Control, and Vowel Digraphs/Diphthongs. The research also examines the nature of the relationships between the decoding skills and reading ability. Furthermore, the research decomposes reading ability into segment 1 assessing decoding, and segment 2, assessing comprehension. Specifically, the study assesses the manner in which each of the 10 skills contributes to the variance in the two segment scores. The literature is limited to efficacy studies related to programs used to teach reading, and prior studies addressing skills have failed to extend examination beyond correlations between phonological and phonemic awareness, and a student's ability to read. These issues were examined in the present research using assessment records of 541 kindergarten, first, and second grade students who had each been administered the 10 aforementioned decoding skills tests as well as a reading assessment administered in two parts (decoding and comprehension). All records reflected assessments occurring within the same school year for each student assessed. The dependent variables are scaled scores with a valid range from 100 to 350 and represent the combined reading score plus each of the two segment scores. Multiple regression analysis was employed to consider the predictive utility and examine the correlations between the variables. Hierarchical regression was employed to further scrutinize the variance accounted for by each decoding skill. As a group, the 10 decoding skills indicated that students scoring higher overall on decoding also scored higher on overall reading ability, segment 1, and segment 2 (p < .001). However, the coefficient of variation indicates the grouped decoding skills may not be useful for prediction purposes for the segment 1 assessment (CV = .103). Correlations between all independent variables and the dependent variables were moderate to high (.617 to .880), with the exception of Letter Identification and Matching Letters to Sounds which were low to moderate (.248 to .500). The correlation between Letter Identification and Matching Letters to Sounds was moderate (.579). Post hoc analysis indicated the inclusion of Letter Identification and Matching Letters to Sounds did not account for any statistically significant additional variance in the combined reading score (p = .459), the segment 1 score (p = .261), nor in the segment 2 score (p =.749). By itself decoding does not sufficiently predict reading ability. This study brings to light the nature of the relationship between discrete decoding skills and reading ability for early learners. The research identifies additional information for consideration by educators providing early literacy instruction which may help them zero in on difficulties students may be having as they advance in their literacy.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Obturator therapy has been proposed for many years as an aid in maxillary orthopedics for the complete unilateral cleft lip and palate infant. The obturator appliance had the added benefit of providing a false palate against which the infant can suckle. This has aided in the feeding of these infants to assure adequate nutrition with the least effort for parent and child. The current study assessed three aspects of obturator therapy at James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, Indiana. Parental evaluations of the obturator proved to be very positive. Almost all parents (96%) rated it as beneficial and would recommend its use to other parents with cleft lip and palate infants. Weight gain analysis over the first nine months of life demonstrated that these infants were only slightly below the average for birth weight. At three and nine months of age, a number (69% and 56% respectively) had maintained their original weight percentile rankings or had just dropped into the next lower category. Thus, many of the infants were able to achieve adequate nutrition, a problem noted by many authors when obturator therapy was not used. It should be emphasized that each infant underwent either one or two major surgical procedures during this time period. Arch symmetry assessments at one, four and ten months showed a gradual reduction in lateral posterior crossbite, canine crossbite, and anterior crossbite tendency. Although the arches still showed some collapse at the end of ten months of age, the pattern was much better than at initial presentation with values much closer to normal. Improvements in arch symmetry was expected as the maxilla grew. From the results of this study, obturator therapy appears to be beneficial in maxillary orthopedics by helping to maintain adequate weight gain and gain parental acceptance.

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