Child Development

The purpose of this study is to investigate neurocognitive mechanisms underlying response to intervention aimed at enhancing, and remediating weaknesses in, numerical skills in children, including those with mathematical learning disabilities (MLD).

Sharing Tales That Teach is a randomised study of a shared picturebook reading programme for 4- to 5-year-old children and their primary caregivers. The study will test whether a caregiver-delivered, emotion-focused shared reading programme leads to greater improvements in children's emotion regulation than a standard dialogic shared reading programme. Emotion regulation refers to children's developing ability to understand, express and manage emotions in ways that support learning, relationships and wellbeing. These skills are closely linked with executive function, including children's ability to remember instructions, control impulses and shift flexibly between activities. Shared picturebook reading may provide a natural, low-cost way for caregivers to support these skills through everyday interaction. Families in the randomised part of the study will be allocated to one of two 8-week shared reading programmes. In the emotion-focused group, caregivers will receive training in strategies such as naming emotions, discussing why characters feel as they do, talking about consequences of emotions and modelling ways to manage feelings. In the comparison group, caregivers will receive training in standard dialogic picturebook reading strategies, such as naming, describing, sequencing and asking open questions, without an explicit focus on emotions or emotion regulation. Both groups will use the same picturebooks and will be asked to complete three shared reading sessions per week at home. The main hypothesis is that children in the emotion-focused shared reading group will show greater improvement in emotion regulation from baseline to 12-month follow-up than children in the standard dialogic shared reading group. The study will also examine whether the programme affects children's executive function, caregiver wellbeing and caregiver emotion regulation. Additional exploratory analyses will examine caregiver-child interaction processes and whether caregiver or child characteristics are associated with different intervention effects. The study will recruit caregiver-child dyads through state primary schools in Greater London. Children will complete age-appropriate tasks and caregivers will complete questionnaires at baseline and follow-up. A laboratory subsample may also complete additional behavioural, observational and neurophysiological assessments. The study is low risk, non-invasive and does not involve medical treatment.

The purpose of this pilot study is to assess the feasibility of longitudinal neurodevelopmental evaluation of fetuses and infants exposed to Lyme disease in utero. Participants with Lyme disease or Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS) will be recruited during pregnancy. Pregnancies will be monitored and infant development will be assessed from birth until age 18 months.

Early evaluation of prewriting skills is important, as prewriting skills set the stage for later learning of the fine motor and visual motor skills needed for writing. Evaluation of prewriting skills allows for the identification of those children who struggle with these tasks so that early intervention might address these foundational skills before academic demands become more challenging. However, current prewriting skill assessments are limited to pencil-and-paper assessments that require an evaluator to score the drawn shapes. Manual scoring is time consuming, can be subjective, and limit the ability to capture subtle changes in performance. We have developed an assessment on a tablet to assess prewriting skills in children. The preliminary testing of the assessment is published in a paper (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35417278/). We are now working on developing an online version of the assessment that will allow offsite data collection and will automate the analysis on the website so that the results can be automatically generated for the clinician or educator who wants to use this with the children they work with.

This study examines how maternal stress during pregnancy affects infant brain and behavioral development, focusing on whether these effects are due to the prenatal environment or shared genes. By comparing IVF pregnancies using donor eggs/embryos (no shared genetics) with non-donor IVF pregnancies, the investigators aim to understand how stress influences the baby's development independent of genetic factors. Participants will complete questionnaires, provide blood samples, and take part in placenta and cord blood collection, fetal monitoring, and newborn brain activity assessments. Aim 1: The influence of maternal distress on perinatal neurobehavioral development. Hypotheses: Independent of IVF group status, higher maternal AL will be associated with higher 3rd trimester FHR reactivity, lower FHR variability, AND lower FHR-movement coupling Aim 2: Maternal distress affecting placenta gene methylation. Hypotheses: Independent of IVF group status, maternal AL will be associated with placenta differential DNA methylation in glucocorticoid-regulating genes (FKBP5 and HSD11B2), Aim 3: Maternal experiences associated with unique placenta transcriptomic profiles. Hypotheses: Independent of IVF group status, maternal AL and well-being each will be associated with unique placenta gene expression in pro-inflammatory genes

