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WHY IS EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IMPORTANT? According to National University
Helping Children Cope w/ Covid
WATCH ME GROW
Don’t worry, your child’s early learning doesn’t stop just because they’re not in childcare
Keeping Children Healthy While School’s Out
Handling Your Kid’s Disappointment When Everything Is Canceled
A Big List of Podcasts for Little Kids
How to Home School During Coronavirus
Coronavirus looks different in kids than in adults
Are Expensive Activities for Kids a Rip-Off?
‘Parentese’ helps parents, babies make ‘conversation’ and boosts language development
Developmental Monitoring
Synthesis Considers How Being Smart Helps You at School and School Helps You Become Smarter
The Importance of Play and the Right Play Materials
Experts say hands-on play is important for child development
The Secret to Smarter Kids: Naps
Beyond Baby Talk: Helping Early Language
The Reason Children Should Do Chores is Because it’s Good for Them
Many US preschoolers remain racially segregated at school
HOW TO HELP YOUR PRESCHOOLER TRANSITION TO KINDERGARTEN
Seizures in babies: UVA sheds light on why they have lifelong effects
Preschool For Children With Disabilities Works. But Federal Funding For It Is Plummeting
Baby and adult brains ‘sync up’ during play
Early education, relationship with teachers paramount for children success
Babies understand counting years earlier than believed
Early Brain Development
The amazing baby brain says ‘pas de problème’ with bilingualism
Does Ed Tech belong in a Pre-K classroom? The answer may surprise you.
It’s 25 years since we redefined autism – here’s what we’ve learnt
When anxiety happens as early as preschool, treatments can help
Want your kids to tell you about their day? Instead of asking questions, try this.
A new study questions whether Head Start still produces long-run gains seen in past research
Should preschool writing be more communication and less ABCs?
The Case of Brain Science and Guided Play: A Developing Story
Nap Time Boosts Learning, Studies Say
Only half of US children get enough sleep during the week
MRIs show screen time linked to lower brain development in preschoolers
Should Children Be Ready for Kindergarten—Or Should Kindergarten Be Ready for Children?
Three ways high-quality preschool can improve the health of children
Early reading in Spanish helps children learn to read English
When Public School Starts at Age 3
How babies integrate new events into their knowledge
Gesture as language: why we point with a finger
Preschoolers can do more math than you think
Paid family leave improves vaccination rates in infants
Ditch the Math Worksheets and Stop Killing Kids’ Curiosity
Why Don’t Newborns Have Tears or Sweat?
Research shows there are benefits from getting more three-year-olds into preschool
How parents can help their young children develop healthy social skills
Children Around the World Are Living Better
Poor mental and physical health in pregnancy linked to infant sleep problems
Mild-to-moderate hearing loss in children leads to changes in how brain processes sound
Science Of Sadness And Joy: ‘Inside Out’ Gets Childhood Emotions Right
Offering children a variety of vegetables increases acceptance
Digital Media Is ‘Like Cocaine’ for Babies’ Developing Brains
Nurturing Childhood Boosts Odds of a Happy Adult Life: Study
Could Exercise in Pregnancy Boost Baby’s Health, Too?
Prenatal Opioid Exposure Harms Long-Term Child Development
Older Parents May Have Better Behaved Kids
Toddlers and Biting: Finding the Right Response
Why two out of three babies are cradled on the left
How to Stay Calm When Baby Won’t Stop Crying
Are Time-Outs Helpful or Harmful to Young Children?
I Said I Want the Red Bowl! Responding to Toddlers’ Irrational Behavior
Beware the teething trap. Many products don’t work, and can even be dangerous
How to Foster Your Child’s Imagination
New Research Shows That Babies Think Logically
Babies Create a Mental Map of Their Body Before They Ever Leave the Womb
Why Do Babies Cry on Airplanes?
Why Do Babies Babble?
Damian Hinds: home shapes a child’s future more than school
Nursing Moms Who Eat Right Have Slimmer, Healthier Babies
School children who nap are happier, excel academically, and have fewer behavioral problems
Pumping may be linked to an altered microbial mix in breast milk
Curious Kids: how do babies learn to talk?
Chatterbox parents may boost tots’ intelligence
Breast Milk Has Biggest Benefit for Preemies’ Brains: Study
RESEARCH REVEALS YOUNG CHILDREN’S STRANGE SLEEPING HABITS
How to Treat Baby Constipation
Play games with your kids this summer to boost their brains
Why do kids lie, and is it normal?
Daily Bit of Chocolate in Pregnancy May Help Mom, Baby
Recognizing Early Childhood Speech Problems
Many Infants With Milk Allergy Seem to Outgrow It
Why stubborn children are more likely to become successful
Today’s four-year-olds often ‘not physically ready’ for school, experts warn
Building a Brain
Parents’ approach to playtime makes a difference for child development
How imaginary friends from our childhood can continue to affect us as adults
Nix That TV in Your 4-Year-Old’s Bedroom
Exposing Baby to Foods Early May Help Prevent Allergies
No matter their size, newborn stomachs need frequent filling
The importance of play in a child’s development
5 ways to develop children’s talents
Kids with cochlear implants since infancy more likely to speak, not sign
Kids Who Use Smartphones Start Talking Later
Learning a second alphabet for a first language
Health Tip: Signs of Vision Problems in Infants
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Experience Poor Sleep Habits
Babies who hear two languages at home develop advantages in attention
Experts Outline Down Syndrome’s Developmental Milestones
Healthy Sleep Habits for Kids Pay Off
How culture influences children’s development
Children who are picky eaters still grow up healthy
The science of saying goodbye to Santa
Parents Learn Babies Talk: How coaching moms and dads improves infants’ language skills
Spanking in developing countries does more harm than good
Learning Guided by Mother Nature
Health Tip: Limit Fat, Sugar and Salt in Your Child’s Diet
States Give New Parents Baby Boxes To Encourage Safe Sleep Habits
Children Are Naturally Curious About Science.
In the Rush to Improve Early Education, Don’t Forget About Teachers
Hand sanitizer use at daycare could keep toddler illnesses at bay
Infants are more likely to learn when with a peer
Babies of overweight mothers may risk developing self-regulation problems
Preschool’s Hidden Value May Be in Combating Poverty
Top Ten Parenting Mistakes
What works for treating children’s colds?
Thousands of young U.S. children get no vaccines, survey finds
Breastfeeding changes gene activity that may make babies less reactive to stress
Study: Early ‘Hands-On’ Learning Boosts Math Skills Later in Life
A little labeling goes a long way
Childhood Stress
Getting The Most Out Of Pre-K, ‘The Most Important’ Year In School
Parents too busy to teach children how to use toilet before starting school
Expecting to learn: Language acquisition in toddlers improved by predictable situations
A new study finds that infants can distinguish between leaders and bullies
Improving child-teacher interactions can reduce preschoolers’ stress levels
Three quarters of rice products sold as baby food found to contain illegal levels of arsenic
Today’s four-year-olds often ‘not physically ready’ for school, experts warn
Children better off at nursery than at home with parents, study finds
A ‘touching sight’: How babies’ brains process touch builds foundations for learning
Baby talk words build infants’ language skills
Pucker up, baby! Lips take center stage in infants’ brains
Study: Early ‘Hands-On’ Learning Boosts Math Skills Later in Life
How Old is Too Old for the Family Bed?
Families Need Summertime Sleep Schedules
Peanuts for babies? Starting early may prevent allergies later on: study
Benefits of Arts to Kids
5 Reasons Babies Who Sleep Through the Night Should Raise Concerns
6 Birthing and Postpartum Traditions From Around the World
Americans’ Obsession With Sugar Starts in Infancy
Boredom beneficial for children’s development, experts say
The Benefits Of Recess Are Proven By Science — So Why Are Teachers Taking It Away?
Why many Silicon Valley parents are curbing their kids’ tech time
Do childhood development programs help children living in conflict and crisis settings?
Tips on How To Raise a Smart Preschool Kid
How To Choose Toys To Make Kids Smarter
Age-by-Age Insights
Vitamin D improves weight gain and brain development in malnourished children
Childhood communication enhances brain development, protecting against harmful behaviors
Children have muscles that perform like those of endurance athletes, study finds
Your Baby’s Developmental Milestones
Preschool, Day Care Not Asthma Triggers: Study
Keep calm and carry on: Tips for dealing with argumentative children
Five steps to prepare your child for kindergarten
Teaching Kids Handwriting to Help Them Read
Every child deserves the Best Start to create the brightest future
Children more likely than before to draw scientists as women, study shows
We can’t say if touchscreens are impacting children’s handwriting – it may be quite the opposite
Conversing Could Be Key to Kids’ Brain Development
The 9 Words Parents Should Never Say To Their Kids
Our Kids Can Save The Planet — If We Teach Them How
Children as young as 3 have brain network devoted to interpreting thoughts of other people
Wary babies tend to be picky eaters too: child development study
Child development experts urge Facebook to pull Messenger Kids app
A child development expert reveals how listening to podcasts could affect your kid
States Give New Parents Baby Boxes To Encourage Safe Sleep Habits
Six-year-old girl writes ‘heartwarming’ book to raise money for homeless
Tech Backlash Grows as Investors Press Apple to Act on Children’s Use
Weekly fish consumption linked to better sleep, higher IQ
Pregnancy changes the brain for as long as two years
Decoding the mysteries of a child’s developing brain
Strep Throat Can Cause Behavioral Disorders in Children Reveal Experts
More than eight million children live with illegal levels of air pollution
Want Preschoolers To Become Successful? Allow Them To Play More
For baby’s brain to benefit, read the right books at the right time
Gendering Children’s Clothing Is Hurting Our Future Generations
How Not to Talk to a Child Who Is Overweight
Phycologist Studied Over 5,000 Genius Kids for 45 Years – Here Are Their 6 Key Takeaways
Teachers share 18 things parents should do to set their kids up for success
Bilingual toddlers have incredible advantage over other children, finds study
Preschool’s Hidden Value May Be in Combating Poverty
Parenting Values Primer: Plan Ahead And Be Prepared
Heavy Screen Time Rewires Young Brains, For Better And Worse
Is there a link between the flu vaccine and miscarriage?
Experts explain mama vs papa and babies’ first words
‘Arms race’: LEGO toys have been getting more and more violent
No Link Between Pets and Kids’ Health
Postpartum Depression in Dads
What It’s Like To Support A Sibling With A Mental Illness
Things You Pediatrician May Not Know About Your Toddler
Signs your kid might be a bully
High Blood Pressure Diagnoses Could Increase Among Teens, Kids
Is There Really a Tongue-Tie Epidemic?
Why it matters to transform parent involvement from early childhood to primary school
Kindergarten anxiety? Use the summer to prepare your child
Picky Eater? It Might Just Be Your Child’s Personality
Low Blood Sugar in Newborns Tied to Brain Problems Later
Can Breast Milk Feed a Love of Vegetables?
Health Tip: Children and Thumbsucking
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Heartbeats could hold the key to understanding babies’ inner world
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10 Ways Parents Cause Issues for Children in Later Life
Should children study in the summer holidays?
How Moms Can Ensure A Successful Return To The Workplace
How to raise brilliant children, according to science
Children’s toys can spy on them through cameras, warns FBI
Microsoft’s Project Torino Helps Visually Impaired Children Learn To Code
Household income impacts on children’s prospects, report finds
Prolonged breast-feeding ups risk of severe dental cavities
Why Do Kids Eat When They’re Not Hungry?
Babies Don’t Need Juice, Pediatricians Say
Why a Baby’s Connection With a Parent Matters
DELAYED CORD CLAMPING: CAN IT GIVE YOUR PREEMIE A JUMPSTART AT LIFE?
6 Tips For Parents Before Giving Your Child A Smartphone
Dangerous Things Kids Do
How Maternal Personality Problems Affect Children
Can pre-school children learn to do science?
Early Childhood Educators Deserve Better
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Exposure to chemicals found in shampoos and toys during early childhood may seriously damage the mental development of youngsters
Making Sure Children Get Their Daily Dose of Language Nutrition
Oxytocin administered to the nose increases emotion perception in autism
Childhood bullying linked to health risks in adulthood
Computer game could help children choose healthy food
Some Lead Poisoning Tests May Be Faulty
Only Child ‘Syndrome’: How growing up without siblings affects your child’s development
Are You a Good Enough Mother?
The Radical Notion of Returning to Handwriting
Outdated health myths practiced by grand parents could pose serious risks to young children
Dad’s interaction with children in early life could have positive impact on cognitive development
How a California tribe is trying to revitalize itself, from cradle to college
Peanuts for babies? Starting early may prevent allergies later on: study
Why Back-to-School Nutrition Is Important
5 Don’ts When Your ADHD Child Is Upset or Angry
Researchers Use ‘Eye Trackers’ To Study Language Development In Kids With Cochlear Implants
I taught preschool for 15 years. Here’s what I saw: the good, the bad, and the scary
We learned a lot in 2016 about how preschool can help kids
Exclusive: How Zuckerberg and Chan’s new private school mixes health care and education
Why 4-year-olds need scholarships more than 18-year-olds
Childhood Lead Exposure Can Change The Course Of A Life
After Obamacare defeat, Trump advisers want the White House to delay child-care plan
What Specific Outcomes Does Early Childhood Education Have on a Child’s Future?
The outcomes vary, as Alvarado explains, but all have been positive. “Studies have looked at everything from the broad social benefits of early childhood education, to something as specific as STEM learning outcomes (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and how introducing children to these topics early on can have a lasting impact,” she says.
She also stresses the importance of encouraging early childhood educators to really get to know their students and each of their specific interests. “When [teachers] do that, that relationship can really influence the students day to day and build trust — and studies have shown that when children are comfortable and trust the people around them, they learn more quickly and successfully,” she says.
Parental involvement is also a big component of this relationship-building process, and Alvarado says its important for teachers at this level to work closely with the families.“When the partnership between teachers and the family is successful, we see that echoing positively throughout the child’s life,” she explains.
What Is It Like to Work in Early Childhood Education?
According to Alvarado, someone who enjoys working with children and wants to make a lasting impact on their lives will probably be happy with a career in early childhood education. “Helping children to learn and grow is a big part of it, but this field also provides lots of opportunities to grow yourself — not just in your knowledge but overall in your social emotional growth as well. It can help you develop leadership skills and to become a reflective practitioner.”
If you’re interested in pursuing a career in early childhood education, the first step is to earn a bachelor’s degree. In addition to what’s required in your degree program, there may be state or country-specific coursework. Depending upon where you’d like to work, whether in the U.S. or abroad, you should contact the state Department of Education or the country’s Ministry of Education to learn about any location-specific course or licensure requirements.
What Are Some of the Biggest Challenges People Working in Early Childhood Education Face?
Alvarado says that one of the biggest challenges educators face is finding the right balance between working one-on-one with children and managing the larger group as a whole. “For example, if you’re working in a classroom, you could be really focused on learning what a child’s specific interests and needs are — meanwhile you’ve got lots of other children who also need your attention.”
Figuring out how to apply and implement classroom standards can also be an issue for new teachers. “I went a little crazy with making charts in my first year,” she says, “But the longer I was in the field, the more I was able to take a deep breath and realize that I didn’t need to be so hard on myself.”
She recommends that teachers not beat themselves up if they make a mistake. “Don’t try to be perfect,” she says. “It’s more important that you just keep going.”
How Can Teachers Maximize Learning Outcomes for Children at This Age?
In order to get the best outcomes in early childhood education, Alvarado strongly suggests working students’ natural curiosities into lesson plans. “Yes, we want to look at standards,” she says. “Yes, there are boxes we need to check, but a huge part of what we do with young children is looking at their interests and using those interests to better engage them in learning.”
Alvarado explains that teachers can take the topics or subject areas that fascinate individual students and expand on it through in-class or at-home activities.Targeting these areas can help students develop critical thinking skills, allowing them to give more complex answers than “yes” or “no.” To illustrate this technique, Alvarado describes a student who showed a passion for insects. At first, she says she was caught off guard and didn’t know what to do, but then she realized she could use this interest in bugs to engage the child in a number of other subjects besides science. “There could be math in there, language arts — it was really about using the child’s specific interest to open new doors for them.”
Why Should Students Pursue a Career in Early Childhood Education?
Early childhood education is a wide and varied career path. If you enjoy working with children and are willing to put in the work necessary to earn your degree, Alvarado believes you will find it rewarding.
It is also a growing field. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for individuals working in early childhood education is strong, with employment of preschool teachers expected to grow 10 percent over the next eight years.. In 2017, the median annual salary for preschool teachers was $28,990,with the highest 10% of earners making more than $54,000. The median in California is $36,760. (According to BLS statistics, “median” salary is the midpoint between half of workers who earn more than that amount and half of workers who earn less.)
But a preschool classroom isn’t the only place you can go with your degree. Alvarado started her career in a children’s shelter near San Diego. “It was a 24-hour facility,” she recalls. “The children lived there and went to school on site. Sometimes the site served as a transition between families and foster care.”
Alvarado adds that in addition to finding positions at schools, some of her past students have joined the teams at education-related non-profits — and fell in love with the work they do there.
According to the BLS, the top employers of preschool teachers are:
State, local, and private schools.
Individual and family services.
Religious, grantmaking, professional and similar organizations.
Child day care services.
Children and teens react, in part, on what they see from the adults around them. When parents and caregivers deal with COVID-19 calmly and confidently, they can provide the best support for their children. Parents can be more reassuring to others around them, especially children, if they are better prepared.
Watch for behavior changes in your child
Not all children and teens respond to stress in the same way. Some common changes to watch for include:
Excessive crying or irritation in younger children.
Returning to behaviors they have outgrown (for example, toileting accidents or bedwetting).
Excessive worry or sadness.
Unhealthy eating or sleeping habits.
Irritability and “acting out” behaviors in teens.
Poor school performance or avoiding school.
Difficulties with attention and concentration.
Avoidance of activities enjoyed in the past.
Unexplained headaches or body pain.
Use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs.
Ways to support your child
Talk with your child about the COVID-19 outbreak.
Answer questions and share facts about COVID-19 in a way that your child can understand.
Reassure your child that they are safe. Let them know it is okay if they feel upset. Share with them how you deal with your own stress so that they can learn from you how to cope with stress.
Limit your family’s exposure to news coverage of the event, including social media. Children may misinterpret what they hear and can be frightened about something they do not understand.
Try to keep up with regular routines. If schools are closed, create a schedule for learning activities and relaxing or fun activities.
Be a role model. Take breaks, get plenty of sleep, exercise, and eat well. Connect with your friends and family members.
Spending time with your child in meaningful activities, reading together, exercising, playing board games.
At childcare and preschool, children experience belonging to a community and engage actively with their learning.
They also collaborate in groups, which helps them learn how to negotiate, listen and engage together.
