精东影业

With parents keeping their very young children out of group settings, the COVID pandemic is diminishing social and learning opportunities for babies and toddlers, too, reports . As a result, 鈥渢here is going to be a bit of a collective lag in academic skills and in those executive-function skills that allow a child to navigate a classroom more easily,鈥� predicts developmental psychologist , (Ph.D.'11, M.A. 鈥�05), Co-Founding Director and Director of Clinical Programming at New York City鈥檚 .

But the good news, says Pressman, Assistant Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai鈥檚 Icahn School of Medicine, is that 鈥測ou can turn almost any home-based activity or interaction into an opportunity,鈥� including bath time, feeding, diaper changes and getting dressed. 鈥淚t is in those caregiving moments that some of the biggest brain boosting interactions occur,鈥� says Pressman, who works with the nonprofit  and with , a baby products company, to help parents make the most of home learning. 

There is going to be a bit of a collective lag in academic skills and in those executive-function skills that allow a child to navigate a classroom more easily.

Pressman, who earned her TC doctorate in Developmental Psychology in the Department of Human Development, says that young children鈥檚 language skills may even improve as a result of time spent at home with parents or other primary caregivers. 鈥淚n some ways,鈥� she says, 鈥渂abies are living their best lives.鈥�

At TC, Pressman served as a Graduate Research Fellow at the , working with NCC Co-Director , Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Child Development and Education. Pressman is also the co-founder of the , a New York City and Los Angeles parent education group that uses evidence-based research and information to educate and guide families about their developing children, and produces podcast,&苍产蝉辫;鈥�,鈥� a weekly podcast for parents.