Infant Development Lab

What Infant Development Lab does

The Infant Development Lab is a university research laboratory housed within the Department of Psychology at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida, established in 1984 and directed by Dr. Lorraine E. Bahrick. It conducts federally funded research on perceptual, cognitive, and social development in infants and young children from 2 months through 7 years of age, with a secondary focus on atypical development including autism spectrum disorder. The lab's core technical contributions are two proprietary assessment protocols — the Multisensory Attention Assessment Protocol (MAAP) and the Intersensory Processing Efficiency Protocol (IPEP) — designed to measure individual differences in multisensory attention and intersensory processing efficiency; both are disseminated through the NYU Databrary repository and adopted across a multi-site collaborative network.

The lab operates as an academic research unit rather than a commercial enterprise. Funding flows from federal research grants, primarily NICHD (R01 HD053776 covering 2006–2024 on developmental trajectories, and R01 HD094803 covering 2019–2024 on the MultiNet project), with additional support from NIMH, NSF, Autism Speaks, and the Dan Marinof Foundation. Since inception the lab has tested more than 12,000 infants aged 2–12 months and several thousand children aged 1–6 years, and through the MultiNet network has administered standardized assessments to more than 1,600 children across ages 3–60 months. There is no commercial product, pricing model, API, mobile application, or paying customer base; research participation is free for families, with modest reimbursement and a certificate of appreciation. The go-to-market, to the extent one exists, is community-led participant recruitment via the lab's website, a Facebook page, REDCap online surveys, phone/email contact, and conference presentations at venues such as SRCD, ICIS, and ISDP.

Name

Infant Development Lab

Legal name

Infant Development Laboratory

Website

https://infantlab.fiu.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1984

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Infant Development Lab is a federally funded university research laboratory at Florida International University that studies perceptual, cognitive, and social development in infants and young children, developing proprietary MAAP and IPEP assessment protocols disseminated through the MultiNet collaborative network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Developmental Psychology Research

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Developmental Screening & Assessment (0–5) (EDACAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Assessment & Screening Tools (Developmental, Readiness, Progress Monitoring) (EDACAJAC), Developmental Therapy / Early Childhood Special Instruction (EDACAFAG), Infant & Toddler Developmental Enrichment (Sensory, Motor, Language) (EDACAGAK)

Keywords

• Developmental psychology research
• Infant cognition studies
• Multisensory attention assessment
• Intersensory processing research
• Child development research

Headquarters

HQ city

Miami

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Federal Research Grants: The lab is supported by federally funded research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NICHD, NIMH) and National Science Foundation. Research covers perceptual, cognitive, and social development in infants and young children.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Infant Development Lab is a federally funded academic research laboratory that conducts scientific studies on perceptual, cognitive, and social development in infants and young children (ages 2 months to 6 years). Its core outputs are the proprietary Multisensory Attention Assessment Protocol (MAAP) and Intersensory Processing Efficiency Protocol (IPEP), along with the MultiNet collaborative research network and the longitudinal Developmental Trajectories research project, which together generate the lab's peer-reviewed publications and longitudinal datasets.

Product overview

The Infant Development Lab operates as a federally funded research laboratory within Florida International University's Department of Psychology, offering standardized research assessment protocols rather than commercial products. The core offerings include the Multisensory Attention Assessment Protocol (MAAP) and Intersensory Processing Efficiency Protocol (IPEP) — two assessment tools for measuring attention and intersensory processing skills in infants and young children. These protocols are disseminated through the MultiNet collaborative research network, which enables multiple research institutions to use standardized measures and contribute to a shared database. The lab's research spans developmental trajectories from infancy through childhood, with particular focus on typical and atypical development including autism. All offerings are research-oriented rather than commercially available products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Multisensory Attention Assessment Protocol (MAAP)

Quantifiable outcome

• Children with autism are impaired in shifting and maintaining attention to faces and voices, particularly in the face of competing stimulation
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Aaron Buss (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019MultiNet Project collaborating site PI. Collaborating on administering MAAP and IPEP assessments along with language, social, and cognitive outcomes across the MultiNet network.
• Marianella Casasola (Cornell University)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019MultiNet Project collaborating site PI. Contributing to the collaborative network of research labs administering multisensory attention assessments.
• Janet Frick (University of Georgia)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019MultiNet Project collaborating site PI. Part of the collaborative network studying multisensory attention development.
• Scott Johnson (University of California, Los Angeles)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019MultiNet Project collaborating site PI. Contributing to the large-scale multisensory attention research network.
• Kerry Jordan (Utah State University)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019MultiNet Project collaborating site PI. Part of the cross-institutional research collaboration.
• Robin Panneton (Virginia Tech)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019MultiNet Project collaborating site PI. Contributing to the MultiNet collaborative database project.
• Lynn Perry (University of Miami)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019MultiNet Project collaborating site PI. Partner in the multisensory attention research network.
• Shannon Pruden (Florida International University)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Co-I on the MultiNet Project. Collaborating on research design and data collection.
• Greg Reynolds (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019MultiNet Project collaborating site PI. Partner in the collaborative multisensory research network.
• Shannon Ross-Sheehy (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019MultiNet Project collaborating site PI. Contributing to the MultiNet research network.
• Ryan Stevenson (University of Western Ontario)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019MultiNet Project collaborating site PI. International partner in the research network.
• Center for Children and Families (FIU)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Affiliated center at Florida International University. Part of the Department of Psychology, collaborating on child development research.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Pearson Clinical Assessments: Commercial publisher of standardized developmental and clinical assessments for children. Comparable as an organization offering developmental screening and assessment tools for young children, though as a broad incumbent spanning many assessment domains rather than a focused research lab.
• Brookes Publishing: Publisher of widely used early childhood developmental screening tools including the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3). Comparable as an organization producing standardized developmental assessment products for infants and young children, though operating as a commercial publisher rather than an academic lab.

Direct peers

• Waisman Center (University of Wisconsin–Madison): University-affiliated research center studying developmental disabilities, autism, and early brain development across the lifespan. Comparable as a federally funded academic research organization focused on atypical development and early identification in infants and children.
• Yale Infant Cognition Lab: Yale University's baby lab focused on cognitive development in infants and young children. Comparable as an academic research unit studying similar domains of early perceptual and cognitive development using controlled experimental protocols.
• Stanford Language and Cognition Lab: Stanford-based developmental research group studying language acquisition and cognitive development in infants and children. Comparable as an academic baby-lab-style research operation with shared experimental methodology.
• University of Washington Infant Cognition Lab: University of Washington's infant cognition research lab studying early perceptual and cognitive development. Comparable as a federally funded academic research unit with similar participant-recruitment and assessment methodologies.
• Birkbeck Babylab: University-based infant cognition research lab (Birkbeck, University of London) studying perceptual and cognitive development in infants using similar experimental paradigms. Directly comparable as an academic baby lab producing foundational research on early development.
• Harvard Laboratory for Developmental Studies: Harvard-affiliated developmental research lab studying language, cognition, and social development in infants and children. Directly comparable as a federally funded academic lab producing peer-reviewed developmental science.

Emerging players

• Marcus Autism Center: Pediatric autism research and clinical center affiliated with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory. Comparable as a research organization studying early development and autism, though operating in a clinical-care delivery model rather than a pure psychology lab.
• Center for Autism Research (CHOP): Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's autism research center, conducting clinical and translational research on autism spectrum disorder including early identification. Comparable as a research organization focused on atypical development and autism-related assessment.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/106360406106073
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/infant-development-lab

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Infant Development Lab