April 22, 2013 - Outreach Specialist Lindsay Klarman presented at a meeting of early learning and care professionals from the Snohomish County Early Learning Coalition.
March 27, 2013 – Outreach Specialist Dr. Sarah Roseberry gave the keynote address at the Organization of Parenting Education Programs’ spring in-service for a group of community and collegiate parenting educators. Her keynote, titled “Everyday Experiences as the Foundation for Early Learning” explored the aspects of everyday experiences that transform these moments into learning opportunities.
Dr. Roseberry also lead a breakout session, “From Sound to Sentences: The Development of Literacy,” that highlighted the many skills that support language and literacy, such as distinguishing the sounds of language and mapping words to the world. Group discussion focused on different ways that parents can use everyday experiences to help young children build language skills for later literacy.
March 15, 2013 – Outreach Specialist Dr. Elizabeth Zack presented at a meeting of Pierce County school administrators in Fife, WA. In her talk, she connected the science of early learning to school readiness, with a focus on how early experiences–such as language exposure–and new brain techniques can help us predict developmental outcomes. Dr. Zack engaged administrators in a discussion of specific ways they can use research on early child development to inform decision-making in their schools.
March 1, 2013 - I-LABS Co-Director Dr. Patricia Kuhl keynoted the 2nd Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Conference (RMECC) in Denver, CO. "RMECC is one of the nation's premier conferences focused on promoting and advancing early childhood education and the interests of children birth to 8 years of age. It seeks to bring together a broad array of stakeholders – early childhood practitioners, advocates, business leaders, policymakers – for high-quality presentations and rich dialogue on the wide variety of fields that impact early care and education."
February 14, 2013 - Outreach Specialist Lindsay Klarman met with home visitors and coordinators at the second annual Parent-Child Home Program gathering at Seola Gardens in White Center. These home visitors are part of a highly successful program supported by the United Way, King County. Lindsay’s 60 min brain science presentation from I-LABS included interactive time and Q&A with these paraprofessionals. This Parent-Child Home Program is a research-based early literacy and school readiness project geared towards hard-to-reach families. The program engages isolated, diverse, low-income families, typically with 2-4 year olds, where it matters--in their home--and coaches parents to become adept teachers for their young children. At the family's invitation, these specially trained visitors come twice weekly over a two-year period with gifts of books and educational toys. Using these materials, the visitor teams with the parent in exercises to stimulate the child's development. Lindsay was available to answer and facilitate questions regarding this high quality input and interaction that the paraprofessionals engage in with parents and their young children.
February 12, 2013 - Outreach Director Hannah Lidman and Outreach Specialist Dr. Sarah Roseberry traveled to Yakima as invited guests of the Investing in Children Reagional Early Learning Coalition and Educational Service District (ESD) 105. Dr. Roseberry kicked off the the coalition's regional WaKIDS meeting with a science talk on research that highlighted the importance of early experiences for later school readiness and success. The early learning professionals in attendance were particularly interested in the brain development of bilingual children, as bilingualism is common in the communities they serve.
February 7, 2013 - For the second year in a row, I-LABS Outreach team shared research and findings with early learning and early grade teachers from the Olympic Peninsula at the Fort Worden Early Childhood Education Conference put on by OESD 114.
Dr. Sarah Roseberry presented on “The Fundamentals of Early Brain Development in Young Children.” During her breakout session, participants learned about how the brain develops as it learns language in the first five years of life. Throughout the talk, the importance of experiences for brain development was highlighted, and discussion centered on ways to provide children with rich social interactions.
Dr. Zack's talk highlighted the fundamentals of social emotional well-being and presented research studies from I-LABS on the building blocks of social emotional development, including infant imitation and emotion understanding as they occur in the context of supportive interactions. The audience engaged in a discussion with Dr. Zack on how they can use findings from the research studies to enhance their everyday interactions with young children.
November 29, 2012 - I-LABS Co-Director Dr. Andrew Meltzoff lead a science symposium for a packed ballroom in Los Angeles during the annual Zero to Three National Training Institute. His talk, entitled ‘"Like-Me’ and Early Feelings of Social-Emotional Connection: Imitation, Empathy, and Neural Mirroring" guided the attending early learning practitioners into discovery of the science behind social emotional development in young children. The session was live broadcast and recorded, and can be downloaded here.
October 26, 2012 - Dr. Gina Lebedeva kicked off the Promoting First Relationships training conference. The conference. for northwest-area pediatricians. focuses on incorporating a relationship-based mental health lens in their work with families. Dr. Lebedeva's session highlighted the neuroscience of early emotional responses and social interactions, and discussed current best evidence for the biological basis of the importance of first relationships.
