New paper by Alvin W. M. Tan, Kirsten Read, Sophia Gamboa, Janet Bang, and @vmarchman.bsky.social showing text in children's books is lexically and grammatically richer than spontaneous child-directed speech. ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/9...
Kirsten Read
@kreadlab.bsky.social
Associate Professor (woot!) developmental psychology, psycholinguistics, and word nerdiness at Santa Clara University, CA
the perfect pairing for a random tuesday in august... a new paper on the *power of the page* from Language Development Research, and a powerful peice on the *danger of children's books* from McSweeney's.. 😘 ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/9... www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/dan...
Dangerous Children’s Picture Books That Could Be Lurking in Your Home
“Where the Wild Things Are is a horrifying story of lawlessness and open borders.” 3/2/25 7/31/26
mcsweeneys.net
"The Rainbow Fish" Blatant propaganda from the LGBToomanyletters community. Not to mention, the fish makes friends by giving away its silver scales, making it an ordinary, ugly fish with no accumulated wealth. A bunch of communist crap.
Dangerous Children’s Picture Books That Could Be Lurking in Your Home
“Where the Wild Things Are is a horrifying story of lawlessness and open borders.” 3/2/25 7/31/26
buff.ly
Once you understand that this is a model of science written by non-scientists who hate universities but love venture capital and redirecting money to political allies, everything makes a lot more sense. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
nytimes.com
A $3 @mta.info subway fare and some good Q train timing can buy you one hell of a view of the July 4th fireworks and the Brooklyn Bridge light show! Huge shoutout to the train operator for slow rolling over the Manhattan Bridge and the conductor for announcing it.
i have been publishing academic papers for twenty years, and responding to reviewers is still.. still.. the most emotionally challenging part of this work.
Sad Monkey Sighs on Couch
ALT: Sad Monkey Sighs on Couch
static.klipy.com
Area Child’s Drawing Of Family Raises Troubling Questions About Size Of Dad
on thursday i'm giving a 5 minute schpiel as part of a panel on "how to have a productive and balanced summer" for other faculty who may be far less cynical and sarcastic than I. anyone have funny cartoons / meme suggestions? 😜 this feels like a @mcsweeneys.net headline, ripe on the vine
BREAKING: Mayor Mamdani just signed an “executive order” to repeal bedtime so NYC kids can watch the Knicks play in the NBA Finals!
Has #kindergarten drifted too far toward rigid academics and too far away from how young children learn best? Join us on June 9 for an engaging conversation on my new book and why play, joy, and relationship-building are essential to helping kids thrive. www.newamerica.org/events/redis...
Rediscovering Kindergarten: Embracing Play and Joy in Learning
newamerica.org
lang dev researchers in my bsky -- yesterday on the NYT's podcast The Daily, an AI-powered device was described as popularly available in China that allows parents to wear a "translation mask" to teach their young children English at home. Is. this. real?? I need to know more! 🤪
this totally keeps happening to me also! kids these days.
Jeff Cookston@cookston.bsky.social · 3mo agoMy students called my bluff and wrote the papers I asked them to write, and now I have to grade them.
maybe someone i love and support will apply for this post, and go enjoy an academic life in Copenhagen, and I can live vicariously through you? or at least come visit? check it out:
Victoria Southgate@vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 3mo agoWe are looking for a new colleague with expertise in middle-childhood/adolescence developmental science to join us in Copenhagen. Open rank and can be both applied and/or basic science. Please share with relevant colleagues. employment.ku.dk/faculty/?sho...
across 90 countries! #teamwork
Jeff Greene@jeffgreene.bsky.social · 3mo agoGi-normous meta-analysis using individual participant data from international large-scale assessments shows math anxiety negatively related to math achievement. Cognitive & affective facets of math anxiety more negatively related than worry. #PsychSciSky #AcademicSky #EduSky doi.org/10.1037/bul0...
So much this! Humans learn language with astonishingly little and different input than these systems. Their comprehension and production gradually develop. We don’t depend on processing every bit of language that’s ever been produced.
