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Experts at Ambler

Dr. Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek
Professor
Psychology

Co-director
Temple University Ambler Infant Lab

 A nationally recognized expert in language development and cognitive psychology, Dr. Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek’s main research involves language growth and the study of applied cognition in preschool and early elementary aged children.

Dr. Hirsh-Pasek has been a member of the Temple University faculty since 1987. She has published 9 books and over 100 articles, is an associate editor of Child Development and has been funded by NSF and NIH.

Her most recent book, Einstein Never Used Flash Cards,and her researchinto how infants link words with objects has received national attention. She has written dozens of articles on early childhood development, including topics such as cognitive and language development, perception, word learning, language growth, reading development, early academic achievement, and child psychology.

She is one of the investigators on the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Study of Early Child Care — a longitudinal project investigating the intellectual and social outcomes of children in various care environments from infancy through first grade. In 1999, she received the Temple University Great Teacher Award. In 2001, she became chairperson for the Maccoby Book Award for Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. She is on the editorial board of the journals Infancy and Child Development and was appointed associate editor of Child Development in 2001.

She is a member of the Society for Research in Child Development, the International Society for Research in Infancy Studies, the American Psychological Society and the American Psychological Association, both of which awarded her fellowship status for her research contributions to the field. As a media spokesperson for the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society on infancy and early childhood, Dr. Hirsh-Pasek has been widely cited as an advocate for children in the national news, including National Public Radio, ABC’s “20/20,” and U.S. News and World Report.

She is the writer and spokesperson on language development for the World Book Encyclopedia, for Pfizer Pharmaceutical’s Kidspeak website and video, and “The Human Language,” a best-selling PBS series on linguistics. She is also the co-founder of the nationally recognized children’s musical group, KAMOTION, which has been featured at the White House.