October 18, 2012 - Dr. Gina Lebedeva led a workshop at the Annual Conference for the Washington Association for the Education of Young Children (WAEYC) in Vancouver WA. Geared toward systems-level change, the interactive discussion focused on research-based practices that best support language development in young children. The session, entitled "Growing Language Through Everyday Interactions," also shared strategies to help engage pre-service and less experienced teachers in adopting high-quality evidence-based interaction practices with infants and toddlers, while still being aware of the increasing demands to meet standards and accountability.
October 16, 2012 - Attend by over 220 home visitors, therapists, early intervention educators and trainers, the symposium was a collaboration between Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) and Little Red Schoolhouse. Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick welcomed guests, and the day-long symposium featured Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick, a keynote by Dr. Kathy Barnard of the UW Barnard Center on Infant Mental Health, and presentations by Dr. Sheri Hill, Dr. JoAnne Solchany, Dr. Shawn Elmore, and Rosemary White.
Using an interdisciplinary approach, Dr. Lebedeva's talk focused on using social relationship-based strategies to support language and communication in the first two years, and highlighted important neurobiological changes that occur in those relationships.
October 15, 2012 - Outreach specialist Dr. Sarah Roseberry presented the lunchtime address at the annual Early Learning Public Library Partnership Symposium. Sponsored by the Foundation for Early Learning, this partnership is a coalition of over 20 library systems in Washington State dedicated to advancing early learning. Dr. Roseberry’s talk, titled, “Mediating Media: Best Practices for Using Screen Media with Young Children,” highlighted the most recent research about children’s ability to learn from screen media and featured the common theme that children learn best in socially interactive contexts. Dr. Roseberry then led the attendees in a lively discussion about libraries might best incorporate media for children’s use.
August 14-15, 2012 - The 4th annual Starting Strong P-3 Institute is intended to bring together early learning professionals and K-12 educators from across Washington State for discussions about innovation and alignment between systems. Dr. Gina Lebedeva's session, "Talk as Building Blocks: Communication Strategies to Build Language", used research evidence, video clips, interactive discussion and clinical vignettes to illustrate how to infuse everyday moments with the lens of developmental relationships. Topics also included language diversity (bilingualism) and children at risk for delays. The standing-room-only crowd included care providers for infants & toddlers, preschool teachers and administrators, and K-3 educators, and the lively discussion included ways to include basic learning principles across different learning contexts.
Outreach Specialist Dr. Sarah Roseberry also presented a breakout session titled, “From Thomas the Tank Engine to SpongeBob SquarePants: Best practices for using screen media with children 0-8.” This workshop highlighted the most recent statistics about children’s screen media use and reviewed the latest research on what and when children might learn from screens. A common theme is that children learn more when adults interact with them during screen media exposure.
May 11, 2012 - Dr. Gina Lebedeva presented a plenary "Investigation" talk at the annual conference of the Association of Children's Museums, where an audience of energetic, creative and outside-the-box museum directors from across the country gathered to discuss how best to engage infants and their caregivers in the exhibits. The focus of the discussion was on how basic brain & behavioral research can support parents' everyday interactions with infants and toddlers. Partipants highlighted a common problem in many museums, where parents of infants and toddlers tend to view museum participation as a "passive" event where they either simply watch the child play from afar, or in the case of infants, simply keep them "along for the ride" in a carrier, while watching an older child play.
To help unpack these observations, this Investigation built on examples from current research show specific ways that first relationships, early non-verbal communication, and word-learning can all be incorporated into parenting education for all families. An important take-away message was how museums can help families "get back to basics" with the youngest learners, to include social connection, imitation, and rich language in play-based interactions that can be a model for what can happen at home. By keeping these "basics" in mind, exhibits can also support cross-cultural inclusion, universal access for all abilities, and increased mindfulness from visitors.
Despite the great technology available at our fingertips and at the museum, parents are the best toy in the room! Participants commented how helpful it was to have current research-based evidence to promote exhibits that can showcase the importance of play between infants and toddlers, with their caregivers.
April 27, 2012 - Gina Lebedeva was invited to present at the Washington State Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Council (ECTPC) in Kent. The topic, 'Early Bilingual Experience and its Relationship to Language and Cognitive Development', was well-timed to the ongoing need to stay current on best evidence in the literature. Recent research data was shared regarding early vocabulary and grammar development in bilinguals, links between bilingual experience and brain development, skill transfer in emergent literacy, and relationships to cognitive flexibility. Audience members were primarily faculty in early childhood education programs across the state, and program development specialists for continuing education. The ECTPC is committed to providing high quality professional education for educators and caregivers of children birth through 8. Discussion also included ideas on building an ongoing relationship between the ECTPC and I-LABS to help support their training efforts.