Learning in this sense is layered and complex in that children aren’t just taught knowledge, but participate in constructing it. And because of this, a child’s learning never stops.
Even if your child has paused attending childcare or preschool due to COVID-19, they are still learning, every day and in every moment.
Parents are the most important teachers
Play is central to children’s learning experiences. It’s how they make meaning in their world, create, build and maintain relationships, and explore and engage with theories and questions.
Early childhood teachers work with children to create daily moments of play that ignite wonder, inquiry, and surprise.
They do so by using ordinary moments – such as a group of children drawing a map of the community or a toddler reaching out to catch the rain – as the foundation for creating experiences that further children’s thinking and ideas.
The children and teachers are co-participants in the learning process. They collaborate to understand and make meaning of the relationships between each other, with the other children in the setting and with the environment.
These same collaborations of meaning-making and discovery occur in families.
Even the Early Years Learning Framework – the national guide for the early childhood curriculum – states that parents and families are “children’s first and most influential educators”.
And research shows children’s development and learning never actually pauses. Children will still learn, grow and develop despite not attending preschool and childcare.
They will continue to make meaning of their world as they think, question and play at home, or as they walk with a parent, or eat breakfast with their family.
Even ordinary negotiations with a child and parent can be learning experiences.
Imagine your child wants to play with you while you are busy answering emails. Stopping for a moment and listening to your child’s request, then responding with a simple, “I can play with you in 15 minutes”, offers an opportunity for the child to act with patience and empathy.
Listening, collaboration and compromise are all part of this very ordinary moment and become how child and parent learn in relationship with each other and build knowledge together.
Here are some other ways parents can create learning experiences at home.
A bag of things
Your home is full of rich materials for children to explore and through which they can understand the world.
For example, give young child a small bag and ask them to fill it with things like fallen leaves, old buttons, bottlecaps, string or small bits of paper.
Then clear a space, empty the bag, and give the child time and space to play with the gathered materials.
You might be immediately inclined to give your child a task or tell them what to do with the materials. But instead, wait and trust the child to find their own way.
Slowness is part of the process. It gives children time to question: where did this button come from?; what happens when I stack these bottlecaps?; how can I use this string to create something else?
Listen to what your child is saying and doing. Then see how you might support your child to think deeper about the materials.
You may notice how your child is grouping the materials, so you could ask: “how are you deciding which items go together?”
Children learn through relationships, including relationships with nature. Shutterstock
You can place some empty containers in the middle of the space as a response to grouping and see what happens.
Spend time listening again and thinking about what your child is theorising during the grouping of materials.
Is she grouping the objects into a particular shape, or by certain amounts? Perhaps your child will manipulate the shapes into a sculpture.
In this shared example, categorizing (making groups) moves to theory building (how items are grouped) to creating and building new knowledge (how items come together to create something new).
You can keep this collection to play with later, showing your child how to recycle materials.
You can find more ideas for what to do at home at Reggio Children
Relationships with a place
Learning happens in relationships – relationship with families, animals and insects, plants, oceans and mountains, pens, pencils, paper and paint, and places.
Find a place close to your home you can visit regularly, like a nearby park. Help your children notice a tree’s bark, or follow the tree with their eyes from ground to sky.
Get them to look at the things around them.
What made you and them want to go to this place? Was it the colours, sounds, smells, memories? Who are the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which this place is located?
Be slow in this place and help your children discover something new.
does the creek change after it rains?
do they see something new if they follow an ant?
do buildings make different shadows when it is sunny?
In these complex times, these relationships are how we can empower children to understand and contribute to their new reality.
Help stop the spread of COVID-19
Take steps to protect children and others from getting sick
Help stop the spread of COVID-19 by doing the same things everyone should do to stay healthy.
Teach your children to do the same.
Clean hands often using soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
Avoid people who are sick (coughing and sneezing).
Clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces daily in household common areas (like tables, hard-backed chairs, doorknobs, light switches, remotes, handles, desks, toilets, and sinks).
Launder items including washable plush toys as needed. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions. If possible, launder items using the warmest appropriate water setting and dry items completely. Dirty laundry from an ill person can be washed with other people’s items.
You can find additional information on preventing COVID-19 at How to Protect Yourself and at Preventing COVID-19 Spread in Communities. Additional information on how COVID-19 is spread is available at How COVID-19 Spreads.
School and events are shutting down, impacting children in unexpected ways. Here’s how to deal with the letdown.
By Erinne Magee
When I told my 10-year-old daughter that her elementary school would be shutting down for two weeks, she didn’t seem to mind. But after Lexi had time to process the news and realized a friend’s birthday party, a dance competition and the “Jump Rope for Heart” fund-raiser at school were also looped into the cancellation list, I was met with tears and a string of questions, both of which caught me off-guard.
With the new coronavirus leading to school closures and event cancellations across the country, parents are getting mixed reactions from their kids that range from joy over extra time off to confusion and sadness over missing a highly anticipated event — and even fear of the unknown.
Whether they’re forced to skip a musical performance, a tryout for a spring sport, a visit to their grandparents or a family vacation, simply telling children that disappointment is a part of life doesn’t cut it. In fact, breaking this news may also spark anxiety in parents.
So how can parents help kids process their disappointment? I asked a few experts for their advice.
First, check your own emotions.
“Fear can be contagious, so above all, parents need to monitor and manage their own worry, especially in front of their children,” said Robin F. Goodman, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and art therapist in New York City. “The good news is this also means that calm is contagious.”
Regardless of a child’s age, honesty is the best approach, but Gayle Cicero, Ed.D., a clinical assistant professor at the Loyola University Maryland School of Education, advised not using phrases that kids simply don’t have the capacity to understand. “Terms like ‘the right thing to do’ or ‘think about the elderly’ or ‘for the greater good’ are hard to grasp when, developmentally, kids are in a stage when their worldview centers around them, their family, and perhaps their neighborhood and friends,” Dr. Cicero said.
When breaking the news of cancellations, parents should focus on validating their children’s emotions, whether that is disappointment or fear or something in between, said Dr. Neha Chaudhary, M.D., child and adolescent psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.
“Kids often gain comfort in knowing that they are not alone,” Dr. Chaudhary said. “It may help for parents to say that a lot of kids are feeling the same way and even admit that they are a little worried, too. At the end of the day, the most important thing that parents can do is to send their kid the message that it’s OK for them to feel what they are feeling. These are the interactions that help a child feel seen.”
Naming your child’s emotion (for example, saying, “That must be so disappointing”) helps them begin to realize what they are feeling, said Leighanne Scheuermann, an educator based in Dallas. “In the long term, your child is more likely to remember how you respond to their emotions and also will recognize the efforts you made to make the situation better for them,” Scheuermann said.
Disappointment can be linked to a feeling of loss of control in children, said Roseann Capanna-Hodge, Ed.D., a psychologist and pediatric mental health specialist psychologist in Connecticut. “When you have to talk about canceled events that kids were looking forward to, think about it as a learning opportunity to manage disappointment,” Dr. Capanna-Hodge said. “We often are so worried that our kids will get upset when we should be thinking: ‘What can my child learn here? Can they learn about managing stress and feeling upset?’”
When Rachel Engel’s 8-year-old daughter, Sydney, found out that her dad, currently mid-tour in South Korea with the Air Force, had to cancel his trip home to Kansas last week, she was confused. The family had been building a chain out of colorful construction paper to count down the days until his visit, and Sydney threw the remaining links into the trash after hearing her dad wouldn’t be coming home. Engel noted after they talked through her daughter’s disappointment, Sydney felt better and went to her dance class later that day.
It helps just to be a listening ear so your child can freely vent her frustration. Of course, as parents, there is an urge to swoop in and wipe out disappointment. But, Dr. Cicero said, parents can actually get in the way of a child’s development when they do this. “Plus, there’s something so therapeutic about a person willing to hear you out and just be with you,” she added.
When a child’s emotions are really starting to disrupt his usual disposition or he seems stuck in a funk, it’s probably time for some direction from you.
A fun technique to distract younger kids, said Alexandra Friedmann Finkel, L.C.S.W., a licensed clinical social worker and therapist in New York, is a color game. Have your child choose a color and look around the room to point out everything he can see in that color. “This can help a child break the worry spiral and calm the body and mind,” Finkel said.
Once your child is in a good place emotionally, don’t make any promises about rescheduling events or making up for lost time, Dr. Goodman said. Instead, she advised focusing on what you can do now for enjoyment or to support your community.
For example, rather than the planned movie party with friends that Suzanne Cope’s son, Rocco, of New York, was looking forward to, they improvised and celebrated his seventh birthday at a park by flying kites and riding bikes with one other family.
If your child is upset about missing the chance to star in a play, ask if she wants to put on a play with stuffed animals, Scheuermann suggested. Can you FaceTime Grandma for her birthday or support a local business by having a cake sent to her? If a vacation has been canceled, have the kids create a poster board of activities they wanted to do on that trip. Essentially, find a way to modify the missed activity so it can be creatively executed at home.
In tackling school closures, a routine is crucial, whether the teachers sent home a lesson plan or not. “Just by putting a routine in place can help alleviate stress for children and their parents,” Dr. Capanna-Hodge said. “Create a homeschooling schedule and go over it every morning with your children and teens. Make sure to have consistency in your day-to-day and incorporate breaks, exercise and snack time.” Keep a physical copy of the schedule your child can look at, too.
Since research shows that those with a positive outlook can manage stress better and actually live longer, this is a time to help foster resilience in children, Dr. Capanna-Hodge said. “While some kids have a glass-half-full outlook naturally, others need to develop that over time, and these kinds of disappointments are great opportunities to do that.”
Here’s a list of great shows to keep kids ages 2 through 6, and their caretakers, occupied.
By Lindsay Patterson
My son’s podcast addiction began when he was 2, with “The Gingerbread Man.”
He was hooked at first listen and asked to hear it constantly. Eventually, I could recite the entire story, produced by Stories Podcast, along with the host, copying her intonations for the different voices. Our “Gingerbread Man” period peaked when my son was sick, and the only thing that could calm him down at 3 a.m. was listening to the podcast. I sat by his bed with phone in hand, and we listened over and over again, until he fell asleep.
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My son is now 6, and fortunately, his taste in podcasts has expanded. He has many favorite shows and asks for episodes by name. It’s not a coincidence that he’s a dedicated podcast listener. His dad and I co-host “Tumble Science Podcast for Kids,” which we began producing just a few months after he was born. From this perspective, I’ve seen (and heard) the space grow from a handful of audio experiments to a big buffet of listening choices.
That’s great news, because once kids get into podcasts, they really get into them. A new study from the podcast “Brains On!” and the Science Museum of Minnesota of kids 3 to 17 and adults age 18 and over has found that 73 percent of listeners have heard an episode more than once. The study found that kids’ podcasts are a shared listening experience for kids and parents. Podcasts become part of the family routine, with the car the most popular place to listen.
All you need is a fresh playlist of shows that both you and your little one enjoy. I put together this list of great shows for kids ages 2 through 6 and their caretakers. They are all available free on nearly any podcast app.
Stories
“Circle Round” — Folk tales from around the world, told with the help of celebrity readers.
“Stories Podcast” — A combination of classic children’s stories and original tales.
“Molly of Denali” — An eight-episode serialized narrative, based on the PBS Kids series.
“Story Pirates” — Stories written by kids are woven into a narrative about a musical-theater company’s magical misadventures.
“What If World” — The improvisational storyteller Mr. Eric tells fantastic tales based on “What if?” questions submitted by listeners.
“Girl Tales” — Feminist fairy tales written and performed by playwrights and actors.
“Calm Kids Podcast” — Two sisters, Lucie and Charlotte (ages 11 and 8), share their original stories.
“Aaron’s World” — Aaron, a dinosaur lover, started this podcast when he was a kid to share dinosaur facts. It grew into a narrative adventure series that ran for five years.
Educational
“But Why?” — The public radio host Jane Lindholm helps answer kids’ most burning questions.
“Earth Rangers” — A sound-rich dive into nature and animal science, guided by Ranger Emma.
“Wow in the World” — Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas, radio and podcast stars, serve up science news with a heavy dose of silliness.
“Smash Boom Best” — This debate show pits two awesome things against each other, encouraging listeners to choose their own winner.
“Animal Sound Safari” — This Australian podcast travels in a Magic School Bus-style “safari mobile” to discover animals around the world.
“Pants on Fire” — Kids are challenged to “spot the liar” on this game show, co-hosted by a robot.
MEDITATION
“Soundwalks” — Each short episode is a guided meditation through beautiful soundscapes.
“Bedtime Explorers” — Settle down for the night with stories of magical expeditions.
“Peace Out” — This calming podcast teaches meditation and self-regulation through stories.
MUSIC
“Ear Snacks” — The children’s musicians Andrew & Polly explore different themes through songs and interviews.
“Noodle Loaf” — A clever interactive music podcast that features echo songs, musical challenges and a kids’ choir that anyone can join.
“The Music Box” — Each episode is a lesson about a musical concept featuring interactive activities.
“Classical Kids Storytime” — A sneaky way to introduce your kids to classical music, with the help of children’s stories like Hansel and Gretel.
There’s a lot more out there, and much more to come. So how can you help your young children keep their podcast playlist fresh and expanding?
The best way to discover new shows is through the shows that you already love. Often, podcasts will swap episodes, collaborate on special features or sponsor ads on each others’ shows. This allows young kids to participate in discovering new shows. Apple Podcasts also features a curated collection called “Shows for Kids,” which is updated periodically.
If you listen on your own app, I recommend making a unique playlist for your kids so you can always find their favorite shows quickly.
But as with podcasts for adults, word of mouth is still the tried and true discovery method. Ask your parent friends if they’ve heard about podcasts for kids, share your favorites and discover new shows together.
It’s not easy, even for professionals. Start with these sample lesson plans.
By Katharine Hill
As coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, we’re working to answer the questions on many parents’ minds. This is a fast-moving situation, so some information may be outdated. For the latest updates, read The New York Times’s live coronavirus coverage here.
Across the United States, parents are settling into the idea that the current coronavirus outbreak will require many to take over for teachers and child care providers into the foreseeable future. On March 16, President Trump raised the possibility that the coronavirus crisis might last until August.
With schools across the country closed and unlikely to reopen soon, families are gathering teaching materials, setting up schedules, and looking for ways to keep kids engaged beyond the limited hours of remote-learning school days. Parents who are pros at packing lunches and juggling sports practices may feel overwhelmed at the thought of managing students’ school days at home.
My own children started their school’s remote-learning on March 16 and, even as an educator with 20 years of experience and two master’s degrees in the education field, organizing their schedule consumed my morning. So, I decided to create a few resources to help families manage the sudden demand for at-home learning.
But first, take comfort in knowing that school-based lessons rarely go perfectly even for professional teachers. Kids struggle with instructions and get frustrated, no matter how well we prepare. Teachers spend much of their preparation time analyzing activities to improve the next lesson. As families step into teaching roles, it’s crucial to treat inevitable missteps as learning opportunities. Trust me, this has already been a week of trial and error at my house.
Consistency helps students focus, so start with a daily schedule. Skilled teachers often begin the school year with a great deal of structure, because kids learn most easily when they know what to expect. A schedule also allows parents and other caregivers to share duties. By building in breaks, choice and a range of activities, parents can tailor plans to meet children’s individual needs.
But be flexible and keep your child’s experience and personality in mind. A child who has attended a Montessori program may thrive with several work centers spread around the home, while one used to a more traditional setting may feel comfortable with a tighter schedule. Either way, be ready to set up daily plans while adapting to what works well.
If your child’s school offers remote learning, use the provided assignments to create a basic structure for each day, supplementing them as needed with activities that round out the curriculum. Even the most thorough remote-learning plans won’t occupy students all day and most families will need to find additional activities. I have compiled a list of resources below to help your search.
You can give older kids a sense of investment each day by asking them to help formulate their own schedule. But don’t get too caught in your lesson plan. Listen to your child. If they say, “I don’t get it,” or, “I’m tired and I can’t do this,” hear them out rather than telling them what to do next. Once you’ve heard how they’re feeling, ask them to read the directions aloud, or point you to the section that’s confusing. This will show them you are listening and let them make progress.
Parents with children of multiple ages have the extra challenge of balancing multiple remote-learning plans. Delegate tasks to older students — added responsibility can be inspiring for kids, even if they complain about it. Once in teacher mode, try staggering school start times, setting up multiple learning areas, and matching the noise level of different projects so everyone is loud at the same time.
When teaching, wait for eye contact before giving verbal instructions to kids. After you’re done, ask them to restate the main points of what you’ve said. Get to the child’s eye level to help communication, and limit verbal directions to two steps for preschoolers and three steps for older kids. The remote-learning situation will test everyone’s patience, so remember to take time for yourself.
Structure academic activities around kids’ attention spans. Most elementary-school kids can work on assignments for around 25 minutes before they need a break. Use a timer or time-management software to arrange breaks, which can also become transitions to new tasks. Or have kids do some jumping jacks, get a drink of water, take a short walk, climb stairs or play a game to help them refocus. Avoid online videos or graphic novels until the end of the day. These make good rewards, but can be distracting midday. For preschoolers, try a clean-up song or talking through the next activity to make transitions smoother.
A typical school day rewards students with opportunities to show independence, help friends and overcome challenges. The shift to learning from home still gives children the chance to develop autonomy, practice empathy and use their skills — particularly when parents set up structures, then stand back to let kids shine.
Finding high-quality educational materials can be overwhelming. Here are a few resources that I’ve used with success.
Paper-Based Materials
Writing by hand creates stronger memories and understanding, so try to include written assignments along with online options. Keep in mind that workbooks can cost more than online lessons, and delivery time could be slow during this current crisis. Evan-Moor‘s comprehensive line of student workbooks allows kids as young as preschool to follow instructions, formulate responses and build concept knowledge. The Math Learning Center offers free, printable materials that build a comfort with numbers in preschoolers through fifth graders.
Reading
Storyline Online is a fun website where professional actors read popular picture books aloud. Children can build phonological awareness with the games and materials at Education.com. Elementary readers can follow along with the text of stories at Storynory and practice skills from alphabetic awareness to reading fluency at Raz-Kids, which provides evidence-based structured literacy resources.
Writing
Storybird is a short story creation website with a beautiful interface and engaging prompts. Older kids can accept writing challenges created by experienced teachers or write their own tales, while preschoolers and kindergarteners can dictate stories to adults to type.
Math
DragonBox provides engaging and colorful math games for preschool and elementary levels. It covers important concepts and has useful parent advice. Greg Tang makes math fun and accessible for kindergarten and elementary students using games and puzzles that support an inquiry-based approach. The Math Learning Center’s free apps for preschool to fifth grade students allow children to access online versions of favorite math games.
