Professor of Psychology

Office Location: Life Sciences Building 304

Lab Phone: 852-2348
Lab Website: Early Intervention for Families Lab  CLICK  HERE TO LEARN MORE

Education

B.A.  University of Connecticut, 1974

Ph.D. Experimental Psychology, Brown University, 1979

NICHD Postdoctoral Fellowship, Developmental Psychology, University of California, 1981-1983

Barbara M. Burns is a developmental psychologist whose research has focused on cognitive and social-emotional factors that support school readiness. Her research focuses on parent-child attachment and its significance for the development of self-regulation processes in young children. Dr. Burns directs the Early Intervention for Families Lab in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Louisville. Together with her team of developmental and clinical graduate students in psychology, she works to design and evaluate the impact of parent-centered interventions for high risk families.

Barbara Burns's  research studies have been published in Child Development, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, and a range of other developmental and experimental psychology journals. Between 2003-2008, Barbara Burns was the Editor of the National Head Start Association quarterly peer-reviewed journal NHSA Dialog: A Research to Practice Journal for the Early Intervention Field; she continue to serve on the Editorial Board.  In 2005-06, as a Visiting Professor in Psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, she worked in the Therapeutic Nursery in the Child Psychiatry Division. During this time she also served as the Chief Clinical Officer for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s (NYCDoHMH) Early Intervention Program. She  has also collaborated with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta on the topic of parent education in early intervention. These professional experiences reflect her focus and passion on translating basic science discoveries in developmental psychology to community practice that supports children and families.

Representative Publications

Chang, F. and Burns, B. M. (2005) Attention in preschoolers: Associations with effortful control and motivation. Child Development, 76, 247-263.

Bettler, R.J., Jr., Burns, B. M., and Strother, S. (2005) Parents’ goals and the early cognitive development of economically disadvantaged children.  NHSA Dialog: A Research-to-Practice Journal for the Early Intervention Field. 8, 88-102.

Weatherholt, T., Harris, R.C., Clement, C. and Burns, B.M. (2006) Attention and analogical reasoning in children from low-income families. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 27(2), 125-135.

Harris, R.C., Robinson, J.B., Chang, F., and Burns, B.M. (2007) Characterizing preschooler children’s attention regulation in parent-child interactions: The role of effortful control and motivation. Journal  of Applied Developmental Psychology, 28, 25-39.     

Davis, D.W., Burns, B.M., Snyder, E. and Robinson, J.B. (2007). Attention problems in VLBW children:  Relationships between parent report and child performance on measures of attention networks. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing 20, 74-85.

Snyder, E., Davis, D. W., Burns, B., and Robinson, J. (2007). Examining  attention networks in children born with very low birth weights (VLBW). Journal of Early Childhood and Infant Psychology. 3, 185-206.

Robinson, J. B., Burns, B.M. & Davis, DW (2009). Maternal scaffolding and attention regulation in children living in poverty. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30, 82-91.

Richard, H., Davis, D.W. & Burns, B.M. (2009 ) An evaluation of the Children's Behavior Questionnaire for use with children from low-income families. Journal of Early Childhood and Infant Psychology, 4, 111-129.

Brown, D. D., Weatherholt, T. N., & Burns, B. M. (2010 ). Understanding parent reports of children’s attention behaviors: Role of children’s attention skills, temperament, and home environment. Journal of Early Childhood and Infant Psychology, 6, 41-58.

Day, C.D. & Burns, B.M.  (2011) Characterizing achievement motivation orientation of children from low- and middle- income families. Early Education and Development, 22, 105-127.

Brown, D. D., Lile, J., & Burns, B. M. (2011). Basic language skills and young children’s understanding of causal connections during storytelling. Reading Psychology, 32, 372-394.

Undergraduate Courses Regularly Taught by Dr. Barbara Burns

Psychology 363: Life Span Developmental Psychology. This course is designed to provide undergraduates with an opportunity to learn about the field of developmental psychology and connect new knowledge to service learning work in a community agency for children and adolescents. The course will support critical thinking skills and provide an opportunity to learn specific research and data analytic skills that are central to psychology and public health, education, medicine, social work.

Psychology 404-01/Honors Seminar: Parenting-Science and Practice.  This seminar provides an introduction to the neuroscience of attachment in human relationships and relate findings on the developing social brain to research on parent-child relationships.   We will discuss an array of topics, including parenting and ethnicity, parenting and gender, fathering, grandparents as parents, parenting children with special challenges—such as learning disabilities, mental illness, chronic illness, etc., with a focus on identifying how basic research science on these topics may inform parenting practice. The final section of the class will focus on research-based parent training programs that are designed to support sensitivity and attachment. We will learn components of several parent training programs and evaluate the research that suggests that more nurturing parenting can impact children’s trust, meaningful attachment and positive communication.  This seminar would be of particular interest to students in psychology, medicine, social work and education. 

Psychology 404  Seminar:  Peace and Violence in Children and Adolescents.  This seminar will introduce students to the field of peace psychology and provide students with an opportunity to engage in service learning on peace and nonviolence with children.  Each student will be able to work with a classroom of children in our local public school system and conduct a ten week curriculum meeting one hour per week.  The curriculum employed has been used in the school system can be found at http:// www.spava.us    This course will be offered in Fall 2011. View this historic speech by Robert Kennedy Jr to be inspired by his wisdom regarding the importance of violence prevention.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Vll-t0H6A

Psychology 404/571 International Service Learning Seminar: Supporting Healthy Children in Botswana. Barbara Burns is a part of the new initiative in International Service Learning in Botswana sponsored by the University of Louisville. This class will travel to Botswana in Spring 2012 and work with children in Gabarone, Botswana.  Learn more about international service learning at the ISL web site http://louisville.edu/student/isl.