April 26, 2012 - Dr. Gina Lebedeva was invited to present at the 15th Annual Brain Series event at Bates College in Tacoma, which brings together experts in the field of child development for a free two-hour seminar open to care providers, parents and the public. To an audience of around 200, the talk focused on recent advances in brain and behavioral research that highlight the importance of early play, language and literacy in preparing young children for school success. With plenty of videos and live demonstrations with audience-participation, the presentation illustrated "everyday" ways to enhance children's learning, by drawing on examples from research about infant attachment, social-emotional learning, imitation, bilingualism and emergent literacy.
The Brain Series event is sponsored by the Pierce County Public Library System, KBTC Public TV, and the Pierce County Association for the Education of Young Children. Previous years featured renowned speakers Drs. John Medina, Andrew Meltzoff, Alison Gopnik, and John Gottman.
March 15, 2012 - The March 2012 Southwest Area All-Staff training for child care licensors and their supervisors included a 3-hour workshop led by Dr. Gina Lebedeva on how research-based elements of parent-child interaction might be more fluidly incorporated into their important work. While their main duties include processing background checks, inspecting and monitoring facilities, and taking corrective action when necessary, they also have important roles in identifying strengths in child care settings, and sharing information and resources when something can be improved. This workshop focused on the small but important everyday learning moments that are the basis for early learning, as outlined in both basic and current research findings. Feedback from participants emphasized how helpful it is to be not only reminded of the core features of social, emotional and communication interactions between providers and children in the first 3 years, but also how to frame their work to be able to include that type of communication with the providers they work with.
March 9, 2012 - After a great showing at the inauguration of WSU's parenting extension webinar series in October of 2011, Dr. Gina Lebedeva was asked back to lead the second webinar in the series on "Early Bilingual Experience and its Relationship to Language and Cognitive Development. Opened to the national network of over 100 sites, the webinar was filled to capacity where some sites were hosting a local co-viewing group. Participants come from across the nation including MA, NY, AZ, CA, FL, and of course WA, and included parenting coaches, early education faculty, K-12 professionals and administrators, and community early learning leaders. Click here to watch the recorded Webinar.
February 4, 2012 - At the annual Focus on Our Children Conference at Bellingham Technical College, Dr. Gina Lebedeva led two breakout sessions for early intervention home visitors, childcare providers, early education practitioners, and community program leaders. Lively discussion ensued in two workshops, which were titled, "Cognition is Play, Language, and Social Interaction All in One Brain" and "Brain Measures and Behaviors in Infants Predict Later Outcomes: Making Most of the Research." Key points developed in the workshops were how to use evidence-based strategies to help at-risk families improve their moment-by-moment interactions with infants and toddlers, by focusing on small moments that include imitation, eye gaze, gesturing and high-quality language input.
February 3, 2012 - This engaging 2-day conference gathered over 400 early learning providers, the vast majority working in programs affiliated with Head Start and Early Head Start, where Dr. Gina Lebedeva presented the keynote talk titled "From Eye Gaze to Brain Waves: How the Quality of Interactions Shapes Learning in the Early Years" and an associated breakout session to help practitioners apply the science in their work with children and families. DEL director Dr. Bette Hyde and OSPI Superintendent Randy Dorn also spoke about the advancement of early learning opportunities ahead in Washington, and engaged in discussion with Dr. Lebedeva on opportunities to improve professional education in alignment with the Race To The Top project at the state level.
January 28, 2012 - Dr. Gina Lebedeva led a workshop on early bilingualism at the UW Information School's annual iYouth conference, where their mission includes supporting professional development for children's and youth services in libraries and literacy. With over 60 participants, the workshop, called "Strong Communication as a Foundation for Strong Reading" focused on how to apply evidence from brain and behavioral science to young bilinguals, and dispelled common myths about bilingualism. A take-away message was that strong overall language and sound awareness skills in the child's home language, bilingual or not, is key to preparing the child for school and for reading in any language, even if the school's language may not match the home language all of the time. Participants also learned about how bilingualism and cognitive flexibility are related, and ways to promote children's flexible thinking across different settings.
January 27, 2012 - Dr. Gina Lebedeva presented at a meeting of 30 district superintendents, principals, and administrators in the Olympic Education Service District (ESD) in Bremerton, WA, one of 9 regional ESDs in Washington State. The discussion focused on connecting the science of early learning to K-12 education, and what particular, unique, and direct relevance early learning research has on improving education policies.
Given the robust data on the importance of human interaction in learning, the engaging discussion focused on how social-emotional foundations, set early in life, fundamentally drive cognitive development and readiness for school and life. I-LABS findings on the development of gender-math stereotyping also applied to considerations for STEM education. The presentation spurred lively discussion among the group on how leadership, curricula, and evaluation standards can be shaped and improved given these data.
