Child Development News

LAWRENCE — Four faculty members at two Kansas universities were named recipients of the Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards, the state higher education system’s most prestigious recognition for scholarly excellence.  The annual awards are given in four categories of scholarly and creative achievement. This year’s honorees: 

To help identify Specific Language Impairment (SLI) in children who are beyond their preschool years, researchers at the KU Life Span Institute have evaluated a new, more grammatically challenging language task to aid in diagnosis.

Five-and-a-half-year-olds whose baby formula had included milk fat globule membranes and lactoferrin (MFGM+LF) went on to perform nearly 5 points higher on IQ tests years after they were weaned.

KU researchers have been awarded a federal grant to improve language and communication skills in underserved communities in Kansas as part of an intervention program shown to be effective in multiple settings.

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has secured grant funding to conduct a project to look for students with internalizing behaviors who have anxious feelings that may negatively affect their education, and to help teachers implement new strategies to attend to those feelings while re-engaging in school.

Researchers seek participants in study on how professional development and coaching can support the implementation of PC Talk intervention to promote language growth with young children.

The Kansas Center for Autism Research and Treatment will host the conference Autism Across the Life Span on April 8 at the KU Edwards Campus BEST Building. For the first time in two years, the one-day conference will be held in person and will feature six breakout sessions on autism research and programs related to behavioral health, interventions, neuroscience and the transition to adulthood.

LAWRENCE — A study from the University of Kansas recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Brain Sciences identifies a new gene target related to Specific Language Impairment (SLI). The discovery of BUD13 for future biological investigation of language acquisition holds potential for researchers to better diagnose and understand the communication disorder.

A new, comprehensive model of autism care and treatment that prioritizes personalized, stepped care approaches is urgently needed, according to a new international report published in The Lancet. The report calls for global coordination to reform research, care, and treatment for autism.

If you’ve ever witnessed the blur of activity that is a typical preschool-age child, it can be difficult to imagine them as disciplined research partners. For more than 20 years, scientists at KU and elsewhere have studied interventions that pair young children with autism with their peers.