Allyssa McCabe is a Professor, Coordinator for Ph.D. program in Applied Psychology and Prevention Science (APPS) in the Psychology department at UMass Lowell.

Allyssa McCabe

Professor Emerita

College
College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Department
Psychology
Office
Health and Social Sciences Building - 465
Email
Allyssa_McCabe@uml.edu

Expertise

Developmental psychology, especially language development, narrative, and life stories

Research Interests

Narrative development; Language acquisition; Oral language and literacy; Cultural differences in narration.

Education

  • Ph D: Psychology, (1980), University of Virginia - Charlottesville, VA
  • MA: Psychology, (1977), University of Virginia - Charlottesville, VA
  • Other: Psychology, English, (1974), Oberlin College - Oberlin, OH

Biosketch

Allyssa McCabe, Ph.D., is professor of psychology at University of Massachusetts Lowell.  She founded and co-edited the journal Narrative Inquiry and has researched how narrative develops with age, the way parents can encourage narration, cultural differences in narration, and interrelationships between the development of narrative, vocabulary, and phonological awareness. With David Dickinson, she has developed a theoretical approach to early literacy called the Comprehensive Language Approach, which looks at ways that the various strands of oral and written language (e.g., vocabulary, phonological awareness, print knowledge) affect each other in the acquisition of full literacy. A key concern is with assessment of preschool-aged children, especially preventing misdiagnosis of cultural differences in language use as deficits. With Chien-ju Chang, she most recently published Chinese Language Narration with John Benjamins. She conducted a successful intervention with preschool children attending the Bartlett School in Lowell, enlisting graduate and undergraduate students to build the oral language skills such children need in order to learn to read and write. With Khanh Dinh, she was funded to study the narrative life stories of Latino and Cambodian high school students in Lowell. With Jana Sladkova, she was funded to study the narratives of immigrant children in Lowell.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Chair of Strategic Planning Committee (2009) - Strategic Planning Committee
  • Editor's Award from Contemporary Issues for the article: "Assessing the Narratives of African American Children." (2009) - Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, San Francisco, CA
  • Elected to Board of Acre Family Day Care (2006) - Acre Family Day Care
  • Elected to Council of PEN New England (2002) - PEN New England