Science
ABCMouse offers award-winning science games for preschoolers through second graders. Elementary students can watch National Geographic Kids’ collection of videos, activities and online polls.
Current Events
Parents of elementary school kids can access Scholastic’s collection of news and nonfiction stories, with some available in Spanish. Newsela offers parent access to news stories and quizzes written to engage elementary kids’ interest.
Art
The artist Mo Willems holds a weekly lunch-hour sketch fest in collaboration with the Kennedy Center. Join Mondays with Mo live on Mondays at 1 p.m. Eastern time, or catch the recorded “Lunch Doodle” sessions any time.
Museums
Google Arts & Culture offers access to museums across the globe, as well as curated selections focused on specific artists and cultural heritage sites.
Audiobooks and Podcasts
The OverDrive app provides library access to audiobooks, as does Audible. Preschoolers can read along with the text of books like “Last Stop on Market Street,” while older children can get into series like “The Magic Treehouse” or “How to Train Your Dragon.” Older kids can enjoy Adam Gidwitz’s spooky fairy tale podcast, Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest. Meditation recordings like those on Body Scan for Kids allow kids and parents alike to relax, especially at nap or bedtime.
Katharine Hill is a learning specialist at an independent school in Brooklyn.
Largest study to date suggests infants may be vulnerable to critical illness after all — and that children may play a ‘major role’ in spread of pathogen
By: Ariana Eunjung Cha
In the nightmare of the coronavirus pandemic that is unfolding around the world, parents have been able to take comfort in one thing — early reports that the virus mysteriously spares children even as it often causes critical illness in the elderly.
A paper released this week in the journal Pediatrics, based on 2,143 young people in China, provides the most extensive evidence on the spread of the virus in children, and there is bad news and good news.
The study provides confirmation that coronavirus infections are in fact generally less severe in kids, with more than 90 percent having mild to moderate disease or even being asymptomatic. But it contains worrisome information about one subset — infants — and suggests that children may be a critical factor in the disease’s rapid spread.
The first thing to know is that children are getting infected across all age groups and genders. Among the patients studied, half were from Hubei Province, the epicenter of the outbreak, while the others were from bordering areas. They ranged in age from newborns to 18 with the median age being 7 years.
So what does coronavirus look like in children?
According to the analysis by Shanghai Children’s Medical Center researchers Yuanyuan Dong, Xi Mo and co-authors, mild cases (52 percent) were marked by the typical symptoms of a cold — fever, fatigue, cough, sore throat, runny nose and sneezing. Some patients had no fever and only digestive symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
Those with moderate infection (39 percent) had pneumonia with frequent fever and cough, mostly dry cough, followed by a wetter cough. Some had wheezing but no obvious shortness of breath.
Severe cases were rare (5 percent) as were those who required critical care (0.4 percent.) The severe cases began with early respiratory symptoms which were sometimes accompanied by gastrointestinal issues. Around one week the children have more difficulty breathing. Those cases sometimes quickly progressed to critical illness with acute respiratory distress or failure which in turn sometimes led to other organ dysfunction — heart failure or kidney injury.
One boy, a 14-year-old, died on Feb. 7. No further details on the patient were revealed in the study.
Of special interest to pediatricians is a group of seven infants (11 percent of the total number of infants in the study), and two children in the age 1 to 5 range (15 percent), who progressed to critical condition. The study suggests, the authors wrote, that “young children, particularly infants, were vulnerable.”
The luckiest group — 4 percent — did not have any symptoms at all even as nasal or throat swabs showed they were positive for coronavirus infection.
“Why most of the children’s COVID-19 cases were less severe than adults’ case is puzzling,” Dong and Mo wrote. “This may be related to both exposure and host factors.”
The researchers wrote that children may have been more isolated at home after the outbreak began, and therefore had fewer opportunities to be exposed to the pathogens. They also suggested that there was something in the children’s biology — a cell receptor that binds to the virus — that might be less sensitive. Another theory is that children often experience colds and other respiratory infections in winter so they may have come into the season with higher levels of antibodies, which are protective, than adults.
The Pediatrics editors wrote they were releasing the paper early, within days of it having been peer reviewed but before official publication, due to the topic’s importance. In a commentary accompanying the study, associate editors Andrea Cruz and Steve Zeichner, both physicians, say the study suggests “children may play a major role in community-based viral transmission.”
The data suggests they may have more symptoms that make them contagious, like runny nose, and that they may have more gastrointestinal symptoms which raises concerns for the virus being in the feces for several weeks after infection.
As schools move to online teaching, students will be spending extra time in front of a screen. Clinical psychologist Nicole Beurkens has some pointers. (Allie Caren/The Washington Post)
“Prolonged shedding in nasal secretions and stool has substantial implications for community spread in day-care centers, schools, and in the home,” Cruz, a pediatrician from the Baylor College of Medicine, and Zeichner, an immunologist from the University of Virginia, wrote.
Adam Ratner, a doctor in pediatric infectious diseases at NYU Langone Health, said the outbreak in China represents only a small percentage of those who will eventually become infected and when the group gets larger “we’ll see more serious cases on the fringes.”
He said the clear takeaway from the study is that coronavirus “is still something that has the ability to cause severe disease across the age spectrum.” He said his hospital and his colleagues’ around the United States were “taking the idea of covid-19 in children very seriously.”
“We’re learning more and more about this disease every day for better or for worse,” he said. “It’s still very early days.”
Ariana Eunjung Cha is a national reporter. She has previously served as The Post’s bureau chief in Shanghai and San Francisco, and as a correspondent in Baghdad.
By: Melinda Wenner Moyer
This piece is part of “The Price of Modern Parenting.” Read about the sandwich generation, caring for aging relatives and out-of-pocket expenses for preterm births.
Raising a kid has never been cheap, but parents a generation ago didn’t have to contend with toddler Mandarin classes, Mommy & Me yoga or preschool chess clubs.
The pressure society places on today’s kids to learn more skills at ever younger ages can feel overwhelming, if not totally bonkers. When my mom signed me up for an after-preschool program in 1981, it involved my being driven in a van to an old church and playing on the playground for a couple of hours. If I signed my kid up for something like that today, other parents might call child protective services.
Often I wonder: How are all these new classes affecting parents’ finances? And do our kids actually need to do all this stuff? Are today’s enrichment classes truly enriching our children, or are we being fleeced by the child-development-industrial-complex?
Parents are spending more
No organization systematically tracks extracurricular costs for young kids. But we can find hints. Research shows that affluent parents spend a lot more on kids’ enrichment activities than they used to. In a 2016 study, Sabino Kornrich, Ph.D., a sociologist at Emory University, analyzed data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, a nationally representative survey of spending conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He found that, after adjusting for inflation, wealthy U.S. parents — those in the top 10 percent for household income — tripled the amount of money they spent on child-care and enrichment activities for children under 6 between 1972 and 2010. Spending increases were much smaller in middle- and lower-class households.
This increased spending may be due in part to higher activity costs. In January 2020, for instance, the Boy Scouts of America’s annual membership fee increased by 80 percent, from $33 to $60 a year, largely because of increases in operating costs associated with the group’s liability insurance. Between 2014 and 2018, sports participation fees at U.S. middle schools went up by 20 percent, according to the Huntington Backpack Index, a measure based on school surveys conducted across 26 states and Washington, D.C.
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The other day, I looked at what I paid for a music class with my toddler in Brooklyn in 2012 and compared it to the cost of the same class offered today; the price had gone up by 29 percent, with only 16 percent of that number due to inflation. Of course, overall costs — and cost trends — vary greatly by geography. Everything is more expensive in the big cities, including (if not especially) children’s activities.
In many ways, it makes sense that costs are rising. “The entire structure of what we’re presenting has changed,” said Lauren Barr, the vice president of youth & community development at the YMCA of Greater New York. Parents now expect classes to teach kids special skills, she says, rather than to just let kids play, as in the past.
So organizations have to charge more to cover higher staffing and equipment costs. The same goes for camps: Barr said that interest in specialized options — swim camps, STEM camps, robotics camps, culinary camps and even circus camps — has gone up, while demand for traditional day camps has dropped. And as you might guess, specialty camps are typically a lot pricier.
That said, not all costs are going up. As extracurriculars have become more popular, new programs have popped up, increasing competition. Musicians now offer toddler music classes in public spaces like parks, where they don’t have to deal with rent or other overhead costs, so they can charge less. And businesses like KidPass, for which parents can sign up to explore different kinds of children’s activities, also force programs to keep their prices low.
“I have not been able to raise my prices in many, many, many years,” said Rosanna Magarelli, who since 1993 has been the director of Music Together in the City in Manhattan (which now offers not only regular music classes but also foreign language music classes, including classes in Mandarin). As a result, her business has been struggling.
The race to keep up with other parents
Why are parents so hungry for expensive, specialized enrichment activities? Parents today worry that unless their children are truly exceptional, they’re going to be left behind, said Suniya Luthar, Ph.D., a professor emerita at Columbia University’s Teachers College and Arizona State University who studies well-being in affluent children.
And who can blame us? At the 50 most competitive universities in the United States, admissions rates dropped by 45 percent between 2006 and 2018, from an average of 36 percent of applicants accepted in 2006 to 23 percent in 2018 (for the top 10 universities, the drop was much steeper). It really is harder to succeed nowadays, so of course we’re giving our kids every leg up we can; of course we’re shelling out extra money for robotics camp if we can. “There are these really strong cultural pressures that are real, and these fears are real,” Dr. Luthar said.
The problems with extracurriculars
So do all these activities actually help our kids? It’s hard to tell. It certainly seems as though it would be good for kids to try new things and encounter new challenges. Still, the research is difficult to interpret. Studies have found that kids who participate in extracurriculars earn better grades and are happier than those who don’t. But it’s hard to know whether the activities themselves are responsible for these outcomes, or whether kids who are going to be happy and successful are more likely to participate in extracurriculars.
The research also typically involves school-aged kids, too — not preschoolers or toddlers. No studies have followed kids who’ve done preschool extracurriculars over time to see if they fare any better than kids who don’t.
And if activities seem to provide benefits, it may not be for the reasons we think. “If there’s a primary mechanism by which those kinds of extracurriculars matter, it’s actually in terms of linking parents to other parents,” said Jessica Calarco, Ph.D., a sociologist at Indiana University and the author of “Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School.”
While parents watch their kids’ games or dance classes, they strategize and share information in ways that help their kids. They’ll talk about how to get their children into the gifted classes and who the best math tutors are. In a nutshell, extracurriculars are “where parents network with each other,” Dr. Calarco said. The downside: The kids whose parents can’t afford extracurriculars, and who don’t have the opportunity to network in these ways, might be missing out.
Furthermore, the pressure parents put on kids and teens to excel may undermine their mental health. Luthar and others have repeatedly found that older kids in high-achieving schools are more likely to drink alcohol and take illicit drugs than less affluent kids. They are also at an elevated risk for anxiety and depression. Some, including the authors of a 2019 report by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, have pointed to the constant pressure to succeed as a reason, even citing extracurricular overload as a symptom.
“If your self-esteem is tied to whether or not you’ll make it on all of those very high bars that you’ve set for yourself — or others have set for you — and you don’t make any one or more of them, well then that makes for disappointment and depression,” Dr. Luthar said.
If this sounds like an impossible predicament, I hear you. But I think it’s possible to find a balance. We should feel free to enroll our kids in activities they might benefit from and that they enjoy. But we need to let our kids be kids, too. And more than anything else, we need to make sure our children know that we love them for the people they are, not for the people we hope they will become.
From negotiating family leave to wrangling your budget after baby, visit NYT Parenting for guidance on dealing with work and money as a parent.
Melinda Wenner Moyer is a mom of two and a science journalist who writes for Slate, Mother Jones, Scientific American and O, The Oprah Magazine, among other publications.
Source: University of Washington
Summary: A new study finds the value of using ‘parentese,’ an exaggerated speaking style that conveys total engagement with a child.
Used in virtually all of the world’s languages, parentese is a speaking style that draws baby’s attention. Parents adopt its simple grammar and words, plus its exaggerated sounds, almost without thinking about it.
But if parents knew the way they speak could help baby learn, would they alter their speech?
A new study from the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, or I-LABS, at the University of Washington suggests they would, to baby’s benefit. Researchers examined how parent coaching about the value of parentese affected adults’ use of it with their own infants, and demonstrated that increases in the use of parentese enhanced children’s later language skills.
The study, published online Feb. 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that parents who participated in individual coaching sessions used parentese more often than control-group parents who were not coached, and that coaching produced more parent-child “conversational turns” and increased the child’s language skills months later.
“We’ve known for some time that the use of parentese is associated with improved language outcomes,” said Patricia Kuhl, I-LABS co-director and professor of speech and hearing sciences at the UW. “But we didn’t know why. We believe parentese makes language learning easier because of its simpler linguistic structure and exaggerated sounds. But this new work suggests a more fundamental reason.
Developmental monitoring observes how your child grows and changes over time and whether your child meets the typical developmental milestones in playing, learning, speaking, behaving, and moving. Parents, grandparents, early childhood providers, and other caregivers can participate in developmental monitoring. You can use a brief checklist of milestones to see how your child is developing. If you notice that your child is not meeting milestones, talk with your doctor or nurse about your concerns.
When you take your child to a well visit, your doctor or nurse will also do developmental monitoring. The doctor or nurse might ask you questions about your child’s development or will talk and play with your child to see if he or she is developing and meeting milestones. A missed milestone could be a sign of a problem, so the doctor or another specialist will take a closer look by using a more thorough test or exam.
Your childcare provider can also be a valuable source of information on how your child develops. More information on developmental monitoring for early childhood educators.
Developmental Screening
The developmental screening takes a closer look at how your child is developing. Your child will get a brief test, or you will complete a questionnaire about your child. The tools used for developmental and behavioral screening are formal questionnaires or checklists based on research that ask questions about a child’s development, including language, movement, thinking, behavior, and emotions. Developmental screening can be done by a doctor or nurse, but also by other professionals in healthcare, community, or school settings.
Developmental screening is more formal than developmental monitoring and normally done less often than developmental monitoring. Your child should be screened if you or your doctor have a concern. However, developmental screening is a regular part of some of the well-child visits for all children even if there is not a known concern.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends developmental and behavioral screening for all children during regular well-child visits at these ages:
9 months
18 months
24 or 30 months
If your child is at higher risk for developmental problems due to preterm birth, low birthweight, environmental risks like lead exposure, or other factors, your healthcare provider may also discuss additional screening. If a child has an existing long-lasting health problem or a diagnosed condition, the child should have developmental monitoring and screening in all areas of development, just like those without special healthcare needs.
If your child’s healthcare provider does not periodically check your child with a developmental screening test, you can ask that it be done.
Developmental Evaluation
A brief test using a screening tool does not provide a diagnosis, but it indicates if a child is on the right development track or if a specialist should take a closer look. If the screening tool identifies an area of concern, a formal developmental evaluation may be needed. This formal evaluation is a more in-depth look at a child’s development, usually done by a trained specialist, such as a developmental pediatrician, child psychologist, speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist, or other specialist. The specialist may observe the child, give the child a structured test, ask the parents or caregivers questions, or ask them to fill out questionnaires. The results of this formal evaluation determines whether a child needs special treatments or early intervention services or both.
Developmental Monitoring
WHO: Parents, grandparents, other caregivers
WHAT: Look for developmental milestones
WHEN: From birth to 5 years
WHY: To help you
celebrate your child’s development
talk about your child’s progress with doctors and childcare providers
WHO: Developmental pediatrician, child psychologist, or other trained provider
WHAT: Identify and diagnose developmental delays and conditions
WHEN: Whenever there is a concern
WHY: To find out
if your child needs specific treatment
if your child qualifies for early intervention
HOW: With a detailed examination, formal assessment tools, observation, and checklists from parents and other caregivers, often in combination, depending on the area of concern
Why It’s Important
Many children with developmental delays or behavior concerns are not identified as early as possible. As a result, these children must wait to get the help they need to do well in social and educational settings (for example, in school, at home, and in the community).
In the United States, about 1 in 6 children aged 3 to 17 years have one or more developmental or behavioral disabilities, such as autism, a learning disorder, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder1. In addition, many children have delays in language or other areas that can affect how well they do in school. However, many children with developmental disabilities are not identified until they are in school, by which time significant delays might have occurred and opportunities for treatment might have been missed.
Services for Children with Developmental Disabilities
Research shows that early intervention treatment services can greatly improve a child’s development.
Early intervention services help children from birth through 3 years of age (36 months) learn important skills.
For children age 3 and older with an identified developmental delay or disability, special education services may be needed.
Services can include a variety of options, depending on the child’s need, such as therapy to help the child talk, move and walk, learn, and interact with others.
Child Find programsexternal icon are provided by each state to evaluate and identify children who need special education services. Early intervention programs can provide services from birth to 3 years of age. Local public school systems can provide the needed services and support for children age 3 years and older. Children can access some services even if they do not attend public school.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) says that children with a diagnosed disability should get special education services. IDEA says that children younger than 3 years of age who are at risk of having developmental delays might be eligible for early intervention treatment services even if the child has not received a formal diagnosis. Treatment for particular symptoms, such as speech therapy for language delays, may not require a formal diagnosis.
Although early intervention is extremely important, intervention at any age can be helpful. It is best to get an evaluation early so that any needed interventions can get started. When parents are concerned about a child’s development, it can be very challenging for them to figure out the right steps to take. States have created parent centers. These centers help families learn how and where to have their children evaluated and how to find services. For information about services in your state, you can access your state’s parent centerexternal icon.
Links to Other Websites
“Learn the Signs. Act Early.”
This campaign educates parents about childhood development, including early warning signs of autism and other developmental disorders, and encourages developmental screening and intervention. It provides checklists to monitor your child’s development, information on how to talk to your doctor, and other resources.
Birth to 5: Watch Me Thrive!external icon
Birth to 5: Watch Me Thrive! is a coordinated federal effort to encourage healthy child development, universal developmental and behavioral screening for children, and support for the families and providers who care for them.
Bright Futuresexternal icon
Bright Futures materials for families are available on a wide range of mental, physical, and emotional health issues in children from before birth through 21 years of age.
References
Boyle CA, Boulet S, Schieve L, Cohen RA, Blumberg SJ, Yeargin-Allsopp M, Visser S, Kogan MD. Trends in the prevalence of developmental disabilities in US children, 1997–2008. Pediatrics 2011;127:1034–1042. [Read key findings]
PRESS RELEASE / CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES: Embargoed for Release on January 28, 2020
Academic achievement plays an important role in children’s development because academic skills, especially in reading and math, affect many outcomes, including educational attainment, performance and income at work, health, and longevity. A new synthesis looked at the relation between academic achievement (reading, math) and cognitive abilities (working memory, reasoning, executive function), and offered suggestions on how to improve educational and cognitive outcomes.
