Dr. Gagnon is an Associate Professor of Psychology and a member of Appalachian State University’s Master of Arts & Specialist in School Psychology Program. Since arriving at Appalachian in 2002, she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in educational psychology, child and adolescent psychology, psychological tests & measurements, psychoeducational assessment, and emotional-behavioral assessment. In 2020, Dr. Gagnon was presented with Appalachian State’s Academy of Outstanding Teachers Award.
Dr. Gagnon is actively involved in the North Carolina Association of School Psychologists as a previous Mountain Regional Representative and member of the Racial Equity Ad Hoc Committee, as well as a current member of the School Safety Committee. Dr. Gagnon contributes to the National Association of School Psychologists as a Reviewer for the NASP Program Accreditation Board.
Dr. Gagnon’s primary research areas include high school and college bullying and preschool temperament, assessment, and intervention. She also studies approaches to teaching psychoeducational assessment and reducing examiner errors in test administration.
Please click here to see Dr. Gagnon's CV.
Research Areas and Relevant Publications and Presentations (bold denotes current or former students)
High School and College Bullying: Mental Health, Coping, Personality, and Emotion Regulation
Gagnon, S. G., Gough, C. J., McAlister, C., Moyer, N., Rojas, S., Kidder-Ashley, P., Glaze, M. Rector, R., & Gallatin, B. (2022). Emerging adults and COVID-19: How are they faring? Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Boston, MA.
Gagnon, S. G., McAlister, C., Kidder-Ashley, P., Rojas, S., Moyer, N., Gough, C. J., & Bingman, A. (2022, February). Let’s focus on our LGBTQ students: Bullying and mental health. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Boston, MA.
Gagnon, S. G., Moyer, N., Gough, C. J., McAlister, C., & Rojas, S., Kidder-Ashley, P., & Bingman, A (2022, February). Late adolescent cyberbullying versus face-to-face bullying: Exploring reasons. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Boston, MA.
Gough, C. J., Moyer, N., McAlister, C., Rojas, S., Breitenstein, R., Gagnon, S. G., Kidder-Ashley, P., & Augustine, E. (2022, February). Social support and coping strategies among bullied individuals. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Boston, MA.
Kidder-Ashley, P., Shelton, A., Winner, B., Pages, M., & Gagnon, S. G. (2020, February). Late-adolescent targets of bullying: Personality characteristics, coping strategies, social support. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Baltimore, MD.
Kidder-Ashley, P., Shelton, A., Winner, B., Pages, M., & Gagnon, S. G. (2020, February). Late-adolescent targets of bullying: Personality characteristics, coping strategies, social support. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Baltimore, MD.
Kidder-Ashley, P., Patel, N., Ray, M., & Gagnon, S. G. (2018, February). Bullying and Mental Health Outcomes from High School to College. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Chicago, IL
Correlates of Preschool Child Temperament
Gagnon, S. G., Huelsman, T. J., Kidder-Ashley, P., & Lewis Heffner, A. (2019). Preschool student-teacher relationships and student-specific teaching stress. Early Childhood Education Journal, 47, 217-225. doi: 10.1007/s10643-018-0920-z
Gagnon, S. G., Huelsman, T. J., Reichard, A. E., Kidder-Ashley, P., Griggs, M. S., Struby, J., & Bollinger, J. (2014). Help me Play! parental Behaviors, child temperament, and preschool peer play. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23, 872–884. doi: 10.1007/s10826-013-9743-0
Gagnon, S. G., Huelsman, T. J., Shaftlein, K., Ashley, P. K., & Butts, A. (2013, February). Understanding teachers’ experiences: Student-teacher relationships and teaching stress. Poster presented at the North Carolina School Psychology Association, Cary, NC.
Huelsman, T. J., Gagnon, S. G., Kidder-Ashley, P., & Griggs, M. S. (2013). Preschool temperament assessment: A quantitative assessment of the validity of Behavioral Style Questionnaire data. Early Education and Development, 25, 71-92. doi: 10.1080/10409289.2013.770636
Gagnon, S. G., Huelsman, T. J., Shaftlein, K., Ashley, P. K., & Butts, A. (2013, February). Understanding teachers’ experiences: Student-teacher relationships and perceptions of teaching stress. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Seattle, WA.
Bollinger, J., Gagnon, S. G., Kidder-Ashley, P., Huelsman, T. J., & Galloway, A. T. (2011, February). Parenting stress and preschool temperament as predictors of parent-child relationships. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, San Francisco.
Reichard, A. E., Gagnon, S. G., Kidder-Ashley, P. K., Huelsman, T. J., & Struby, J. (2011, February). Parenting styles, parenting stress, and the parent-child relationship as predictors of preschool social competence. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, San Francisco.
Struby, J., Gagnon, S. G., Kidder-Ashley, P., Huelsman, T. J., & Reichard, A. E. (2011, February). Child temperament and parenting styles: Predictors of preschool social competence. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, San Francisco.
Schaftlein, K., Gagnon, S. G., Kidder-Ashley, P., & Huelsman, T. J. (2011, February). Understanding and measuring teaching stress and student-teacher relationships. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, San Francisco, CA.