The purpose of this clinical trial is to learn about the effects of a nursing support program designed for families of children aged 1 to 3 years who have undergone heart surgery. This program aims to improve parents' caregiving skills and support the healthy growth of their children. The primary questions the study aims to answer are: Does the nursing program positively affect the physical growth of children, such as their height and weight? Does the program improve children's scores on general development tests (Denver II)? Do parents' attitudes toward child feeding and their confidence in parenting skills increase? Researchers will divide participants into two groups: Experimental Group: Families who participate in the nursing education program and receive an informative booklet. Control Group: Families who only receive an informative booklet and continue with routine hospital follow-ups. The researchers will compare these two groups to see if participating in the nursing program leads to better results for the children's development and the families' skills. Participants will be asked to: Attend 5 different education and counseling sessions, starting one week before surgery and continuing until the child reaches 1 year of follow-up. Meet with the researcher at specific intervals (at 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months) for one year to monitor the child's development (height, weight, head circumference) and skills. Complete surveys regarding child feeding attitudes and parenting skills at the 6th and 12th month follow-ups.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a conditional social transfer works to improve rates of complementary breastfeeding. It will also learn about the impacts of social transfers on maternal and child health and development. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does the social transfer increase complementary breastfeeding rates at 24-months postpartum? * Does the social transfer increase complementary breastfeeding duration? * Does the social transfer impact child health and development? * Does the social transfer impact maternal physical and mental health? Researchers will compare a conditional social transfer to a control group that only receives education about breastfeeding recommendations to see if a conditional social transfers works to increase complementary breastfeeding. Participants will: Receive a pamphlet explaining the current recommendations of breastfeeding Receive instructions that if they meet the recommendation to breastfeed until 24-months postpartum they receive a social transfer or receive no additional information Complete home visits at 12- and 24-months postpartum Complete detailed questionnaire

A significant number of children are abused or neglected every year. This exposure is associated with short- and long-term consequences for their mental and somatic health. In France, 308,000 minors are benefiting from at least one child protective service or measure. There are few data on the health status of this population, and how it is evolving. Against this backdrop, interventions are needed to address the many needs of these children early and comprehensively, both in the short and long term. The PEGASE program, funded by the French government under Article 51, aims to ensure adequate medical follow-up - both somatic and psychiatric - for children taken into care by child protective services (CPS). An evaluation of the program's effectiveness and efficiency is needed to inform public decision-making on the appropriateness of extending it to all children under CPS's care. This requires the creation of a control cohort of children followed by CPS but not benefiting from the PEGASE program, the ESPER cohort (Prospective cohort study of protected children), which will enable us to carry out a comparative evaluation of the PEGASE program, as well as to provide information on the health of children followed by the CPS at the time of their placement and its evolution over time, data which are rare in France. The main objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of the PEGASE program on the evolution of the mental health of children followed by the CPS after 2 years of follow-up.

This observational study aims to examine developmental status, sensory processing, and sleep quality in preschool children aged 3 to 6 years across different caregiving models. Children raised primarily by first-degree relatives, second-degree relatives, caregivers, or in daycare settings will be compared. Data will be collected using the Denver II Developmental Screening Test, the Dunn Sensory Profile, and the Tayside Children's Sleep Questionnaire. The study will also evaluate the relationships among developmental status, sensory processing, and sleep quality, and explore whether caregiving model is associated with differences in these outcomes.

