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Information for Parents

Our projects are designed to be fun and child-friendly. Hundreds of young children of all ages have visited our program to help us learn more about early development. You can see many of our recent Infant Scientist visitors on Facebook.

Watch this video about how to find the Baby Lab: Visit KUMC.

What will happen during your visit?

What happens during a visit to the Baby Lab?

  • Before beginning, we always explain the study to parents and describe exactly what will happen during the visit. This gives young children time to get comfortable in a new environment.
  • Most visits last between 30 minutes and 1 hour.
  • You will be with your child during the entire visit.
  • We use a variety of different activities to learn about child development.

Many of our projects involve studying how children pay attention to different information. Children sit on their parent's lap or in a car seat and watch different videos or images on computer screens. A small camera in the room records what a child is looking at on the screen. This helps us learn about how children attend to and process different kinds of information.

baby in car seat

We also use eye-tracking technology to understand how children are looking at different events. An eye tracker uses several harmless lights (that bounce off the child’s eyes) to identify precisely where on a screen a child is looking.

baby performing eye tracking exercise

Another way we are able to learn about how children pay attention is by measuring their heart rate while they are watching videos or images. This is a safe way to understand how well children are processing what they are seeing.

baby with heart monitor  baby with leads

Other activities help us learn about children's early communication and play. Children sit on their parent's lap, or in a high chair, and play with a variety of age-appropriate toys.

baby with toys

How do I participate?

If you would like to have your child participate in one of our studies, you can sign up with us. Then, when your child becomes eligible for a study, we will contact you with more information about the current project and schedule an appointment if you are interested in participating.

If you would like more information about our program, please contact us with any questions.

Resources for Parents

Resources for Parents

Children raising their hands

Interested in participating?

Use our secure, confidential online form to register your child as a prospective participant in future studies.
Register to Participate
KU School of Medicine

University of Kansas Medical Center
2000 Olathe Blvd.
Miller Building, Room 1031
Kansas City, KS 66160
913-945-8560
babylab@ku.edu