Selected Publications

  • Dinh, K.T., McCabe, A., Tein, J. (Arizona State University) (2020). Culture and well-being among Cambodian American adolescents: Mediating effects of parental, peer, and school attachments. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 11(2) 88-97.
  • McCabe, A., Dinh, K.T. (2018). High Points, Low Points, Turning Points: Life Stories of Cambodian American Youth. Journal of Southeast Asian American Education & Advancement, 13(1) 1.
  • McCabe, A., Hillier, A.J., DaSilva, C., Queenan, A., Tauras, M. (2017). Parental Mediation in the Improvement of Narrative Skills of High-Functioning Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 1525740116669114.
  • McCabe, A., Dinh, K.T. (2016). Agency and Communion, Ineffectiveness and Alienation: Themes in the Life Stories of Latino and Southeast Asian Adolescents. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 36 150-171. doi: 10.1177/0276236616648648.
  • Champion, T.B., McCabe, A. (2015). Narrative Structures of African American Children : Commonalities and Differences Part IV Child Language Acquisition and Development, Chapter 26. Oxford University Press
  • Champion, Tempii B., McCabe, Allyssa, Cuneo, C. Nicholas, ., ,Bruny, Jessica,, . (2015). Performative Features in Adults’ Haitian Creole Narratives. Imagination, cognition, and personality., 34(4) 378-397.
  • McCabe, A. (2015). The Language of Life and Death: The Transformation of Experience in Oral Narrative.(Report)(Book review). Journal of Sociolinguistics, 19(2).
  • Sladkova, J., McCabe, A., Cano, I., Cole, D. (2014). "I don’t like Speaking Spanish:" Delayed Narration in Children of Latino Immigrants. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 5(2).
  • Barra, G., McCabe, A. (2013). Oral narrative skills of Chilean preschool children. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 32(4) 367 - 391.
  • Staikova, E., Gomes, H., Tartter, V., McCabe, A., Halperin, J.M. (2013). Pragmatic deficits and social impairment in children with ADHD. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54(12) 1275 - 1283.
  • McCabe, A., Hillier, A.J., Shapiro, C. (2012). Brief Report: Structure of Personal Narratives of Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-6.
  • Bliss, L.S., McCabe, A. (2012). Personal Narratives: Assessment and Intervention. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education, 19(4) 130-138.
  • McCabe, A., Peterson, C. (2011). Predictors of Adult Narrative Elaboration: Emotion, Attachment, and Gender. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 31(4) 327-344.
  • McCabe, A., Champion, T.B. (2010). A Matter of Vocabulary II: Low-Income African American Children's Performance on the Expressive Vocabulary Test. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 31(3) 162-169.
  • Champion, T.B., Rosa-Lugo, L.I., Rivers, K.O., McCabe, A. (2010). A Preliminary Investigation of Second-and Fourth-Grade African American Students' Performance on the Gray Oral Reading Test. Topics in Language Disorders, 30(2) 145.
  • McCabe, A., Boccia, J., Bennett, M.B., Lyman, N., Hagen, R. (2009). Improving oral language and literacy skills in preschool children from disadvantaged backgrounds: Remembering, writing, reading (RWR). Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 29(4) 363-390.
  • McCabe, A., Bliss, L., Barra, G., Bennett, M. (2008). Comparison of personal versus fictional narratives of children with language impairment. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 17(2) 194.
  • Bliss, L.S., McCabe, A. (2008). Patterns of Discourse Coherence: Variations in Genre Performance in Children with Language Impairment. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 28(2) 137-154.
  • Bliss, L.S., McCabe, A. (2008). Personal narratives: Cultural differences and clinical implications. Topics in Language Disorders, 28(2) 162-177.
  • McCabe, A., Bailey, A.L., Melzi, G. (2008). Spanish-language narration and literacy: Culture, cognition, and emotion.
  • Caspe, M., Melzi, G., McCabe, A., Bailey, A., Melzi, G. (2008). Spanish-speaking Latin American mother-child narrative discourse. Spanish-language narration and literacy: Culture, cognition, and emotion, 6-33.
  • Ely, R., Abrahams, R., MacGibbon, A., McCabe, A. (2007). I beat them all up: Self-representation in young children's personal narratives. Selves and identities in narratives and discourse, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 159-180.
