I am a Professor with the Clinical Division of the Psychology Department at the University of Waterloo. My students and I investigate how children learn to communicate and interact successfully with other individuals.
Alanna is in the clinical psychology graduate program at UW. She is interested in studying how young children learn to work collaboratively with others. Her master's research examined the various influences of children's sharing behaviours, while her doctoral research is focused on how children learn to take turns with others.
Charlotte is in the clinical psychology graduate program at UW. Her dissertation research looks at how individual factors about youth (e.g. their ability to consider the perspectives of others, their personality, and their cognitive skills) interact to shape their social experiences as they transition from late childhood into early adolescence. For her Master's thesis, Charlotte examined how parent and youth mentalizing related to youth social ability, and how parents’ ability to respond sensitively to their teenagers changes during times of stress, like COVID-19.
Mika is in the Honour's Psychology B.Sc. program at the University of Waterloo. She is currently completing her Honour's Thesis under the supervision of Dr. Nilsen and Dr. Henderson, in collaboration with the Cognitive Development Lab and the Social Development Lab. Her thesis examines how shyness impacts children’s communication with peers during a collaborative, goal-oriented drawing task. Broadly, Mika is interested in how children express themselves and how psychopathology manifests in childhood and adolescence. She hopes to pursue a career in the field of clinical psychology.
Kowsi is in the clinical psychology graduate program at UW. She graduated with an Honours B.Sc. in Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour with Mental Health Specialization from McMaster University. Broadly, her research interests focus on the influence of temperament and ADHD on socio-communicative behavior, with particular attention to how these factors shape communication and social interaction in both personal and social settings.
Kristen is in the clinical psychology graduate program at UW. She completed her Honours B.Sc. in Psychology at UPEI. For her Master’s research, she is investigating the impact of contextual and individual factors on adolescent communication in online games. She is broadly interested in how online spaces affect development in childhood and adolescence, with a focus on how contextual factors can be manipulated to alter outcomes.
Nadine is in the clinical psychology graduate program at UW. She graduated with a BSc in Health Studies and MASc in Developmental and Communication Science at the University of Waterloo. Nadine’s research explores parent-child interactions and in particular, how certain parenting behaviours help or hinder children’s learning in problem-solving contexts.