Fernanda Ferreira@fernandaedi.bsky.social · 4mo agoIt’s interesting to reconcile the idea that LLMs learn and use language just like humans do with the fact that their training and data storage needs are so resource-intensive they’re going to destroy the planet.
Job alert! @brandonwoo.bsky.social and I are searching for a new lab manager. We are excited to add a new member to our awesome community of soc cog dev researchers! Spread the word :) Full ad here: recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF03106
Junior Specialist, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences
University of California Santa Barbara is hiring. Apply now!
recruit.ap.ucsb.edu
in another celebration of #CDS2026 Obnoxious Toddler Really Rubbing His Childlike Sense Of Wonder In Everyone’s Faces — theonion.com/obnoxious-to...
Obnoxious Toddler Really Rubbing His Childlike Sense Of Wonder In Everyone’s Faces
DEARBORN, MI—As patience wore thin with the little boy’s repeated expressions of amazement and delight, sources confirmed Monday that obnoxious toddler Liam Primack was really rubbing his sense of childlike wonder in everyone’s faces. “Look, we get it, everything around him is new and exciting as he sees the world with fresh eyes, but Jesus Christ, give it a fucking rest,” said the irritating boy’s mother, Lauren Primack, who was seen rolling her eyes as the 18-month-old’s face lit up during a game of peekaboo with a visiting neighbor. “Just because he has a wholesome curiosity and fascination with everything around him doesn’t mean he needs to gloat about it all the time. It would be nice if I could go to a park without this beaming, exuberant child clapping and giggling every time he sees a goddamn bird. It’s like, chill the fuck out, kid. As if you haven’t seen a bird before. Give me a break.” At press time, sources confirmed the annoyingly gleeful toddler had been given a dose of reality after he excitedly approached a dog that bit him.
theonion.com
first heading to teach this quarter's class on Developmental Psychology, then off to the airport to make it to #CDS2026 with this gem of a "zoom out" take in my pocket.. open.substack.com/pub/paulbloo...
A lot of developmental psychology isn't worth doing
A complaint about my field
open.substack.com
A new Teaching Current Directions highlights a paper from @julia-a-leonard.bsky.social and @reutshachnai.bsky.social and offers an opportunity to teach students about cutting‑edge research on #parenting. #Psychology #Teaching
How Kids Learn the Power of Persistence
Teaching: Lesson plans to teach students cutting-edge research on parenting and introduce feedback loops and expectancy-value theory.
psychologicalscience.org
the hardest part about being a parent is that on days when it's tough for me to get out of bed and put my shoulder to the wheel, i also still have to motivate three tween/teens that it's worth it to do the same.
love this work, for others studying parent/child language interactions.. consider the implications of the finding here that alignment is more a *skill* than a *trait*
Riccardo Fusaroli@fusaroli.eurosky.social · 5mo agoPeople re-use each other's words, syntax and semantics in conversation, arguably to facilitate common ground. In a new Proceedings of the Royal Society B we assess whether this tendency can be used an individually reliable trait (e.g. to correlate it to something else): doi.org/10.1098/rspb... 1/
anyone else EXTREMELY tired of their employer trying to shove AI into our faces? do they really want us to do more while thinking less? like making stupid surveys with this kind of childish starter question: my intro research methods students wouldn't fall for this crap.
Hey DORKS! Are you attending your local Saturday, March 7th National Day of Action rally? Not sure where your nearest rally is? Visit standupforscience.net/march7 to find your local rally!!! #March7 #standupforscience #science #rally
The third graders in Steubenville, Ohio, beat all the odds and became the strongest little readers in the state. This week on Reveal, we look at how this school in an economically disadvantaged town became a success—and how a new law puts it all at risk.
Third graders in Steubenville, Ohio, are some of the best little readers in the nation. What’s their secret?
An elementary school in Ohio has some of the best young readers in the nation. How they did it—and how a new law put it all at risk.
bit.ly
This is the most resonant higher ed piece I’ve read in a long time
McSweeney's@mcsweeneys.net · 5mo ago"A lot of you are probably wondering what the new strategic initiative is. Well, it’s complicated and hard to explain. It moves in mysterious ways. We’re building this plane as we fly it, as they say in the new strategic initiative biz."
