{"id":66264,"date":"2022-10-19T01:32:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T05:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/?post_type=bu-article&p=66264"},"modified":"2023-04-18T21:34:35","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T01:34:35","slug":"a-holistic-approach-to-helping-kids","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/magazine\/articles\/2022\/a-holistic-approach-to-helping-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"A Holistic Approach to Helping Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Photo by Ciara Crocker<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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Dina Castro leads the collaborative BU Wheelock Institute for Early Childhood Well-Being into its second year<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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October 19, 2022<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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Dina Castro<\/a> knows something about the value of interdisciplinary research. In her quest to understand and improve care and education for bilingual children, she has earned degrees in psychology, public health, and early childhood education and special education. \u201cIt allows you to think about solutions for pressing problems that will be more permanent and impactful,\u201dsays the professor of teaching and learning. That search for collaborative solutions brought Castro to Wheelock in 2021.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the director of the BU Wheelock Institute for Early Childhood Well-Being, established in June 2021, Castro has been charged with building the institute\u2019s reputation as a leader by cultivating interdisciplinary research and community-engaged research. It\u2019s a holistic, strengths-based approach that she believes can help address a range of challenges faced by young children today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we think about problems that are affecting children\u2019s well-being, we have to think about research, policies, and programs that can either preserve structural societal problems or promote societal change,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not only about the child, but also about the surrounding contexts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the institute\u2019s marquee programs has been its University\u2013Community Partnerships Grant. The institute awarded four research grants in spring 2022, to projects related to stress, oral health inequities, violence prevention in South Africa, and infants at risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. In keeping with the institute\u2019s mission, each project must involve researchers from multiple disciplines as well as partners from the community. The first round of recipients included faculty from Wheelock, the College of Arts & Sciences, School of Dental Medicine, School of Medicine, School of Social Work, and Sargent College, as well as representatives from Boston Public Schools, Newton\u2013Wellesley Hospital, and Head Start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The institute\u2019s plans also extend beyond facilitating research, to convening scholars, community members, and alumni to share ideas. Among the spring of 2022 events: a presentation about the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the Boston Children\u2019s Hospital Child Life Services Department and a panel discussion about nature-based education featuring Sarah Besse (\u201917) and Shela Sinelien (\u201919).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you want research that is impactful, we need to go outside of the individual disciplines\u2019 boundaries-and I think the institute sending that message will be important.<\/div>