Student Spotlight: Xavier Elzie, Clinical and School Psychology Ph.D.

When Xavier Elzie was earning his bachelor’s degree in psychology and child development and working as an early childhood educator for infants and toddlers, he realized young children were his favorite.

“That's where it really where I fell in love with working with little ones,” Elzie said. “Toddlers are my favorite age group.”

Elzie’s work with children sparked his desire to study how school environments and home and family environments interact to impact children’s development: How does what's going on in the classroom impact what the child brings home and vice versa? 

When he discovered the UVA School of Education and Human Development’s clinical and school psychology program—a perfect fit for his interests, he made his way east from his home state of California.

Elzie, who is now in his third year of the Ph.D. program, and his faculty advisor, Professor Jason Downer, were recently awarded a $100,000 grant from the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, & Evaluation. 

With the new funding, Elzie, Downer and colleagues are studying the relational patterns experienced amongst families receiving Early Head Start home-based services, focusing on the relationships between home visitors, parents or caregivers, and children. Unlike Head Start services that are center-based, home-based Early Head Start services are designed to support parents and caregivers as the primary provider of care for their young child through sessions with a home visitor.

“We are interested in understanding how the profile or pattern of the relationships impact the child’s development,” Elzie said. 

For example, if there is a strong relationship between the home visitor and the parent and a warm, strong relationship between the parent and child, how does that compare to a situation where a parent and child have a strong relationship but the relationship between the home visitor and the parent is not as strong. 

The team is using data collected in 2020 to associate the self-reported relationship patterns with the child’s language and behavior development. They are also looking at the impacts these patterns of relationships may have on parents, such as their feelings of stress and how they interact with their children. 

Home-based services offered by Early Head Start programs provide valuable services to support families and children’s growth. The team hopes this project will help understand how these services are being experienced by families and generate thoughts on ways to increase support for these families. 

“Ultimately, I’m curious to learn how we can best support these families that can’t access center-based care, so that their children can be more prepared as they enter school,” Elzie said.

Downer said opportunities like this grant are especially exciting when they align so well with a student’s interest.

“From day one on Grounds, Xavier had an interest in understanding how families and early childhood education programs can work together to promote the development of young learners,” said Downer, who directs the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching at Learning at the School of Education. “What I love about this project is that it offered the perfect storm – an opportunity for him to frame and pursue specific research questions at the intersection of family and early education, while also having the rare opportunity as a graduate student to engage with and co-lead all facets of a federal grant proposal.”     

“Professor Downer has been an incredibly supportive as a mentor,” Elzie said. “I am so lucky to have a mentor who says, I think you can do this, and I can support you on the things you won’t know yet.”

Elzie is thrilled to have been awarded the grant. But he is most thankful to have walked through the grant writing and grant application process itself.

“As a student, it really means a lot to get the experience of actually sitting down and writing a grant,” Elzie said. “How do you get the ideas? How do you talk to the collaborators and size this idea down or size this part up?”

For Elzie, there are only so many things you can learn about the process until you actually do it.

“You just can’t get all of the little nuts and bolts of the grant writing and submission process through a workshop or experience in a class,” he said. “So, from that perspective, it feels really great, even if we didn't get the grant, to have gone through that experience. Now I know this is doable and I can see myself writing these in the future.”

While he is not exactly sure what career his path will take once he finishes his degree, he will have the skills and experiences he needs.