Sinead Mcnally

Dr

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SPC M 219
T:Ext. 9150

E:Sinead.McNally@dcu.ie

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Mov219

T:Ext. 9150

E:Sinead.McNally@dcu.ie

Member



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Sinéad McNally is Associate Professor of Psychology and Early Childhood Education at the DCU Institute of Education.

Sinéad leads the research group, the Early Language and Learning Lab, which investigates children's development in early education contexts. Her research on inclusion, play, reading and STEM has been funded through the Irish Research Council, the Science Foundation Ireland, the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South, and the Childhood Development Initiative. 

Sinéad is deeply committed to child-centred research and inclusive teaching, and holds several positions of responsibility in early childhood research and in the wider community:  she was appointed to the Research Ethics Committee at the St Michael's House Services for People with Disabilities in 2021, and she sits on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Early Years Education, the International Journal of Early Childhood, and the Journal of Early Childhood Studies.

In 2022, Sinéad received the President's Award for Research Impact for her research in early childhood education.

She welcomes enquiries from prospective doctoral and post-doctoral researchers in early child development, inclusive education, shared reading and play.

Peer Reviewed Journal

Year Publication
2022 Leech, K.A.; McNally, S.; Daly, M.; Corriveau, K.H. (2022) 'Unique effects of book-reading at 9-months on vocabulary development at 36-months: Insights from a nationally representative sample of Irish families'. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 58 . [Link] [DOI]
2022 McNally, Sinead; Downes, Paul; O'Halloran, Laura; Kent, Grainne; O'Neill, Sandra (2022) ''The whole world was lifted off me': the importance of relational supports and peer mentoring for under-represented students accessing university in Ireland'. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 46 (10). [DOI]
2022 O'Keeffe, Christina; McNally, Sinead (2022) 'Teacher experiences of facilitating play in early childhood classrooms during COVID-19'. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 20 (4). [DOI]
2023 Gilligan, Therese; McNally, Sinead; Lovett, Judy; Farell, Therese; Kumar, Sona; McLoughlin, Eilish; Corriveau, Kathleen (2023) 'Persistence in Science Play and Gender: Findings from Early Childhood Classrooms in Ireland'. Early Education and Development, 34 (4). [DOI]
2021 O’Keeffe, C.; McNally, S. (2021) '‘Uncharted territory’: teachers’ perspectives on play in early childhood classrooms in Ireland during the pandemic'. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 29 . [Link] [DOI]
2020 Gilligan, T.; Lovett, J.; McLoughlin, E.; Murphy, C.; Finlayson, O.; Corriveau, K.; McNally, S. (2020) '‘We practise every day’: parents’ attitudes towards early science learning and education among a sample of urban families in Ireland'. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 28 . [Link] [DOI]
2020 O'Keeffe, C & McNally, S (2020) 'Review Paper on the Potential of Play to Support the Development of Relationships among Young Children on the Autism Spectrum'. An Leanbh Óg: OMEP Ireland journal of early childhood studies, 13 .
2019 McNally, S.; McCrory, C.; Quigley, J.; Murray, A. (2019) 'Decomposing the social gradient in children's vocabulary skills at 3 years of age: A mediation analysis using data from a large representative cohort study'. Infant Behavior and Development, 57 . [Link] [DOI]
2019 McNally, Sinead; Darmody, Merike; Quigley, Jean (2019) 'The socio-emotional development of language-minority children entering primary school in Ireland'. Irish Educational Studies, 38 (4). [DOI]
2016 McNally, S., Kent, G., Fagan, B., & Bleach, J. (2016) 'Knowledge Exchange in Early Childhood Research and Practice: Findings from the Early Learning Initiative and the National College of Ireland'. An Leanbh Óg: OMEP Ireland journal of early childhood studies, .
2016 Hyland, Philip; Shevlin, Mark; McNally, Sinead; Murphy, Jamie; Hansen, Maj; Elklit, Ask (2016) 'Exploring differences between the ICD-11 and DSM-5 models of PTSD: Does it matter which model is used?'. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 37 :48-53. [DOI]
2016 Quigley, Jean; McNally, Sinead; Lawson, Sarah (2016) 'Prosodic Patterns in Interaction of Low-Risk and at-Risk-of-Autism Spectrum Disorders Infants and Their Mothers at 12 and 18 Months'. Language Learning and Development, 12 (3):295-310. [DOI]
2014 McNally, Sinead; Quigley, Jean (2014) 'An Irish Cohort Study of Risk and Protective Factors for Infant Language Development at 9 Months'. Infant and Child Development, 23 (6):634-649. [DOI]
2014 McNally, S., Share, M., & Murray, A. (2014) 'Prevalence and predictors of grandparent childcare in Ireland: Findings from a nationally representative sample of infants and their families'. Child Care in Practice, 20 (2):182-193.
2013 McCrory, Cathal; McNally, Sinead (2013) 'The Effect of Pregnancy Intention on Maternal Prenatal Behaviours and Parent and Child Health: Results of an Irish Cohort Study'. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 27 (2):208-215. [DOI]
2013 Quigley, Jean and McNally, Sin\'ead (2013) 'Maternal communicative style in interaction with infant siblings of children with Autism'. 4 (1):51-69.
2013 McNally, S. (2013) 'Growing Up in Ireland, the National Longitudinal Study of Children: An Evidence Base for Policy in Early Childhood Education and Care'. An Leanbh Óg: OMEP Ireland journal of early childhood studies, .
2013 Smith, G. & McNally, S. (2013) 'A Three-Pronged Approach to Early Intervention Speech and 119 Language Therapy Delivery in the Community'. An Leanbh Óg: OMEP Ireland journal of early childhood studies, .
2012 McNally, Thomas and McNally, Sin\'ead (2012) 'Chomsky and Wittgenstein on Linguistic Competence'. .
2012 Quigley, J and McNally, S (2012) 'Maternal response patterns to infant vocalisations: A comparison of at-genetic-risk-for-autism (HR) infants and a group of low-risk (LR) controls'. 60 (5).
2012 McNally, S. & Bourke, A. (2012) 'Factors affecting periconceptional folic acid supplementation in a nationally representative sample of mothers in Ireland'. Irish Medical Journal, 105 (7).
2024 McNally, S.; Leech, K.A.; Corriveau, K.H.; Daly, M. (2024) 'Indirect Effects of Early Shared Reading and Access to Books on Reading Vocabulary in Middle Childhood'. Scientific Studies of Reading, 28 (1). [Link] [DOI]

