dr. S. (Steffie) van der Steen

I have always been fascinated by child-adult interactions and how these contribute to child development, whether it are caregiver-child interactions or teacher-student interactions. My studies are often longitudinal, and often include children with developmental disabilities.

After obtaining my Master’s at Harvard University, I became an expert in micro-developmental research. This means I take detailed observations of natural interactions, and analyze behaviors in real-time. Later on, I started to focus on human-animal interactions, particularly for children and youth with developmental difficulties or mental problems.

As associate professor, I work on several projects (see below). Particularly worth mentioning are:

• A collaboration with young experience experts on the impact of psychiatric assistance dogs on well-being of young people and bottlenecks in funding them (funded by ZonMw, file number 07440122230023)
• Veni grant 2018: (How) Does Animal-Assisted Therapy Work?

  Animal-assisted therapy is gaining popularity, but there is no conclusive evidence for its effect. This study investigates the effect of dog-assisted therapy for children with Down Syndrome and Autism, and looks for a possible mechanism to explain this effect: Increased synchronization between the movements of child and therapy dog (funded by NWO, file number: 016.Veni.195.247).

• Author of the international/EU edition of the textbook "Child Development: Context, Culture, and Cascades"
• With Richard Griffioen (PhD candidate, graduated): Project on animal-assisted therapy for children with Down syndrome and Autism spectrum disorders
• With Lisette de Jonge-Hoekstra (PhD candidate, graduated): Project on the attunement of speech and gestures during interactions with other students and scientific tasks
• With Anne Steenbakkers (postdoc researcher): Project on the psychosocial needs of youth in family foster care and the impact of traumatic experiences