The synthesis was carried out by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and the Medical Research Council (MRC) Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge. It is published in Child Development Perspectives, a journal of the Society for Research in Child Development.
“It’s widely thought that being smart helps you do better in school, but does doing better in school make you smarter?” asks Peng Peng, assistant professor of special education at the University of Texas at Austin, the lead author of the synthesis. “Research has long supported the idea that cognitive abilities are foundational, that is, that being smart leads to better academic achievement. For example, students who learn how to solve math problems at school can develop the reasoning abilities to solve problems in real life. We found that sustained and high-quality education directly fosters children’s academic and cognitive development and that it may indirectly affect academic and cognitive development by triggering a sort of bidirectional action that amplifies both.”
This bidirectional action is especially important for children with disadvantages, who often lack the resources or foundational skills to trigger and benefit from it. The authors note that short-term cognitive training may be insufficient to improve academic performance. This is because beneficial relations between academic skills (reading and math) and cognitive abilities (working memory, reasoning, and executive function) are modest and take time to develop. However, over time, such modest effects can have large and lasting impacts.
“This emerging field suggests that it’s better to think of school-based skills such as reading and math, as well as cognitive abilities such as memory and reasoning, as part a system that has positive interactions among each other and that together, support development,” concludes Rogier A. Kievit, group leader at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge, who coauthored the synthesis. “The ultimate hope is to support both cognitive abilities and academic skills by better understanding these processes.”
The synthesis was supported by the Medical Research Council in the United Kingdom.
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Summarized from Child Development Perspectives, The Development of Academic Achievement and Cognitive Abilities: A Bidirectional Perspective by Peng, P (University of Texas at Austin), and Kievit, RA (University of Cambridge). Copyright 2020 The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. All rights reserved.
Lauren Baker
FREEPORT (WREX) — New research from the American Academy of Pediatrics says simple toys and hands-on play can help children’s development.
It’s an idea mom and teacher Yvonne Drake says she agrees with.
“I mean everything is the fine motor and without doing the play, the picking up, the coloring, they don’t get exposed to it versus sitting on a tablet which is just scrolling or pointing,” said Drake.
A place where kids can go to engage in hands-on play is the Children’s Hands-On Museum in Freeport.
“Simple toys allow for the imagination that digital toys don’t. They allow interaction, role play, pretend play,” said the executive of the museum, Sarah Flashing.
“Their imagination, cooperative play, they are able to express feelings and you can see the in’s and out’s of what they do.” said Drake.
“For years, teachers have known that kids learn through different ways. They learn through visual, they learn through tactile which is hands on, and when they are moving they are learning,” said museum volunteer Shirley Jordan.
Flashing adds that kids can learn using things like iPads and tablets, but parents should make sure they balance digital time with hands on play time.
The museum is open Thursday through Sunday.
It may not look like much is going on during naptime in preschool, but dozing youngsters are actually busy learning.
A lot is happening in the brain of a slumbering preschooler, including processing and storing memories that are the foundation for learning. That makes naptime as important as programs focused on fighting bullying or learning to wait their turn for academe’s youngest students, according to the latest research.
Reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Rebecca Spencer, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, says that napping should be part of any preschool curriculum. In her study, Spencer and her colleagues taught 40 preschoolers a version of the Memory matching game in which pairs of covered pictures were placed in a grid and the children had to uncover and remember the location of the pictures in order to match identical paired images. The first time the children played the game, they were allowed to nap for about 77 minutes afterward, and then asked to play the game again. The next week, the same kids were asked to repeat the process, except this time the researchers kept the children awake instead of allowing them to sleep.
Skipping the nap led to a 10% drop in the children’s accuracy in the memory-based game. Even after Spencer adjusted for the fact that the napless kids may have been more tired and distracted – by having them play the game again 24 hours later, after a good night’s sleep – the relationship between naps and better performance on the test remained strong. And the kids who napped regularly consistently did better than the kids who did not nap as part of their daily routine.
“These results should give schools, center directors and policymakers motivation to not only preserve nap opportunities but to focus on encouraging nap opportunities,” says Spencer.
Previous work suggests why naps might boost cognitive performance. During sleep, scientists believe that memories are made, or processed in ways that make it easier for the brain to access and retrieve later. Experiences and sensations are processed in the hippocampus, which creates short term memories, but in order to make room for the barrage of new material that floods in every minute, the brain continues to work while we sleep, filing these memories away into long term storage to free up the hippocampus for new experiences.
To verify her findings, Spencer also studied another group of 14 preschoolers who played the same matching game, both with a nap and without a nap and hooked them up to electrodes to monitor their brain activity while they slept overnight in the lab. How long the children slept didn’t affect their accuracy in the game. What mattered more was a pattern brain activity that in animal models is connected to a more active hippocampus and memory formation. The more plastic, or open to new memories the child’s brain was, the better he performed in the game.
Interestingly, Spencer did not find much REM sleep — which sleep phase that in older children and adults is associated with the processing of emotions — among the napping kids. She suspects that for storing declarative memories such as those required in the matching game, REM sleep probably isn’t necessary.
With President Obama advocating universal preschool to take advantage of a developing brain’s hunger to observe, learn and process new information, these results should justify the need for naps as part of a preschool curriculum. “Currently some kids who have the most social and academic needs are taken out of the classroom for one-on-one sessions with teachers during the nap,” says Spencer. “But these could be the kids who need the nap the most. Naps should be part of our academic goals – they actually help us to meet academic goals.”
(HealthDay News) — Teaching parents how to talk to their babies could help boost their children’s language development, researchers say.
The University of Washington study didn’t look at so-called baby talk, which typically consists of silly sounds and nonsense words.
Instead, the researchers focused on what’s called parentese. This is proper speech with elongated vowels and exaggerated tones of voice that attract babies’ attention and encourage them to respond.
“We’ve known for some time that the use of parentese is associated with improved language outcomes. But we didn’t know why,” said Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences.
“We believe parentese makes language learning easier because of its simpler linguistic structure and exaggerated sounds. But this new work suggests a more fundamental reason,” Kuhl said in a university news release.
The study found that parents who were given individual coaching used parentese more often than parents who were not coached. Coaching led to more parent-child “conversations” and increased the child’s language skills months later.
“We now think parentese works because it’s a social hook for the baby brain — its high pitch and slower tempo are socially engaging and invite the baby to respond,” Kuhl explained.
Parents willingly altered their speech once told the way they speak could help their baby learn, the researchers noted.
At 18 months, parent surveys estimated that the children’s vocabulary averaged around 100 words among kids of coached families, compared to 60 words among children with no parent coaching.
“Language evolved to facilitate the social communication skills that are essential for the survival of the species. In this study, we observe firsthand how parents’ language and social engagement can promote baby’s initial responsive coos, which become words, and then sentences — educating infants in the art of human communication,” Kuhl said.
The study followed up on a 2018 project. Coaching occurred at 6, 10 and 14 months, with families tracked until 18 months. The results were published online Feb. 3 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
More information
The American Academy of Pediatrics outlines the milestones of early literacy.
SOURCE: University of Washington, news release, Feb. 3, 2020
— Robert Preidt
Completing chores promotes the development of many basic skills necessary for success in life. For younger children completing simple chores such as folding clothes or help with making their bed can improve coordination and motor skills. Completing chores also enhances a child’s ability to follow directions and helps develop planning and organization skills. Completing chores also helps children develop time management skills. Researchers in the groundbreaking, Learning Habits Study found that children who did household chores also scored high on measures of academic success.
Doing chores also helps children develop a sense of responsibility. They not only engage in self-help skills which fosters a sense of independence but also a sense of shared responsibility and contributing to the well-being of the whole family. Successfully completing chores also promotes feelings of self-worth and belonging. When parents do everything, children may feel either dependent on others or may feel entitled and expect things to be done for them.
When the topic of chores comes up in a family therapy session, I remind kids there is a reason we call chores, chores. Most people, including parents, don’t love doing them, but they need to be done anyway. I may ask about the things their parents do and what the home would be like if they were not completed. I point out that learning to take care of themselves and help around the house helps them to become more independent and ready for the freedom that will come when they get older. I think it is essential to distinguish between self-help and maintaining the household. Some children look a picking up toys, making their bed, or even brushing their teeth as a chore.
The obsession with screen time by many children adds to the problem. They detest any activity that may rob them of a few more minutes on their electronic devices. One rule of thumb should be that activities related to personal care, homework, and helping out the family or the family pet comes first. When responsibilities are met if there is time left, it can be used for recreational activities.
Many parents debate whether children should be paid for chores. The average kid in the U.S. receives an annual allowance of $800. In his book, The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money, Ron Leiber a New York Times personal-finance columnist states, kids should do chores “for the same reason we do – because the chores need to be done, and not with the expectation of compensation”. He suggests that an allowance “ought to stand on its own, not as a wage but as a teaching tool.” For example, allowances can teach kids about the value of saving, how much things cost, budgeting, and giving to others.
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by Stephanie Koons, Pennsylvania State University
Young children can benefit greatly from exposure to racial and ethnic diversity during a crucial formative period in their lives, according to a Penn State education professor. However, recent research indicates that a high degree of segregation in American preschools could be hindering students from forming those valuable cross-racial connections.
Erica Frankenberg, professor of education (educational leadership) in the College of Education, is in the midst of a multi-year project intended to help facilitate a discussion of the importance of diversity in early childhood and support professional development of early childhood educators for diverse settings.
“I’m thinking of ways of incentivizing integration,” said Frankenberg, co-director and founder of the Center for Education and Civil Rights (CECR) in the College of Education. “Part of it has to be changing attitudes of policymakers and parents alike.”
Frankenberg and colleague Peter Piazza co-authored “Segregation at an Early Age: 2019 Update,” which presents data illustrating the current segregation of preschool children. Drawing on 2015-16 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), the report analyzes 1.58 million children in 29,186 public educational institutions enrolling at least one preschool student.
Comprising nearly 20 percent of all three- and four-year-old children in the country, CRDC data “illustrate the varied racial composition of preschool students between states as a result of demographic differences and state policies supporting public preschool opportunities.”
Piazza, who completed a postdoctoral fellowship at CECR in summer 2019, writes about race and school integration in CECR’s blog, the School Diversity Notebook. He is now the director of school quality measures at Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment (MCIEA), a project that aims to develop a more holistic alternative to test-based school measurement.
Frankenberg and Piazza originally shared findings about the extent to which preschool students are in racially diverse educational settings in a 2016 report titled “Segregation at an Early Age,” released through CECR in conjunction with The National Coalition on School Diversity. The report drew on CRDC from 2013-14, analyzing 27,957 public schools that enrolled 1.43 million preschool students.
Similar to the 2013-14 report, the 2015-16 data reflect an overall decrease in U.S. preschoolers who attend highly segregated schools. Collectively, however, the rates of racial isolation remain high. While Asian students generally are well-integrated, white preschool students, on average, attend a school in which the majority of other students are white in almost all 50 states. Also, in nearly half of all states, black preschoolers, on average, attend a school in which 25 percent or less of the students are white.
An additional highlight of the report is evidence of limited exposure for black and Hispanic children to both white students and to one another. They found no state where the average Hispanic preschool student attends a school in which most of the students are black, and discovered that black preschoolers, on average, attend a school in which a majority of students are Hispanic in only two states: California and New Mexico.
“Instead, nearly 20 percent of Hispanic students go to preschools where 90 percent or more students are of their same race/ethnicity,” the researchers wrote in the report.
CECR’s collective work, according to the report, is “intended to promote equity across the educational pipeline by supporting efforts that facilitate integration through an interdisciplinary approach. Overall, CECR aims to bring racial integration into the center of a nationwide conversation about using public funds to expand access to preschool.”
Frankenberg’s interest in pre-K segregation, she said, stems from both her research background and personal circumstances.
“I’ve long studied k-12 segregation and research has pretty consistently shown that some of the strongest benefits of integration comes from cross-racial exposure at early ages,” she said. “I’d always been curious about pre-K integration but a combination of burgeoning policy efforts to expand pre-K, Penn State bringing its early childcare centers in-house, and being the parent of preschoolers made me actually start this work.”
In recent years, Frankenberg said, there has been widespread support of the expansion of publicly funded early education. According to the pre-K segregation report, state-level funding for early education programs more than tripled from $2.4 billion in 2002 to more than $7.6 billion in 2017. While there are fewer students overall in pre-K programs, gathering information on those students is challenging because of both public and private educational models.
“No one has really looked at this issue of racial segregation in pre-K,” Frankenberg said. “Understanding the extent to which pre-K students could be in diverse settings which could expose them to children from different backgrounds and therefore reduce the formation of stereotypes could be useful.”
Racially integrating preschool classrooms provides a number of benefits for individual students as well as society, Frankenberg said. By interacting and making friends with classmates from different backgrounds, students can learn about other cultures as well as build their capacity for empathy and develop leadership skills.
“Ultimately, I think all early child education programs should consider diversity and inclusion in their teaching and in composition of their educators,” she said. “For diverse settings, you’d want educators and their teaching to reflect the children. But in homogeneous settings too, like mostly white spaces, you’d also want educators to be exposing children to diverse literature, etc., as a way to help support the development of children for our diverse country.”
In addition to preschool children missing out on the benefits of broadening their social and cultural horizons, she said, preschool segregation typically results in minority groups receiving a subpar educational experience. Her research has found that public preschool programs in states with higher rates of residential segregation have greater variation in quality, while programs in low-income communities are more likely to operate with fewer resources and consequently rated as low quality.
“Historically, we’ve never given the same kind of resources to schools who serve high shares of students of color,” Frankenberg said.
In preschool expansion, Frankenberg and Piazza wrote in their report, there is an “opportunity to provide our youngest students with the types of learning environments that contribute to reduced racial prejudice and increased inter-group friendships in the K–12 setting.”
One of the factors that contribute to increased segregation in U.S. preschools, Frankenberg said, is that parents prefer to send their kids to preschools that are relatively close to their homes. She added that it is vital for parents and legislators to recognize that “being educated in spaces that reflect the diversity of our country is really important, too.”
In their report, Frankenberg and Piazza outline several short-term and long-term strategies for fostering integration in preschools. A couple of possible solutions, Frankenberg said, could be locating new preschool programs at sites that serve students from diverse neighborhoods or creating inter-district partnerships that promote integration. The federal government can drive state-level integration by providing matching funds to expand preschool integration; while the federal government and individual states can provide incentives for low-income parents to send their children to preschools in middle- and upper-income neighborhoods.
The CECR plans to release at least one more report on preschool segregation, Frankenberg said. However, in September 2019, the Trump administration proposed plans to end the disaggregation of public preschool data based on race. If this rule goes into effect, she added, it will be much harder to track any changes—positive or negative—in the data.
“It will be a real challenge,” she said. “There are other data sources, but none that are national in scope. The National Center for Education Services (NCES) is starting to add pre-K to some of its data sources, so it will likely be a matter of pulling from different data to see what we can learn.”
Despite the potential obstacles, Frankenberg said she is still optimistic about the value of the research on pre-K segregation.
“Because it is an area of growth, there are exciting possibilities, if we take the importance of carefully designing preschool to consider integration and educating kids about diversity and inclusion.”
Starting kindergarten can be both exciting and frightening for your child, and parents are often just as anxiety-ridden as their preschoolers when it comes to this major milestone. To ease the anxiety, there are a variety of things you can do to help make your preschooler’s transition to kindergarten a smooth one.
Do a Dry Run
One of the easiest ways to help ease your child into attending kindergarten is to do a dry run. Visit the school ahead of the first day—even when the school is closed—just to familiarize your child with the location. If there is a designated day before the official first day of school to meet teachers and faculty, be sure to bring your child along to participate. If your child’s school does not offer a “meet the teacher” day, contact school administrators to see if you can schedule a time to meet with your child’s teacher and other faculty before school begins.
Also, a week or two ahead of the first day of school, begin to adjust your daily and nightly routines to get your child familiarized with what will be expected of them during the school year. Adjust bedtimes, mealtimes, and daily routines to get your child accustomed to their new schedule.
Source: University of Virginia Health System
Summary: A doctor is using an elegant new approach to mapping brain activity to shed light on what happens during seizures in newborns that can lead to behavioral issues and learning disabilities much later.
A doctor at the University of Virginia Children is using an elegant new approach to mapping brain activity to shed light on what happens during seizures in newborns that can lead to behavioral issues and learning disabilities much later.
New research by UVA neonatologist Jennifer Burnsed, MD, and colleagues suggests that the brain’s learning and memory centers are among the regions most affected by seizures caused by inadequate oxygen and blood flow. That lack of oxygen and blood, called hypoxia-ischemia, is a leading cause of death and disability in newborns. It is often caused by an event around the time of birth, such as a detached placenta or umbilical cord accidents.
“When babies have these brain injuries early on, it’s really hard for us to predict outcomes, especially in the babies who are not as severely affected. A lot of them will look pretty good when they leave [intensive care] and then, several years later, when they go to school, things pop up — behavioral problems, cognitive problems, learning disabilities,” Burnsed said. “That’s one of the things that’s always frustrated me as a clinician, so we have brought that question into the lab, to try to figure out exactly what is going on in the neonatal brain.”
Brain Activity During Infant Seizures
Burnsed, of UVA’s Division of Neonatology, is working with mice because there’s no good way to map brain activity in infants suffering seizures. “In a baby who’s unstable or having a seizure, that’s impossible, basically,” she said. “That has not been done in human neonates [infants] and would be really difficult to do.” As such, what happens in the brain during such seizures remains poorly understood.
The work she and her colleagues are doing is helping to change that. Now that the researchers have mapped regions of the brain affected during seizures, they plan to compare their findings with brain activity later in life.
“We will look at the chronic changes that happen over time with this,” she explained. “The next phase of the project is basically looking at areas of brain activity during learning and memory tasks when the mice are older. They’ve had a neonatal injury, we let them grow up to adult or young adult mice, and then we do a number of different learning and memory tasks to map the areas of the brain that are active chronically. We hypothesize that they have this early abnormal activity in those circuits and they are, perhaps, permanently changed.”
She noted that her research suggests great similarities between the seizures in mice and seizures in infants, a promising sign that her findings will hold true in both. “That was really nice to see, because it makes it a nice clinically translatable model,” she said. (Burnsed credited the breadth and depth of expertise at UVA in making the new insights possible. Many other research institutions would not be able to perform the complex procedures necessary to understand the inner workings of the brain in such detail, especially during a seizure.)
