USC Learning, Development, and Rehabilitation Lab

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USC Learning, Development, and Rehabilitation Lab

We study how infants learn to move and move to learn!

11/12/2025

We hope your fall semester has been productive, Trojans! 🍂 Meet our incredible Research Assistants in the Learning, Development, and Rehabilitation Lab who make our work possible this semester. 🙌

10/20/2025

October is in full swing, and we’re falling into new discoveries here at the Learning, Development, and Rehabilitation Lab! 🍁✨

This season, we’re highlighting our research and sharing a few of the amazing resources and communities we’ve connected with while learning from families of infants with Down syndrome. 💙

💬 What resources have made a difference for your family?

09/03/2025

✨ Please join us in officially welcoming our newest team member, Aylin, as the Data Collection Coordinator at the LDR Lab! She started in July 2025 and has already loved getting to welcome families into the lab. We’re so excited to have her on the team! 💡👶📊

08/29/2025

🎉 Congrats to all the new students finishing their first week! Special shoutout to Flor, now back in the Learning Lab as a PhD student 🎓✨ We can’t wait to see her research on play, caregiving, and early development unfold! 👶📚

10/21/2024

CURRENTLY RECRUITING!

𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗚𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗲
Delays in independent walking restrict children’s participation in their homes and communities and limit learning opportunities that contribute to global development. Prior work has demonstrated that early practice stepping on a treadmill can accelerate and improve walking development in infants with Down Syndrome, who typically learn to walk about a year later than their typically developing peers. However, treadmill training has several limitations, including its passive nature and lack of variability, context, and motivation. Overground gait training with assistance of supported stepping devices (“gait trainers”) may be a promising adjunct to, or substitute for, treadmill training. This longitudinal study will examine the developmental trajectory of supported overground stepping and walking in infants with Down Syndrome to inform the development of a novel overground gait training protocol.

DM for more information.

06/03/2024

• 𝘾𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 •

𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆
Infants engage in enormous amounts of locomotor activity—crawling, cruising, walking, climbing—as they play. We are interested in learning more about spontaneous locomotion and how we can best measure it in infants who take steps with support and in new and experienced independent walkers.

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁:
https://sites.usc.edu/ldrlab/everyday-experience/

𝗧𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱:
https://redcap.link/infantresearch or email us at learninglab@usc.edu

05/13/2024

Please join us in congratulating our Research Assistants Agnes Chan, Jaden Dangtran, Ganya Luo, and Samara Faruqui who
graduated last week! 💫 🎉

We are so grateful for your hard work and contribution to the Lab, and we wish you the best in your future endeavors.

𝗙𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝗻!

04/16/2024

Please join us in congratulating undergraduate research assistant Samara Faruqui (USC class of 2024) who did a beautiful job presenting her poster at the CDS conference at the end of March! There was lots of interest in the project and valuable conversations.

Well done Samara! ⭐

04/15/2024

• 𝘾𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 •

𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝗹𝘀𝘆
Infants learn and develop through everyday interactions with the physical and social environment. Recent research highlights the powerful role of infants’ motor skills and self-initiated actions in structuring their learning environments. For infants with cerebral palsy (CP), impairments in motor function may change or disrupt these everyday learning environments. Early intervention for infants with CP aims to improve developmental outcomes by changing the content of everyday experiences. However, we know surprisingly little about everyday experiences in infants with CP or how to modify them to support development.

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁:
https://sites.usc.edu/ldrlab/everyday-experience/

𝗧𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱:
https://redcap.link/infantresearch or email us at learninglab@usc.edu

04/15/2024

• 𝘾𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 •

𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗲
Delays in independent walking restrict children’s participation in their homes and communities and limit learning opportunities that contribute to global development. Prior work has demonstrated that early practice stepping on a treadmill can accelerate and improve walking development in infants with Down Syndrome, who typically learn to walk about a year later than their typically developing peers. However, treadmill training has several limitations, including its passive nature and lack of variability, context, and motivation. Overground gait training with assistance of supported stepping devices (“gait trainers”) may be a promising adjunct to, or substitute for, treadmill training. This longitudinal study will examine the developmental trajectory of supported overground stepping and walking in infants with Down Syndrome to inform the development of a novel overground gait training protocol.

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁:
https://sites.usc.edu/ldrlab/overground-gait-training/

𝗧𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱:
https://redcap.link/infantresearch or email us at learninglab@usc.edu

04/15/2024

• 𝘾𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 •

𝗩𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆
Learning to sit changes how infants interact with the physical and social environment, and how they coordinate attention with their caregivers during natural interactions. This study uses dual head-mounted eye tracking to examine what infants and their parents see and do while they engage in free play, and how sitting skill and postural support impact visual attention.

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁:
https://sites.usc.edu/ldrlab/sitting-visual-attention/

𝗧𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱:
https://redcap.link/infantresearch or email us at learninglab@usc.edu

04/08/2024

Welcome to the LDRLab (est. January 2024)! 🎉

We are a research laboratory in the Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy at the University of Southern California, directed by Dr. Kari Kretch, PT, DPT, PhD.

We study early motor, perceptual, cognitive, and social development in children with typical development and children with developmental disabilities.

Address

1540 Alcazar Street
Los Angeles, CA
90033

Telephone

+13234423119

Website

https://sites.usc.edu/ldrlab/

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