Institute for Research in Child Development
Research carried out by our expert team of developmental psychologists informs best practice guidelines used in schools, hospitals, and social care environments.
Helping children facing challenges
Many children in our society today face severe challenges. Some arise as a result of disorders present from birth, others develop as a child enters its early years, whilst many become evident when the child starts at school or is introduced to a new culture.
Although these changes vary in nature and effect, all children who experience them share a vulnerability which may have a profound impact on them and their families. Without effective support these children may never reach their full potential, and the difficulties which they face in fundamental stages of development could go on to define their future lives.
Our research seeks to establish new ways of enabling children who face these challenges to be the very best that they can be. We have research expertise in a number of areas including:
- Asperger syndrome and autism
- Dyslexia
- Down syndrome
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- Cultural identity problems
- Deafness
- Developmental co‐ordination disorders
- Sleep disorders
Funding success
Members of the institute have recently received funding for a number of research projects including:
- the development of norms for a test to measure the speed of handwriting (awarded to Dr Anna Barnett)
- an assessment of the impact of cochlear implants on deaf children’s literacy (awarded £80,272 from the ESRC to Professor Margaret Harris)
- a study of health visitor evaluations of mother-child interaction (£40,489 awarded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing to Professor Margaret Harris, Dr Jane Appleton and John Oates from the Open University)