NIH-funded study uses high-resolution brain scans to uncover structural changes.
News
NICHD issues News Releases and Media Advisories to the news media. Spotlight and Research Feature articles explain NICHD research findings and public health issues to the general public. An Item of Interest is a short announcement of relevant information, such as a notable staff change.
Spotlight: Selected NICHD Research Advances of 2017
Over the past year, NICHD contributed to numerous scientific advances and key initiatives.
Science Update: Preschool program to boost executive function leads to success in primary grades
A program to teach preschoolers pre-reading, social, and thinking skills appears to have benefits through third grade, particularly in executive functioning—the mental skills that include planning, paying attention, organizing, and remembering details.
NIH awards nearly $100 million for Autism Centers of Excellence program
The National Institutes of Health has awarded nine research grants totaling nearly $100 million over the next five years for the Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE), a program that supports large research projects aimed at understanding and developing interventions for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Focus on Early Learning
Children start learning long before they start going to school. Find out how you can support your child's learning from birth.
NICHD-funded study explores the toll of pediatric trauma
A conversation with Dr. Sheri Crow, a pediatrician specializing in critical care at the Mayo Clinic, about her NICHD-funded research. Dr. Crow has explored the long-term health outcomes of children who experience traumatic injury or a life-threatening illness in early childhood.
Getting to Know the New NICHD Director
NICHD Director Dr. Diana Bianchi shares some thoughts about joining NICHD.
Program for parents helps sustain learning gains in kids from Head Start to kindergarten
An instructional program for parents helps young children retain the literacy skills and positive learning behaviors acquired in Head Start through to the end of the kindergarten year, according to researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Helping Your Child Improve Reading Skills
In his recent article in The Huffington Post, Dr. Guttmacher highlights the importance of reading every day with children.
How Does Reading Work?
Children learn to read by building a number of skills. Learn more about how reading works in this slideshow.
Studying the Growing Brain: A Q&A on the C-MIND Study
The Cincinnati MR Imaging of Neurodevelopment (C-MIND) study was launched in 2009 to establish a new resource for the research community: a database of scans showing the structure and activity of the growing brain. C-MIND has taken an unprecedented look at what’s going on inside the heads of hundreds of kids from ages 0 to 18.
Neuroscience Research Resources
NICHD supports a variety of research projects and networks that are useful to neuroscientists. Find a detailed list here.
Researchers Use Brain Scans to Predict Early Reading Difficulties
Researchers have used brain scans to track how young children learn to read, raising the possibility that the method could be used to diagnose young children with dyslexia and other reading disorders before they experience problems in school. Once identified, the children could be fast-tracked to interventions designed to help them overcome their reading difficulties.
Exploring Factors That Influence Child Development
Countless factors, from family and environment to genes and biology, influence a child’s growth and development. Scientists in the NICHD’s Section on Child and Family Research study how these factors affect the physical, mental, and social development of growing children, along with their health and well-being.
Back to School: NICHD Podcasts Feature Research on Education and Health
Preschool educational interventions have long been studied for their value in preparing children for school. Recent studies, however, indicate that these interventions might do much more, possibly affecting social and emotional skills later in life, and even adult physical health.
Podcast: Head Start offers boost for kids with least academic stimulation
Head Start is a program which provides low-income children with preschool education, health care, and nutrition services. A recent analysis of a national study on Head Start shows that 1 year of the program improves children’s math, literacy, and vocabulary skills.
NICHD-Supported Research Sheds Light on a Family of Genes Involved in Dyslexia, Respiratory Health, and Organ Position
Alfred Nobel once said, “The observation of and the search for similarities and differences are the basis of all human knowledge.” For some NICHD-supported researchers, this search for similarities led in an unexpected direction.
The Family Life Project Releases Synthesis of Early Findings
Twenty percent of children in the United States grow up in rural communities, often experiencing higher rates of poverty and geographic isolation. Poverty is known to be stressful for young children and is associated with poor developmental outcomes. These effects can start to appear as early as 15 months of age. But the how and why—what scientists call the “mechanisms”—that lead to these poor outcomes have remained largely unknown.
Picture This: NICHD Support for Neuroscience Research
At the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience , held in San Diego, California, from November 9–13, more than 30,000 neuroscientists from around the world will share their latest research results and learn about new advances and opportunities in the field.
Annual “America’s Children” report on child well-being topic of NICHD’s July podcast
This month’s NICHD Research Perspectives features the report America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-being. Each year, 22 federal agencies collaborate to produce the report, a convenient reference for policymakers, the public, and anyone with in an interest in the nation’s children. It compiles key data about child and adolescent well-being in a variety of areas.