The Nelson Lab

Join our Participant Registry!

Dear Parents,

Do you ever wonder how your child learns about and experiences the world? Here at the Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience (LCN) at Boston Children's Hospital, we are working to shed light on such questions by learning more about brain and behavior development in infants, children, and adolescents. In gaining a better understanding of these processes, our goal is to contribute to the healthy growth and development of our children.

The Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience are directed by Dr. Charles A. Nelson, Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and Richard David Scott Chair in Pediatric Developmental Medicine Research at Chidren's. Dr. Nelson is joined by a talented group of medical researchers from many fields of study, ranging from neuroscience to developmental pediatrics.

Building a "Road Map" of Typical Development & Shedding Light on Developmental Disorders

As any parent knows, the path that children follow from infancy through adolescence involves many different changes and processes. By learning more about this developmental path, we aim not just to shed light on the 'how's and 'why's of such changes, but also to create a template of typical development that can be used to better identify what's happening differently in variuos developmental disorders. In addition to learning more about typical development, researchers at the LCN are styding a number of developmental disorders, inluding autism, dyslexia, and ADHD. We strongly believe that the knowledge gained through our research will lead to earlier diagnosis, better treatment, and better outcomes for children and families affected by these disorders.

How You Can Help

To achieve these goals, we depend upon children and families who are willing to volunteer their time and energy for our research projects. We woudl like to invite you to help by allowing your child or children to take part in one or more of our studies. Your participation could provide us with valuable information on children's development.

If you might like to participate in a study with your child, either now or in the future, please e-mail the information listed below to our Recruitment Coordinator.

1. Name of infant/child
2. Gender
3. Birthdate
4. Due Date (if child)
5. Birth weight (if child)
6. Your name (parent's names)
7. Street address
8. City, State, ZIP
9. Email address
10. Telephone
11. How you heard about us.
12. Any other information that you think we might need to know (relevant history, clinical diagnoses, etc.)
13. If you and/or your significant other would like to be contacted for adult research opportunities in our lab, please include your names and birthdates as well.
14. Ethnicity (Optional)
    Hispanic or Latino
    Non Hispanic or Non-Latino
15. Race (Optional)- can be more than one
    American Indian or Alaskan Native
    Asian
    Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
    White or Caucasian
    Black or African American

Since many of our studies concern development from infancy through childhood and adolescence, please include details of siblings if you would like them to be added to the participant registry also. If you are enrolling yourself as an adult please fill out only the relevant information from the list below--please be sure to include your birth date, as most of our studies are age-specific. Emailing your information DOES NOT OBLIGATE you to participate, it only means that you are willing to have us call you if your child is the right age for a particular study at a given time. If the study sounds like something you would be interested in participating in, we will arrange a time for you and your child to come to the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience.

For more information...

Please visit the Parents' Corner section of our website or give us a call!

Contact information

By phone
(617) 355-0400

Street Address
Division of Developmental Medicine
Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience
1 Autumn St., Room 616
Mailbox #713
Boston, MA 02215-5365

By email
Recruitment Coordinator