Category: Social and Emotional Development
Bridging the Evidence-to-Implementation Gap in Early Mental Health
7 October 2026
There is strong and growing evidence that early relational interventions can improve caregiving, parent-child relationships, and children’s mental health and development. However, in the UK, mental health service development has historically overlooked the youngest children, leaving a relative gap in provision for babies, young children, and their families. The Bridging the Evidence- to-Implementation Gap in […]
What we know about executive function research in Africa: A scoping review
10 September 2026
The developmental literature has seen an increase in studies on children’s executive function across diverse populations, given its importance for early childhood development and later-life outcomes. A small but increasing number of studies have focused on children’s executive function in low-income countries. This scoping review systematically synthesizes executive function studies conducted in Africa to present […]
What Role for Children’s Self-Regulation in the Challenges Surrounding their Digital Activity?
8 July 2026
David Whitebread Memorial Lecture: What Role for Children’s Self-Regulation in the Challenges Surrounding their Digital Activity? Presented by Professor Steven Howard at the PEDAL Conference 2026. Steven Howard is a Senior Academic Research Leader in Child Development and Education with the Department of Education at the University of Oxford.
How We Turn Policy and Evidence into Better Outcomes for Children in their Early Years
8 July 2026
The Hard Yards of Delivery: How We Turn Policy and Evidence into Better Outcomes for Children in their Early Years Presented by Aida Cable as the keynote at the PEDAL Conference 2026. This session highlights how Thrive at Five ensures good policy survives contact with reality, and sets out some practical examples from programmes in […]
Promoting Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health in Everyday Practice
6 July 2026
How do we bring what we know about babies’ mental health into everyday moments with families? This workshop pulled on the latest evidence and frontline practice to explore the relational processes that matter most in early life. Presentations included the specialist parent-infant therapy context and the health visiting setting, followed by a small-group activity using […]
A Playful Start to School
30 June 2026
The Importance of Play and Peer Relationships at the Transition to Reception Presented by Dr Elian Fink at the PEDAL Conference 2026 as part of the workshop session titled: ‘A Playful Start to School’. This session explored how children’s play and friendships evolve as they move through the different stages of early years provision into […]
Project Report: AI in the Early Years
25 March 2026
The rapid rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) means we are now seeing GenAI designed and marketed for direct use by young children through toys. This report details research findings from our AI in the Early Years project, which aimed to provide a scientific basis for identifying the impacts, risks, and opportunities of GenAI toys […]
Explorando el bienestar de los niños y las niñas autistas en Medellín
25 March 2026
Si tienes diagnóstico de autismo o eres familiar de alguien con este diagnóstico en Medellín, ¡esta invitación es para ti! En Colombia, aún sabemos poco sobre cómo se vive el autismo en el día a día. Muchas de las investigaciones provienen de otros países y no reflejan la realidad colombiana. Por eso, hoy queremos escuchar […]
Communication with friends and non-friend peers: an examination of dyadic connectedness across two play contexts
26 February 2026
This study examines the extent to which children’s connectedness is influenced by interaction context and friendship status. Research findings show that although friends engaged in similar rates of connected talk across two contexts, non-friends engaged in more connected talk during goal-directed drawing when compared to free-play. It is therefore important to focus on both context […]
AI, toys and the future
17 July 2025
These recordings formed the “AI, toys and the future” session, presented by Prof Rosie Flewitt and PEDAL’s Dr Emily Goodacre.