The presence of AI is more prevalent than many realize: social media algorithms, generative AI, conversational agents. Between Alexa, Siri, and ChatGPT, it is important for parents, caregivers, and teachers alike to understand the impact of AI exposure and interaction on their children’s development as we continue to advance towards an AI-driven society.

Interaction and use of AI presents two major concerns in children’s critical thinking and social development. While AI offers instant access to information and assistance, it can inhibit children’s ability to think critically and evaluate the credibility of the information given to them. However, this issue can be easily resolved by educating children in AI literacy. It is important for children to understand the information that AI presents is not always correct. Similar to evaluating information and news in the media, educators should emphasize the potential spread of misinformation in AI. Reflection prompts installed by developers operate alongside educators in alleviating this issue as they attempt to encourage critical thinking in children. These efforts are in place in many conversational AI tools.

Engagement with AI can also have a significant effect on children’s social interaction and politeness. Children can pick up linguistic habits from AI and implement them to social interactions with their families and peers. Since AI cannot replicate real conversations and does not always follow typical social norms or encourage the use of polite language, engagement with AI can result in rude or inappropriate language in children. In the same way, since communicating with AI is not the same as human interaction, these interactions lack empathy and shared experiences. While developers have begun to introduce politeness through the implementation of polite sayings like “Thank you” in response to the use of “Please”, AI can never replace true companionship or human interaction.

Despite these concerns, AI can provide potential benefits to children’s development within certain parameters. AI developed with learning principles can provide productive scaffolding in directing students’ work and tools in improving task performance to encourage critical thinking. Alongside the efforts by educators, this collaboration between teachers and developers is essential in ensuring children are supported rather than hindered by AI.

To learn more, click here!

Thank you!

Chelsey Ko

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday with UConn KIDS!

 

Last week’s question was “What sense is most developed at birth?

The answer is: B) Hearing

 

This week’s trivia question is:

By age 8, about what percentage of U.S. children have regular access to a smartphone or tablet?

A)  50%

B) 75%

C) 90%

D 97.5%

STAY TUNED NEXT WEEK!

With all the recent snow days, parents might be stuck at home hearing a lot of “I’m bored” from their kids all day. While most parents feel pressure to fix it right away, this article brings up great points that explain how boredom is actually not a bad thing.

1. Boredom helps kids slow down and notice the world around them. Instead of always being on screens or in planned activities, they start paying attention to small things and learning naturally. Kids are naturally curious, and working with their imagination, boredom gives them opportunities to explore.

2. Mental breaks are important. Being constantly busy can be overwhelming, and boredom gives their brains time to rest.

3. Creativity flourishes when kids are bored. They have to come up with their own ideas, like building something, pretending, or making games. These moments help them learn how to solve problems on their own. If everything is always planned for them, they do not get that chance.

4. Boredom also helps kids become more independent. Even something simple like figuring out what to do during a snow day teaches decision making and responsibility. These small moments actually matter more than they may seem.

Especially during snow days, it might be okay to let kids be bored sometimes instead of trying to fill every moment. That space helps them grow!

Click here to read more!

Grace Hoey

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Grace Hoey is a Spring 2026 research assistant for UConn KIDS. She is a sophomore majoring in Human Development & Family Sciences and is in the Early Childhood Specializations program. She also works with the infants at the Child Development Labs. After graduation, she plans to attend occupational therapy school. Grace is so excited to have this opportunity!

Have you ever wondered how your baby’s exposure shapes them as a person?

DeeDee Yates’ TED Talk, “Do the first 1,000 days determine the rest of your life?” explores this concept by examining the scale of influences on an infant’s development. In this video, she emphasizes the importance of early interventions within babies’ first 1,000 days after birth, acknowledges the numerous stages they pass through and begin with, and the several factors that can affect and shape them during this period.

Click here to watch this video and learn more!

Chelsey Ko

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Agency and Opportunity in Early Adolescence: Investigating Gender-Specific Patterns in Developmental Trajectories Using Longitudinal Data

This study explores how individual agency develops during early adolescence (ages 10–14) and how external opportunity structures—like parenting behavior and neighborhood context—differentially shape agency development for boys and girls. The study zooms in specifically on gender-specific patterns in development over time, various types of influence (household, parental, peer, neighborhood), as well as two key domains of agency: Freedom of Movement and Voice. The illustration of “The Unequal Opportunity Race” is a demonstration of this fundamental idea: no matter how fast you run, some of us have a head start.

