Macall Gordon

Antioch University Seattle · Department of Psychology

NOTE: PLEASE SEE UPDATED RESEARCH POSTER ON THIS PAGE. This research is from 2006. I have updated this with a poster presented in 2022. ABSTRACT: The most empirically supported and endorsed approaches to preventing or ameliorating infant sleep problems involve various forms of extinction (crying it out). This approach is widely recommended by ped...

Approximately 10% of infants can be classified as difficult (Thomas & Chess, 1977) (also irritable, fussy, temperamentally frustrated, or unsettled). Such terms refer to a constellation of traits related to difficulties with self-regulation and heightened reactivity resulting from low sensory thresholds and higher levels of emotional intensity (Rot...

While studies have been conducted to ascertain the experience of parenting a gifted child post-identification, less is known about the experience prior to identification, particularly in infancy. Many psychologists and psychiatrists traditionally equate giftedness with high IQ. However, giftedness is no longer seen in a unitary manner and confined...

Research and parenting advice consistently endorse the use of extinction to improve sleep in infants as young as 2- to 4-months and further submits that the intervention is fast, effective, and without side effects. Parents are told that crying will be worst on the first night and will quickly be extinguished in 3-4 nights. While it is understood t...

This research reviews the literature on the use of extinction for sleep in infants with a special focus on parenting advice endorsing the preventive use of extinction (crying it out) in infants under six months. The paper compares claims in popular advice to existing research to evaluate the congruence of advice with research and real-world parenti...

The most-endorsed intervention for preventing or ameliorating pediatric sleep problems is various forms of extinction. Though research has established its effectiveness for infants older than six months, popular advice routinely recommends letting infants cry before sleep as early as two- to four months. Both research and advice submit that extinct...

Extinction (popularly called crying-it-out, controlled crying, Ferberizing) is considered the most researched intervention for ameliorating infant sleep problems. The vast majority of existing infant sleep training books and programs for parents, in fact, endorse it as an effective method for preventing sleep problems. It is well understood, howeve...

This poster provides information for clinicians about normative sleep development and easy strategies that they can offer to mothers with postpartum mood challenges. Information is developmentally-focused and considers the whole family system.

For parents and professionals, “sleeping through the night” has grown in both importance and urgency as a necessary benchmark for infant as young as 3- to 6-months of age. Contemporary research contends that failure to establish unbroken nighttime sleep by 6-months of age may result in poor daytime behavior, family stress, and sleep problems in the...

Three important questions are covered in this poster: • Does nightwaking that involves parental attention invariably constitute a sleep problem for children and parents? • Does a paradigm of independent, self-settling infant sleep patterns represent a solution or an added stressor? • Are children’s nighttime behaviors and parental sleep interventio...

Background: At one time, sleep deprivation was synonymous with early parenting. Today, “sleeping through the night” has grown in importance and urgency and parents increasingly turn to the popular media for guidance (Simpson, 1997). Such sources, however, can be inconsistent and even inaccurate in matters concerning child health and development (Im...