Reichard, A. E., & Gagnon, S. G. (2010). Parenting styles, parenting stress, and the parent-child relationship as predictors of preschool social competence. Poster presented at the State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium, Raleigh, NC.
Paper in preparation: Dagenbach, J. L, Huelsman, T. J., Gagnon, S. G, & Ashley, P. K. We all knew it, there are different kinds of kids: A quantitative grouping of preschool children based on parent-reported temperament.
Preschool Assessment and Intervention
Nagle, R. J., Gagnon, S. G., & Kidder-Ashley, P. (2020). Issues in preschool assessment. In V. C. Alfonso, B. B. Bracken, & R. J. Nagle (Eds.), Psychoeducational assessment of preschool children, Fifth Edition.
Gagnon, S. G., Kidder-Ashley, Van Doren, H., Huelsman, T. J., Lawter, M., & Wiggins, N. (2018, February). Using INSIGHTS to improve student-teacher relationships and decrease teaching stress. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Chicago, IL.
McClowry, S. G., & Gagnon, S. G. (2018). Maintaining the fidelity of the intervention. In Melnyk, B. M., & Morrison-Beedy, D. (Eds.), Designing, conducting, analyzing and funding intervention research: A practical guide for success. New York, NY: Springer.
Gagnon, S. G., Ashley, P. K., Van Doren, H., Knight, E. L., & Huelsman, T. J. (2018, February). Gaining INSIGHTS into the cultural appropriateness of a school-based intervention. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Chicago, IL.
Gagnon, S. G., Ashley, P. K., Van Doren, H., & Huelsman, T. J., Harshman, E., & Walker, H. (2018, February). INSIGHTS into rural children: temperament-based intervention and school readiness. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Chicago, IL.
Van Doren, H., Walker, H., Harshman, E., & Hendrick, C., Gagnon, S. G., Ashley, P. K., & Huelsman, T. J. (2017, October). INSIGHTS into Appalachia: cultural relevance of an evidence-based intervention. Poster presentation presented at the North Carolina School Psychology Association, Durham, NC.
Gagnon, S. G., Huelsman, Van Doren, H., T. J., Ashley, P. K., Bradsher, B. Hall, S., & Martin, Z. (2016, February). Empowering rural teachers: Temperament-based intervention in preschool and kindergarten. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, New Orleans, LA.
Gagnon, S. G., Huelsman, T. J., Van Doren, H., Ashley, P. K., Knight, E., Johnsrude, E., Cobranchi, L., & Alons, A. (2016, February). INSIGHTS into rural children: Temperament-based intervention and school readiness. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, New Orleans, LA.
Van Doren, H., Gagnon, S. G., Huelsman, T. J., & Ashley, P. K. (2016, February). Helping rural preschoolers get ready: Temperament and pracademics. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, New Orleans, LA.
Gagnon, S. G., Huelsman, T. J., Ashley, P. K., Van Doren, H., Martin, Z., Hall, S., & Bradsher, B. Knight, E., Johnsrude, E., Cobranchi, L., & Alons, A. (2015, October). INSIGHTS into Appalachia: Temperament-based intervention in a rural setting. Lightning Talk presented at the Fall conference of the North Carolina School Psychology Association, Winston-Salem, NC.
Paper in preparation: Gagnon, S. G., Van Doren, H., Huelsman, T. J., Kidder-Ashley, P., Walker, H. E., & McClowry, S. INSIGHTS into Appalachia: INSIGHTS into Rural Appalachia: An Examination of the Cultural and Developmental Appropriateness of an Evidence-Based Intervention.
Examiner Errors in Psychoeducational Assessment
Gagnon, S. G. (2019). GoReact Psychoeducational Assessment Interactive Rubric. In H. Gambin, Three resources for psychoeducational assessment training. Invited by GoReact. https://blog.goreact.com/psychoeducational-assessments/
Gagnon, S. G., Hendricks, C., Wingfield, L., Walker, H. E., Black, H., & Masland, L. (2020, February). Just say the words in blue! Reducing examiner errors in WISC-V administration and scoring. Poster presented at the 2020 Trainers in School Psychology Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Gagnon, S. G., Walker, H. E., Black, H., Hendricks, C., & Wingfield, L. (2019, October). Just say the words in blue! Reducing examiner errors in WISC-V administration (initial findings). Poster presented at the 2019 North Carolina School Psychology Association Fall Conference, Wilmington, NC.
Gagnon, S. G., Walker, H. E., & Black, H. (2019, February). Teaching psychoeducational assessment: Putting evidence-based practice to work. Poster presented at the 2019 Trainers in School Psychology Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Paper in preparation: Gagnon, S. G, Yarbrough, J. L., Walker, H. E., Black, H., Hendricks, C., Wingfield, L. Teaching psychoeducational assessment: Putting evidence-based practice to work.
Needs Assessment
Nagle, R. J., & Gagnon, S. G. (2014). Best practices in designing and conducting needs assessment. In P. L. Harrison & A. Thomas (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology: Systems-level services. Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.
Title: Associate Professor
Department: Department of Psychology
Email address: Email me
Phone: (828) 262-8944