This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of the Building Regulation in Dual Generations (BRIDGE) program for caregivers with significant mental health concerns and preschool and young children (3-7 years old) with elevated attention and/or behavior problems. The BRIDGE program focuses on supporting parental psychological distress and improving young children's self-regulation (SR), thereby reducing their attention and behavior problems. The long-term goal of this work is to improve family well-being and social-emotional development for young children by implementing an accessible and scalable dual-regulation program. The investigators will achieve this through the following key objectives: 1. Assess the feasibility and accessibility of BRIDGE for preschool and young children (3-7 years old) with significant attention and behavior programs through questionnaires asking about attendance, satisfaction, and unmet needs. 2. Examine the efficacy of BRIDGE compared to control group at improving maternal mental health and child attention and behavioral difficulties in young children (primary outcomes). The investigators will also examine parenting stress (secondary outcome). 3. Identify predictors of academic readiness skills in preschool and young children. The investigators hypothesize that an increase in parental and child emotion-regulation skills and reduced attention, as well as behavioral problems, will lead to increased pre-academic skills in children.

The goal of this observational study is to analyze early development in infants and young children from a biopsychosocial perspective, with a particular focus on cognitive, language, motor, social-emotional, and adaptive functioning during the first years of life. The study will include infants and young children from 16 days of age up to 42 months of age, assessed during a single diagnostic session conducted by qualified specialists. The developmental assessment will include standardized diagnostic tasks and direct observation of behavior in the form of play and natural interaction, carried out in the presence of a parent or legal guardian. In addition, information regarding the child's everyday functioning will be collected from parents or caregivers using standardized questionnaires, including data on social-emotional competencies, communication, and adaptive skills. The main research questions addressed by this study are: What is the developmental profile of infants and young children in the first years of life? What relationships exist between different domains of early development within a biopsychosocial model of child functioning? Can specific developmental patterns be identified that indicate an increased risk of developmental difficulties in early childhood? How does age differentiate the structure and variability of developmental functioning across assessed domains? The study is non-invasive and observational in nature. Data will be analyzed exclusively in aggregated form and will contribute to a better understanding of early child development as well as to the development of norms and tools supporting early diagnosis and developmental intervention.

The goal of this observational study is to investigate perinatal, cognitive, linguistic and social-emotional correlates of developmental delays of preschool children. The study group consist of minimal 500 children between 3 and 6 years of age who will be examined by qualified diagnosticians. Participants will be evaluated with tasks related to the studied variables: cognitive functioning, linguistic skills and social-emotional functioning. Furthermore informations regarding social-emotional functioning of children, will be collected from parents. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Is there a relationship between perinatal factors and risk of occurrence of developmental delay disorder? 2. Is there a specific pattern of cognitive functioning in preschool children with indicated developmental delay disorder? 3. Is there a specific pattern of social-emotional functioning in preschool children with indicated developmental delay disorder? 4. Do gender and age moderates specific patterns of cognitive and socialemotional functioning in the studied groups? Researchers will compare the following groups of children between 3 and 6 years old: 1. With perinatal risks factors 2. With developmental delay disorder: 1. children with early intervention 2. children with delayed speech development 3. Control group

Early childhood is a critical period, laying the foundation for future growth and deveopment. This foundational period has an outsized effect, impacting health, well-being and achievement across one's lifespan. The U.S. lacks a cohesive early childhood system to support families with young children ages 0-5. The goal of this randomized controlled trial(RCT) is to test if community-based support via community health workers(CHWs) improves social and health services utilization, and child development. Furthermore, the trial will examine if income support enhances the impact of a CHW integrated system. Participants are English and Spanish speaking families with healthy newborns. This RCT was designed based on family priorities, community capacity and needs in a collective impact model. This trial is anchored at a university based children's hospital and involves many partners: families, county health, county leadership, a leading early childhood non-profit organization, the county's Medicaid managed care organization.

The association between nutrition in early life and its long-term health consequences has long been known. However, there is a scarcity of scientific evidence on how nutritional status affects child growth and development in remote, rural agro-pastoral communities with distinct dietary intake habits, geographical location, socio-economic status, and cultures.