Better Understanding Brain Changes
Burnsed noted that emerging imaging advances may soon let doctors have a better understanding of the brain activity in older children who suffered hypoxia-related seizures early on. “There are a lot of new techniques coming out, like different sensors to look at blood flow and functional MRI that may be able to be used in older kids who have had a neonatal brain injury,” she said.
As doctors better understand what is occurring in the brains of infants and older children, they will be better able to determine how to treat them and ensure they have the best outcomes. “Perhaps there are drugs or different therapies that we could be trying early on that would modulate the seizures, or modulate the [brain] circuits that are active,” Burnsed said. “I think this will give us information that could be used clinically many years down the road.”
Story Source:
Materials provided by the University of Virginia Health System. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Jennifer Burnsed, Daria Skwarzyńska, Pravin K. Wagley, Laura Isbell, Jaideep Kapur. Neuronal Circuit Activity during Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Seizures in Mice. Annals of Neurology, 2019; DOI: 10.1002/ana.25601
Per pupil spending has decreased sharply, by 40% per child from 1994 to 2014.
By Jackie Mader
SURPRISE, Ariz. — Lindsey Eakin’s son Corbin was only six months old when she started to suspect something was wrong. Corbin, her third child, wasn’t babbling or cooing like his two older siblings had at his age and he was experiencing chronic, painful ear infections. His pediatrician at the time wasn’t concerned. But by the time he turned 1, Corbin wasn’t meeting developmental milestones in speech and Eakins was frustrated that nobody seemed to have answers for her.
Source: Princeton University
Summary: A team of researchers has conducted the first study of how baby and adult brains interact during natural play, and they found measurable connections in their neural activity. In other words, baby and adult brain activity rose and fell together as they shared toys and eye contact.
Have you ever played with a baby and felt a sense of connection, even though they couldn’t yet talk to you? New research suggests that you might quite literally be “on the same wavelength,” experiencing similar brain activity in the same brain regions.
A team of Princeton researchers has conducted the first study of how baby and adult brains interact during natural play, and they found measurable similarities in their neural activity. In other words, baby and adult brain activity rose and fell together as they shared toys and eye contact. The research was conducted at the Princeton Baby Lab, where University researchers study how babies learn to see, talk and understand the world.
“Previous research has shown that adults’ brains sync up when they watch movies and listen to stories, but little is known about how this ‘neural synchrony’ develops in the first years of life,” said Elise Piazza, an associate research scholar in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI) and the first author on a paper published Dec. 17, 2019, in Psychological Science.
Piazza and her co-authors — Liat Hasenfratz, an associate research scholar in PNI; Uri Hasson, a professor of psychology and neuroscience; and Casey Lew-Williams, an associate professor of psychology — posited that neural synchrony has important implications for social development and language learning.
Studying real-life, face-to-face communication between babies and adults is quite difficult. Most past studies of neural coupling, many of which were conducted in Hasson’s lab, involved scanning adults’ brains with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in separate sessions, while the adults lay down and watched movies or listened to stories.
But to study real-time communication, the researchers needed to create a child-friendly method of recording brain activity simultaneously from baby and adult brains. With funding from the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Transformative Technology Grant, the researchers developed a new dual-brain neuroimaging system that uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which is highly safe and records oxygenation in the blood as a proxy for neural activity. The setup allowed the researchers to record the neural coordination between babies and an adult while they played with toys, sang songs and read a book.
The same adult interacted with all 42 infants and toddlers who participated in the study. Of those, 21 had to be excluded because they “squirmed excessively,” and three others flat-out refused to wear the cap, leaving 18 children, ranging in age from 9 months to 15 months.
The experiment had two portions. In one, the adult experimenter spent five minutes interacting directly with a child — playing with toys, singing nursery rhymes or reading Goodnight Moon — while the child sat on their parent’s lap. In the other, the experimenter turned to the side and told a story to another adult while the child played quietly with their parent.
The caps collected data from 57 channels of the brain known to be involved in prediction, language processing and understanding other people’s perspectives.
When they looked at the data, the researchers found that during the face-to-face sessions, the babies’ brains were synchronized with the adult’s brain in several areas known to be involved in high-level understanding of the world — perhaps helping the children decode the overall meaning of a story or analyze the motives of the adult reading to them.
When the adult and infant were turned away from each other and engaging with other people, the coupling between them disappeared.
That fit with researchers’ expectations, but the data also had surprises in store. For example, the strongest coupling occurred in the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in learning, planning and executive functioning and was previously thought to be quite underdeveloped during infancy.
“We were also surprised to find that the infant brain was often ‘leading’ the adult brain by a few seconds, suggesting that babies do not just passively receive input but may guide adults toward the next thing they’re going to focus on: which toy to pick up, which words to say,” said Lew-Williams, who is a co-director of the Princeton Baby Lab.
“While communicating, the adult and child seem to form a feedback loop,” Piazza added. “That is, the adult’s brain seemed to predict when the infants would smile, the infants’ brains anticipated when the adult would use more ‘baby talk,’ and both brains tracked joint eye contact and joint attention to toys. So, when a baby and adult play together, their brains influence each other in dynamic ways.”
This two-brain approach to neuroscience could open doors to understanding how coupling with caregivers breaks down in atypical development — such as in children diagnosed with autism — as well as how educators can optimize their teaching approaches to accommodate children’s diverse brains.
The researchers are continuing to investigate how this neural coupling relates to preschoolers’ early language learning.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Princeton University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Elise A. Piazza, Liat Hasenfratz, Uri Hasson, Casey Lew-Williams. Infant and Adult Brains Are Coupled to the Dynamics of Natural Communication. Psychological Science, 2019; 095679761987869 DOI: 10.1177/0956797619878698
The relationship between child and teacher is of paramount importance.
By Dr. Kimberly Dike
They say it takes a village to raise a child and educating one may not be any different.
To many, it may not come as a surprise that children who receive education such as basic vocabulary and math skills early in life, starting in preschool, are more likely to develop life-long skills that help them do well in school for years to come, especially those in low-income communities.
But according to a new study published this week in Child Development, not only is early exposure to math and vocabulary a potential catalyst for future positive outcomes but so is the focus on self-regulation; allowing a child to manage their emotions, behavior and body movement in tough situations. And for that, the relationship with the teacher is of paramount importance.
“Behavior management and teachers’ health help create a quality program for children” Dr. Dana Charles McCoy, study author, and professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education told ABC News. “Several decades of research has shown that high-quality programs can have a good impact.”
Teachers in low-income areas of Chicago received training through the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP). The idea is that if teachers know the best ways to interact with preschoolers, the children will learn better and taking the time to train teachers makes them feel more valued and appreciated as well.
“Teachers received professional development courses that focused primarily on behavior management strategies in the classroom and how to avoid harsh discipline but to instead promote behaviors. This reduced their own stress.” Says Dr. McCoy. “Teachers received Masters level mental health education.”
“The teachers received the training and passed it on to the children, improving structural quality and warmth and organization of the teachers into the classroom,” McCoy says.
McCoy suggests that these types of interventions may contribute to a good learning environment for kids, and Marie Spinney, an experienced NYC Department of Education Pre-K teacher, agrees.
“Anytime that you’re able to bring something back to the classroom, any sort of coaching and it works, it does increase learning,” Marie Spinney told ABC News in an interview.
“In the Pre-K level, it’s about the process, not as much as the achievement.” Spinney says, “Being able to focus on the process, on what they need help with, sets them up for kindergarten. Sets them up for success.”
And professional development gives teachers confidence too.
“It’s very empowering. You [the teacher] feel more supported. You feel like you’re being valued as a teacher and that feeling helps with the kids because you are excited,” Spinney says.
“Kids need more than academic content. Emotional, social, and cognitive skills help them engage and learn in the classroom and get along with peers and engage in academic content,” McCoy told ABC News. McCoy hopes this study will “shift from talking about whether preschool is important to move the conversation to what aspect of preschool creates the biggest impact for kids. What defines a high-quality preschool program and ensures that all kids have the ability to receive those qualities.”
She went on to say that, “low-income background kids don’t have the same opportunities as people from more advantaged backgrounds. So these types of programs are trying to promote equity and give kids from all different backgrounds the opportunity to succeed.”
However, it may not be that simple.
While “professional development is worthwhile,” says Spinney, “implementing it may not be as straightforward.”
Each child is different.
Another study on “Children’s first-person experiences,” points out “that the linguistic environment of a preschool classroom is highly dynamic from the perspective of the learner.” The study suggests that many children often interact with teachers in the classroom frequently, but that the length of these interactions varies from child to child.
McCoy reminds us, that “early preschool programming can impact trajectories into adulthood,” and that, “this study gives us an idea of what types of practices in the classroom are able to promote education and well-being.”
“The take home lesson, hopefully, can benefit all kids,” she says.
Kimberly Dike, M.D., is a senior internal medicine resident physician at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
Source: Johns Hopkins University
Summary: Babies who are years away from being able to say ‘one,’ ‘two,’ and ‘three’ actually already have a sense of what counting means, researchers have discovered. The findings reveal that very early on, years earlier than previously believed, babies who hear counting realize that it’s about quantity.
Babies who are years away from being able to say “one,” “two,” and “three” actually already have a sense of what counting means, Johns Hopkins University researchers have discovered.
The findings reveal that very early on, years earlier than previously believed, babies who hear counting realize that it’s about quantity.
“Although they are years away from understanding the exact meanings of number words, babies are already in the business of recognizing that counting is about number,” said senior author Lisa Feigenson, a cognitive scientist at Johns Hopkins who specializes in the development of numeric ability in children. “Research like ours shows that babies actually have a pretty sophisticated understanding of the world — they’re already trying to make sense of what adults around them are saying, and that includes this domain of counting and numbers.”
The findings are newly published in Developmental Science.
Most children don’t understand the full meaning of number words until they’re about four years old. That’s surprising, Feigenson said, considering how much counting young children are exposed to.
“We buy counting books for babies and we count aloud with toddlers. All of that raises the question: Are kids really clueless about what counting means until they’re in the preschool years?”
To find out, Feigenson and first author Jenny Wang, a former graduate student at Johns Hopkins who is slated to become an assistant professor at Rutgers University, worked with 14 and 18-month-old infants. The babies watched as toys, little dogs or cars, were hidden in a box that they couldn’t see inside of, but could reach into.
Sometimes the researchers counted each toy aloud as they dropped them into the box, saying, “Look! One, two, three, four — four dogs!” Other times the researchers simply dropped each toy into the box, saying, “This, this, this and this — these dogs.”
Without counting, the babies had a hard time remembering that the box held four things. They tended to become distracted after the researchers pulled just one out — as if there was nothing else to see. But when the toys were counted, the babies clearly expected more than one to be pulled from the box. They didn’t remember the exact but they did remember the approximate number.
“When we counted the toys for the babies before we hid them, the babies were much better at remembering how many toys there were,” Wang said. “As a researcher, these results were really surprising. And our results are the first to show that very young infants have a sense that when other people are counting it is tied to the rough dimension of quantity in the world.”
The team is now conducting several follow-up studies, trying to determine if early counting practice leads to later number skills land if English-speaking babies react to counting in a foreign language.
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Materials provided by Johns Hopkins University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Our brains shape and reshape themselves in ways that depend on what we use them for throughout our lives. Learning language is a nice example of how experiences contribute to each person’s unique pattern of brain development.
Language and Literacy in Early Childhood
How parents and caregivers speak to kids significantly affects I.Q., literacy, and academic success later in life, according to University of Kansas child psychologists Betty Hart and Todd Risley.
Their study found that the number of words and encouragements and the breadth of vocabulary heard by a child during the first three years of life can dramatically affect language development and I.Q. Hart and Risley made close observations of 42 one- and two-year olds and their families for more than two years.
From those observations, the researchers estimated children in professional families hear approximately 11 million words per year; while children in working class families hear approximately 6 million, and children in families receiving public assistance hear approximately 3 million words annually.
For more information on the study, read: Hart, B. & Risley, T.R. (1995). Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children.
From Neurons to Neighborhoods
Young children who lack at least one loving and consistent caregiver in the earliest years may suffer severe and long-lasting development problems. This landmark study of scientific brain research shows environmental stress, even among infants and toddlers, can interfere with the proper development of neural connections inside the brain essential to a child’s proper social and emotional development. This report recommends that early childhood programs balance their focus on literacy and numerical skills with comparable attention to the emotional and social development of all children.
From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development was published in 2000 by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
Joint Attention
Joint attention refers to the shared focus that conversational partners – an infant and her caregiver – have on an object and topic. Infants and young children whose parents engage in more joint attention have larger vocabularies than children whose parents engage in less joint attention. High-quality child care environments, where caregivers practice joint attention and are responsive to the cues of infants and toddlers, have been shown to be tied to higher rates of language acquisition.
To learn more about the research behind joint attention, read Foundations: How States Can Plan and Fund Programs for Babies and Toddlers from the Ounce of Prevention Fund.
Secure Attachment and Continuity of Care
Attachment -– the security, confidence, and trust that infants and toddlers have with the adults responsible for their care -– is the framework within which babies develop their growing ability to regulate emotions and behavior. Babies thrive when they are securely attached to their mother, father, or primary caregiver who knows and responds consistently and reliably to their unique personalities. Infants and toddlers who are not securely attached are likely to become preschoolers unable to control their behaviors and kindergartners who have difficulty engaging in the process of learning. Recognizing the importance of secure attachment, the Ounce of Prevention Fund implements a continuity of care model at Educare. This model minimizes the disruptions that children experience by keeping infants and toddlers with the same classroom team of teachers until they transition to preschool.
To learn more about the research behind secure attachment and continuity of care, read Secure Attachment from the Ounce of Prevention Fund.
Link between Early Learning and Health
While much attention and effort has been directed at addressing the widening achievement gap in the United States, children growing up in poverty face an equally pervasive and related health gap. By and large, they have markedly worse health than their higher-income peers. This gap appears early in life and builds over time. Science suggests that adverse early life experiences and environments—prenatally and in a child’s first years—can contribute to the health gap, leaving biological imprints on the child’s developing body and brain that can have strong and lasting effects.
Fortunately, new and current research points us to a critical strategy in narrowing the health gap and giving all children a strong chance at good health over a lifetime. We can ensure that every child has access to high-quality early childhood programs, including early education and home visiting.
To learn more about the large body of evidence linking early learning and health, read Start Early to Build a Healthy Future from the Ounce of Prevention Fund.
People often say that babies are like little sponges — with their ability to soak up language quickly and easily.
At McGill University’s Infant Speech Perception Lab, we have been studying how babies begin to take their first steps in acquiring their native language or languages.
First language steps
Long before babies can say their first words, they’re already taking many steps to learn about their language. Our research has studied one of these challenging first steps — the ability to track when one word begins and ends in speech, or what are heard as word forms.
It’s challenging to track these word forms in speech as people rarely pause between words when they speak. As adults, we can locate word boundaries in our native language effortlessly. However, we often fail altogether when we encounter an unfamiliar language.
Words are formed differently in different languages. Let’s consider English and French, Canada’s official languages.
English is a stress-timed language, which means that each syllable within a word is spoken with different stress or emphasis. For example, say a two-syllable word in English out loud. Chances are you produced the first syllable with more stress — that is, longer, louder and with a higher pitch. Most two-syllable words in English follow this pattern (for example, BA-by, HAP-py, BOT-tle).
This is because French is a syllable-timed language, where each syllable within a word has nearly equal stress. Syllables are given more stress only when they fall at the end of a phrase or a sentence (for example, donne-moi un ca-DEAU).
Nevertheless, since stress does not provide a consistent rule for distinguishing words in French speech, French listeners have to rely on other rules to find words in conversation.
But, it seems that babies learning both English and French have to contend with conflicting rules. If they were to focus on stress cues, would a stressed syllable represent the beginning of the word, as it frequently happens in English? Or would it mean the end of the phrase or sentence, as in most cases in French?
To navigate this challenge, bilingual babies need to keep track of whether they are hearing English or French. But, is this too difficult or confusing for bilingual babies?
We tested bilingual babies in a task that assessed how they recognize word forms, and we compared them to their monolingual peers. The experiment involved 84 babies, ranging from eight- to ten-months old. We tested babies learning only French, babies learning only English and bilingual babies learning both languages.
This is an impressive feat given that bilingual babies have to learn two different language systems in the same time period that monolinguals learn their single language. It is certainly a learning progression, but even young children can tell when they are hearing two languages.
There’s a confusing dichotomy when it comes to technology and early learners. One side of research and evidence tells us technology encourages growth and creativity and even helps early learners build positive relationships. On the other side, there is evidence that suggests technology use at such a young age contributes to overweight, depressed children. So, which is it; Does technology have a positive or a negative impact on early learners? Does tech belong in early learning programs?
To use a Star Wars analogy: there’s a dark side to technology, but there’s also a light side. Whether or not technology supports early learners depends on how we use it.
Thought leader Chip Donohue says the key is to be intentional when you choose and use technology. Donohue is the Founding Director of the Technology in Early Childhood (TEC) Center at Erikson Institute and Senior Fellow for the Fred Rogers Center.
In a recent Hatch webinar, he explained that when we link pedagogy to technology use, we can reimagine screen time as beneficial. As Donohue says, positive screen time can and should look like this:
Active, not passive or sedentary
Interactive, not isolating
Inclusive, not exclusive
Enhancement, not displacement
Meaning-making, not meaningless
Creation, not consumption
Tool for learning and teaching
What does intentional technology use look like?
When we think of technology and children, often we imagine little eyes glued to a screen as they play a mindless game or watch yet another silly YouTube video. We’re not wrong, that happens.
But when early childhood educators (and caregivers) use technology mindfully and intentionally to help children learn and develop skills and relationships, the results are incredibly encouraging.
Take Phillip Baumgarner, for example. Baumgarner is a preschool teacher at the Child Development Lab at The University of Georgia. A recent NAEYC blog post shared the story of how he used an iPad to help a four-year-old boy connect with his classmates, despite language barriers.
As a dual-language learner (English and Chinese), the little boy was finding it tough to connect with his classmates. The other children didn’t know how to communicate with him and even treated him as if he was much younger because of the language barrier.
Baumgarner had a brainstorm, he would help the little boy share bits of his daily life with his classmates through a digital story. Using an iPad and a multimedia storytelling app, they took pictures of his apartment, toys and family. (He even took photos of the construction site next to his house, which the children loved.)
As a final touch, the little boy narrated the story with a mix of Chinese and English phrases.
Suddenly, his classmates could see this little boy had plenty to say and they were interested in what he was sharing. The project was incredibly successful. The children found ways to communicate with each other, the little boy’s English language skills improved and, most importantly, he developed relationships with his classmates.
That’s only one example. There are plenty of resources and stories online to inspire and help educators create a positive experience with technology. (You can find two additional, detailed anecdotes in this blog post from NAEYC: Technology that Supports Early Learning –Three Examples.)