  • Dickinson, D.K., McCabe, A., Essex, M.J. (2006). A window of opportunity we must open to all: The case for preschool with high-quality support for language and literacy. Handbook of early literacy research, 2 11-28.
  • McCabe, A., Peterson, C., Connors, D.M. (2006). Attachment security and narrative elaboration. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 30(5) 398-409.
  • Bliss, L.S., McCabe, A. (2006). Comparison of discourse genres: Clinical implications. Contemporary Issues in Communication Science and Disorders, 33(2) 126-137.
  • McCabe, A., Bliss, L.S. (2006). Struggling to make sense: Patterns of impairment in adult narrative discourse. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 25(4) 321-336.
  • McCabe, A., Bliss, L.S. (2005). Narratives from Spanish-speaking children with impaired and typical language development. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 24(4) 331-346.
  • Dickinson, D.K., McCabe, A., Clark Chiarelli, N., Wolf, A. (2004). Cross-language transfer of phonological awareness in low-income Spanish and English bilingual preschool children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 25(03) 323-347.
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (2004). Echoing Our Parents: Parental Influences on Children's Narration.
  • Dickinson, D.K., McCabe, A., Clark-Chiarelli, N., Stone, C.A., Silliman, E.R., Ehren, B.J., Apel, K. (2004). Preschool-based prevention of reading disability: Realities vs. possibilities. Handbook of language and literacy: Development and disorders, 209-227.
  • Champion, T.B., Hyter, Y.D., McCabe, A., Bland-Stewart, L.M. (2003). A Matter of Vocabulary Performances of Low-Income African American Head Start Children on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 24(3) 121-127.
  • Dickinson, D.K., McCabe, A., Anastasopoulos, L. (2003). A Quick Tour of Prior Research on Book Reading. On Reading Books to Children: Parents and Teachers, 91.
  • McCabe, A., Bliss, L.S. (2003). Patterns of narrative discourse: A multicultural, life span approach.
  • Dickinson, D.K., McCabe, A., Sprague, K. (2003). Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (TROLL): Individualizing early literacy instruction with a standards-based rating tool. The Reading Teacher, 554-564.
  • Dickinson, D.K., McCabe, A., Anastasopoulos, L., Peisner-Feinberg, E.S., Poe, M.D. (2003). The comprehensive language approach to early literacy: The interrelationships among vocabulary, phonological sensitivity, and print knowledge among preschool-aged children. Journal of educational psychology, 95(3) 465.
  • Dickinson, D.K., McCabe, A., Anastasopoulos, L. (2002). A framework for examining book reading in early childhood classrooms.
  • Mainess, K.J., Champion, T.B., McCabe, A. (2002). Telling the Unknown Story Complex and Explicit Narration by African American Preadolescents Preliminary Examination of Gender and Socioeconomic Issues. Linguistics and Education, 13(2) 151-173.
  • CHAMPION, T., McCabe, A., COLINET, Y. (2002). The whole world could hear: The structure of Haitian-American children's narratives. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 22(4) 381-400.
  • Dickinson, D.K., McCabe, A. (2001). Bringing it all together: The multiple origins, skills, and environmental supports of early literacy. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 16(4) 186-202.
  • Ely, R., MacGibbon, A., McCabe, A. (2000). " She Don't Care": Negatives in Children's Narratives. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 46(3) 465-490.
  • Bliss, L.S., Covington, Z., McCabe, A. (1999). Assessing the narratives of African American children. Contemporary Issues in Communication Science and Disorders, 26 160-167.
  • Peterson, C., Jesso, B., McCabe, A. (1999). Encouraging narratives in preschoolers: An intervention study. Journal of child language, 26(1) 49-67.
  • Ely, R., Melzi, G., Hadge, L., McCabe, A. (1998). Being brave, being nice: Themes of agency and communion in children's narratives. Journal of personality, 66(2) 257-284.
  • Miranda, A.E., McCabe, A., Bliss, L.S. (1998). Jumping around and leaving things out: A profile of the narrative abilities of children with specific language impairment. Applied Psycholinguistics, 19 647-668.
