Research Studies on Let Grow
While it can be difficult (no one wants their students to be a control group!) and expensive to run studies on the effects of Let Grow’s school programs, we do have some pretty great data!
“This Simple Fix Could Help Anxious Kids,” a NY Times essay on the pilot study of “Independence Therapy” that found giving kids independence worked faster than cognitive behavioral therapy on a small group of children diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
“Advantages of mixed-age free play in elementary school: perceptions of students, teachers, and parents” was done by Heather Macpherson Parrott & Lynn E. Cohen and published in 2021. It was the first study to specifically examine Let Grow Play Club.
Melyssa Mandelbaum, PsyD, studied a Let Grow Play Club for her doctoral dissertation, entitled Mixed-Age Free Play in School-Age Children and found a positive association between Play Club enrollment and higher test scores.
Dr. Camilo Ortiz, a licensed clinical psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology at Long Island University, is one of our Advisors. He oversaw Melyssa’s doctoral work, and is in process with another doctoral candidate, Matthew Fastman, on a study of the Let Grow Project as a clinical treatment for anxiety in children. This is still in progress, but this article shares the very promising initial results.