The conversation also highlighted the theme of including the science of early learning itself, including basic brain development from infancy, as an integral part of basic science and social science education in the K-12 system, given the powerful impact that this knowledge can have when it is incorporated into public awareness.
January 5-6, 2012 - At "Securing the Future for Our Babies", the annual Texas Association for Infant Mental Health Brazelton Conference in Dallas, Dr. Gina Lebedeva gave a keynote address on "Learning, Language & Love: Connecting the Keys to a Strong Start in Life". Gina also did a work session with a large group of funders and policy advocates on the important connections between science, advocacy, and policy - highlighting the role I-LABS and our Translation, Outreach, and Education division has played in the development of early learning policy in Washington State.
While in Texas, Gina was also interviewed on the CBS-affiliate station in Dallas, KRLD Radio. Information about the conference including access to the presentations and handouts can be found on the Texas Association for Infant Mental Health website.
October 21, 2011 - I-LABS research and our Translation, Outreach, & Education work was featured in the first webinar in the WSU Parenting Extension's parenting education webinar series. The topic of the presentation, "Everyday Interactions are the Foundation for Early Learning: Key Behaviors for Supporting Communication in Children 0-3", supported the participants' work with parents in multiple ways. The webinar was archived and is available to the public here.
September 28, 2011 - After the Education Nation event in NYC, outreach specialist Gina Lebedeva was invited to lead a 2-hour training workshop through the Robin Hood Foundation, which focuses on reducing poverty and its effects in the NYC area. Participants in the workshop were 50 Nurse Family Partner home visitors and supervisors, as well as early childhood development specialists who lead efforts in service provision in the Queens NY area.
The workshop was titled 'Everyday Interaction as the Foundation for Learning: Key Behaviors in Supporting Communication in Children 0-3' and focused on how professionals can help parents stay mindful of how language-based interactions can stimulate cognitive development. With this keen group, discussion focused on the more challenging aspects of home visiting, and how fostering relationships between the professional and the parent is key for successful "translation" of relevant research findings into daily routines of families themselves. Based on feedback and interaction, participants left with a deeper awareness of how basic brain and behavioral research can be integrated into the quality of experiences during home visits, which then affect the very fabric of a child's experiences at home.
August 11-12, 2011 - I-LABS' scientists Drs. Andrew Meltzoff, Patricia Kuhl and Sarah Roseberry along with Gina Lebedeva, Director of Translation, Outreach and Education, delivered talks and spoke with providers, practitioners and policy-makers at the 3rd annual Starting Strong P-3 Institute. Hundreds of school district officials, teachers, parents, early learning providers, funders and policy-makers gathered for the two-day conference held on August 11-12, 2011 with the goal of fostering an early learning and education ecosystem to help bridge the achievement gap for children in Washington State. Video capturing the excitement of the event can be found here.
May 8, 2011 - Spokane TV Station KHQ reporter Sean Owsley interviews Gina Lebedeva for their Invest Northwest program to discus the importance of investing in early childhood.
April, 2011 - Health Matters TV show: "Our Kids Our Business Edition:" A one hour live call-in show, with Gina Lebedeva as a panelist.
April 22, 2011 - Invited talk "Connecting Early Learning Experiences with Children's Health," for Sacred Heart Children's Hospital in Spokane, WA, by Gina Lebedeva.
February, 2011 - Dr. Gina Lebedeva travels to Mount Vernon Washington, presenting to an audience of over 150 including school district administrators and educators, mental health professionals, child welfare advocates, early learning coaliltion members and childcare directors.
December, 2010 - Invited talk "Early Literacy, Language and the Brain," in Seattle, WA, by Gina Lebedeva
October 26, 2010 - Invited talk "Linking Brain Development with Early Language and Literacy," in Seattle, WA, by Gina Lebedeva
October 14, 2010 - The conference was held in Spokane Washington and attended by over 300 early education specialists across the state, keynote address by Andrew N. Meltzoff and breakout session led by Gina Lebedeva
July 12, 2010 - The Director of Washington State Head Start/ECAEP as well as regional Head Start Directors learned about the latest research in children's brain and behavioral development in a meeting and tour with I-LABS Co-Directors
September 24, 2009 - Dr. Andrew Meltzoff is featured in the Swedish Birthways Lecture Series
June 26-28, 2006 - The inaugural I-LABS Summer Institute was held on two beautiful days in June. These day-long workshops brought nearly 50 K-12 teachers, administrators and other school specialists to I-LABS in order to hear about the neuroscience of early learning. The theme for the workshop was “Building a bridge between neuroscience and education”.