  • Bliss, L.S., McCabe, A., Miranda, A.E. (1998). Narrative assessment profile: Discourse analysis for school-age children. Journal of communication disorders, 31(4) 347-363.
  • McCabe, A. (1998). Sentences combined: text and discourse. Psycholinguistics, 275-308.
  • McCabe, A. (1997). Cultural background and storytelling: A review and implications for schooling. The Elementary School Journal, 453-473.
  • McCabe, A., Peterson, C. (1997). Development of Semantic and Pragmatic Usage of Connectives: An Overview. Processing Interclausal Relationships: Studies in the Production and Comprehension of Text, 139.
  • McCabe, A. (1997). Developmental and cross-cultural aspects of children s narration. Narrative development: Six approaches, 137-174.
  • McCabe, A., Mandell, C. (1997). Introduction: The many meanings of meaning. Advances in Psychology, 122 1-13.
  • McCabe, A., Peterson, C. (1997). Meaningful mistakes : The systematicity of children s connectives in narrative discourse and the social origins of this usage about the past. Processing interclausal relationships: Studies in the production and comprehension of text, 139-154.
  • McCabe, A. (1997). Michael Bamberg 4 Developmental and Cross-Cultural Aspects of Children's Narration.
  • McCabe, A. (1997). Narrative threads of metaphor. Advances in Psychology, 122 347-375.
  • Mandell, C., McCabe, A. (1997). The problem of meaning: Behavioral and cognitive perspectives. (122:). North-Holland/Elsevier Science Publishers
  • Ely, R., Gleason, J.B., McCabe, A. (1996). " Why Didn't You Talk to Your Mommy, Honey?": Parents' and Children's Talk About Talk. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 29(1) 7-25.
  • McCabe, A. (1996). Chameleon readers: Teaching children to appreciate all kinds of good stories.
  • Minami, M., McCabe, A. (1996). Compressed collections of experiences. Chameleon readers: Some problems cultural differences in narrative structure pose for multicultural literacy programs, 72-97.
  • Pesco, D., Crago, M.B., McCabe, A. (1996). Context and Structure: Some North American Indian and Aboriginal Traditions.
  • McCabe, A., Rollins, P.R. (1996). Evaluating narrative discourse skills. Assessment of communication and language, 6 121-141.
  • Ely, R., McCabe, A. (1996). Gender differences in memories for speech. International Yearbook of Oral History and Life Stories, 4 17-30.
  • Biddle, K.R., McCabe, A., Bliss, L.S. (1996). Narrative skills following traumatic brain injury in children and adults. Journal of communication disorders, 29(6) 447-469.
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1996). Parental scaffolding of context in children s narratives. Children’s language, 9 183-196.
  • McCabe, A. (1996). Relating events in narrative: a crosslinguistic developmental study. Journal of child language, 23(03) 715-723.
  • Silva, M.J., McCabe, A. (1996). Vignettes of the continuous and family ties: Some Latino American traditions. Chameleon readers: Teaching children to appreciate all kinds of good stories, 116-136.
  • Ely, R., Gleason, J.B., Narasimhan, B., McCabe, A. (1995). Family talk about talk: Mothers lead the way. Discourse Processes, 19(2) 201-218.
  • Minami, M., McCabe, A. (1995). Rice balls and bear hunts: Japanese and North American family narrative patterns. Journal of child language, 22 423-423.
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1994). A social interactionist account of developing decontextualized narrative skill. Developmental psychology, 30(6) 937.
  • McCabe, A., Rollins, P.R. (1994). Assessment of preschool narrative skills. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 3(1) 45.
  • Ely, R., McCabe, A. (1994). The language play of kindergarten children. First Language, 14(40) 19-35.
  • Dickinson, D.K., McCabe, A. (1993). Beyond two-handed reasoning: Commentary on Egan's work. Linguistics and Education, 5(2) 187-194.
  • Ely, R., McCabe, A. (1993). Remembered voices. Journal of child language, 20 671-671.
  • McAllister, H.A., Dale, R.H., Bregman, N.J., McCabe, A., Cotton, C.R. (1993). When eyewitnesses are also earwitnesses: Effects on visual and voice identifications. Basic and applied social psychology, 14(2) 161-170.
  • McCabe, A. (1992). All Kinds of Good Stories.
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1992). Parental styles of narrative elicitation: Effect on children's narrative structure and content. First Language, 12(36) 299-321.
