Developmental Program
Overview
The Developmental Psychology program is designed for the doctoral student who plans to pursue a career in science and teaching in a college, university or other research center. The curriculum provides a solid foundation 
in basic aspects of developmental science, while also emphasizing the application of knowledge to the real world problems faced by children and families. Strong research programs exist in the developmental study of affect, autism and developmental disorders, joint attention, social competence, brain behavior relations, prenatal cocaine exposure, early intervention, school readiness, learning disability and giftedness, epidemiology, and the impacts of poverty and maltreatment. Our research often involves bilingual families and children from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Supportive mentoring relationships are a keystone of our program, and full tuition remission and additional financial support are typically provided for all Ph.D. students.
Coursework
Developmental students are required to complete the core requirements of the Department of Psychology and the requirements of the Developmental Program. Substantial elective options drawing from interdisciplinary course work are available to complement student's individual research interests. Interdisciplinary course work may include, but is not limited to, content in public health, education, linguistics, and computer science.
All graduate students within the Department of Psychology must complete a series of core courses in basic fields of psychology. This core sequence consists of:
- A core sequence in Psychobiology, Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, Social Psychology, and a sequence of courses covering advanced statistical methods.
- Courses required of all Developmental students include, Developmental Methodology, Theories of Development, Deviant Intellectual Development, and Deviant Social Development.
- Courses are also offered in Psychological Assessment in Childhood, Infant Development, Early Intervention, and Developmental Disabilities.
- Students also receive course credit for research leading to the masters thesis and the doctoral dissertation.
- Developmental students have the choice of a comprehensive written qualifying examination, or completing an integrative literature review or a grant submission under the supervision of a faculty mentor. The integrative literature review and grant submission are designed to be mentored experiences that enhance the student's academic career.
Download SAMPLE course schedule for Developmental students
Research
Head Start and School Transition
Daryl B. Greenfield The Transition Group is focused on understanding the critical transition from preschool into the early elementary school grades. Many low-income minority children and families served by Head Start do not make this transition smoothly. As a result, the children are at risk for poor educational outcomes in the early elementary school grades. The Transition Group is conducting collaborative research in partnership with Head Start and the Public Schools to better understand the nature of developing competences in the social, cognitive and emergent literacy domains in low-income minority children. A major goal of this research is to create greater developmental continuity in the educational experiences of these children so that the transition from Head Start to public school is a successful one.
Developmental psychopathology: Social and emotional development of typically developing infants and infants at risk for autism
Daniel S. Messinger, Heather Henderson, and Marygrace Yale Kaiser Our group is concerned with the social and emotional development of typically developing infants and infants at risk for autism. This NIH-funded "baby sibs" project compares the first three years of development of children who do and do not have an older sibling with an autism spectrum disorder. This project explores links between emotion in face-to-face interaction, joint attention, and security of attachment in both sets of children. The project employs a developmental psychopathology perspective to ask how atypical developmental trajectories inform our understanding of normative development, and vice-versa. In addition to automated coding of facial expressions, we are implementing a high-density EEG laboratory to study brain activity in these infants and their older brothers and sisters. This study offers excellent training opportunities for developmental and clinical graduate students, and for postdocs.
Center for Autism and Related Disorders
Michael Alessandri, Ph.D. & Jennifer S. Durocher, Ph.D. As faculty and directors of the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, our interests in autism spectrum disorders cross both child clinical and developmental tracks. At the present time, we are broadly interested in developing effective interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorders and evaluating the efficacy of these interventions across learning contexts. Our research team is currently participating in a multi-site treatment comparison study led by Drs. Sam Odom and Brian Boyd of UNC, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences. Dr. Alessandri serves as site-PI for this study. This project will evaluate the relative efficacy of two existing public school-based comprehensive preschool models (LEAP and TEACCH) for students with autism spectrum disorders. In addition, our research team is currently conducting a behaviorally-based joint attention intervention RCT, with the support of funding from the Organization for Autism Research and MARI. Dr. Durocher serves as PI for this study. In addition, we are active collaborators and have established partnerships with other departmental faculty with an interest in autism spectrum disorders, including Drs. Messinger, Kaiser, and Henderson. The collaboration with Dr. Messinger, for example, involves conducting a randomized parent-training intervention study for toddlers with autism.
