Today’s Friday Feature is Emilie Butler!

 

Emilie Butler is a graduate student in Dr. Jeff Burke’s BADCO Lab (badco.uconn.edu). She is currently a 5th year doctoral student in clinical psychology at the University of Connecticut. 

 

Emilie is currently working on the UConn “Feelings in Families Study” (IRB Protocol #: H18-180) with Dr. Jeffrey Burke. The study focuses on how children cope with feelings of frustration or irritability, how children’s emotions impact parent-child relationships, and how parents experience their own emotions. More information can be found at badco.uconn.edu/projects. 

 

Emilie’s research interests include examining the efficacy of psychological interventions for children, and modifying interventions in order to be more effective for a broader range of children and families. More specifically, she is interested in examining parent and family factors, such as parental depression, stress, parenting strategies, and family functioning, which may lead to poor child treatment outcomes.

 

In her free time she loves to be with her son and introduce him to Disney movies. The troll scene from Frozen cracks him up! 

 

Most people cannot remember anything before the age of 2 or 3 at the earliest – and these are usually memories of vital or emotional events, such as the birth of a sibling. We know that memories people recall before the ages of 2 or 3 are generally due to someone else recalling an event and can be revised as time goes on. The fact that most of us aren’t able to remember anything before the age of 2 or 3 is referred to as infantile amnesia. We don’t know for sure why infantile amnesia occurs, but there are some theories. 

One older theory that has been disproven is that infants are incapable of forming any kind of memories. We now know that this is not true, as babies remember their mother’s face a few hours after birth. By the time infants are just a few months old, they smile at familiar faces – illustrating their ability to remember and recognize those who are closest and most important in their lives.

In an attempt to study their memory skills, Carolyn Rovee-Collier created an activity for infants under 6 months. In this task, the babies were placed in a crib under a mobile, and their normal kicking activity was measured. Rovee-Collier then added a string to the mix – tying it from the infant’s leg to the mobile, so that every time the infant would kick, the mobile would move. After learning this connection, that they were in charge of the mobile moving, the infants would start to kick a lot more than they did at first. To connect this to infant memory, the intention here was to test whether the infants could remember that they could make the mobile move a couple of days later. The research findings illustrated that 2-month-old infants could remember this and would start kicking right when they saw the mobile, even after one or two days. Although the youngest infants could only remember this connection for a couple of days, the older the infants got, the longer they could remember this connection. This research taught us that we could definitely form memories from infancy, meaning that the inability of forming memories was not what caused infantile amnesia.

It is important to note that the type of memory that was tested in this study by Rovee-Collier is called procedural memory – which refers to remembering the events of how to do something or how something works. The type of memories we think of when remembering past events are called autobiographical memories – which are more about remembering something that happened to us in our lives. Autobiographical memory usually requires a sense of time passing, which is not something that infants have. Additionally, forming this type of memory requires a sense of self, which doesn’t develop until about 18 months. Before about 12-18 months, infants cannot store information with language – making it much more difficult to remember a story. The hippocampus, largely responsible for keeping memories, is not fully developed in infancy. The reason for infantile amnesia is still unclear, but it is likely a result of one or a combination of these factors. There is also research proving that children’s memories throughout the preschool age can be misconstrued and changed based on misleading information – causing them to make false memories. 

It is vital to understand that memories are imperfect, and are likely to change over time as they are retold by others and shared throughout the years. 

Ethel Dvoskin

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Article Link:https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-baby-scientist/202204/why-we-can-t-remember-our-youngest-years

Singing to babies is common in many different cultures. There are many benefits to exposing children to music at an early age. There is evidence that babies like songs and music. It is also possible that music has a calming effect on infants. There is research illustrating that playing music for premature infants decreases the amount of time they spend crying, and betters their physical health. Although the evidence is not clear about whether hearing music helps babies with learning, exposing them to music may be helpful for remembering information. Music and language have been compared in some different studies – as they are quite similar. They both have certain rules and are used to express feelings and ideas. Similar to how babies naturally learn many rules of language quite young, they learn some properties of music at a very young age. By 6 months many of them can understand when a song goes up in pitch. 

Learning to play an instrument at a young age can also be beneficial to many areas of development – as learning to play before age 7 makes greater connections in the parts of the brain responsible for movement. Learning to play an instrument could get the brain ready for the coordination needed to play that instrument later on. 

There have been both correlational and experimental studies relating learning a musical instrument to increased skills in language, reading, and math skills. In experimental studies in which children were randomly assigned to get music lessons or another type of lesson – like computer classes – the music training itself was found to be helpful for building academic skills. For many of these results, the children experienced more benefits the longer they played and the easier in life that they started playing. Additionally, musical lessons can also increase a child’s IQ, and these benefits may last into young adulthood and the college years. 

It is also important to recognize that music training can be unaffordable and inaccessible for many families. It is a great opportunity to get involved with school music programs or free group sessions at the library or music schools. Singing and dancing casually with children is also free and beneficial – sharing music at home may contribute to pro-social skills.