  • Hudson, J.A., Shapiro, L.R., McCabe, A., Peterson, C. (1991). Developing narrative structure. Developing narrative structure.
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1991). Developing narrative structure. Developing narrative structure.
  • Minami, M., McCabe, A. (1991). Haiku as a discourse regulation device: A stanza analysis of Japanese children's personal narratives. Language in Society, 20(4) 577-599.
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1991). Linking children s connective use and narrative macrostructure. Developing narrative structure, 29-53.
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1991). On the threshold of the storyrealm: Semantic versus pragmatic use of connectives in narratives. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Journal of Developmental Psychology; Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Journal of Developmental Psychology.
  • McCabe, A. (1991). Preface: Structure as a way of understanding. Developing narrative structure, 9-17.
  • Dickinson, D., McCabe, A. (1991). The acquisition and development of language: A social interactionist account of language and literacy development.
  • McCabe, A., Capron, E., Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1991). The voice of experience: The recall of early childhood and adolescent memories by young adults. Developing narrative structure, 137-173.
  • Smith, M.W., McCabe, A. (1990). Socrates versus the Drill Sergeant: Dimensions of Variation in Preschool Teachers' Discourse.
  • McCabe, A., Peterson, C. (1990). What makes a narrative memorable. Applied Psycholinguistics, 11(01) 73-82.
  • McCabe, A., Peterson, C. (1988). A comparison of adult's versus children's spontaneous use of because and so. The Journal of genetic psychology, 149(2) 257-268.
  • McCabe, A. (1988). Effect of different contexts on memory for metaphor. Metaphor and Symbol, 3(2) 105-132.
  • McCabe, A., Lipscomb, T.J. (1988). Sex differences in children's verbal aggression. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Journal of Developmental Psychology; Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Journal of Developmental Psychology.
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1988). The connective and as discourse glue. First Language, 8(22) 19-28.
  • McCabe, A. (1987). Children reading and writing: Structures and strategies. Judith A. Langer. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1986. Pp. viii 193. Applied Psycholinguistics, 8(02) 204-207.
  • McCabe, A. (1987). Language games to play with your child.
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1987). The connective and : Do older children use it less as they learn other connectives. Journal of child language, 14(02) 375-381.
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1987). The structure of and coordinations in children's narratives. Journal of psycholinguistic research, 16(5) 467-490.
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1985). A naturalistic study of the production of causal connectives by children. Journal of child language, 12 145-159.
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1985). Understanding because : How important is the task? Journal of psycholinguistic research, 14(2) 199-218.
  • McCabe, A., Peterson, C. (1984). What makes a good story. Journal of psycholinguistic research, 13(6) 457-480.
  • McCabe, A. (1983). Conceptual similarity and the quality of metaphor in isolated sentences versus extended contexts. Journal of psycholinguistic research, 12(1) 41-68.
  • McCabe, A., Peterson, C. (1983). Developing Comprehension vs. Production of" Because" and" So.".
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1983). Developmental psycholinguistics: Three ways of looking at a child's narrative.
  • Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1983). Three ways of looking at a child's narrative: A psycholinguistic analysis.
  • McCabe, A. (1980). . A rhetoric of metaphor: similarity, goodness, memory, and interpretation.
  • McCabe, A. (1980). Memory for Metaphor.
  • Menig-Peterson, C.L., McCabe, A. (1978). Children's orientation of a listener to the context of their narratives. Developmental psychology, 14(6) 582.
  • McCabe, A. (1977). . Metaphor--its Goodness Versus Similarity, and Its Relative Nature.
  • Menig-Peterson, C., McCabe, A. (1977). Children talk about death. OMEGA--Journal of Death and Dying, 8(4) 305-317.

