About the Contributors
Sandra Russ, PhD is a full professor of psychology at Case Western Reserve University. For over the last twenty years, Dr. Russ has focused her research on understanding the role of pretend play in child development. Dr. Russ is particularly interested in studying the relationship between pretend play and the development of creativity, coping skills, and emotional understanding. In addition, she has developed intervention procedures to help preschool and school-aged children improve their play skills. She has also developed a measure of pretend play abilities in children. In the future, she intends to explore play abilities and strengthening play abilities in children with a variety of diagnosed problems (i.e. depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and PTSD). She is author of Affect and Creativity: The Role of Affect and Play in the Creative Process (1993) and Play in Child Development and Psychotherapy: Toward Empirically Supported Practice (2004).
Elizabeth Short, PhD is a full professor of psychology at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Short is a trained developmental, cognitive, and clinical psychologist. She has focused much of her research on the cognitive, emotional, and motivational factors that impact learning, school achievement, and social development in preschool and school-aged children. She is involved in a number of projects that apply her interests to a variety of populations, including very low birthweight children, cocaine-exposed children, and children with a variety of diagnosed problems (i.e. learning disabilities, language disabilities, attention deficit disorder, and autism). Dr. Short has authored numerous publications concerning her work researching psychosocial and cognitive aspects of child development.
The Good Thief film The Karate Kid dvd Dr. Lisa Huisman Koops is an assistant professor of music education at Case Western Reserve University specializing in early childhood music, elementary general music, and world music education. Dr. Koops currently teaches early childhood music classes at the Cleveland Music School Settlement and has taught general music in Michigan public schools as well as early childhood music at Michigan State University’s Community Music School. Her research interests include Gambian children’s music, world music pedagogy, agency in music education, and early childhood music. She is also interested in helping to empower early childhood and elementary teachers to use music in their general classrooms. Dr. Koops has presented at local, state, and national conferences in the fields of music education, ethnomusicology, and liturgical music and has published in Journal of Music Teacher Education, TRIAD, Audie, and The Hymn. She is the recipient of a Glennan Fellowship (2008) and a Worldwide Learning Environment grant (2008). She enjoys putting theory and the practice of play together when spending time with her two-year-old daughter.
Kelly Christian, M.A. is a graduate of Cornell University, ‘04 where she developed her research and clinical interests in child development and pretend play. Currently, Ms. Christian is a forth year, child clinical psychology graduate student at Case Western Reserve University. Much of her research focuses on helping preschool children improve their play skills as well as educating caregivers on ways they can strengthen their child’s play abilities. She is also developing a project to explore long-term relationships between early play abilities and adaptive characteristics like playfulness, adaptive coping, and emotion regulation later in childhood.
Vera Tobin, PhD is a lecturer in the Cognitive Science department at Case Western Reserve University and holds a doctorate in English Language and Literature. Dr. Tobin specializes in attention, social cognition, and cognitive approaches to language and literature. She currently has a study underway looking at literary joint attention. Joint attention, the ability to share focus on external objects with another person, develops around the end of the first year of life and seems to be a crucial ingredient in acquiring language. Because it is so crucial for language and representation, it also turns out to be a fertile site for literary creativity, experimentation, and anxiety. Dr. Tobin has written and published articles on a number of related topics in cognition and literacy, and has presented her work at conferences on linguistics, cognition, and literary studies.
Eileen Anderson-Fye, Ed.D. is an assistant professor of anthropology and associate director of the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western Reserve University. She holds a doctorate in human development from Harvard University and teaches courses on culture and child development, as well as psychological and medical anthropology. Dr. Anderson-Fye’s research interests include adolescent mental health and well-being in the contexts of rapid cultural change. She conducts research in Belize, Canada, and the U.S. and has published on the effects of culture, gender, race, and ethnicity on mental health issues such as body image, eating disorders, PTSD, and depression. Dr. Anderson-Fye has worked in a number of elementary, middle, and high schools implementing programs to promote positive body image, mental health, and general well-being and has served as dean of students for a large summer program for elementary students. She has an interest in early correlates of adolescent well-being, particularly as she enjoys parenting and playing with her two and four year-old daughters.
Joan Morgenstern is Director of Early Childhood Services at The Mandel JCC in Beachwood, Ohio. Joan received her certification in Early Childhood Education from Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Pa. and her master’s degree in Supervision and Administration of Education from Bank Street College of Education in New York, New York. Joan has been in the field of Early Care and Education for over twenty years, first as a classroom teacher and more recently as a school administrator. Joan is passionate about her work with young children is committed to supporting parents as they meet the everyday challenges of rearing young children. Joan conducts parenting lectures, workshops and provides one-on one consultation. She speaks at Early Childhood conferences and provides in service training for teachers. Joan is an approved instructor for the state initiated early childhood rating system called Step-Up-To-Quality.
download Saving Emily 
Dr. Amy Przeworski is an Assistant Professor of psychology at Case Western Reserve University. Her clinical and research interests include the development, maintenance, and treatment of anxiety disorders across the lifespan. Dr. Przeworski has focused her research on understanding family interactions in children with anxiety disorders as well as developing novel treatments for childhood anxiety disorders. Currently, Dr. Przeworski is developing a family-based emotion-focused treatment for young children with anxiety disorders as well as a computer-assisted treatment for children with anxiety disorders. In addition, she is interested in the role that life events and culture may play in family dynamics in children with anxiety disorders.Dr. Przeworski has authored numerous publications concerning her work on anxiety disorder development across the lifespan.
Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. is a board-certified developmental and behavioral pediatrician at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western-Reserve University School of Medicine. He is also the co-founder of Reach Out and Read, a national organization with more than 4,500 sites in all 50 states that promotes reading aloud to young children. Dr. Needlman also co-wrote the latest edition of the classic parenting book “Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care” and has contributed to numerous magazines, textbooks, and journals. He is a widely featured speaker on early learning, literacy, and child development. Dr. Needlman also credits his “real job” as husband and father for helping him connect with parents and understand their worries. Commenting on what it’s like to be a parent, he wrote, “To be a parent is to live in fear. And joy. And everything in between.”