Wollongong Infant Learning Lab in Keiraville, New South Wales, Australia | Scientist

Wollongong Infant Learning Lab

Locality: Keiraville, New South Wales, Australia

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25.01.2022 We have this song stuck in our heads at WILL! Created for New Zealand Sign Language Week, it is incredibly catchy and has loads of animal signs that kids will love learning.

24.01.2022 Looking forward to joining Beyond The Bump tomorrow morning to talk about how babies learn, what helps them remember, why they forget, and how to make them laugh. https://www.facebook.com/BeyondTheBumpAustralia

23.01.2022 Our newest lab member has arrived - baby Camilla was born on August 4th. Congratulations Annaleise!Our newest lab member has arrived - baby Camilla was born on August 4th. Congratulations Annaleise!

23.01.2022 Our PhD student Cheryl Jialing Ho will soon be presenting findings from her research on mother-infant book reading at a virtual conference. Here's a sneak peak at her poster for the International Congress of Infant Studies. Huge thanks to all the wonderful families who have contributed to this research. And, well done Cheryl!

22.01.2022 A great article in the Mercury today about how the pandemic has allowed some Illawarra parents to rethink their work/home balance. Includes the initial findings from our WILL studies and interviews with local parents.

22.01.2022 We’ve really enjoyed speaking with Dads over the last few weeks for our parenting study. Two things we've learnt you love your little ones so very much, and that everyone is tired from parenting over these challenging few months. With International Fathers Mental Health Day approaching, we hope that the stigma around men opening up and seeking support continues to decrease. We encourage you to look at the Gidget Foundation which has useful resources and information on their website, and also provide telehealth therapy for parents: https://gidgetfoundation.org.au/support-for-dad/.

22.01.2022 In this 5 min video, Cheryl talks through the design and findings of the first study from her PhD on infant-parent book reading. She's presenting this at an online conference for the International Congress of Infant Studies next week.

22.01.2022 Are you providing kinship care to a preschool aged child? Our research group want to hear from kinship carers about the reading, counting, talking, and playing that occurs in Australian homes. We are using information from this short survey to help us develop an intervention that better responds to the needs of families. Please share! https://uow.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_834fO4vW6hqVS3H

22.01.2022 We're still looking for a few more families to take part in our study on interaction, attachment, and well-being. It involves completing a brief questionnaire, and an online interview and short play session for you and your baby. To find out more, please contact our PhD student Alix at [email protected]

21.01.2022 Memory research (from our lab and many others) shows that babies can learn and remember lots but they begin forgetting those toys after a few days. So here's our festive tip: take away one of your baby’s favourite toys for a few days, wrap it up, and give it back to them on Christmas Day. Box + wrapping paper+ favourite toy =

21.01.2022 Shhh...We've just been talking with the Illawarra Mercury about the experiences during lockdown of parents who usually commute to work. Thanks again to all the wonderful families who completed our surveys and interviews, enabling us to inform discussions about work and family life in the Illawarra. Let us know if you spot the article in the next few days.

20.01.2022 Time just seems to disappear when you have little ones to look after. So huge thanks to the 60 families who've already filled out the 2nd survey from our study of parenting through the pandemic. We really value hearing about your experiences. If you completed the 1st survey and haven't had a chance to respond this time but still want to, the link is attached below. This one is even quicker and will take no longer than 10 mins to complete. Stay safe everyone xx https://uow.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4OyFj4LG8f1wDBz

20.01.2022 Anyone else's child dressing up for book week? We'd love to see your photos!

20.01.2022 New study!! Involves a survey, an interview and short play session for you and your infant. It's all conducted online, but we hope to return to face to face soon. Watch your inbox for details, or directly contact our PhD student Alix at [email protected]

19.01.2022 - ? Wollongong Infant Learning Lab - WILL is looking to better understand the types of activities and conversations happening in Austral...ian homes that could influence 3-5 year old's early literacy and numeracy development. If you have a 3-5 year old and are interested, follow this link to our 20 min survey. All families welcome! https://uow.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0eUrlV0Va1kQqRT See more

18.01.2022 It's nearly fathers day! Thank you Dads for everything you do for your little ones. Our research group has learnt so much from listening to the way Dads and their 3 year olds in the Illawarra read this book together. It was especially fun when the kids started inventing their own words for different types of 'pokes' in the story. Our chapter from this Dad-child bookreading study will be coming out in early 2021.