Selected Presentations

  • narrative competency: Innovations in instruction. - American Educational Research Association, - New Orleans, Louisiana.
  • And the Snowman Melted: Narrative Discourse Profiles of Children with ADHD. - 40th Annual Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society (INS), 2012 - Montreal, Quebec.
  • Understanding and Improving the Development of Narrative in Children. - 9th Annual Literacy Conference: Digging Deeper into Literacy., 2012 - Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
  • Bringing out the point of the story: Evaluative Devices in Narratives from Children with and Without Language Impairments. - Biennial EARLI meeting SIG 5 Learning and Development in Early Childhood, 2012 - Utrecht, The Netherlands
  • Development of Personal Narration: The Linguistic Crossroads of Culture, Cognition, & Emotion. - International Conference NIL2012, Narrative, Intervention and Literacy: Development of oral narratives, intervention procedures and reading comprehension, 2012 - Paris, France.
  • Narrative development of young Chinese children with Specific Language Impairment aged 4-6. - International Converence NIL2012, Narrative, Intervention and Literacy: Development of oral narratives, intervention procedures and reading comprehension, 2012 - Paris, France.
  • New Insights, Future Directions. Discussion leaders. - SRCD Strategic Plan Conference on Infants' learning of multiple languages: Development in cultural context., 2011 - New York, NY.
  • Narrative production among children of the African Diaspora: Traditional and alternative analyses. - National Black Association for Speech-Language and Hearing (NBASLH), Short Course, 2009 - Atlanta, GA.
  • Improving language and literacy skills in preschool children from disadvantaged backgrounds: Remembering Writing, and Reading. - American Educational Research Association (AERA), 2008 - New York, NY.
  • Afro-Caribbean and Indigenous Costa Rican children's narratives and links with other traditions. - Invited Panel at Georgetown University Roundtable, 2008 - Washington, D.C.
  • Attachment security and narrative elaboration: Forensic implications. - XXX the International Congress on Law and Mental Health., 2007 - Padua, Italy.
  • Parental narrative input: A mechanism for straightening out the leap-frog? - American Psychological Society, 2005 - Los Angeles, California.
  • (Keynote speaker) Grasping the Whole Elephant: The Comprehensive Language Approach to Early Literacy and Developing narrative at school: Why, where, and how? - International Conferences on Narrative Inquiry at Teachers' colleges in Taipei, Tainan, and Taitung, Taiwan., 2004 - Charlottesville, Virginia
  • - Nell Dukes, George Graham Lecture in Reading, 2004 - Charlottesville, Virginia.
  • Separation: The relationship of attachment security to narrative structure. - Social sources of narrative and literacy, organized by S. Srivastava at the annual meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, 2004 - Toronto, Canada.
  • From first spoken words to first printed words: Children's home and preschool experiences with narrative discourse. - Society for Research in Child Development, 2003 - Tampa, FL.
  • The whole world could hear: The structure of Haitian American children's narratives. - Transition to literacy through language, organized by E. Reese at the annual meeting of the Jean Piaget Society,, 2003 - Chicago, IL.
  • Narrative Discourse: Optimal clinical choices. - Annual Convention of the American Speech- Hearing-Language Association, 2002 - Atlanta, GA.
  • Performance of African American Head Start Children on the PPVT III. - Annual Convention of the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association, 2002 - Atlanta, GA.
  • Too many missed opportunities: Teacher-child verbal interaction in U.S. Head Start Classrooms. - Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders (SRCLD) and the International Congress for the Study of Child Language, 2002 - Madison, Wisconsin.
  • Methods but no stories: Multicultural children's discourse genre analyses. - Annual Convention of the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association, 2001 - New Orleans, LA.
  • A framework for examining book use in preschool classrooms. - Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement annual session, 2001 - San Antonio, Texas.
  • Cultural competence in narration: We need chameleon readers in the 21st century. - Eleventh Core Knowledge National Conference, 2001 - Nashville, Tennessee.
  • Bilingual narratives of Hispanic children with and without language impairments. - Annual Convention of American Speech-Hearing-Language Association, 2000 - Washington, D.C.
  • Meeting early childhood standards for speaking and listening while appreciating cultural differences. - National Association for the Education of Young Children's (NAEYC'S) National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development, 2000 - San Francisco, CA.
  • Effort after meaning: Parental influences on children's evaluations in narratives of past personal experiences. - Seventh International Pragmatics Conference, 2000 - Budapest, Hungary.
  • Narratives of School-Age Spanish-speaking children. - Annual Convention of the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association, 1999 - San Francisco, CA.
  • We didn't get no ticket: Negatives in Children's Narratives. - Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1999 - Albuquerque, NM.
  • - George Graham Lectures in Reading, 1999 - Charlottesville, VA.
  • Encouraging Narration in Children. - International Association for the Study of Child Language, VIIIth International Congress, 1999 - Denostia-San Sabastian, Spain.
  • Translating narrative structure: The use of multiple methods and perspectives to arrive at cross-cultural understanding. - Research Conference on narrative analysis in a multicultural society, 1999 - Tampa, FL.