Edited Book

Year Publication
2018 Guerin, S., Hayes, N. & McNally, S (Ed.). (2018) Research and Evaluation in Community, Health and Social Care Settings: Experiences from Practice. London: Routledge,

Book Chapter

Year Publication
2018 McNally, S., Murphy, T., Morgan, M., & Keegan, S. (2018) 'Governance and Ethics in Community Research and Evaluation' In: Research and Evaluation in Community, Health and Social Care Settings. London : Routledge.

Published Report

Year Publication
2016 McNally, S. & Downes, P. (2016) Evaluation of University College Dublin’s ‘Future You’ Peer Support Access Initiative: A Relational, Community Development Systemic Outreach Approach. University College Dublin, .
2014 Greene, S., Morgan, M., McCrory, C. & McNally, S. (2014) Growing up in Ireland: review of the literature pertaining to the second wave of data collection with the infant cohort at three years. Dublin, .
2013 McGinnity, Frances and Murray, Aisling and McNally, Sinead (2013) Growing Up in Ireland: Mothers' Return to Work and Childcare Choices for Infants in Ireland. Department of Children and Youth Affairs, .
2013 Williams, J., Murray, A., McCrory, C., & McNally, S. (2013) Growing Up in Ireland national longitudinal study of children: development from birth to three years infant cohort. Department of Children and Youth Affairs, .
2010 Williams, J., Greene, S., McNally, S., Murray, A., & Quail, A. (2010) Growing up in Ireland national longitudinal study of children: the infants and their families. Department of Children and Youth Affairs, .
2008 Williams, J and Greene, S and Doyle, E and Harris, E and McDaid, R and McNally, S and Merriman, B and Nixon, E and Swords, L. (2008) Growing Up in Ireland -- National Longitudinal Study of Children [collection], Maynooth, Co. Kildare: Irish Qualitative Data Archive. Irish Qualitative Data Archive, .