The Office of Education Technology is another excellent resource for learning more about the benefits of technology in early learning. As they explain in their Guiding Principles for Use of Technology with Early Learners, “Developmentally appropriate use of technology can help young children grow and learn, especially when families and early educators play an active role. Early learners can use technology to explore new worlds, make-believe, and actively engage in fun and challenging activities. They can learn about technology and technology tools and use them to play, solve problems, and role play.”
What about the harmful effects of screen time?
As Donohue explains in that same Hatch webinar, the research isn’t conclusive about how much screen time is safe for young learners. “But that doesn’t mean we stop using technology,” says Donohue. Instead, “It means we use it very carefully and mindfully, as we have been doing.”
That includes keeping up with the research and making informed decisions about the ways and how often we use technology with early learners. Tools like the Screen Sense resource series from Zero to Three share and explain the current research on the impact of media on children under 3 years old.
The road to positive technology use starts with investing time in understanding how technology can support early learners. That knowledge can guide which technology early learning programs purchase as well as how they use that technology to help young children.
At Hatch, we’re deeply committed to providing technology tools that are backed by research. Each of our tools is developmentally appropriate and proven to have positive impacts on social, emotional, language, and cognitive development. We understand the delicate dance early childhood educators must do when it comes to technology. You need to grasp when technology can support and enhance learning, but also understand when technology isn’t the answer. You can read all of our research to learn more about how Hatch tools can help you stay on the light side of technology here.
It’s 25 years since the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) was published. The manual is the clinical “bible” that defines the criteria for the diagnosis of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions, and was a landmark document for autism spectrum disorder.
The first mention of autism came in the third edition of the DSM in 1980, with the introduction of the diagnostic category of “infantile autism”. This label was generally only applied to children with substantial language impairment and intellectual disabilities.
In 1994, the DSM-IV recognised people could also show the core behaviours of autism without having significant language impairment or any intellectual disability. This change in how we described autism contributed to a surge in diagnoses.
Read more: Do more children have autism now than before?
There was also a surge in autism research, from around 96 studies in 1994, to 207 in 2000, and then 2,789 in 2018.
So, 25 years on, what have we learnt about autism?
The autism concept
In the 1990s, we viewed autism as one condition, with all children showing similar, severe difficulties with social and communication skills.
We now know the reality is very different.
In its most literal sense, autism is diagnosed when a person displays a set of behaviours typified by difficulties in social interaction and communication, as well as having more restricted interests and repetitive behaviours than we typically expect.
Read more: Why do some people with autism have restricted interests and repetitive movements?
The severity of the behaviours that characterise autism vary considerably between people. Social interaction and communication difficulties, for example, can range from having no verbal language to highly fluent language.
The frequency and intensity of autism behaviours – such as repetitive play with objects and repeated body movements like rocking and hand flapping – vary between mild and severe.
And intellectual abilities can range from significant disability to a very high IQ.
This variation is the so-called “autism spectrum”, which has also led to the worldwide movement of “neurodiversity”. This views neurological conditions such as autism as part of the natural spectrum of human diversity, and posits that this diversity should be respected rather than pathologised.
Neurodiversity challenges the medical model of autism as a disorder, instead viewing autism as an inseparable aspect of identity.
Autism is diagnosed by a team of clinicians, through a consistent and rigorous diagnostic process. While the dividing line between “typical” and “atypical” can be blurry, a diagnosis is made when the core behaviours of autism have a functional impact on an individual’s daily life.
Some people with autism have very high IQs. LDprod/Shutterstock
It’s now clear that autism is not one condition in the sense that there is a common cause shared by all people on the autism spectrum.
Instead, autism is best thought of as an umbrella term which describes a range of different people, all with relatively similar behaviours, which may or may not be caused by the same biological factors.
Critically, autism is not just a childhood condition. While the behavioural characteristics of autism first emerge during childhood, they almost always persist into adolescence and adulthood, but often present in a different form.
Social difficulties in childhood might be shown through a preference to play alone, for example, while in adulthood this may be reflected by difficulty in maintaining social relationships.
Read more: We need to stop perpetuating the myth that children grow out of autism
The dramatic refinement of our understanding of autism from a severe childhood condition, to a cluster of complex and variable conditions that endure into adulthood, is a great achievement of scientific research and has driven all other research and policy advances.
Causes
In 1994, there was already a good understanding that autism originated from genetic differences.
Advances in genetic research in the late 1990s and 2000s – first by sequencing the human genome, then the dramatic reduction in the cost of this sequencing – led scientists to believe they would soon find the single gene that causes the brain to develop differently.
But after several decades of intensive research, the picture turned out to be far more complex.
There is now consensus that there is no one genetic difference shared by all individuals with autism. And rarely does one person possess a single genetic factor that leads the brain to develop differently.
There is also evidence to suggest other biological factors may play a role in the development of autism, including inflammation and hormonal factors. But the evidence for these factors remains preliminary.
Read more: What causes autism? What we know, don’t know and suspect
We now know a range of conditions, including Fragile X syndrome and tuberous sclerosis, have very clear genetic or chromosomal differences that can lead to autistic behaviours. In total, these conditions account for around 10% of all people on the autism spectrum.
Genetic factors are still very likely to underpin autism in the remaining majority of people. But the genetic differences are likely more complex, and require advances in statistical techniques to better understand why the brain develops differently for some children.
Therapies and treatments
In the 1990s, behavioural interventions for autism were dominated by applied behaviour analysis (ABA), an approach to therapy that helps children learn new skills.
While ABA remains prominent throughout the world, other therapeutic models have emerged, such as those based on developmental principles, those that target communication and those that use a combination of approaches.
Therapies have come a long way. Photographee.eu/Shutterstock
While these therapies help the development of some children with autism, no one therapy model will be effective for all. The great advance of the last 25 years has been to provide families with alternate options if their original choice of therapy isn’t as beneficial as they hoped.
Read more: A guide for how to choose therapy for a child with autism
But pharmacological (drug) treatments have not seen as much progress. Despite substantial research investment, there remains no medication with good evidence for reducing the disability associated with the core social and communication difficulties of autism.
Pharmacological intervention in autism is primarily used to assist with other challenges that can be associated with autism such as anxiety, attention problems, epilepsy and sleeping difficulties.
Where to next?
Despite progress over the past 25 years, health and disability challenges remain pervasive for people on the autism spectrum, and our policy responses continue to be fragmented across health, disability and education systems.
Given the ever-marching advance of science, it’s impossible to predict the next 25 years of research. A key challenge for scientists is how we use the knowledge we create to lead to clear and tangible benefits for humanity.
This will likely require meaningful partnerships with autistic people and their families to better understand their priorities for their lives. We need to learn how the knowledge we’ve obtained, and that still to come, can best support each person to discover their own strengths and what they want for their lives.
Young children may need a different kind of therapy to accommodate their developing brains
By Sujata Gupta
When Molly was 10 months old, her parents took her to a Halloween party with other young families. While the other babies explored their surroundings, Molly sat and watched. She’s always been cautious, says Molly’s mom, Rachel. Early on, though, the little girl’s shyness didn’t raise red flags.
By the time Molly turned 4, however, life was getting harder — for everyone. Even though she loved to dance, Molly refused to engage in class without her parents nearby. She clung to her mom in public and became whiny and upset. The family began avoiding outings. Dance classes ceased, as did gymnastics. Playdates were rare and had to be held in Molly’s home. “Our world was getting smaller,” says Rachel, who asked to use only first names to protect her daughter’s privacy.
In kindergarten, Molly’s anxiety escalated. Parents were supposed to drop their children off in front of the school so a teacher could walk them inside, but Molly struggled. “She would … chase us into the road,” Rachel says. Concerned for Molly’s safety, school administrators eventually gave the family permission to escort her inside. Once at school, Molly latched onto another girl, trying hard to dress exactly like her. It seemed to Rachel that Molly “wanted to be invisible.”
Fears about going to school consumed Molly, who felt sick every night before school. “She had stomachaches,” Rachel says. “She was constipated.”
Molly’s issues may appear extreme, but anxiety is surprisingly common among young children. Estimates vary widely, but most studies indicate that 10 to 20 percent of U.S. preschoolers suffer from one of several anxiety disorders. When anxiety hits young, it often holds on into adolescence and adulthood. Children diagnosed with clinical anxiety early have double the risk of anxiety and substance abuse in their teen years, compared with children who don’t have an anxiety disorder. That later anxiety has been linked to missed school, drug abuse, depression and even suicide.
So for decades, researchers have been trying to decipher the biological roots of the young, anxious mind in hopes of sorting out how to intervene before worries become debilitating. It now seems that all forms of anxiety are linked to abnormalities in how the brain processes fear. So sometimes, when symptoms are particularly severe and very young children struggle to do typical things like start school or go to the playground, psychiatrists turn to antidepressants.
But studies of antidepressants in children tend to be small and shorter than a year in duration, with sparse studies looking at medicating children under age 5. Anecdotally, researchers know that antidepressants can cause hyperactivity in young children, in the form of uncontrolled outbursts, restlessness and disrupted sleep.
Not surprisingly, Prozac for the preschool set remains controversial. Some psychiatrists say that a short-term dose can help an anxious child find the courage to talk to a therapist. Therapy can be a form of training that helps the brain develop along a less anxious path. To that end, researchers are trying to modify therapies that work for adults or develop new approaches to meet the needs of young children.
One of the most promising strands of research involves individuals like Molly, as researchers have identified a clear link between shyness in infancy and later anxiety, namely social anxiety.
Born cautious
To experience fears about the future or social belonging is human, says Jerome Kagan, a retired Harvard University psychologist and a leading researcher in the field. It’s normal for children to fear big, barking dogs, or to worry about losing a parent or how to respond when a classmate is being bullied. Only when such anxieties become all encompassing, when they interfere with overall happiness or the ability to interact in society, does the condition become pathological, meriting the name “anxiety disorder.”
But what enables some individuals to confront their fears while others are left reeling? That question has consumed Kagan ever since he began interviewing participants in a longitudinal study that began back in 1929. By the time Kagan joined the project in the late 1950s, the first participants were adults. Kagan soon noticed that those who had been wary babies — marked by caution, inhibition around strangers and a tendency to stick close to a trusted adult — remained shy and withdrawn as adults. What’s more, being wary in new situations was the only temperament Kagan observed that stayed constant throughout life.
In 1989, Kagan began recruiting mothers and infants to build his own longitudinal study. Soon, he had 500 mothers, all of whom came to his laboratory when their babies were 4 months old. The babies were exposed to various stimuli, such as swaying mobiles or tape recordings intoning statements like, “Hello baby. How are you today?”
Most babies responded to the objects and recordings with stares, babbles and grunts. But about one-fifth of the babies cried or thrashed their legs, signs of distress that marked them as highly reactive, or inhibited. (Researchers used the term “behavioral inhibition” to describe this tendency.)
Kagan continued to observe the boys and girls throughout childhood. By age 7, about half of those who were babies in the reactive group remained cautious as children. “They needed a night-light at home, they wouldn’t sleep over at a friend’s house, they were afraid of dogs,” Kagan recalls. “And they were quiet and shy in the classroom.”
By age 18, about 40 percent of those formerly reactive babies met the criteria for an anxiety disorder — double the risk of those who were not reactive as babies and of the general population. Kagan was floored. These are kids “that come from middle-class homes. They have a protective environment,” Kagan says. “They’re not in a war zone.”
Equally intriguing to Kagan and, later, his protégé, Nathan Fox, were the 60 percent of reactive babies who did not go on to develop an anxiety disorder. Fox, a developmental neuroscientist at the University of Maryland in College Park, has followed two similar study groups of his own for decades. The wary, reactive babies who manage to avoid becoming anxious adults don’t undergo a 180-degree temperament change, Fox says. “There is a core temperament in there. Our kids may not have a social anxiety disorder, but they’re not the captains of football teams, and they’re not the exuberant, outgoing [ones].”
That realization led researchers to focus on a key question: Is there a way to help shy, anxious kids become shy, well-adjusted adults?
Feeling the fear
Two months into Molly’s kindergarten year, her parents were growing desperate. They put their daughter in therapy, which was its own ordeal. “At the first therapy appointment, I couldn’t leave the room,” Rachel says. “She was hysterical.”
Molly slowly adjusted to visits to the therapist, who had her draw a “worry bully.” (Molly named him Otis.) If Molly was worried that people would laugh at her, Rachel says, the therapist would say things like, “Oh, you think Otis is going to laugh at you? But Otis doesn’t know that.” Transferring her fears to Otis let Molly label the source of her angst. Molly also began to practice doing things that scared her. She would get prizes for going to a friend’s house without mom for just 20 minutes.
Molly’s therapist was employing classic cognitive behavioral therapy, a hands-on approach to changing patterns of thinking or behavior and the current gold standard for treating anxiety in adults. Another promising therapy for treating anxiety in young children is a modification of a program geared at strengthening the parent-child relationship. In that approach, known as Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, or PCIT, a therapist sits behind a one-way mirror and directs parents in their interactions with a child through earphones. The thinking is that, rather than deal with their child’s anxieties by avoiding scary situations — a common survival strategy — parents can learn with the child how to manage those fears.
Cognitive behavioral therapy — which also will include parents when used for young children — is thought to work by aligning the feeling and thinking parts of the brain, the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. In scary or new situations, the amygdala sends a fear signal to the prefrontal
cortex. When things are working well, the prefrontal cortex deciphers the situation and sends a message back to the amygdala along the lines of, “Hey, chill out.” But when anxiety strikes, communication between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex breaks down, and the “chill” message never reaches the amygdala. The feedback loop breaks down.
So cognitive behavioral therapy aims to tamp down the amygdala’s panic response — by making a scary situation, like going to a friend’s house, routine — and amp up the prefrontal cortex’s calming effect. Knocking the amygdala down a notch should in theory help it sync better with the prefrontal cortex. Essentially, says Kate Fitzgerald, a child psychiatrist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the brain learns “to feel the fear and [go ahead] anyway.”
For more than half of preschoolers, however, cognitive behavioral therapy fails or its positive effects wane over time. For Molly, therapy was imperfect, but it helped. After six months, she was doing better at school and making friends. But she still struggled to separate from her parents, and she remained overly concerned about what other children would be wearing. She much preferred if nobody looked at her.
To Rachel, Molly’s progress felt tenuous. Then Rachel heard about a research program Fitzgerald runs, called Camp Kid Power, for 4- to 6-year-olds with anxiety. The camp was designed to address the notion that a child’s brain may not be mature enough to fully benefit from standard cognitive behavioral therapy. Rachel was intrigued.
Stuck in the fear
By early 2018, Molly was registered for the next round of Camp Kid Power. Before camp, which was to take place over two consecutive weekends, Rachel took Molly in for an initial assessment.
At the lab, Molly was hooked up to an electroencephalograph, or EEG, a contraption like a shower cap with electrodes that rest on different spots along the skull. Then, sitting in front of a computer screen, Molly was introduced to Melissa, a virtual zookeeper. Melissa told Molly that all the animals had escaped from the zoo. Molly could help return the animals to their cages by pressing a button every time an animal popped up on the screen. But she shouldn’t push the button when an orangutan appeared, because those animals were Melissa’s helpers.
When Molly and other participants in Camp Kid Power accidentally pressed the button for the orangutans, Fitzgerald and her team measured the electrical impulse from an electrode atop the middle of the skull. The region of the brain under that electrode houses a part of the prefrontal cortex known as the anterior cingulate cortex, or ACC. The ACC responds to mistakes and other errors in thinking, such as “No one will like me!” or “I am too stupid to understand this lesson.”
It turns out that the ACC reacts differently in anxious preschoolers than in anxious teens and adults, Fitzgerald is finding. And those differences might matter for therapy.
In anxious teens and adults, the ACC overreacts, researchers suspect, producing fear in situations that are relatively safe. Going back to the feedback loop, the amygdala issues an alert, which travels to the ACC. But instead of identifying those negative thoughts as nonsense and communicating that to other parts of the prefrontal cortex, the ACC’s safety message is garbled and doesn’t get through. As a result, the amygdala keeps right on freaking out.
For these older age groups, the aim of cognitive behavioral therapy is to sort out how to allow the ACC to do its job, responding to fear so that the “calm down” message gets through.
In children younger than age 10 or so, the ACC response is too weak, perhaps because that part of the brain is underdeveloped, Fitzgerald’s team reported in March in Chicago at a meeting of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America. When a child accidentally pushes the button for an orangutan, for example, the amygdala responds with fear, but the ACC under-responds and never makes sense of the flawed fear message.
That communication breakdown could explain why cognitive behavioral therapy isn’t enough for so many young children. They cannot call upon the ACC or the rest of the prefrontal cortex to will their bodies into doing something fearful. Imagine a child who’s afraid of dogs. A neighbor’s dog approaches, the child clings to a parent and the parent says, “Don’t worry. You know this dog.” But the thinking part of the child’s brain isn’t getting the message. The terrified child stays terrified.
What if, Fitzgerald wondered, she could expedite development in the ACC just enough so that preschoolers with various types of anxiety could keep their cool? Enter Camp Kid Power.
At camp, Molly played familiar games — Simon Says and Red Light/Green Light — but with a twist. She had to remember four things Simon said before acting on them. Or she had to stop, rather than go, on green. Fitzgerald’s goal was to force anxious children to make mistakes. And then when the children responded with distress — refusing to play, crying, whining — a counselor would intervene, have them run through the rules of the game and talk through how to do it better. In this way, Fitzgerald was trying to train the children’s ACC to receive the message from the amygdala and then recruit other parts of the prefrontal cortex that help with slowing down and persevering.
Preliminary EEG results show that the ACC gets stronger in children after the camp. In other words, their brains mature ever so slightly. Fitzgerald thinks the Camp Kid Power protocol could one day work in tandem with behavioral therapy.
GRACE LAM
But it’s a pilot program, and Fitzgerald doesn’t expect Camp Kid Power alone to alleviate anxiety in preschoolers over the long haul — at least not yet. “It would be amazing if four days in Camp Kid Power really altered [an anxious child’s] trajectory,” she says.
Too fearful for therapy
With cognitive behavioral therapy plus Camp Kid Power, Molly survived kindergarten. But then summer hit and, like many working parents, Rachel cobbled Molly’s child care together through weekly summer camps in dance, gymnastics and art. With her world again thrown into flux, Molly’s old clinginess and whininess came back stronger than ever. Her fears even spilled over to the times when Molly felt safe, such as weekly family dinners with her cousins, where she stopped talking completely. “It felt like we were slipping back completely,” Rachel says.
Molly resumed therapy when she started first grade, but this time made little progress. So in November 2018, with her doctor’s blessing, Molly went on Prozac. The little girl’s response to the antidepressant was miraculous, Rachel says. “Now you can have conversations. She can understand. She can use those skills she learned.”
