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Bridging Research & Practice in Child Psychology
Explore insights from parenting challenges to cutting-edge research... making psychology accessible, practical, and evidence-based.
The Case for Doing Less
Independent Play, Boredom, and Why “Underparenting” Might Be Exactly What Your Child Needs By Dr. McKinzie Duesenberg-Marshall, PhD, LP, NCSP | Minds in Progress, LLC If you have ever felt guilty for not playing with your child, for letting them sit in their boredom a little too long, or for wishing they could just (for once) entertain themselves for twenty minutes while you finish something: this article is for you. There is a growing movement in child development research a
16 min read
Is Your Child Struggling with Writing? Here’s What the Research Says...and What You Can Do About It
By Dr. McKinzie Duesenberg-Marshall, PhD, LP, NCSP | Minds in Progress, LLC Writing is hard. Most parents know this instinctively when they watch their child stare at a blank page, lose their grip on a pencil, or spend 20 minutes producing three sentences that their classmates wrote in five. What parents often don’t know is that this struggle usually has a clear, identifiable cause...and that research-backed strategies exist to address it. A study recently published in The Re
7 min read
The Screen-Free Summer Guide
What the Research Says...and What to Actually Do About It By Dr. McKinzie Duesenberg-Marshall, PhD, LP, NCSP | Minds in Progress, LLC It’s become a familiar summer scene: kids sprawled on the couch, phone in hand, the afternoon disappearing into a scroll. Parents know something is off...but between working, managing the house, and the sheer exhaustion of summer logistics, it’s easy to let screens absorb the hours that feel hardest to fill. You’re not imagining it, and you’re
13 min read
Before You Can Change the Behavior, You Have to Understand It
Understanding the function of behavior using the SEAT Framework by Dr. Mckinzie Duesenberg-Marshall You’ve been through the homework meltdown. The tantrum in the grocery store. The child who suddenly “can’t” do anything the moment it’s time to leave the playground. You’ve tried calm, you’ve tried firm, you’ve tried ignoring it, you’ve tried everything — and still, the behavior keeps coming back. Here’s what most behavior advice misses: behavior doesn’t happen randomly. Every
6 min read
Making the Most of Summer
A Parent’s Guide to Structure, Sleep, and Staying Sane By Dr. McKinzie Duesenberg-Marshall, PhD, LP, NCSP | Minds in Progress, LLC Summer sounds like freedom....no alarms, no homework, no rigid schedules. And in many ways, it is. But for a lot of kids (and their parents), the weeks that stretch out after that last school bell can feel surprisingly hard to navigate. Too much unstructured time can lead to boredom, meltdowns, sleep chaos, and by mid-July, a household that feels
10 min read
“That’s Not Fair!” — Teaching Kids the Difference Between Equal and Fair
If you have more than one child (or have ever watched kids interact on a playground), you’ve heard it. That word, stretched out with total conviction: “THAT’S NOT FAAAIR.” The older one stays up later. One child gets extra help with homework. Someone gets a bigger snack. In your child's mind, anything that looks uneven is automatically unjust. And honestly? It makes sense that they think that way! They just haven't learned one of the most important distinctions of childhood y
5 min read
When Your Child Struggles to Write: What a New Study Tells Us About Early Writing Support
If your child has ever cried over a writing assignment, avoided it entirely, or handed in something far below what you know they’re capable of. .. you ’re not alone, and neither are they. Writing is one of the most demanding academic tasks we ask of young learners, and for children with learning disabilities, ADHD, autism, or language differences, it can be a genuine daily struggle. As a researcher who studies early writing intervention, I wanted to share findings from a stud
4 min read
Family Activities for Emotional Regulation: A Guide for Every Age
Emotions don't come with an instruction manual...but the good news is that emotional regulation is a skill , and like any skill, it can be practiced, strengthened, and taught. Whether you're parenting a toddler mid-meltdown or navigating the emotional complexity of your own adult life, there are research-informed strategies that work. At Minds in Progress , we believe that supporting emotional wellness is a whole-family endeavor. This guide breaks down practical activities by
6 min read
The 10-Minute Family Check-In: A Simple Routine That Supports Your Child’s Progress
At Minds in Progress, we see firsthand how much happens between sessions and evaluations. Parents come to us with thorough notes, teachers share observations, and children bring everything they’ve been carrying all week — but the window for connection at home can feel narrow. Life is busy. Evenings are rushed. And when we ask families what gets in the way of consistency, the answer is almost always the same: “we just don’t know where to start.” That’s exactly why we created t
4 min read
Understanding Feelings Through Gingerbread Man Activities for Parents and Kids
Helping children understand their emotions can be a challenge for many parents. Young kids often struggle to express what they feel inside, especially when it comes to recognizing the physical sensations that accompany emotions. Teaching children to identify these bodily signals can improve their emotional awareness and communication skills. One fun and effective way to do this is through a holiday-themed activity using a gingerbread man as a guide. This blog post will walk y
5 min read
Understanding Reading Support for Middle Schoolers
What the Study Found: Your research tested a simple but powerful reading strategy called "partner reading with paragraph shrinking" with eighth-grade students in their regular science and social studies classes. The intervention, which lasted just three weeks, led to significantly improved oral reading fluency and higher comprehension scores in both science and social studies content. One of the most encouraging findings is that the positive effects occurred regardless of whe
3 min read
Effects of targeting reading interventions: Testing a skill-by-treatment interaction in an applied setting
Quick Research Summary: Dr. McKinzie Duesenberg-Marshall co-authored a peer-reviewed study examining reading interventions across more than 1,500 students. The research found that students who received targeted interventions had significantly higher reading growth than those who received typical school interventions — and performed similarly to students who were already proficient readers. This is huge! It means when reading help is matched to what a child actually needs, str
4 min read
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