Conference Contribution

Year Publication
2022 O' Keeffe, Christina; McNally, Sinead; O'Toole, Andrea; Liu, Weiyi; Lake, Gillian (2022) 22nd European Conference on Literacy and the 46th Annual Conference of the Literacy Association of A Scoping Review of Early Childhood Education Literacy Instruction for Young Autistic Learners Dublin, .
2021 Lieu, Weiyi; McNally, Sinead; Lake, Gillian (2021) Early Childhood Ireland Research Symposium Shared Book Reading in bilingual Irish-Chinese families and monolingual Irish families in Early Childhood online, .
2020 Sinead McNally (2020) EECERA Convocation: International Narratives about COVID – 19 and Early Childhood International Conference hosted by the European Early Childhood Education Research Association Virtual, 27/10/2020-28/10/2020.
2020 Quigley, J., & McNally, S. (2020) International Congress of Infant Studies 2020 Maternal Infant-Directed Speech and ASibs’ Language and Joint Attention Virtual, 06/07/2020-09/07/2020.
2019 McNally, S., McCrory, C., Quigley, J., & Murray, A. (2019) Lancaster Conference on Infant and Early Child Development A mediation analysis of the relationship between maternal education and children's vocabulary at 36 months Lancaster University, UK, 21/08/2019-23/08/2019.
2019 McNally, S., Leech, K., & Corriveau, K. (2019) Cognitive Development Society Biennial Meeting Literacy practices with infants at 9 months and vocabulary skills at 36 months Louisville, Kentucky USA, .
2019 McNally, S., Gilligan, T., McLoughlin, E., Lovett, J., Farrell, T., & Corriveau, K. (2019) Cognitive Development Society Biennial Meeting Persistence in science in the face of failure: investigating language effects on young children's engagement and motivation in the classroom Louisville, Kentucky USA, .
2016 McNally, S. & Downes, P. (2016) 25th European Access Network (EAN) Conference, Retrospective for Perspective Access and Widening Participation 1991-2041 Impact of a mentoring programme to support access to higher education. Evaluation of University College Dublin’s Future You Peer Support Access Initiative: A Relational, Community Development Systemic Outreach Approach University College Dublin, 30/05/2016-31/05/2016.
2015 Plug, M., McNally, S. & Quigley, J. (2015) Autism and the Foundations of Language and Communication Interdisciplinary Conference on Autism and Language Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute, 27/03/2015-29/03/2015.
2015 Quigley, J. & McNally, S. (2015) Child Language Symposium Maternal education and child language University of Warwick, .
2015 McNally, S., Kent, G., Fagan, B., & Bleach, J. (2015) OMEP Ireland AGM and Annual Research Conference Knowledge exchange in early childhood research and practice Cork, .
2015 McNally, S., Quigley, J., McCrory, C., & Murray, A. (2015) International Convention for Psychological Science Identifying resilience in early child language development Amsterdam, .
2014 Guerin, S; Hayes, N; McNally, S (2014) Realising Real-World Research: Research and Evaluation in Challenging Times’ Interdisciplinary conference on real-world research in Ireland Ashling Hotel, Dublin, .
2014 McNally, S., Share, M., Kerrins, L., & Carey, S. (2014) Annual Children's Research Network in Ireland and Northern Ireland Conference Examining the role of grandparents in early childhood education Dublin, .
2013 McNally, S. (2013) Childhood Development Initiative Primary Care Seminar Using key findings from CDI's independent evaluations to inform primary care policy and practice Dublin, .
2012 McGinnity, F., Murray, A., & McNally, S. (2012) Growing Up in Ireland Annual Conference Childcare use and choice in a nationally representative sample of children in Ireland Dublin, .
2012 McNally, S. (2012) Respond Annual Conference Voice of community Dublin, .
2012 Quigley, J. & McNally, S. (2012) Early Language Acquisition Conference Maternal response patterns to infant vocalisations Lyon, France, .
2012 Smith, G. & McNally, S. (2012) Institute of Public Health Conference Creating a health promoting school environment Belfast, .
2012 McNally, S. (2012) Annual Children's Research Network in Ireland and Northern Ireland Conference Research child outcomes: implementing rigorous evaluations in the community Dublin, .
2011 McNally, S., Bourke, A. & McCrory, C. (2011) Growing Up in Ireland Annual Conference, Dublin Determinants of periconceptional folic acid supplementation in Ireland: findings from the Infant Cohort of Growing Up in Ireland Dublin, Ireland, .
2011 Quigley, J. & McNally, S. (2011) International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) conference A longitudinal analysis of maternal infant directed speech to preverbal infants San Diego, California, .
2010 McNally, S. (2010) Growing Up in Ireland Annual Conference Childcare in Ireland Dublin, .
2008 McNally, S. & Quigley, J. (2008) British Psychological Society Conference Theory in practice: behaviour theory and autism intervention Dublin, .
2021 O'Keeffe, Christina; McNally, Sinéad (2021) Play 2021 Prioritising play in the return to a ‘new normal’: teachers’ approaches to play in the early childhood classroom during the pandemic Birmingham University, .
2021 O'Keeffe, Christina; Coulter, Maura; McNally, Sinéad (2021) AIESEP Early Years Special Interest Group Physical activity and play in the early years curriculum and education settings – Ireland Banff, Canada, .
2019 O'Keeffe, Christina; McNally, Sinéad; Balfe, Tish (2019) OMEP Ireland Annual Conference The empowering role of play in supporting the socioemotional development and learning of pupils on the Autism Spectrum Munster Technological University, .