Temperament and individual differences in social development
Heather Henderson, Daryl B. Greenfield, and Daniel S. Messinger Our group is interested in the study of individual differences in approach/withdrawal tendencies and the implications of these differences for adjustment among typically-developing infants, children, and adolescents, at-risk infants and preschoolers, and higher-functioning children and adolescents with autism. We are interested in the development of self-regulatory skills and competencies that allow children to effectively manage their approach/withdrawal reactions across various contexts. Using EEG/ERP methodologies, we are also investigating associations between temperament and various information processing biases. These projects provide a dynamic training environment for students of Developmental Psychology and Child Clinical Psychology.
Developmental Epidemiology
Marygrace Kaiser, Daryl B. Greenfield, and Christine Delgado The aim of this program is to study risk and protective factors for cognitive, behavioral, social, and educational outcomes in childhood and adolescence. Studies are based on the analysis of large electronically linked population databases, including birth records, school records, and nutritional records. The project has dedicated resources including a secure, firewall protected high bandwidth LAN. Opportunities are available for strong training in quantitative methods and computer technology.
Prenatal Drug Exposure and Poverty
Marygrace Kaiser and Daniel S. Messinger - This group investigates the areas in which children prenatally exposed to cocaine have deficits and attempts to ameliorate these problems with a total service intervention model. The Linda Ray Center early intervention program examines the effects of intervention on multiple cohorts of infants and toddlers born prenatally cocaine exposed, across the domains of language, behavior and social-emotional development. Curriculum, teacher training and classroom settings are examined as contributory factors. In the Maternal Lifestyle Study, deficits in the cognitive and social development of children prenatally exposed to cocaine are identified through comparisons with non-exposed children. State-of-the-art videotaped and standardized assessments are used both to identify problems and to see how effectively children have been helped. Preliminary results indicate that poverty as well as drug exposure put these inner-city children at-risk for developmental delays and that a comprehensive early intervention program has a positive effect on their development.
Family Strengthening; Interventions for Children Exposed to Violence/Trauma
Marygrace Kaiser and Lynne Katz In collaboration with the Juvenile Court system in Miami, we are investigating the effectiveness of family skills training for high risk parents, and their children in the under three age range. We provide parenting programs formulated in evidence-based practice and collect qualitative and quantitative data about parent and child outcomes. This process has informed the community system of care and has led to the expansion of evidence-based parenting programs with evaluation components as part of mandated court interventions. Additionally, in collaboration with the Juvenile Court, Early Head Start and community Domestic Violence Shelters, we are investigating the effectiveness of intervention with infants and toddlers exposed to violence/child maltreatment to prevent long-term consequences of this exposure.
Social and emotional development in higher functioning children and adolescents with autism.
Heather Henderson Our research group is conducting a study to examine factors that predict variation in symptom severity and social competence in higher functioning children and adolescents with autism. We are conducting behavioral, cognitive, and physiological (EEG/ERP) assessments with a large group of HFA children and a matched comparison sample. We are particularly interested in within-child factors (temperament, self-regulation, cognitive control) and relationship factors (family relationships, peer relationships) that are associated with patterns of change over time in social competence and adjustment. This study is being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Peter Mundy at UC-Davis.
Training
The heart of our graduate training is its close research mentorships. One or more faculty members and their students concern themselves with a set of related research problems. Students and faculty in these groups work closely day to day, meeting regularly to discuss research and professional issues, as well as student career development. There are also a variety of social events hosted by both students and faculty members.
Funding
Students in our graduate program typically receive full tuition remission and a stipend. Students are funded on Research Assistantships and Teaching Assistantships. Research Assistantships provide students with research opportunities. Funding for Research Assistantships is provided from a specific faculty mentors research grant. Teaching Assistantships provide students with undergraduate teaching opportunities. Students typically begin by assisting faculty members teaching courses.
The Developmental Program also supports graduate students and postdoctoral fellows through two five- year Training Grants, one from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development and one from the Institute of Education Sciences. The $1,200,000 NICHD training grant is in the area of mental retardation and developmental disabilities. The $5,000,000 IES training grant focuses on in-depth study of educational issues arising in diverse, urban settings. Emphasis is on the study of low-income and bilingual populations in urban settings who are at risk for poor educational outcomes. These training programs provide national recognition for our mentorship model of educating graduate students and postdocs, and facilitates their entrance into research careers.