Early Development

The Harvard community is exploring the vital, early years to better understand how we can give all children the best start in life.

The ABCs

The three core concepts for early childhood development, compiled by Harvard’s Center for the Developing Child.

Learn more about the center

“We’ve learned there are … well-replicated differences in brain development as a function of a family’s socioeconomic status.”

Katie A. McLaughlin

Harvard psychology professor

Explore her paper

Learning how we learn

Two Harvard developmental psychologists launched the Early Learning Study at Harvard to determine the best approaches to early education.

Learn more about the research

Two professors showing a children's app on a screen

Three apps to spark family conversation

Harvard’s Graduate School of Education created three early-literacy apps designed for parents and caregivers to use with their children to promote dialogue and give children the foundations they need to read, learn, and thrive.

Why do children play?

Play is an incredible motivator. It’s where children learn and challenge themselves.

Smart kids: nature or nurture?

Research shows that a parental “growth mindset” leads to better educational outcomes for their children.

Is spanking bad for brain development?

Spanking may affect a child’s brain development in ways similar to more severe forms of violence, says a recent study.

An illustration of a child's head with a maze in it

Is baby talk good for infants?

Communication with parents and caregivers is like food for developing brains, fostering early literacy, school readiness, and social and emotional wellbeing.

“Our idea is that, if we could learn how to strengthen neonatal immunity, it might allow us to better fight infections later in life.”

Kellie Ann Jurado

Harvard alum

Learn more about her work

Supporting children around the globe

“Early Childhood Development: Global Strategies for Interventions” is a free online course that examines best practices in child and family policies, advocacy, financing, and pathways to scale.

Take the free course

Harvard groups, including the Global Health Partnership Early Child Development Working Group and the Harvard-Brazil Early Childhood Development Initiative, along with faculty members like Aisha Yousafzai, S.V. Subramanian, and Margaret Kruk, are working to remove the obstacles that prevent proper nutrition, access to healthcare, and learning opportunities for children around the world.

“My current research explores the lifelong effects of early life adversity on susceptibility to psychopathology such as anxiety and depression.”

Josephine McGowan

Postdoctoral Fellow

Read more about her research

Improving health outcomes

Baby teeth may help identify kids at risk for mental disorders

Baby teeth may reveal clues about the effects of childhood adversity, which research suggests is responsible for up to one-third of all mental health disorders.

Childhood housing insecurity and depression

Harvard alum Ryan Keen explores the relationship between childhood housing insecurity and mental health.

Trauma during childhood may accelerate puberty

Childhood violence and trauma has a direct effect on a person’s mental and physical health as they grow, with certain kinds of trauma also affecting the pace of aging.

Explore the psychology study

The impact of childhood trauma on the brain, body, and mind

Clinical psychology graduate student Stephanie DeCross discusses her research on how youth exposed to childhood trauma learn about cues that predict threat versus safety and how this impacts mental health.

Explore this episode of “Dissertation in One Minute”

Developmental risks for sleep-deprived kids

Children ages 3 to 7 who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to have problems with attention, emotional control, and peer relationships in mid-childhood, according to a study led by a Harvard pediatrician.

Air pollution and autism in children

Exposure to fine particulate air pollution has been linked with significantly increased risk of autism spectrum disorder in children.