Are you a parent with an infant, toddler, or preschooler between 1 year and 6 years of age? If so, check out our current research studies.
Some of our studies will require you to visit our lab at Sacred Heart University (SHU; Fairfield, CT) or Yale University (New Haven, CT), while other studies can be done at your child’s day care or even your local library. Parking at SHU is free and your parking at Yale University will be validated. We will work around your schedule to find appointment times that work best for you and your child.
Anywhere studies
Listening and looking: Infants and toddlers can distinguish between similarly sounding words like pat and cat. Using a non-invasive technique, eye tracking, we assess how your toddler comprehends words as they hear speech in real-time.
Study requirements: Toddlers, 12 – 36 months of of age, either typically developing or language delayed. We will complete the study in 2, 1-hour sessions.
Location: This study can take place at a location most convenient and comfortable for you and your child and not limited to your child’s daycare, local library, SHU, or Yale.
Your child will: Watch pictures on a computer screen while hearing words, point to pictures, stack blocks, and look at books. You will be asked to complete some questionnaire about your child’s development.
You will receive: A 20 dollar gift card to Amazon.com, a summary with findings about your child’s language skills, and your child will receive a book or toy as a thank you for participating.
In-lab studies
Listening with your brain: How do infants, toddlers and preschoolers understand the words they hear? Using a non-invasive technique, electroencephalography (EEG), we assess how your toddler comprehends words as they hear speech in real-time.
Study requirements: Young children, 1 – 6 years of age, will require at least one visit to Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT.
Your child will: Spend about an hour completing the EEG experiment and pointing to pictures, stacking blocks, and looking at books. We may ask you to complete some questionnaire about your child’s development.
You will receive: A 20 dollar gift card to Amazon.com, a summary with findings about your child’s language skills, and your child will receive a book or toy as a thank you for participating.
Online studies
We conduct our online studies through Children Helping Science (https://childrenhelpingscience.com/) in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This allows families to participant in research from the comfort of their own homes! For our online studies, you use your home computer and webcam to participate.
Space travel: This study evaluates the relationship between visual pattern detection and vocabulary skills in toddlers and takes about 10 – 12 minutes.
Study requirements: Toddlers 1 – 3 years of age; home computer with webcam and high speed internet connection.
Your child will: Your toddler will watch some videos of silly “aliens” presented either one at a time or in groups. After, you will be asked to complete two questionnaires about your toddler’s language, thinking, and communication skills.
You will receive: A 10 dollar gift card to Amazon.com.
Shape Show: This study evaluates the relationship between audio-visual pattern detection and vocabulary skills in toddlers and takes about 10 – 12 minutes.
Study requirements: Toddlers 1 – 3 years of age; home computer with webcam and high speed internet connection.
Your child will: Your toddler will watch some videos of unusual shapes while listening to the names of the shapes. At the end of the study, your toddler will be asked to look at or point to the shapes when they are named. You will be asked to complete two questionnaires about your toddler’s language and communication skills.
You will receive: A 10 dollar gift card to Amazon.com.
Toddler Language Development Laboratory 