17.01.2022 We've been quiet on FB recently because we've been busy talking with lots of Dads. We're wrapping up our survey this week so we can focus on transcribing some of the follow-on interviews. It's been a privilege to gain insights into your home and work experiences during social isolation. Lets hope that the rest of 2020 is more predictable for everyone.

16.01.2022 We are very excited to learn that Auslan Stage Left will soon be releasing a collection of 15 favourite nursery rhymes translated and signed by Deaf people. What a fabulous resource for families and educators!

16.01.2022 We've been really impressed with the quality of the advice given to families on https://raisingchildren.net.au/. We've been working with them over the past week - checking and updating their tips and advice on reading, playing, and talking with babies and young children, based on the latest research findings. They are a great starting point for any questions you have about your little one's development.

14.01.2022 As the 2020 academic session starts drawing to a close, the WILL team wishes our amazing Honours students the very best for their thesis submissions. Thank you for working with us - this year we certainly all learnt a lot about the unpredictable world of science and the importance of supporting families, friends, and communities.

13.01.2022 We are delighted to announce that the WILL team are collaborating with researchers at the University of Canberra on a research project A Good Start in Life for Young Children: Reducing Vulnerability and Health Inequity that was recently funded by the NHMRC. This 4 year research project seeks to change the developmental trajectory of vulnerable children during early childhood (0- 5 years) in order to improve health, social integration and resilience for the next generation.

13.01.2022 Congratulations to WILL team member Cheryl Ho who successfully presented her PhD proposal today on parent-child shared book reading!

12.01.2022 Thank you to the 70 families who completed our survey at two time points. The survey is now closed. One of the key questions we were looking at is does a parent's description of their child change as a function of the amount of time spent together and perceived stress they experienced during lockdown. We are looking forward to reporting our findings back to you once we have analysed and written up the data.

12.01.2022 The WILL team are delighted to learn that a project we, and the Georgetown Early Learning Project (USA), are collaborating on with infancy researchers at Ruhr University Bochum (Germany) has been funded by the German Research Council! This 3 year project is looking at infant media use, sleep, and cognition. What wonderful news

12.01.2022 Are you, or do you know, a Grandparent who is the primary carer of a preschool-age grandchild? Our research group want to hear from Grandparent-carers about the reading, counting, talking, and playing that occurs in Australian homes. We are using information from this short survey to help us develop an intervention that better responds to the needs of families. Please share! https://uow.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8e8EGeafaC0g0lf

09.01.2022 During the lockdown, an amazing 158 local parents took part in our survey of parenting and wellbeing. The resulting article has now been accepted for publication. Abstract below - full article available soon. Thank you WILL families for continuing to support our research this year

07.01.2022 Does your child have an imaginary friend? Or perhaps you had one as a child? They are surprisingly common anywhere from 20-60% of children have an imaginary friend at some point. The estimates vary as it’s hard to remember them when we get older, and often parents don’t know about them or don’t talk about them. While you might think children who create imaginary friends are less sociable, they actually tend to have more advanced narrative (story-telling) and social-cognitive skills. These invisible friends can play a major role in family life (an extra plate at the table every day!), but often leave as suddenly as they arrive. What a wonderful part of our early imaginations.

02.01.2022 The WILL team have been rather quiet lately as it's getting to the busy end of the University year. There's been lots going on for us beyond running studies and teaching child development at UOW. Today's task was to begin reviewing new resources on talking, numeracy, literacy, play, and learning that are being developed by the Raising Children Network. This is such a fabulous resource for parents in Australia!

02.01.2022 It's been many months since we've had babies visiting WILL. So we are very excited to share the news that our lab co-ordinator Annaleise will be starting her parental leave next week (due early August). We cant wait for baby cuddles

01.01.2022 Our research group is looking to better understand the types of activities and conversations happening in Australian homes that could influence 3-5 year old's early literacy and numeracy development. If you have a 3-5 year old and are interested, follow this link to our 20 min survey. All families welcome! Please share. https://uow.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0eUrlV0Va1kQqRT

01.01.2022 It's always exciting when the post arrives - but especially when it's a textbook containing a co-authored chapter on Infant Memory. Always proud to see the University of Wollongong recognized as a place of expertise in infant development.