Molly’s experience on Prozac squares with a seminal study from 2008 of 488 children with an anxiety disorder, ages 7 to 17, who were divided into groups. Some received an antidepressant alone, others received cognitive behavioral therapy alone and another group received both. A fourth group took a placebo drug.
After 12 weeks, 80 percent of the children on the combination therapy showed marked improvement in anxiety as measured by a standard scale. Sixty percent in the behavioral therapy group showed improvement, and about 55 percent in the medication group improved. All therapies outperformed the placebo group, which showed only 24 percent responding.
The success in the therapy plus antidepressant group suggests that medication enabled children to get more from psychotherapy, says Jeffrey Strawn, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Cincinnati. Even though the study evaluated children ages 7 or older, Strawn says in difficult cases, medication can be appropriate for even younger children. The key, says Fitzgerald, is to watch for signs of hyperactivity and lower the dose as needed.
Still, some practitioners remain skeptical about medicating or even offering therapy to children who are so young. For Kagan, wait and see is almost always the preferred approach. If 40 percent of shy preschoolers go on to develop anxiety, that means 60 percent do not. That’s why Kagan is willing to suggest treatment for anxious 18-year-olds, but is reluctant to do so for 4- to 5-year-olds.
Strawn says he’s not advocating that all anxious kids take medications or even get therapy. If a child’s fears are singular, such as a fear of sleeping alone at night or of dogs, and life is otherwise fairly typical, then simply exposing children to their fears slowly might suffice.
What’s more, Strawn says, the goal is not to remain in therapy or on meds in perpetuity.
But stopping therapies, whether pharmaceutical or behavioral, has proved challenging. A follow-up to the study of those 488 anxious children four to 12 years after the 12-week treatment showed that anxiety disorders tend to persist over the years. About 22 percent of the children who received the 12 weeks of treatment — whether behavioral, pharmaceutical or the combination — remained free of the disorder every year for four years. Half of the participants reported periodic anxiety and 30 percent reported being anxious at every checkup, the researchers reported last July in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
It’s possible that interventions like Camp Kid Power will ultimately put an anxious child on a healthier developmental path and, in turn, void the need for therapy or medication throughout life. But nobody knows yet.
For Rachel, the move to start Molly on an antidepressant did not come easy. She recalls meeting a mom at the first day of Camp Kid Power who mentioned that her child was on Prozac. The idea of medicating a child so young made Rachel uncomfortable. Yet six months later, at a breaking point, she went ahead with the medication anyway, and, in so doing, feels that she unearthed her daughter’s potential.
“The idea is to get her a year where she isn’t fighting that crippling anxiety, where she can use these skills and practice not being anxious. The plan is to get her off these medicines,” Rachel says.
In pictures taken before Prozac, Molly is crying or biting her nails. She appears distant and withdrawn. But in pictures taken after she started the drug, her face is calm, she’s smiling and often arm in arm with her friends. So for now, Rachel says, she’s taking the psychiatrist’s advice and letting the family enjoy a still-cautious, but happy, Molly.
This story appears in the April 27, 2019 issue of Science News with the headline, “Young and Anxious: Seeking ways to break the link between preschool worries and adult anxiety.”
By: Sara Ackerman
The recently begun school year brought with it the smell of fresh pencil shavings, the squeak of shoes on newly waxed linoleum and a new round of stonewalling to the question, “What did you do at school today?”
For generations, the most common answer to this question has been “Nothing,” followed closely by “I don’t know” and its cousin, “I don’t remember.”
When my daughter started preschool, I was desperate to know what she did all morning, but I couldn’t get any information out of her. Some experts recommend giving kids space and time to decompress before launching into questions. I tried that, but she still wasn’t forthcoming. Others advised me to make questions more specific, yet still open-ended. The Internet abounds with lists of quirky alternatives to “How was your day?” But when I asked my daughter who made her laugh or what games she played outside, I was met with sighs of irritation and emphatic replies of, “Stop asking me those fings!”
When school began this year, I tried a new approach at the dinner table. “Do you want to hear about my day?” I asked my daughter.
And on that day and every day since, she has never said “no.” So I tell her about meetings and photocopying, the jammed printer and how I lost and found my keys. I tell her about the games on the playground, the lessons I taught and how many kids asked to go to the nurse. I start with taking attendance in the morning and I end at dismissal. I am a teacher — at her school — although her class is on a separate campus.
Then, like she’s taking her turn in a game of Go Fish, my daughter tells me about her day. I learn what book she listened to at the library, that she changed from her rain boots to her sneakers by herself, and the cause of her brief venture into timeout. She tells me who was classroom helper and who she sat next to at snack time. She sings “Itsy Bitsy Spider” for me, crawling her fingers up the invisible water spout above her head. She leans in close. “Did you make letters in sand today?” she whispers. “I did that!”
Although being a teacher may make my days relatable to a child attending school, I think my daughter is most interested in unveiling the mystery of what I do when I’m not with her. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a software developer, a cashier, a blogger, a doctor, a bus driver or a stay-at-home parent, because it’s not about the minutiae of the work. It’s about sharing what makes us laugh and what bores us, the mistakes we make and what is hard for us, the interesting people we meet. When I model this for my daughter, she is more willing to share the same with me.
Work is usually the last thing I want to talk about when I get home. I often think that a rundown of my day would be a bore to anyone, including me. Maybe my daughter finds listing all her cutting and pasting and cleaning up blocks equally tedious. But I delight in hearing the details of her day, just as she delights in mine.
Tonight at the dinner table, as my daughter inexpertly wielded her knife and fork and I started talking about tomorrow’s plans, she interrupted.
“Mom? Aren’t you going to tell me about your day?”
Sara Ackerman is a writer and a teacher.
By Matt Barnum
As the evidence has piled up that early childhood education programs pay off in the long run, Democratic presidential candidates have vowed to expand them.
“Study after study has shown that regular access to high-quality child care promotes literacy skills, cognitive development, and healthy behaviors,” wrote Elizabeth Warren in February. “These are long-term benefits: quality early education produces better health, educational, and employment outcomes well into adulthood.
Indeed, a raft of research has shown that children see benefits even many years later from attending early childhood programs like the Perry preschool initiative and federally funded Head Start. A prominent 2009 study by Harvard economist David Deming showed that children who attended Head Start between in the 1970s and ‘80s were 8.5 percentage points more likely to graduate high school as a result.
That’s why a new study comes a surprise. When researchers used similar methods as Deming to look at students born later, mostly between 1986 and 1996, they found that Head Start provided no clear long-term benefits. If anything, the program led to somewhat worse outcomes.
The research offers some of the most up-to-date information about how Head Start affects students years later, and raises questions whether Head Start continues to deliver the positive outcomes it did in the past. In 2016-17, a third of U.S. 3- to 5-year-olds living in poverty were enrolled in the program.
“We’re using methods that have been accepted for a long time … and now we’ve got a bunch of negative results,” said Dylan Lukes, a Harvard graduate student and one of the authors.
The researchers say the results should be interpreted with caution, as it’s a single study that goes against the grain of other research. A spokesperson for the division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that administers Head Start emphasized that point, too.
The agency “takes into account the large body of research and evidence on Head Start when developing Head Start program policy and practice, rather than considering any single study in isolation,” said Patrick Fisher. “Indeed, the study authors cite this broader body of evidence, which has demonstrated a variety of positive long-term outcomes for Head Start participants.”
Still, it’s not clear what explains the new findings.
“I think the paper is well-executed, and I believe the results,” said Deming. “The key question is how to interpret them.”
More recent data finds no long-term benefits of Head Start. Why?
Head Start launched in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “war on poverty” and was designed to prepare young children from low-income families for kindergarten with early education, health services, and family support. Today, over 1 million children, largely 3- and 4-year-olds, participate in the federally funded program.
Deming’s study compared Head Start children to their siblings who didn’t go to preschool. The Head Start attendees saw higher high school graduation rates but also improvements in college attendance and health. Other studies, using different methods, have found similarly encouraging results.
Another recent paper showed that the effects spanned generations: even the children of children who attended Head Start soon after it began were more likely to graduate high school and less likely to be involved with the criminal justice system.
But when Lukes (a student of Deming’s) and researchers at the University of California, Irvine, updated Deming’s study with more recent data, they found something puzzling.
For those born between 1976 and 1986, they, like Deming, found Head Start provided clear benefits. For children born later, though — largely between 1986 and 1996 — the gains disappeared and even reversed in some cases. As young adults, those Head Start participants were 8 percentage points more likely to be unemployed or not in school.
When the researchers combined both groups, it was a wash — no clear long-term effects, good or bad.
It’s not clear what explains the strikingly different findings across groups of students. Other research has shown that the benefits of Head Start are larger when children also attend well-funded K-12 schools with better teachers. But school funding has generally risen over time, so declining K-12 school quality seems an unlikely explanation.
Deming hypothesizes that conditions for low-income families have improved since earlier research on Head Start. The program doesn’t just provide education, but also a suite of health and anti-poverty services. Since later groups of students were born to mothers who were more educated and into families with somewhat higher incomes, perhaps some of those Head Start services were less necessary.
“Even though in a narrow sense the impact of Head Start has diminished, in a broader sense it is a huge victory that more and more children are getting high-quality physical, mental, and academic support in the critical early years,” said Deming. “The study doesn’t show this directly, but it fits with the narrative.”
Overall, research on pre-K is still largely positive
It can be hard to make sense of the competing research on early childhood education. One reason is that by the time researchers can see the long-run effects, the program in question is decades old.
That means it’s difficult to know what the latest results tell us about today’s early childhood initiatives.
The latest research did find an important pattern: the kids who were in Head Start between 1976 and 1986 not only saw long-run benefits, they also saw more immediate improvements in math and reading scores while in school compared to students who didn’t attend pre-K at all. The ‘86-’96 students didn’t see those test-score gains.
That’s evidence that policymakers should be reasonably optimistic about early childhood programs that produce immediate benefits, but cautious about programs that don’t.
More recent research on pre-K, including Head Start, usually finds immediate benefits — though they may dissipate as students move through school. Complicating matters further: the benefits sometimes reappear.
That all means that there’s still a strong research-based case for preschool programs.
“The mixed evidence in this paper suggests that it is possible that Head Start has been less effective at improving outcomes for more recent participants,” said Chloe Gibbs of the University of Notre Dame, who has conducted a number of studies on Head Start. “But there is still a large body of evidence documenting Head Start’s important long-term effects.”
And the researchers in the latest study say that they want their findings to be replicated using different approaches before any policy decisions are made based on the results.
“It would be way too premature to make any sort of policy changes off one paper,” said Lukes.
Matt Barnum @matt_barnum mbarnum@chalkbeat.org
EurekaAlert!
Writing instruction in early education should be about more than letter formation and penmanship, argue Michigan State University researchers who found preschool teachers don’t often encourage writing for communication purposes.
Ms. Elena’s Head Start classroom is filled with eager 3- and 4-year-olds. It’s center time, and the children have split into small groups. At one center, Ms. Elena has carefully selected play materials—including a barn, a chicken coop, and animal figurines—that reflect the story lines and specific vocabulary words from books she read aloud related to farm life as part of the class’s storybook theme of the week. While Ms. Elena looks on, Sara, Javon, and Ashish arrive at the center and immediately pick up the toys. They each choose a figurine and begin playing. Sara says to Javon, “I’ll be the cow!” Javon says, “Okay, then I’ll be the chicken. I’m going to go sleep in the coop. The cow should go sleep in the barn.” Ashish says, “Then I’ll be the horse, and I’ll go sleep in the barn too.”
Together, the three children move their figurines to the coop and the barn while making mooing, clucking, and neighing sounds. Since coop was one of the week’s focus words, Ms. Elena joins in the children’s play, making sure that Sara and Ashish understand the word as well as Javon: “Sleeping in the coop sounds like a great idea, Javon! A coop is a house for chickens. Remember when we saw a coop on our field trip to Maple Farm? Javon, Sara, and Ashish, where do you think the chickens would live if we didn’t have a coop on the farm?” Ashish says, “I think they live in the barn!” Then Sara says, “Yes, they live in the barn, because it’s nice and warm inside there.” Ms. Elena says, “That sounds like a really good place for the chickens to live if we didn’t have a coop!”
At this point, Ms. Elena steps back and the children take up a new direction for the play. She continues to listen for ways to build on the children’s interests and reinforce their weekly focus words during the session without interrupting their play.
Why Play?
Monkeys play. Dogs play. Rats play. Even octopuses play. And without any instruction, children of all races and genders, in all cultures of the world, invent and reinvent play in every generation. Something this ubiquitous must provide evolutionary advantages to both animals and humans. Decades of research suggest just that. In particular, free play and guided play—together known as playful learning—are pedagogical tools through which children can learn in joyful and conceptually rich ways, as is evident in the opening vignette. Brain science research in animals has left clues along a path that may begin to reveal play’s human biological underpinnings, but more research is needed to investigate why play promotes learning and development.
From animal brains to children’s behavior
Perhaps the most striking finding about play comes from research with animals in which play—specifically, rough and tumble play—has been shown to promote early brain development. When young rats play, their brains become primed to be more adaptable in later life (Pellis, Pellis, & Himmler 2014), especially with social skills and executive functions (e.g., attention, memory, and planning). Indeed, findings suggest that playful rats act more appropriately in social situations than rats that do not play (Burgdorf, Panksepp, & Moskal 2011). These findings offer a potential model of how play may help develop children’s social functioning and brain architecture.
A growing body of behavioral research establishes relationships between children’s play and development in several areas, including language (Toub et al. 2016), executive functions (Tominey & McClelland 2011), mathematics and spatial skills (Fisher et al. 2013), scientific thinking (Schulz & Bonawitz 2007), and social and emotional development (Dore, Smith, & Lillard 2015). One reason that play might be such a valuable pedagogical tool is that it features the precise contexts that facilitate learning. An amalgamated research field called the science of learning has identified four key ingredients of successful learning: learning occurs best when children are mentally active (not passive), engaged (not distracted), socially interactive (with peers or adults), and building meaningful connections to their lives (Hirsh-Pasek et al. 2015). These features are evident in Ms. Elena’s classroom:
Javon is mentally active when he thinks about where he learned the name of the place where chickens sleep and then uses the word coop appropriately. Sara is engaged when she chooses to be the cow and moves in concert with Javon and Ashish instead of being distracted by other groups at play. Ms. Elena made the word coop more meaningful for the children by making a connection to when the children visited Maple Farm. Finally, the children were socially interactive when they built a play scenario that involved all three of them, with Ms. Elena joining in as a scaffolder.
These kinds of playful interactions between children and adults may be essential for creating the kind of supportive social environments necessary for healthy social and emotional development. Guided play in particular features this type of social interaction and has demonstrated promising outcomes for learning and development.
What is guided play?
Today, most researchers agree that play is fun, flexible, voluntary, and intrinsically motivated; it involves active engagement and often incorporates make-believe (Sutton-Smith 2001; Pellegrini 2009; Fisher et al. 2010; Lillard et al. 2013). Guided play maintains the joyful child-directed aspects of free play but adds an additional focus on learning goals through light adult scaffolding (Weisberg et al. 2016). It offers an opportunity for exploration in a context specifically designed to foster a learning goal. As such, it features two crucial elements: child agency (the child directs the learning) and gentle adult guidance to ensure that the child progresses toward the learning goal. Research suggests that guided play is a successful pedagogical tool for educators in a variety of areas (Weisberg et al. 2016). Here, we outline some examples of how guided play can work in the classroom to build specific language, mathematics, and spatial skills.
Guided play features child agency and gentle adult guidance toward the learning goal.
Language Development
Guided play is a model setting for language learning. For example, infusing vocabulary instruction in guided play fosters word learning for preschoolers, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds (Toub et al. 2016; Han et al. 2010). One study tested the effectiveness of word learning through guided play against a more teacher-directed learning activity (Toub et al. 2016). All children participated in shared book reading and then reviewed half of the vocabulary words through guided play and the other half through a picture card word-recall activity. The guided play resembled the learning taking place in the opening vignette. After play-based word learning, children defined the target words more readily than they did after picture card-based word learning.
Mathematics and spatial skills
Guided play is also effective for fostering spatial skills—important in and of themselves and also tied to later mathematics success (Verdine et al., forthcoming). For example, a study with preschoolers (Fisher et al. 2013) compared children’s ability to learn about geometry and shapes through guided play, free play, and direct instruction. In the guided play condition, the adult followed the children’s lead and scaffolded the interaction. Children learned more about geometry and shapes than those participating in either the direct instruction condition, where the children listened passively while the adult delivered the content in a fun way, or the free play condition, where children interacted with the shapes in whatever way they wished.
To envision how a similar effect might occur in the classroom, imagine a different center in Ms. Elena’s room:
Pablo, Keisha, and Nari arrive at a table filled with tiles of different shapes. They all pick up pieces and begin snapping Magna-Tiles together. Nari says, “I’m going to build a tower! I can’t get these pieces to fit.” Ms. Elena is observing the children and chooses this moment to join in and say, “What shapes do you have, Nari?” Pablo says, “Nari has a square.” “That’s right, Pablo. Nari has a square. Nari, can you find another square?” Nari holds up a square. Ms. Elena says, “What makes that a square?” She pauses to let the children think about it, then continues, “It has four sides that are all the same length.” She then says, “I wonder if it’s possible to make a bigger square using the pieces you are holding up.” Keisha says, “Hmmm … I want to try!” The children look at each other and lay the pieces down—eventually discovering that by putting all four of the squares together, they create a larger square. Ms. Elena notices their discovery, and says, “Wow! You made a bigger square! It still has four sides, and all of the sides are the same length.”
Ms. Elena wove the definition of a square into the children’s play without taking over, but she also encouraged the children to push themselves to make an important discovery about the shape tiles. Guided play allows teachers to piggyback on children’s joy and engagement to reinforce important skills.
Why does guided play work? Fledgling evidence from brain science
Guided play represents an enhanced discovery approach to learning that increases children’s knowledge through opportunities to receive immediate, meaningful adult feedback (Alfieri et al. 2011). It is also an ideal example of an active, engaged, meaningful, and socially interactive learning context (Hirsh-Pasek et al. 2015). Consider, for instance, children playing with a shape sorter. The children discuss how to insert the shapes so that the sorter lights up. They keep inserting shapes and notice that sometimes the sorter lights up and sometimes it doesn’t, but they can’t figure out why. Their teacher joins in and makes some gentle guiding suggestions to help them by asking what the children have already tried and what they could try next. As children incorporate this feedback while continuing to experiment, they generate hypotheses and draw causal connections, becoming little scientists. Play helps children discover causal relationships through this type of informal experimentation (Schulz & Bonawitz 2007; Gopnik 2012). And light scaffolding, when needed, prevents frustration and enables the children to engage in longer periods of playful experimentation.