Ethel Dvoskin

Research Assistant, UCONN KIDS

Article Link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-baby-scientist/202109/why-music-matters

It is important to recognize that no matter how much caregivers try to protect them, children will always be exposed to some stress. However, exposure to chronic stress in early childhood can cause a lot of problems in the long term. Significant stress in childhood can affect a child’s later decision-making and cognitive and social-emotional development. Some children may have impulse or anger problems as a result of this stress, as well. Performance in school can also be affected, and rates of drug abuse, later on, can increase. Many people are wondering how some children are able to thrive in more stressful situations, while others are unable to accomplish this. 

Resilience – the idea that a person is able to come back from a setback- is a big component of this type of success in childhood. Ann Masten, a developmental psychology expert, states that resilience can be developed.

Building up the executive function skills that are necessary for doing well in school is helpful for coping and building resilience. Getting better at concentrating on tasks, solving problems, and successfully switching back and forth between different tasks helps children find ways to adapt to obstacles. Learning how to balance their emotions is also vital in building resilience. Close “attachment” relationships are also vital in building resilience, as they help children build a sense of safety. When a parent, guardian, or caregiver are consistently supporting a child, which is important for general healthy development and can foster more resilience. However, other relationships with supportive adults are also vital – mentors, coaches, and friends are so important in building strength and a high self-concept. 

Parents giving their children time to talk and listen attentively is helpful in the development of resilience. Trusting children and allowing them to do things on their own and make some of their own decisions can be helpful. Allowing them this autonomy and letting them fail sometimes can help them learn to deal with anger and upsetting emotions, which is key to building resilience. 

Community-based programs can also aid families to reduce risks and help children improve their resilience. Affordable housing and healthcare interventions can additionally help families and children, especially those in poverty who are facing countless hardships at the same time. Schools have also been starting to teach social and emotional learning courses, which have been helping children with decision-making, emotion management, and developing empathy. Studies have shown that these courses raise grades, improve behavior, and cause participants to be less likely to engage in criminal activity, use, drugs, or drop out of school. 

Many children live with chronic stress and coupled with a pandemic, it is important to support children and help them build resilience skills. It is additionally vital that parents build resilience so that they can best support themselves and their children.

Ethel Dvoskin

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Article Link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-baby-scientist/202201/how-help-young-children-build-resilience

Katelyn J. Pitcher, M.S.,  is a graduate student for Rhiannon Smith in the Social Development Lab

She is currently working on the “Expected Classroom Treatment” study (protocol # H21-0086) with Rhiannon Smith and Kim Chaney. In this study, they are investigating how children perceive teachers’ behavior towards their fellow students and how they expect to be treated in the classroom environment. The study is carried out online and can be accessed via this website. 

Katelyn is currently a third year graduate student in the developmental psychology program here at UCONN and is being advised by Dr. Rhiannon Smith. She attended undergrad at Hendrix College, a small liberal arts college in Arkansas. 

Katelyn has two primary research interests: bias development and group awareness in children, and identity development and wellbeing in sexual minority youth. Her current research is concentrating on the former topic; she is very interested in when children become aware of group membership and how to combat stereotype and bias development in childhood. Additionally, she is interested in how children’s race and gender impact their awareness and perception of group differences. She would also like to continue her work on sexual minority youth, especially asexual youth, who are a very understudied group. In Katelyn’s free time, her favorite hobbies are crafting of any kind. She can knit, crochet, sew, cross-stitch, and recently has tried to pick up lace tatting. 

Katelyn’s favorite TV show is currently Avatar the Last Airbender, which has been a favorite of hers since she watched it as it came out when she was in elementary school. She had rewatched it with friends during quarantine and loved its humor as well as its excellent story-telling and characters. 

There is a lot of research portraying the importance of gestures for communication. Research has shown that gesturing helps young infants and children learn.

Especially in the deaf community, there is work showing that these children are more likely to use gestures to communicate. At the age that hearing infants start to babble, deaf infants start to babble in their own way – through gesturing that looks like sections of words in sign language. There is also research explaining that deaf children can learn how to communicate with each other through hand gestures, even without concretely being taught sign language. 

Hearing children can also greatly benefit from learning gestures – baby signs have become a helpful way to communicate with babies before they begin talking. These baby signs were developed to stand for important phrases that infants need to express, like “milk”. There are certain products out there that are based on these baby signs claiming they will improve an infant’s language development, although there is no evidence supporting that these baby signs are particularly helpful in terms of long-term development. However, there is no evidence suggesting that there are any negative effects either. If they find them helpful, parents can use these signs as strategies to help their hearing infants in communicating before they are able to specifically verbalize their needs. 

The act of gesturing has also been shown to help children articulate what they know, but may not be able to verbalize. This evidence has been seen in specific math problems explained in the article. 

When instructors gesture, research has shown that children are more effectively been able to learn the information. Specifically with math problems, when teachers combine verbalizing the explanation of the solution with gestures, this helps to draw attention to the more important parts of the teacher’s explanation. 