Invited Seminars

Year Publication
2022 Sinead McNally (2022) Early shared reading and play for young children’s wellbeing and development during the pandemic: Findings from Ireland. University of Stavanger, Norway: INVS
2019 Sinead McNally (2019) An investigation of essentialist beliefs about science in early childhood and the potential impact of language on girls' persistence and motivation. Department of Psychology, Maynooth University: INVS
2019 Sinead McNally (2019) Using Language to Support Science Learning and Engagement in Early Childhood. Early Childhood Research Centre, Dublin City University: INVS

Research Paper

Year Publication
2020 O'Keeffe, Christina & McNally, Sinéad (2020) Perspectives of early childhood teachers in Ireland on the role of play during the pandemic. RP https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/q74e9

Online Database

Year Publication
2014 Quigley, J. & McNally, S. (2014) Mother-infant interaction corpus: Infant siblings at risk of autism spectrum disorders and typically developing infants. Archived Dataset in CHILDES. ONDB

Other Journal

Year Publication
2023 Kristy Howells, Alethea Jerebine, Wouter Cools, Eva D’Hondt, Kristine De Martelaer, Eline Coppens, Helena Sienaert, Nathan Hall, Jinxia Dong, Anne Soini, Christina O’Keeffe, Maura Coulter, Sinéad McNally, Patricia McCaffrey , Patrizia Tortella, Aldo M. Costa, Andrea Hernández-Martinez, Ann-Christin Sollerhed, Mark Urtel, Debra Vinci, Christopher Wirth, Carla Vidoni, Arja Sääkslahti (2023) 'Physical play - How do we inspire and motivate young children to be physically active through play? An International Analysis of Twelve Countries’ National Early Years Curriculum Policies and Practices for Physical Activity and Physical Play' Journal of Early Childhood Education Research, .
2015 McNally, S. & Maguire, R. (2015) 'Keep calm and carry on: self-regulation in early childhood education settings' :47-53.
2013 Casey, C., McNally, S., O'Keefe, A., & Quinn, M. (2013) 'Restorative practices in action: Tallaght West - a case study' 2 (1) :63-70.

Other Publication

Year Publication
2023 O’Keeffe, C.; McNally, S. (2023) A Systematic Review of Play-Based Interventions Targeting the Social Communication Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Educational Contexts. [Link] [DOI]
Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2024) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

Professional Associations

Association Function From / To
Psychological Society of Ireland Graduate Member -
Children's Research Network for Ireland and Northern Ireland Member -
Cognitive Development Society Member -
International Congress of Infant Studies Member -

Honors and Awards

Date Title Awarding Body
01/05/2022 President's Award for Research Impact Dublin City University
06/12/2021 Irish Research Council Research Ally Irish Research Council
01/01/2019 DCU Institute of Education Fellowship Dublin City University
01/01/2018 Boston University Faculty Fellowship Boston University

Education

Start date Institution Qualification Subject
Trinity College Dublin PhD
Trinity College Dublin B.A. (Mod.)

