Early Childhood

There may be a "sensitive period" in which stress is more likely to affect brain development in adolescence, according to Kathryn L. Humphreys, assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt and lead author of a new study. Read More

The practice of separating immigrant children from their parents is very likely to lead to negative effects on emotional and mental health in adolescence. Read More

Vanderbilt will conduct a clinical trial of an intervention for young children with language delays in an NIDCD study. Read More

Patterning and spatial activities like block play are simple yet powerful activities in which preschoolers develop early math skills, according to a growing body of research by Vanderbilt scholars. Read More

A grant of more than $100,000 from Sesame Workshop will support a study by researchers at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development measuring the effects of watching Sesame Street on young children’s understanding of kindness and emotions. Read More

Kathyrn Humphreys, B.S.’05, has been named an APS Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science. Now completing postdoctoral studies at Stanford University, Humphreys will join Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College Department of Psychology and Human Development this fall. Read More

From acting out to reaching out, children and teens cope with stress in a variety of ways with varying results. A new, comprehensive Vanderbilt University study published in the high-impact journal Psychological Bulletin outlines which coping strategies work best. Read More

High-quality state- and district-run prekindergarten programs should be supported as long as they are implemented properly and evaluated with rigor, according to a new pre-K consensus report penned by Vanderbilt education researcher Mark Lipsey. Read More

In the first five years of life, a child’s linguistic, conceptual, and social competence grow enormously. Read More

Teaching children with disabilities play skills helps them interact with typically developing peers. Read More

When children have a choice of how they interact with educators, they may learn more efficiently. Read More

New analysis of Tennessee's state-funded pre-K is prompting reevaluation and change. Read More

Positive interactions in a pre-kindergarten classroom may be equally or more important to the future academic development of 4-year-olds than learning letters and numbers, according to Dale Farran, senior associate director of the Peabody Research Institute at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. Read More

Kindergarten teachers report spending much of their math instructional time teaching students basic counting skills and how to recognize geometric shapes—skills the students have already mastered before setting foot in the kindergarten classroom, new research finds. Read More

The present housing crisis has disrupted the residential stability of families, which is adversely affecting many children’s educational development, according to researchers at Peabody College. Read More