This study will test whether a structured motor-focused exercise program can improve both brain function and gross motor skills in preschool children. About 110 children aged 4 to 6 years will be recruited from kindergartens in Changsha, China. Classes will be randomly assigned to receive either (1) motor-focused physical education three times per week for 16 weeks, or (2) ordinary physical education of the same frequency and duration. The motor-focused program includes playful, game-based activities designed to strengthen locomotor skills (such as running and hopping) and object-control skills (such as throwing and catching). The main outcome will be changes in children's gross motor skills, measured with a standardized motor test (TGMD-3). Brain activity will also be assessed using portable electroencephalography (EEG) during rest and simple tasks related to attention and memory. Parents and teachers will complete short questionnaires about children's behavior and executive function. The results of this study may provide new insights into how physical education influences both movement skills and brain development in early childhood.

This study will test the hypothesis that in preterm infants a caregiver-implemented early developmental intervention (EDI) using finger puppets to develop joint attention and encourage interactive communication with routine EDI care including Bookworm training compared with routine EDI care including Bookworm training alone will increase the Ages and Stages Questionnaire® score at 12 months corrected age.

The primary objective of this multi-center, observational study is to establish the reference ranges of axial length in Chinese children and adolescents. 30,000 children aged 3-18 years were examined with cycloplegia to collect their ocular parameters and were all followed up for three years with annual visits.

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether a home-based mHealth intervention can improve adherence to the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines in preschool-aged children (3-4 years old) who currently meet 0 or 1 of the guidelines for physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Can the intervention increase the proportion of children meeting all three 24-Hour Movement Guidelines (physical activity, screen-time, and sleep)? * Is the intervention feasible for parents to implement, as measured by a parent feedback survey? Researchers will compare an intervention group to a waitlist control group to assess whether the intervention leads to increased guideline adherence. Parents and Participants: * Children will wear an accelerometer to track physical activity and sleep patterns. * Parents will use a mobile app that delivers weekly lessons and behavior-related goals to encourage healthy movement behaviors in their children. * Parents will complete questionnaires on their child's movement behaviors and development at baseline, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks. * Additionally, children will undergo motor skills assessments, and parents will provide feedback on cognitive development and behavioral changes.

Disparities in health begin in early childhood. Early life experiences influence brain development and have significant implications on future health and developmental outcomes. Low-income children are at greater risk of developmental delays in large part due to a lack of an enriched environment. Disparities in early childhood development increase risk for stunted academic achievement throughout the life course. Primary care is a universal exposure in early childhood and therefore is also a significant entry point for promoting optimal child development. There is a need to provide effective, low-cost, and scalable interventions in primary care to support early childhood development.The CenteringParenting intervention is designed to reduce negative health and developmental outcomes within a model of group routine child health care. To date, there is no evidence of the benefits of the CenteringParenting intervention on school readiness, or improvements in parental behaviors that support optimal developmental milestones and achievement. The intent of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the CenteringParenting intervention on school readiness in early childhood, as measured by language development at 24 months, (in addition to health care utilization, child routine care maintenance, parenting stress, caregiver behaviors and attitudes).

More2Sleep is a randomized, controlled, parallel trial with two groups (sleep extension vs control) including 142 school-aged children (6-12 years) who have a BMI above average, defined as age- and sex-specific BMI Z-score above zero using WHO reference standards, and habitually sleep for ≤ 9 h/night. Data will be collected before and after a 3-month sleep extension intervention, and after a 6-month follow-up (at months 0, 3, and 9). The collection of data is mainly related to the main study. However, some optional examinations will be conducted on a first come, first serve basis, consisting of substudy-I (metabolic mechanisms, n=60) and substudy-II (learning mechanisms, n=142). The primary objective is to assess the effects of sleep extension by \~45 min/night, achieved by going to bed 60-90 min earlier, on adiposity and learning ability in school-aged children who have a BMI for age and sex above average, and sleep less than recommended for their age.