  • Children's personal narratives: A route to linguistic pluralism. - 48th annual meeting of the National Reading Conference, 1998 - Austin, TX.
  • Ways of analyzing narrative data: An introduction. - Radcliffe seminar on Narrative, Discourse, and the Presentation of Evidence in the Portfolio Process, 1998 - Cambridge, MA.
  • Narrative assessment profile: A multicultural lifespan approach. - Annual Convention of the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association, 1997 - Boston, MA.
  • Children's personal narratives: A route to linguistic pluralism. - 46th annual meeting of the National Reading Conference, 1996 - Charleston, SC.
  • Narrative deficits of children and adults with T.B.I. - Annual Convention of the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association, 1995 - Orlando, FL.
  • Narrative and Self. - Boston Area Cultural Psychology Conference, 1995 - Cambridge, MA.
  • Seminar in honor of James Deese. - 65th annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, 1994 - Providence, RI.
  • Parent support for children's narrative development. - American Educational Research Association, Language and Literacy Strand, 1994 - New Orleans, LA.
  • Jumping around and leaving things out: Assessing disordered narration. - Annual Convention of the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association, 1994 - New Orleans, LA.
  • - Edmund Hardcastle Henderson Roundtable in Reading, University of Virginia, 1994 - Charlottesville, VA.
  • - Foundations of reading instruction: Narrative and literacy., 1994 - Charlottesville, VA.
  • Parent support for children's narrative development. - Language and Literacy Strand at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, 1994 - New Orleans, LA.
  • All kinds of good stories. - Psychology of Women Seminar Series, 1994 - Lowell, MA.
  • A bridge over separation: Parent-child narrative exchange during reunion episodes. - biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1993 - New Orleans, LA.
  • Creating learning communities: Family literacy., 1993 - Boston, MA.
  • All kinds of good stories. - Language and Literacy Seminar, 1993 - Cambridge, MA.
  • Symposium on Narrative. - New England Child Language Association (N.E.C.L.A.), 1993 - Boston, MA.
  • Symposium on Talk about Talk: Parent-Child Conversation as a Cradle for Metalinguistic and Pragmatic Development. - Sixth International Congress for the Study of Child Language, 1993 - Trieste, Italy.
  • Remembered voices. - Society for Research in Child Development, 1993 - New Orleans, LA.
  • Creating learning communities: Family literacy. - Teleconference with Educational Development Corporation, 1993 - Boston, MA.
  • What did you do in school today? - Medford Early Childhood Research Council, 1992 - Medford, MA.
  • Chameleon readers: What multicultural literacy programs might do with cultural differences in narrative structure. - Narrative and Literacy Development: A Focus on Cultural Differences, 1992 - San Antonio, Texas, Cambridge, MA.
  • "Getting your point across": Contrastive sequencing in low-income African-American and Latino Children's personal narratives. - 16th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, 1991 - Boston, Massachusetts, and at Harvard University
  • Rice balls versus bear hunts: Japanese and Caucasian family narrative patterns. - 16th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, 1991 - Boston, MA.
  • Assessment of preschool narrative skills: Prerequisite for literacy. - Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association,, 1991 - Atlanta, GA.
  • Socrates versus the drill sergeant: Dimensions of variation in preschool teachers' talk to children. - American Educational Research Association, 1990 - Boston, MA.
  • Plans, routines, and memories: Inspired telling - a response to Katherine Nelson. - New England Symposium on Narrative Studies in the Social Sciences, 1990 - Worcester, MA.
  • Strategies for developing narrative structure in a preschool setting. - Annual meeting of American Educational Research Association, 1989 - San Francisco, CA.
  • Effects of line-up modality on eyewitness/earwitness performance. - first annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, 1989 - Alexandria, VA.
  • What did you do in school today? Parental elicitation styles and children's narrative skill. - Spring Colloquium Series, 1989 - Cambridge, MA.
  • Sex differences in the interpretation of verbal aggression. - American Psychological Association, 1986 - Washington, D.C.
  • The function of sentential connectives in discourse. - American Psychological Association, 1985 - Los Angeles, CA.
  • Causal connectives in conversation: Use of "because" and "so" by children versus adults. - Society for Research in Child Development, 1985 - Toronto, Canada.
  • The development of sex differences in verbal aggression. - Society for Research in Child Development, 1985 - Toronto, Canada.
  • The perceptual qualities of metaphors in various contexts. - International Society of Ecological Psychology, 1983 - Long Island, NY.
  • Developing comprehension versus production of "because". - Society for Research in Child Development, 1983 - Detroit, MI
  • Memory for metaphor in the context of spontaneous speech. - American Psychological Association, 1981 - Los Angeles, CA.
  • Alternative structures in children's personal narratives. - Society for Research in Child Development, 1981 - Boston, MA.
  • Memory for metaphor. - Eastern Psychological Association, 1980 - Hartford, CT
  • Interpretation of figurative speech in prose context. - Southeastern Psychological Association, 1980 - Washington, D.C.
  • Structure of children's narratives. - Society for Research in Child Development, 1977 - New Orleans, LA.