Committees

Committee Function From / To
International Journal of Early Years Education 01/09/2017 - 20/10/2021
Faculty Research Committee 01/10/2019 - 01/10/2022
Programme Board Masters of Education 01/01/2018 - 01/09/2020
Programme Board Bachelor of Early Childhood Education 01/10/2016 - 01/06/2022

Languages

Language Reading Writing Speaking
French Functional Functional Functional

Outreach Activities

Year Engagement Type Organisation Description
2022 Advisory Work St Michael's House External academic member of the Research Ethics Committee at SMH
2021 Advisory Work St Michael's House External Academic on the Research Ethics Committee at St Michael's House
2021 Advisory Work Dublin Northwest Area Partnership Board Director
2020 Advisory Work Dublin Northwest Area Partnership Chair of Governance Committee at the DNWAP
2019 Advisory Work Dublin Northwest Area Partnership Board Director at DNWAP and advisor on educational initiatives at the DNWAP.
2019 Educational Outreach/Public Engagement Dublin City University Taste of DCU - Young children's early learning and engagement
2018 Educational Outreach/Public Engagement Dublin City University Taste of DCU - grandparents as childcare providers in Ireland

Media

Title Year Type Authors
Reading to babies has large effect on vocabulary by age of three 2022 Newspaper article (Print) Valerie Flynn, The Sunday Times
Shared book reading with infants in Ireland 2022 Radio Interviews Clem Ryan on KFM
Limerick Today with Joe Nash 2020 Radio interview/panel discussion Limerick 95FM
Dr. Sinéad McNally, Survey Highlights Teachers Concerns about Play and Play Based Lessons 2020 Radio Interviews Near FM Northside Today
Kildare Today with Clem Ryan 2020 Radio Interviews KFM radio
Teachers concerned over capacity for children's play when schools return-study 2020 Newspaper article (online) Irish Examiner
The Healing Power of a Mother's Voice 2014 Newspaper article (Print) The Irish Independent
Quarter of children surveyed obese or overweight 2013 Newspaper article (Print) The Irish Times

Research Interests

Developmental Psychology; Play in Early Childhood Education; Shared Reading; Language Development and Learning; Socio-emotional Development; Autism

Research Projects

Title Role Description Start date End date
Autism-Friendly Schools: A Scoping Study for the Inclusion of Autistic Pupils’ Perspectives on Special Educational Needs DCU PI 01/09/2022 31/08/2024
Play for Inclusive Education across the Island of Ireland DCU PI 25/10/2021 30/11/2022
Investigating the role of play in early childhood educational contexts DCU PI 15/05/2020 30/06/2022
UCD Centre for Life Long Learning and Access: Evaluation of Future You Peer Mentoring Programme Co-PI 01/09/2015 30/06/2016
Autism and the Foundations of Language and Communication PI 01/10/2014 20/03/2015
Mother's Infant Directed speech in face to face interaction with infant siblings of children with ASD Post-Doctoral Fellow 01/12/2008 01/12/2010
Book Reading in Early Childhood Education: A Context for Vocabulary Development and Early Literacy DCU PI 01/05/2020 31/12/2021

Contract Researchers

Researcher Name Project Funding Body
Dr Aoife Lynam Autism-Friendly Schools - COALESCE Study
Dr Therese Gilligan Let's Talk about STEM
Dr Judy Lovett Let's Talk about STEM
Dr Laura O'Halloran Contemporary Barriers in Access to Higher Education
Ciarán Ramsbottom Autism Friendly Schools Project
Dr Lisa Keenan Autism Friendly Schools Project - COALESCE

Current Postgraduate Students

Student Name Degree Supervision
Liu ,Weiyi PhD Supervisor
O Keeffe ,Christina PhD Supervisor
O'Toole ,Andrea PhD-track Supervisor
Canavan ,Siobhan Doctor of Education Supervisor

External Collaborators

Type Name Company Role
External Kathleen Corriveau Boston University Academic
External Kathryn Leech University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Academic
External Jenny Gibson Cambridge University Academic
External Jean Quigley Trinity College Dublin Academic
External Michael Daly Maynooth University Academic
External Victoria Simms University of Ulster Academic

Teaching Interests

Teaching Interests:
Developmental Psychology; Research Methods; Psycholinguistics; Autism Spectrum Disorder and Atypical Development

I coordinate the Psychology and Dissertation modules on the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education:
EC101 Child Development 1
EC201 Child Development 2
EC207 Psychological Perspectives
EC406 Dissertations 1 Research Methods
EC407 Dissertations 2 and Research Tutorials

I also contribute to Professional Practice modules on the BECE programme and have coordinated postgraduate teaching on the Master's of Education on contemporary research in Early Childhood Education.




Modules Coordinated

Term Title Subject
2022 Child Development 1 EC101
2020 Child Development 2 EC201
2022 Psychological Perspectives EC207
2022 Dissertation 1 (Research Methods) EC406
2022 Dissertation 2 and Research Tutorials EC407