This study meets at the intersection of developmental cognitive psychology and sociology,  studying both the effects of the environment and identities, as well as individual agency, to create a more comprehensive understanding of how the things we can control and the things we cannot both play a role in shaping who we become. The goal of this study is to explore differences in how agency devlopmes thought adolescence, particularly across genders, to help better understand and promote adolescent empowerment.

To read more on the topic, Click Here!

Thanks for tuning in!

 

Cooper Armogida

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday with UConn KIDS!

 

Last weeks question was “Which cognitive milestone is most related to why peek-a-boo is such a fun game for babies?”

The answer is C. Object permanence

 

This weeks trivia question is:

What sense is most developed at birth?

a. Sight

b. Hearing

c. Taste

d. Smell

Come back next week to view this week’s answer!

Can you tell what a baby’s cry means? Are they hungry, sick, uncomfortable, or in pain? Chances are, if you are parent or someone with experience taking care of babies, you would be able to accurately identify whether a baby’s cry indicates whether they are in pain. But if you haven’t spent time caring of babies, you might have some learning to do!

When a baby expresses pain through their cry, there are distinctive sound elements that can separate that cry from a different one, and these are universal amongst all babies. Some such elements include cries that are longer, louder, and with more shifting pitch then other infant cries. Because of this phenomena, it has long been thought that adults are able to differentiate by ear, whether a baby’s cry is one of pain or not. However, the researchers of this study wanted to see whether that was an ability all adults possess, or one that comes with experience and time.

To determine this, they conducted an experiment with five groups of participants: adults with no caregiving experience, adults with some caregiving experience, parents of children 5 years old or older, parents of babies less than 2 years old, and adults with ample professional caregiving experience. They had the adults do two sets of experiments, one where they tried to determine whether the cries of a familiar baby were of pain or just discomfort, and one where they tried to do the same thing but with an unfamiliar baby. The familiar babies’ discomfort cries had been played for the adults a few hours prior to the experiment, allowing the adults to familiarize themselves with how the baby sounds and be able to distinguish that baby from other.

The results showed that adults with no caregiving experience could identify cries of pain or discomfort no better than chance, correctly choosing only 53.4% of the time. Adults with some caregiving experience were a little better at identifying cries, but only those of the familiar babies, choosing correctly 57.3% of the time. Parents of children 5 years old or older and adults with ample professional caregiving experience both were able to identify the familiar babies’ cry with greater accuracy, this time choosing correctly 65.5% and 71.1% of the time, respectively. Parents of babies less than 2 years old, however, were able to identify  the cries of pain of both a familiar baby and of an unfamiliar baby, choosing correctly 71.2% of the time for a familiar baby and 64.2% of the time for an unfamiliar baby.

This study indicates that the ability to recognize a baby’s cry as one of pain comes from experience listening to babies’ cries. Experience changes the way in which we hear and distinguish between cries, and greater experience can allow someone to accurately identify whether a baby is crying in pain, even if it is their first time hearing that baby cry!

If you want to read more, click here!

Thank you!

Afrah Rafi

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Before babies even start to make sounds that resemble words, there are countless things they must learn first. This includes not just what words mean, but also why we make noises in the first place! In HELLO Lab’s latest episode, they tackle the question “How Does My Baby Learn Words?” which is meant to follow up on the previous featured episode “When Will My Baby Say Their First Word?” These two videos are a part of an educational video series meant to inform parents and individuals curious about language, development, and the many questions relating to the many things invested by the HELLO Lab here at UConn!

Here is the link to the video: Click Here

Here is the link to the entire video series! Click Here

Cooper Armogida

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

What if infants could clearly tell us what they want before they can talk? With simple sign language, they can! Teaching infants signs gives them a voice even before they have words. Research shows that babies as young as 6 months can learn simple signs, which can lead to reduced frustrated crying and support early language development.

Babies have ways to communicate by making facial expressions, crying, and making sounds. However, they can be hard to understand, leading to lots of frustration. By teaching them signs that match their needs, the child is able to communicate better and sooner. Infants learn signs easier compared to learning spoken words, and studies have even confirmed that learning sign language has helped the child develop speech.

Beginning around 6 months, adults can model signs and gently physically prompt the baby to mirror the sign. Prompts and rewards can be motivating but should be gradually delayed to encourage independence. Some useful, simple signs to introduce are “more”, “please”, “up”, “food”, and “all done”. This process of teaching will eventually lead to independent signing from the babies in real scenarios. Communication will become more specific and calmer.

Even if you don’t have a baby to teach, taking the time to learn basic sign language is a small step that can make a big difference. It’s a language everyone can use to connect.

If you would like to read more, click here!

Grace Hoey

UConn KIDS Research Assistant