The PKUBC-WF is a prospective cohort study carried out in Weifang city of Shandong, China. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the short-term and long-term effects of pre-pregnant and prenatal exposure on maternal and child health. Data are collected regarding environmental, nutritional and lifestyle exposures as well as short-term and long-term health outcomes of mothers and their children from birth to before 18 years old. Biological samples including peripheral blood, urine, placenta, umbilical cord, cord blood, and faeces are also collected.

This randomized clinical trial investigates the effects of animal fun program on motor skills in children with developmental coordination disorder. The study involves 40 children from normal school age group 6 to 12 year old, who will be randomly assigned to one of the two groups for a six-week intervention period. Key performance outcomes -body management truck control, locomotion, balance ,object control,body sequencing social and emotional control will be assessed both before and after the intervention.This study aims to address this gap by evaluating the effects of the Animal Fun Program on both fine and gross motor activity levels in children diagnosed with DCD. By examining objective motor outcomes and child engagement, the study seeks to determine whether this novel, enjoyable intervention can enhance traditional therapy methods, leading to improved motor development and overall quality of life for children with DCD. Data will be analyzed through SPSS version 27.00.

This randomized clinical trial will involve 148 preschooler children of age group 3 to 6 years old with handwriting difficulties from Cambridge Foundation School FSD and Behan Je Memorial school FSD, Pakistan. The participants will be divided into two groups: Group A will follow conventional writing practices with parental ergonomics guidance, while Group B will engage in embodied writing practices combined with ergonomic education for parents. Over 8 weeks, handwriting legibility, speed, and motor coordination will be assessed pre- and post-intervention using the Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire and the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment Scale. The study aims to evaluate each approach's effectiveness in addressing handwriting challenges, providing insights into embodied learning's potential impact on early childhood education. Data analysis will be conducted using SPSS version 23.

This study evaluates the integration of two complementary poverty alleviation programs: Compassion International's (CI) child-focused Survival and Early Childhood Program with International Care Ministries' (ICM) household-level Transform + Family Academy intervention. CI's program provides holistic child development through health support, educational programming, social development, and spiritual formation via local church partners for children aged 3-5 years. ICM's Transform + Family Academy combines a 15-week household intervention targeting health education, livelihood training, and values formation with an 8-week early childhood education component delivered through home visits. The primary aim of this research is to assess whether integrating household-level interventions with child-focused programming enhances early numeracy and literacy outcomes among children aged 3-5 living in extreme poverty in Western and Southern Mindanao, Philippines. The study also examines the intervention's impact on children's nutritional status and household financial resilience, including savings behaviors and access to social safety nets. The investigators hypothesize that addressing household-level constraints including caregiver capacity, health, and economic challenges will enhance children's academic and nutritional outcomes alongside household financial resilience compared to child-focused programming alone.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if the novel Dialogue Based Early Detection (DBED) method can prevent impaired mental health in kindergarten children. It will also learn about the screening properties of DBED to identify children with impaired mental health, if DBED facilitates early interventions, and if DBED is well accepted and sustainable in an ordinary kindergarten setting. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Do children in kindergartens where DBED is implemented develop better mental health scores than children in kindergarten where DBED is not implemented? * How well identifies DBED kindergarten children with impaired mental health compared to a traditional screening instrument (the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire)? * What is the impact of DBED on activation of interventions for mental health problems? * What is the social validity of DBED? Researchers will compare outcomes in kindergartens where DBED is implemented with outcomes in kindergartens where it's not. * During the last three years of kindergarten attendance participants (parents of kindergarten children) in the intervention kindergartens will take part in the biannual DBED parent-teacher meetings, while participants in the control kindergartens will take part in traditional parent-teacher meetings. * Twice a year all participants will answer questionnaires of the child's mental health and parental stress during the follow-up period (3 years in kindergarten and 2 first years in school). * Participants in the intervention kindergartens will answer user satisfaction questionnaires after every parent-teacher meeting. * The kindergarten teachers will report on type and time of supportive interventions for each participating child during the follow-up period in kindergarten.