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Brinda Jegatheesan Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology and Early Childhood and Family Studies 322F Miller Hall - Phone 221-5360 brinda@u.washington.edu

Education Publications Research Courses Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Jegatheesan is an educational anthropologist who studies the socialization process of bi- and multilingual children with a special interest in Asian American Pacific Islanders and Native American heritage. Her research is interdisciplinary and has a biocentric approach to the scientific inquiry of child development; an all inclusive and holistic view of children’s experiences and interactions with their natural environment, and the essential roles humans and animals play in their socialization process. Much of her research involves naturalistic and visual ethnographic research methods.

Dr. Jegatheesan received her doctorate in Early Childhood Special Education with a concentration in Cultural Studies and Interpretive Research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her doctoral dissertation which addressed the multiple language acquisition of South Asian Muslim children with autism was interdisciplinary - from psychology, anthropology, special education, and communication. She is multilingual and has worked as a bilingual general and special education teacher in Asia and Hawaii. She joined the faculty at the University of Washington in 2006.  Her home area at UW is in Educational Psychology. She is also an affiliate faculty in the Center for Multicultural Education, College of Education, and the Canadian Studies Center at the Jackson School of International Studies. She also serves as a Fellow at the Institute for Human-Animal Connection {IHAC}, University of Denver.

Dr. Jegatheesan has four main strands of scholarship. They include: (1) Autism and multilingualism; (2) Cultural anthropology of disability; (3) Indigenous language revival/preservation and learning; and (3) Human-animal interaction & child development

Education

Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005
ME.d University of Hawai’i at Manoa, 2000

Selected Publications

Books
Jegatheesan, B (2008). Access, A Zone of Comprehension, and Intrusion. In Advances in Program Evaluation Series, Emerald Group Publishing: U.K

Articles
Jegatheesan, B (Autumn, 2010). Cross Cultural Issues in Parent-Professional Interactions: A Qualitative Study of Perceptions of Asian American Families of Children with Developmental Disabilities. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities 34 (3)
Jegatheesan, B., Miller, P., & Fowler, S (June, 2010). Autism from a Religious Perspective: A Study of Parental Beliefs in South Asian Muslim Immigrant Families.  Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities
Jegatheesan, B., Fowler, S., & Miller, P (In Press, 2010). From Symptom Recognition to
Services: How South Asian Muslim Immigrant Families Navigate Autism. Disability and Society

Sage, K., &  Jegatheesan, B (In Press, 2010).Perceptions of siblings with autism and relationships with them: European American and Asian American siblings draw and tell. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability

Meadan, H., & Jegatheesan, B. (2010). Pets and Young Children: Supporting Early   Development. Young Children
Jegatheesan, B (Invited, 2009). Muslim Children with Autism Learn to Pray. In Shweder, R.A., Bidell, T., Dailey, A., Dixon, S., Miller, P.J., & Modell, J (Eds.). The  Child: An Encyclopedic Companion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Jegatheesan, B (2009). The Give and Take in the Human-Animal Bond: Three Tales of Spirit Healing. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Healing

Jegatheesan, B., & Meadan, H (2006). Pets in the Classroom: Promoting and Enhancing the Socio-Emotional Wellness of Young Children. Young Exceptional Children Monograph, 8, 1-12.

Research Projects

When having Autism Means Loss of Family Languages: Children with Autism
in Multilingual Families in the Pacific Northwest (2009-2010)
Dr. Jegatheesan (P.I) – Using an ethnographic approach the study examines the implications on parent-child communication and the everyday socialization process when children with autism with language delays are being made monolingual in their bilingual home. The study is comparative, examining language loss & preservation among typically developing children as well. Children from Asian, Native American families (U.S) and First Nations families, British Columbia are participating in the study. The study is jointly funded by the Institute for Ethnic Studies in the United States, UW (fieldwork in the U.S) and the Center for Canadian Studies, Jackson School of International Studies, UW (fieldwork in British Columbia)

Emotion Socialization and Multilingualism (2009-2010)
Dr. Jegatheesan (P.I) – Using an ethnographic approach the study examines the communicative and socialization practices of bi- and multilingual families, focusing on how emotion as a cultural value is socialized during mother –children interactions while doing homework. The study also examines the multifaceted challenges parents face as they socialize their children to become bicultural members.

The Impact of Culture on the Human-Animal Bond: A Cross Cultural Study with Young Children (2008 - 2010)
Dr. Jegatheesan (P.I). Longitudinal interpretive study using visual methods to examine the socio-cultural and psychological complexity that influence children’s relationship and bond, both positive (e.g., emotional support, development of empathy & compassion) and negative (e.g., teasing, bullying and abuse) with their pets and explore their developmental significance.  Sixty children {Asian, Islamic, African & Native American} living in the United States are participating in this study. Funded by the Waltham/AAH/ABV

Beliefs and Experiences of Disability in Asian and European American Children who have Siblings with Autism: Pictorial and Narrative Representation (2007)
Dr. Jegatheesan (P.I). Naturalistic cross-cultural (Asian and European American) child research using visual and observational approaches to examine typically developing sibling-sibling with autism relationship and communicative style

Diagnosis and Post-Diagnosis Period: Needs and Supports Reported by Asian Immigrant Families of Young Children with Developmental Disabilities in the Pacific Northwest (2006)
Dr. Jegatheesan (P.I) – Naturalistic study of the critical issues during the diagnostic and post-diagnostic period of a young child's diagnosis with a developmental disability. Participants are 25 Asian (Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Korean, Japanese & Indian) immigrant families who have children with neurological and developmental disabilities in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Funded by the ARC of Washington, USA

Ways of Being at Home and Community: Language Socialization of Children with Autism in Multilingual South Asian Immigrant Families (2005)
Dr. Jegatheesan (P.I) - Longitudinal ethnographic study, combining participant-observation with audio and video recordings in naturalistic environments to examine the influence of broad socio-cultural factors on care-giver child interactions and language development in young children with autism in three multilingual South Asian immigrant families. The study documents the rich and complex communicative environment in which these children lived. It also documents parents’ beliefs and expectations on how to communicate with their child. Partially supported by the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society and the Graduate School, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Language Learning Center

Courses

Graduate
EDPSY 536 - Immigrant & Indigenous Children: Socio-cultural & Psychological Contexts of Development & Learning
EDPSY 582B - Ethnographic Research Method
EDPSY 582A - Naturalistic Inquiry in Studying Children in Context
EDPSY 582A - Disability, Society & Culture
EDPSY 519 - Communication, Culture and Young Exceptional Children
Undergraduate
ECFS 401 - Early Childhood & Family Studies Research
EDSPE 419 - Families and Young Children with Diverse & Special Needs