Selected Contracts, Fellowships, Grants and Sponsored Research

  • Understanding Triumphs and Challenges of Immigration and Adaptation: An Innovative Model for Economic and Social Integration Success (2014), Grant - UMass President’s Office 2014 Creative Economy Initiatives Fund
    Dinh, K.T. (Principal), Ho, I.K. (Co-Principal), McCabe, A. (Co-Principal), Sladkova, J. (Co-Principal)
  • Life Experiences of Southeast Asian Youth: Acculturation, Social Influences, and Well-Being (2011), Grant - Research, Scholarship, and Creative Work Seed Grants
    Dinh, K.T. (Principal), McCabe, A. (Co-Principal)
  • "I want to talk about how the policemen took Daddy away in the middle of the night": How children of deported parents make sense of the deportation. (2011), Grant - Healey Grant
  • Exploring Identity and Family Relationships in Latino and Asian Adolescents and Young Adults through Personal Narratives and Life Stories. (2011), Grant - UMass President's Office, Creative Economy Initiatives Fund
  • Life Experiences of Southeast Asian Youth: Acculturation, Social Influences, and Well-Being. (2011), Grant - Research Scholarship, Creative Work Seed Grants
  • Boosting oral language skills prerequisite for literacy acquisition in preschool children from disadvantaged backgrounds. (2007), Grant - The Theodore Edson Parker Foundation
    McCabe, A.
  • Boosting Language and Literacy Skills in Preschool Children from Disadvantaged Backgrounds: Theory into Practice (Year Two). (2006), Grant - CFCI
  • Boosting Language and Literacy Skills in Preschool Children from Disadvantaged Backgrounds: Theory into Practice. (2005), Grant - CFCI
    McCabe, A.
  • Cambodian Storytelling (1997), Grant - Council on Diversity and Pluralism.
  • Take ALL Our Daughters To College Day (1995), Grant - Council on Diversity and Pluralism
    McCabe, A.
  • Take ALL Our Daughters To College Day (1995), Grant - Public Service Endowment Fund
    McCabe, A.
  • Latino Children's Narrative Style (1992), Grant - Harvard University Faculty Research Fund
  • Learning to tell narratives�Longitudinal and interactional investigations of skill acquisition in children. (1990), Grant - National Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada
  • Training preschool children in preliteracy skills. (1990), Grant - Department of Secretary of State of Canada
  • The development of narrative skill in young listeners. (1987), Grant - National Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada
  • Linguistic representation of causal & temporal relationships in the speech of both children and adults. (1984), Grant - National Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada
  • Causal Thinking of Conduct Disordered, Aggressive Children (1985), Grant - State of Louisiana
    McCabe, A.
  • Development of Sex Differences in Verbal Aggression (1985), Grant - State of Louisiana
    McCabe, A.
  • Linguistic representation of causal & temporal relationships in the speech of both children and adults. (1981), Grant - National Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada