Mt. Hope team awarded $1.6 million

t. Hope Family Center has been awarded a $1.6 million grant to study the impact of neglect on children's success in school.

The Children's Learning and Adaptation for Success in School (CLASS) Project will examine the impact of neglect on a child's ability to learn in school. The grant will allow researchers to identify factors that lead to school success.

"Neglected children are at an elevated risk for poor outcomes in school," said Jody Todd Manly, clinical director at Mt. Hope Family Center and principal investigator on the CLASS Project. "This study will allow us to learn what factors create the greatest challenges for children, what can promote resiliency, and how to design effective interventions to assist neglected children in succeeding in school."

The CLASS Project will assess the functioning of a group of 4-year-old children-- some with a history of neglect, others with no such history. The study will reassess the children after kindergarten and again at the end of first grade.

The project's objective is to identity factors that lead to success in school such as motivational orientation, positive self-esteem, and secure readiness to learn, as well as familial and environmental factors. The work will be used to develop an effective intervention program designed to help neglected children reach their potential.

Manly and Michael Lynch, assistant professor of psychology at SUNY Geneseo and a former Mt. Hope Family Center employee, will conduct the study.

The CLASS Project is jointly funded by three federal funding agencies: the National Institute on Child Health, the Office of Special Education Research, and the Office of Child Abuse and Neglect.

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