Associate Professor, OT Program Director
Health Sciences
308 Marshall Building
My clinical and research interests address young children's early experiences and environments and how these contribute to their early development. I am especially committed to promoting family-centered practice in early intervention through building family capacity and supporting parents. I also have an interest in understanding and supporting young children's self-regulation in preschool as a foundation for educational participation, especially for at-risk populations. As an occupational therapy clinician, I provided early intervention services and school-based special education services, working together with children, parents, and teachers.
Co-Investigator, Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), Supporting Rural Montanan
Children via Family- Centered Early Intervention, 2019-2021.
Co-Investigator, Assessing the Efficacy of a Mindful Parenting Intervention for Young At-Risk
Mothers, 2019-2020
Principal Investigator, In-Home Observations of Early Intervention Services: Interactions Between
Providers and Families. State of Michigan Early On Faculty Grant, 2018-2019.
Early Intervention Faculty Community of Practice Member, Early On CCRESA Office of
Innovative Projects, Michigan, 2018-Present
Foster, T.D., Decker, K.B., Vaterlaus, J.M., Beleville, A. (2020) How early intervention providers describe family-centered practice: A collective broadening of the definition. Child: Care, Health, and Development.
Vallotton, C., Foster, T.D., Harewood, T., Cook, J.; Adekoya, A. (2020). Fathers and young children at
play: A scoping review of fathers’ play with sons and daughters from birth to preschool. In H.W.
Fitzgerald, K. von Klitzing, N. Cabrera, J Scarano de Mendonca, & Th. Skjothaug (Eds.), Handbook of
Fathers and Child Development: Prenatal to Preschool. Publisher.
Decker, K. B., Meldrum, J., Vaterlaus, J. M., & Foster, T. D. (2020). Parents’ Part C experiences in rural
areas: Alignment with recommended practices. Journal of Early Intervention, 10538151209
Foster, T.D. (November, 2019). In-Home observations of early intervention visits. Workshop presented at 2019 Early On Conference, Acme, Michigan.
Decker, K.B., & Foster, T.D (November, 2019). Defining family-centered practice: A Collective broadening of the definition. Workshop presented at 2019 Early On Conference, Acme, Michigan.
Skibbe, L., & Foster, T.D. (2019). Participation in the Imagination Library Book Distribution Program and its Relations to Children’s Language and Literacy Outcomes in Kindergarten. Reading Psychology, 1-21.
Foster, T. D., Froyen, L. A., Decker, K. B., Skibbe, L. E., & Bowles, R. P. (2016). Fathers’ and mothers’ home learning environments and children’s early academic outcomes. Reading and Writing, 1-19.
Vallotton, C.D., Mastergeorge, A.M., Foster, T. D., Decker, K. B., & Ayoub, C. (2016). Parenting supports for early vocabulary development: Specific effects of sensitivity and stimulation through infancy. Infancy.
Karsten, A. E., Foster, T. D., Decker, K. E., & Vallotton, C. D. (2016). Toddlers take emotion regulation into their own hands with infant signs. Young Children.
Montroy, J. J., Skibbe, L. E., Bowles, R. P., & Foster, T. D. (2014). Social skills and problem behaviors as mediators in the relationship between behavioral self- regulation and academic achievement. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(3), 298-309.