Juniper Gardens Children's Project
Through our research, we foster children's social well-being and academic achievement, collaborate with the communities we serve to generate solutions, and provide training and support for service providers, parents and educators.
improving Children's Lives
Driven by Community Needs
Since 1961, the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project has developed meaningful solutions to improve the care and educational experiences of children in the Greater Kansas City area and beyond. We are a collaboration between the local urban community, KU faculty and students, and partner organizations.
Evidence-Based Solutions
We research how children develop and how they learn. We study how families, teachers and caregivers can most effectively enhance children’s outcomes, and we make our research accessible to professionals, parents and the public.
Working Together
We are researchers who specialize in behavior analysis, special education, early childhood education, personnel preparation and technological solutions who offer training and support to service providers, parents, educators and the next generation of professionals.
Trina Spencer Named Juniper Gardens Director
Trina Spencer, who researches the promotion of academic language of young children with and without disabilities, has been named director of the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project. Spencer brings an extensive record of federally-funded research to Juniper Gardens. Her work applies aspects of behavior, language, psychology and education to the development and assessment of tools that promote early literacy, language and reading comprehension.
Our Impact
73
postdoctoral pesearchers trained
$50M
in external research funding in the past 10 years
59
years of community-engaged research
Research News
If you’ve ever witnessed the blur of activity that is a typical preschool-age child, it can be difficult to imagine them as disciplined research partners. Yet for more than 20 years, scientists at KU have studied interventions that pair young children with peers of similar age who have autism spectrum disorder. The NIH recently awarded a $345,000 grant to investigators to further their research with up to 40 preschool children with autism spectrum disorder.