Ethel Dvoskin

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Article link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-baby-scientist/202108/the-handiness-gesture-childrens-learning

A study conducted on children ages 6-14 showed that face masks may get in the way of children recognizing and processing faces. Specifically, children experience a greater decrease in their ability to recognize these faces compared to adults. While adults most commonly use a “holistic processing” strategy in which they process the face all at once, children more commonly focus on a specific feature to recognize a masked face. This strategy that is more often used by children is less effective for recognizing faces. Learning how to recognize faces in the early years is important because it will help children become proficient at understanding faces when they are older. The ability of children to process and understand faces is affected by the types of faces to which they are more commonly exposed – a previous study showed that children are better at recognizing the faces of their own race. This research raises many questions regarding the effect of masks on children’s perception and the possibility that children will gain expertise in recognizing masked faces but have trouble with unmasked faces. Future research is necessary to determine the long-term impact of children experiencing most of their practice in facial recognition with masked faces.

Ethel Dvoskin

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Article link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/parenting-translator/202202/recent-study-finds-masks-may-impact-face-processing

We often forget how important genes are to the development of children. Sometimes, we can be harder on our children because we forget how much of their behavior is affected by their genetic background. Learning about these concepts can help us become better parents and caregivers. 

In addition to affecting their physical genotypical differences like eye and hair color, DNA shapes some parts of the personality, which can affect a child’s behavior. If you notice a pattern of behavior exhibited by your child across different settings and circumstances, this could be due to a genetic difference. Genetic differences can drastically affect how children react to their environment. Roller coasters are a good example of this – some children may be extremely nervous while others are the happiest they have ever been.

Adults respond differently to children depending on their personality. For instance, a child who acts out more often may get a more stern response from parents, or be more likely to receive punishment. Children may have a specific temperament partly due to their genetic background, and then caregivers respond differently based on these characteristics, creating a cycle. 

Children find different environments appealing depending on their personality, what they are naturally good at, and what they take interest in. As they get older and are able to pick their environments based on their temperament, this affects their experiences, creating another cycle. For instance, introverted children may be more likely to hang out in smaller groups doing quieter activities. A child’s genetic background affects their development and experiences by contributing to their decisions regarding which environments they select.

Additionally, parents can help their children by working with their genetic predispositions and making sure that their environments agree with their temperaments. For example, an introverted child may have a hard time in an unfamiliar setting with many new people – it is vital to slowly introduce a child to this environment so that they feel more comfortable. Children may also need different strategies and disciplinary tactics, depending on these personality differences that are influenced by their genetic makeup.

Ethel Dvoskin

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Article link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/genes-environments-and-human-behavior/202201/5-ways-children-s-genes-shape-their-behavior

 

Healthy sleep patterns are vital for healthy functioning in both children and adults. Inadequate sleep can weaken the immune system, as well as diminish functioning and cause general fatigue. However, sleep problems are common, as many children have problems falling or staying asleep. It is important to understand the amount of sleep your child needs, as this varies based on the individual child and their age. Among adolescents, extra responsibilities when it comes to school and extracurricular activities typically contribute to sleep issues. In school children, lack of sleep can cause similar symptoms to ADHD. 

Pediatric sleep psychologists treat insomnia most widely. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTI) and phase advance therapy are common treatments for insomnia in adolescents. Specific routines associated with waking up and bedtime are vital for children of all ages suffering from insomnia. There are also sleep training techniques that can be helpful for children up to 3 years old. These techniques can be controversial, but ultimately it is up to the family and what works best for them.

Many children experience bedtime resistance in which they may reject the idea of going to sleep or throw tantrums, causing stress for families. One simple solution is to create a bedtime routine consisting of 20 to 45 minutes of a few quiet activities. Both the order of activities and the time of day that the routine is started should stay consistent.

Curtain calls are another widespread problem—this is when a child delays bedtime by getting out of bed multiple times. A common effective strategy for this is called the bedtime pass program. For this strategy, a child gets only 3 passes allowing them to get out of bed, and is rewarded in the morning if any passes are unused. For children who have a fear of the dark, certain self-talk methods can be helpful. 

For those experiencing nightmare disorder, it is widely treated with imagery rehearsal therapy. In this therapy, patients make up a new ending to a recurring dream and continuously think and talk about this ending. This causes the emotions associated with thoughts of the nightmare to become more neutral or positive, causing the nightmares to become more tolerable and less frequent.

Ethel Dvoskin

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Article link: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/07/ce-corner-sleep

Today’s Friday Feature is Ethel Dvoskin!

Ethel Dvoskin joined UConn KIDS as a Research Assistant in January. Ethel is currently a sophomore at UConn, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Human Development and Family Sciences (HDFS). She hopes to complete an Early Childhood Specialization within HDFS and is also completing pre-requisite courses for accelerated nursing programs. She believes that if we want to build a healthy and happy population, it starts with young children. She is passionate about working with children and helping them grow emotionally, mentally, and socially. She hopes to find a career in which she can improve the health of our youth. Ethel joined UCONN KIDS in hopes to learn more about child development and the research recruitment process.

In high school, she volunteered at a summer school program designed to enhance literacy skills for first graders, many of whom spoke English as a second language. She has also helped children grow their confidence in creating through working as an arts and crafts counselor at a swim and tennis club. During the 2020-2021 academic year, she worked at an after-school program for elementary school-aged children.

In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, listening to music, jogging outdoors, and painting.