Educational Background
I earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from The College of New Jersey, a master’s degree in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, a master’s degree in Developmental Psychology from University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Virginia. I completed my doctoral degree under the supervision of Laura Justice, with an emphasis on risk & prevention in the education sciences. Following my doctoral work, I completed a postdoctoral fellowship on Pathways to Literacy, funded by a NICHD training grant, with Frederick Morrison at the University of Michigan.

Research
My research 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 depressed language on emergent literacy skills, and (3) implementing and evaluating intervention programs that advance instructional techniques and educational opportunities for children at risk for reading difficulties.

My 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 my co-authors, I was honored to receive the 2004 Editor’s Choice Award from the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology for our paper on “Relations between maternal, child, and demographic factors and the persistence of preschool language impairment.”  

I am the Director of Research at the Child Development Laboratories (CDL) at MSU. I manage 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, we work 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 resources for research, and training sites for students of child development, both CDL schools meet the highest quality standards for instruction and are accredited by NAEYC. If you are interested in getting involved in this project, please contact me for more information (skibbelo@msu.edu).

I am also a principal investigator in the Literacy Achievement Research Center (LARC) http://www.msularc.org/.

Courses
I teach undergraduate courses on child development and early language and literacy development. In addition, I am currently teaching a graduate course on the Assessment of Young Children.

FCE 211 Child Growth & Development
FCE 822 Assessment of the Young Child:

Curriculum Vitae