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Playing with dolls can prompt children to talk about others' thoughts and emotions, according to the latest findings of a multi-year study from neuroscientists at Cardiff University. The data expands on research exploring the impact of doll play on children, conducted by experts from the School of Psychology's Centre for Human Developmental Science and commissioned by Mattel.

Babies who were given nutritionally modified formula milk had the same maths and English exam results as children who were given standard formula milk by age 16, finds a major new study led by UCL researchers that links seven randomised controlled trials to school performance re Scientists from the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (GOS ICH) and the UCL Institute of Education, who published their findings in the BMJ today, used a

National Curriculum Key Stage 2 tests taken by 10- and 11-year-old children in England to assess progress in English and Mathematics do not seem to affect children's wellbeing, according to new UCL-led research. The peer-reviewed study, published today in Assessment in Education, analysed data from around 2,500 children who live in England (where the KS2 tests are conducted) and in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (where the tests do not take place) and are all participants of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).

Time spent together in families significantly contributes to mothers and fathers' happiness when compared to being alone, shows new research from a UCL academic. The research also finds that couple time spent alone without children contributes to the largest increase in wellbeing Published today in Sociology , the study analyses data from 236 couples who participated in the 2014-2015 United Kingdom Time Use Survey and finds that fathers often reported enjoying family time more than mothers do.

Physical activity among young people can be improved by well-designed and delivered online interventions such as 'exergames' and smartphone apps, new research shows. According to a review study carried out at the University of Birmingham, children and young people reacted positively in PE lessons to the use of exergames, which deliver physical activity lessons via games or personalised activities.

A child's educational success depends on the genes that they haven't inherited from their parents, as well as the genes they have, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. Funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the study confirms that genes a person inherits directly are most likely to contribute to their achievements in education.

A new approach to tackling the spread of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, which combines affordable, easy-to-administer blood tests with machine learning and unbreakable encryption, has generated encouraging early results in Uganda. Malaria is one of the world's leading causes of illness and death, sickening around 228 million people each year, more than 400,000 of them fatally.

For the first time, researchers have used machine learning to successfully measure attachment in children - the vital human bond that humans first develop as infants to their caregivers. In new multi-disciplinary research, led by the University of Glasgow and published in PLOS ONE, the study team present a quick and easy way to measure attachment through a computer game, that has the potential to be used in largescale public health monitoring.

Older adults may be slower to learn actions and behaviours that benefit themselves, but new research shows they are just as capable as younger people of learning behaviours that benefit others. Researchers at the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford found that youngsters, in contrast, tend to learn much faster when they are making choices that benefit themselves.

Attention training in young people with autism can lead to significant improvements in academic performance, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Birmingham in the UK along with institutions in São Paolo, in Brazil, tested a computer programme designed to train basic attention skills among a group of autistic children aged between eight and 14 years old.

Adding extra classroom time to the school day may only result in marginal gains for pupils who have lost learning during the COVID pandemic, a study says. Simply keeping all students in school for longer, in order to do more maths or more English, probably won't improve results much Vaughan Connolly The University of Cambridge analysis used five years of Government data, collected from more than 2,800 schools in England, to estimate the likely impact of additional classroom instruction on academic progress, as measured at GCSE.

Whilst the rise in emotional problems in teenagers and young adults since the pandemic has become clearer, little is known about the emotional response of pre-school and primary school aged children. Using data tracking children's emotional development at multiple ages before and during the pandemic, the research team were able to explore differences in trajectories of emotional difficulties in children before and during the pandemic.

Around 700 child deaths that occur in England each year might be avoided by reducing deprivation, finds a new NHS England-funded report published today [13 May]. The University of Bristol National Child Mortality Database (NCMD)-led analysis identified a clear association between the risk of death and level of deprivation for children in England, for all categories of death except cancer.

A new nationally representative birth cohort study launching in England in the coming year will deliver valuable insights into child development, led by UCL researchers and commissioned and funded by the Department for Education. The Children of the 2020s Study will include babies born in April, May, and June 2021.

Helping parents with depression or anxiety could also improve their ability to engage in potentially 'protective' forms of play with their children that can reduce the risk of behavioural problems, new research suggests. If there are two mothers who pretend play with the same frequency, but one has higher anxiety or depression level, the child of that parent will tend to engage in less pretend play Zhen Rao The finding comes from a granular analysis of 3,600 five-second clips, which researchers took from recordings of 60 mother-toddler pairs playing together.

Thirty years after it first started, the Children of the 90s health study - one of the largest, most detailed longitudinal birth cohorts in the world - announced today [28 April] that it will launch its biggest collection of health data yet on three generations of Bristol families in September. Children of the 90s data has been used in over 2,200 health studies around the world to date.

More young people may choose to study foreign languages to GCSE if they are encouraged to 'identify' with languages at school, rather than just learning vocabulary and grammar, new research suggests.

Research from Bath psychologists suggests schools could introduce quieter alternatives to playtime to help children with Developmental Language Disorder. Last updated on Wednesday 31 March 2021 Children with a common but regularly undiagnosed disorder affecting their language and communication are likely to be finding the transition back to school post-lockdown harder than most, according to a team of psychologists.

Pupils at a Bristol school became scientists for a day to understand more about how PCR testing works to diagnose for COVID-19. Four Acres Academy is one of many local schools that are taking part in a ground-breaking University of Bristol research project to increase researchers understanding of infection patterns of COVID-19 in children.

An "astonishing" deficit of data about how the global boom in educational technology could help pupils with disabilities in low and middle-income countries has been highlighted in a new report.