Adult-scaffolded play experiences might be particularly important because they help children develop what scientists call proactive control: neural mechanisms in the brain’s prefrontal cortex that use clues from the environment to help the brain figure out what might happen next (Weisberg et al. 2014). Guided play might support the development of proactive control by fostering a mise en place—a term (derived from the culinary world meaning “everything in its place”) suggested by the famed psychology professor Jerome Bruner (2013, personal communication with Brenna Hassinger-Das):
Think about preparing to make a pizza. You gather the dough, sauce, cheese, and toppings. You also get out the required tools: rolling pin, pizza stone, and pizza cutter. In this way, you have prepared yourself and your workspace for the task at hand.
Similarly, a psychological mise en place—a readiness to anticipate events and explore an activity (Weisberg et al. 2014)—helps children prepare their minds to embrace learning experiences in a positive way. Ms. Elena cultivated such a mise en place through her inclusion of farm-focused play activities. By preparing the play environment in service of her pedagogical goal—the children learning the focus words—Ms. Elena allowed children to work toward this goal in their own playful way. This type of gently scaffolded, playful learning fosters children’s desire to seek out similar meaningful learning opportunities (Weisberg et al. 2014).
Guided play increases children’s knowledge through immediate, meaningful adult feedback.
Imagine a different week in Ms. Elena’s classroom. She sets up one center with a castle play set that mirrors a book read during that week’s storybook theme of knights and dragons. The prepared play set encourages children’s organic use of the theme’s vocabulary words while playing—words like talons and nostrils. Ms. Elena can then draw attention to these words and help children make meaningful connections to them. This type of adult support during guided play may be the mechanism through which children’s fledgling proactive control mechanisms emerge (Weisberg et al. 2014).
Using a prepared play environment to foster a mise en place—a readiness to anticipate events and explore an activity.
Looking Forward
The bottom line is that play is ubiquitous across species, and it likely has a significant role in many aspects of human development. Though behavioral research is still unfolding (Lillard et al. 2013; for a rebuttal, see Weisberg et al. 2013), evidence is mounting that guided play scaffolds young children’s development and that it might prime critical neural mechanisms to make healthy adaptations (Weisberg et al. 2014). It also helps children develop an understanding of how the world works (Gopnik 2012). To deepen our understanding, research investigating play’s biological foundation in children is urgently needed. This research could prove particularly important for developing interventions to assist children from vulnerable populations, such as those from low socioeconomic-status backgrounds, children with disabilities, or children experiencing stress or trauma.
As we await new discoveries from brain science, one finding is already clear: Play is a wonderful metaphor for active, engaged, meaningful, and socially interactive learning. And, as two of the authors of this piece described in their book, Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children, play also prepares children to become social, caring, thinking, and creative citizens (Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek 2016). In fact, many researchers and teachers now concur that the “child-driven educational methods sometimes referred to as ‘playful learning’ are the most positive means yet known to help young children’s development” (Lillard et al. 2013, 28).
Burgdorf, J., J. Panksepp, & J.R. Moskal. 2011. “Frequency-Modulated 50 kHz Ultrasonic Vocalizations: A Tool for Uncovering the Molecular Substrates of Positive Affect.” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 35 (9): 1831–36.
Dore, R.A., E.D. Smith, & A.S. Lillard. 2015. “How Is Theory of Mind Useful? Perhaps to Enable Social Pretend Play.” Frontiers in Psychology 6. http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01559/full.
Fisher, K.R., K. Hirsh-Pasek, N. Newcombe, & R.M. Golinkoff. 2013. “Taking Shape: Supporting Preschoolers’ Acquisition of Geometric Knowledge Through Guided Play.” Child Development 84 (6): 1872–78.
Fisher, K.R., K. Hirsh-Pasek, R.M. Golinkoff, D.G. Singer, & L. Berk. 2010. “Playing Around in School: Implications for Learning and Educational Policy.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Play, eds. P. Nathan & A. Pellegrini. New York: Oxford University Press.
Golinkoff, R.M., & K. Hirsh-Pasek. 2016. Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Gopnik, A. 2012. “Scientific Thinking in Young Children: Theoretical Advances, Empirical Research, and Policy Implications.” Science 337 (6102): 1623–27.
Han, M., N. Moore, C. Vukelich, & M. Buell. 2010. “Does Play Make a Difference? How Play Intervention Affects the Vocabulary Learning of At-Risk Preschoolers.” American Journal of Play 3 (1): 82–105.
Hirsh-Pasek, K., J.M. Zosh, R.M. Golinkoff, J.H. Gray, M.B. Robb, & J. Kaufman. 2015. “Putting Education in ‘Educational’ Apps: Lessons From the Science of Learning.” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 16 (1): 3–34.
Lillard, A.S., M.D. Lerner, E.J. Hopkins, R.A. Dore, E.D. Smith, & C.M. Palmquist. 2013. “The Impact of Pretend Play on Children’s Development: A Review of the Evidence.” Psychological Bulletin 139 (1): 1–34.
Pellegrini, A.D. 2009. “Research and Policy on Children’s Play.” Child Development Perspectives 3 (2): 131–36.
Pellis, S.M., V.C. Pellis, & B.T. Himmler. 2014. “How Play Makes for a More Adaptable Brain: A Comparative and Neural Perspective.” American Journal of Play 7 (1): 73–98. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1043959.pdf.
Schulz, L.E., & E.B. Bonawitz. 2007. “Serious Fun: Preschoolers Engage in More Exploratory Play When Evidence Is Confounded.” Developmental Psychology 43 (4): 1045–50.
Sutton-Smith, B. 2001. The Ambiguity of Play. Rev. ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Tominey, S.L., & M.M. McClelland. 2011. “Red Light, Purple Light: Findings From a Randomized Trial Using Circle Time Games to Improve Behavioral Self-Regulation in Preschool.” Early Education and Development 22 (3): 489–519.
Toub, T.S., B. Hassinger-Das, H. Ilgaz, D.S. Weisberg, K.T. Nesbitt, M.F. Collins, K. Hirsh-Pasek, R.M. Golinkoff, D.K. Dickinson, & A. Nicolopoulou. “The Language of Play: Developing Preschool Vocabulary Through Play Following Shared Book-Reading.” Manuscript submitted for publication, 2016.
Verdine, B.N., R.M. Golinkoff, K. Hirsh-Pasek, & N.S. Newcombe. Forthcoming. “Spatial Thinking: Fundamental to School Readiness.” Society for Research in Child Development Monograph series.
Weisberg, D.S., J.M. Zosh, K. Hirsh-Pasek, & R.M. Golinkoff. 2013. “Talking It Up: Play, Language Development, and the Role of Adult Support.” American Journal of Play 6 (1): 39–54.
Weisberg, D.S., K. Hirsh-Pasek, R.M. Golinkoff, A.K. Kittredge, & D. Klahr. 2016. “Guided Play: Principles and Practices.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 25 (3): 177–82.
Weisberg, D.S., K. Hirsh-Pasek, R.M. Golinkoff, & B.D. McCandliss. 2014. “Mise En Place: Setting the Stage for Thought and Action.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 18 (6): 276–78.
Audience: Teacher
Age: Kindergarten, Preschool
Topics: Child Development, Cognitive, Higher Level Thinking, Brain Science, Other Topics, Play, YC
BRENNA HASSINGER-DAS
Brenna Hassinger-Das, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her research examines children’s play and learning in home, school, and community contexts, particularly for children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. hassinger.das@temple.edu
KATHY HIRSH-PASEK
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PhD, is the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple University and is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. She is committed to bridging the gap between research and application.
ROBERTA MICHNICK GOLINKOFF
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, PhD, is the Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education, Psychology, and Linguistics at the University of Delaware, in Newark. She has written numerous articles and books and lectures internationally about language development, playful learning, and spatial development. roberta@udel.edu
By Sarah D. Sparks
For schools looking for ways to squeeze in more instructional time for young learners, preschool and kindergarten nap time can be a tempting target.
But emerging sleep research suggests cutting out the afternoon snooze can come at the expense of some children’s longer-term ability to remember what they learn.
There’s no nationwide data on how many students nap in school. But in an ongoing series of experiments funded by the National Science Foundation, cognitive researchers Rebecca Spencer of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Tracy Riggins of the University of Maryland are tracking how young children make the transition from …
Source: American Academy of Pediatrics
Summary: Only 48% of school-age children in the United States get 9 hours of sleep most weeknights, according to new research. Those who do, the study suggests, are significantly more likely to show a positive outlook toward school and other signs of ‘childhood flourishing,’ a measure of behavioral and social well-being.
Only 48% of school age children in the United States get 9 hours of sleep most weeknights, according to new research being presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2019 National Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans. Those who do, the study suggests, are significantly more likely to show a positive outlook toward school and other signs of “childhood flourishing,” a measure of behavioral and social well-being.
An abstract of the study, “Sounding the Alarm on the Importance of Sleep: The Positive Impact of Sufficient Sleep on Childhood Flourishing,” will be presented on Saturday, Oct. 26, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.
“Chronic sleep loss is a serious public health problem among children,” said abstract author Hoi See Tsao, MD, FAAP. “Insufficient sleep among adolescent, for example, is associated with physical and mental health consequences including increased risk of depression and obesity and negative effects on mood, attention and academic performance.”
“As healthcare providers, we want every child to reach his or her full potential, Dr. Tsao said. “Our research shows that children who get enough sleep are more likely to demonstrate measures of childhood flourishing in comparison to children with insufficient sleep.”
Researchers analyzed responses from parents and caregivers of 49,050 children ranging in age from 6-17 years old in the combined 2016-2017 National Survey of Children’s Health. They answered questions on how many hours of sleep a randomly selected child in their household slept on an average weeknight. For the study, sufficient sleep was defined as sleeping greater than or equal to 9 hours on an average weeknight.
For individual flourishing markers, the caregiver was asked if the child showed interest and curiosity in learning new things; cared about doing well in school; did required homework; worked to finish tasks started and stayed calm and in control when faced with a challenge. Prior research suggests that the more flourishing markers children have, the more likely they are to have healthy behaviors and fewer risky behaviors. A combined flourishing measure was created to identify children for whom caregivers felt met all five individual flourishing markers.
The researchers found that sufficient sleep, reported in 47.6% of the 6 to 17-year-old children, was positively associated with several individual flourishing markers, as well as the combined childhood flourishing measure. Compared with children who did not get 9 hours of sleep most weeknights, those who did had 44% increased odds of showing interest and curiosity in learning new things, 33% increased odds of doing all required homework; 28% increased odds of caring about doing well in school; 14% increased odds of working to finish tasks started, and 12% increased odds of demonstrating the combined flourishing measure.
The analysis adjusted for age, federal poverty level, time spent in front of a television, time spent with computers, cell phones, video games and other electronic devices, adverse childhood experiences (including abuse, neglect and other potentially traumatic experiences) and mental health conditions.
The researchers also identified risk factors associated with insufficient sleep, which included lower levels of parental or caregiver education, children living in families at lower federal poverty levels, increased duration of digital media usage, increased number of adverse childhood experiences and the presence of mental health conditions.
Dr. Tsao said the study reinforces the importance of increasing efforts to help children get the recommended amount of sleep for their age. She said efforts should especially focus on digital media usage, bedtime routines, the length of the school day and school start times.
“Interventions like these may help children demonstrate more measures of childhood flourishing, enhance their development and give them brighter futures,” she said.
(CNN)Screen time use by infants, toddlers and preschoolers has exploded over the last decade, concerning experts about the impact of television, tablets and smartphones on these critical years of rapid brain development.
Now a new study scanned the brains of children 3 to 5 years old and found those who used screens more than the recommended one hour a day without parental involvement had lower levels of development in the brain’s white matter — an area key to the development of language, literacy and cognitive skills.
Higher screen use was associated with less well-developed white matter tracts (shown in blue in the image) throughout the brain.
“This is the first study to document associations between higher screen use and lower measures of brain structure and skills in preschool-aged kids,” said lead author Dr. John Hutton, a pediatrician and clinical researcher at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. The study was published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.”This is important because the brain is developing the most rapidly in the first five years,” Hutton said. “That’s when brains are very plastic and soaking up everything, forming these strong connections that last for life.”
Screens ‘follow kids everywhere’ Studies have shown excessive TV viewing is linked to the inability of children to pay attention and think clearly, while increasing poor eating habits and behavioral problems. Associations have also been shown between excessive screen time and language delay, poor sleep, impaired executive function, and a decrease in parent-child engagement.”It’s known that kids that use more screen time tend to grow up in families that use more screen time,” Hutton said. “Kids who report five hours of screen time could have parents who use 10 hours of screen time. Put that together and there’s almost no time for them to interact with each other.”
In addition, the portability of today’s screens allow them to “follow kids everywhere.” Hutton said. “They can take screens to bed, they can take them to meals, they can take them to the car, to the playground.”
Even more concerning, say experts, are the young ages at which children are being exposed.
“About 90% are using screens by age one,” said Hutton, who published a number of studies that used MRIs to research the impact of reading versus screen use by kids. “We’ve done some studies where kids are using them by 2 months old to 3 months old.”
Disorganized white matter The new study used a special type of MRI, called diffusion tensor imaging, to examine the brains of 47 brain healthy children (27 girls and 20 boys) who had not yet started kindergarten. A diffusion tensor MRI allows a good look at the white matter of the brain, responsible for organizing communication between the various parts of the brain’s gray matter.
It’s the gray matter which contains the majority of the brain cells telling the body what to do. White matter is made up of fibers, typically distributed into bundles called tracts, which form connections between brain cells and the rest of the nervous system. “Think of white matter as cables, sort of like the telephone lines that are connecting the various parts of the brain so they can talk to each other,” Hutton said.
A lack of development of those “cables” can slow the brain’s processing speed; on the other hand, studies show that reading, juggling or learning and practicing a musical instrument improves the organization and structure of the brain’s white matter.
Before the MRI, the children were given cognitive tests, while the parents filled out a new scoring system on screen time developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The test measures how much access a child has to a screen (allowed at meals, car, in line at store?), the frequency of exposure (age started, number of hours, at bedtime?), content (chooses own? watches fighting or songs or education?) and “dialogic” interaction (does the child watch alone or does a parent interact and discuss the content as well?).
The results showed that children who used more than the AAP’s recommended amount of screen time, of an hour a day without parental interaction, had more disorganized, underdeveloped white matter throughout the brain.
“The average screen time in these kids was a little over two hours a day,” Hutton said. “The range was anywhere from about an hour to a little over five hours.”
In addition, the tracts of white matter responsible for executive functions were also disorganized and underdeveloped (the parts of the brain shown in blue in the image). This view shows the three major tracts involved with language and literacy skills: the arcuate fasciculus, shaded in white, which connects brain areas involved with receptive and expressive language. The one in brown supports rapid naming of objects, and the one in beige, visual imagery. The blue color illustrates lower measures of white matter development in children using excessive screen time.
“These are tracks that we know are involved with language and literacy,” Hutton said, “And these were the ones relatively underdeveloped in these kids with more screen time. So the imaging findings lined up pretty perfectly with the behavioral cognitive testing finding.”
‘Neurons that fire together wire together’
“These findings are fascinating but very, very preliminary,” pediatrician Dr. Jenny Radesky wrote in an email. Radesky, who was not involved in the study, is the lead author on the American Academy of Pediatrics 2016 guidelines on screen use by children and adolescents. “We know that early experiences shape brain growth, and media is one of these experiences. But it’s important for parents to know that these results don’t show that heavy media use causes ‘brain damage,'” Radesky wrote. Hutton agrees. “It’s not that the screen time damaged the white matter,” he said, adding that what could be occurring is that screen time is too passive for brain development. “Perhaps screen time got in the way of other experiences that could have helped the children reinforce these brain networks more strongly,” he said.
The first years of life need to be focused on human interactions that encourage speaking, interacting socially and playing with loving caregivers to develop thinking, problem-solving and other executive skills.
“There’s a really great quote in brain science: Neurons that fire together wire together,” Hutton said. That means the more you practice anything the more it reinforces and organizes the connections in your brain. Cognitive testing found fewer skills In addition to the MRI results, excessive screen time was significantly associated with poorer emerging literacy skills and ability to use expressive language, as well as testing lower on the ability to rapidly name objects on cognitive tests taken by the 47 children in the study.
“Remember that this is all relative,” Hutton said, adding that more in-depth clinical trials need to be done to tease out the specifics. “Still, it’s possible that over over time, these effects can add up,” Hutton said. “We know that kids who start behind tend to get more and more behind as they get older.
“So it could be the case that kids who start with less well-developed brain infrastructure may be less likely to be engaged, successful readers later in school,” said Hutton, who also directs the Reading & Literacy Discovery Center at Cincinnati Children’s. Radesky wants to see the results replicated in other populations. “Researchers and pediatricians should take it as a launching point for future research,” she wrote. “There are so many other home and family factors that affect brain development — such as stress, parent mental health, play experiences, language exposure — and none of these were accounted for in this study.”
What parents can do “It can feel overwhelming to think that our every parenting decision impacts our child’s brain development, but it’s important to also see this as an opportunity,” Radesky said.
“There are parent-child activities we know help children’s development: reading, singing, connecting emotionally, being creative, or even just taking a walk or dedicating some time in our busy days to laugh together,” she added. The AAP has tools to calculate your child’s media time and then establish a family media plan. Basic guidelines are as follows:
Infants: No baby under 18 months old should be exposed to screen media, other than video chatting with friends and family, the AAP says. Babies need to interact with caregivers and their environment, and not be placed in front of media as a babysitter.
In fact, a study found that even having the TV on in the same room with a baby or toddler negatively impacted their ability to play and interact.
Toddlers:
By the time a baby turns 2 years old, they can learn words from a person on a live video chat and some interactive touchscreens. The chief factor in facilitating a toddler’s ability to learn from baby videos and interactive touchscreens, studies show, is when parents watch with them and reteach the content.
Preschoolers:
Children from 3 to 5 years old can benefit from quality TV shows, such as “Sesame Street,” the AAP says. A well designed show can improve a child’s cognitive abilities, help teach words, and impact their social development.
But the AAP warns that many educational apps on the market aren’t developed with input from developmental specialists and can do more harm than good when they take a child away from playtime with caregivers and other children. And just like toddlers, preschoolers learn much better from any educational materials when they are co-viewed, and the caregiver interacts with the child about the material.
Our growing obsession with kindergarten readiness can have real consequences
By Deborah Stipek
Parents worry about whether their child is ready for kindergarten. Teachers and school administrators are concerned that too many children are entering school before they are ready. Legislators are investing in early-childhood education to improve children’s readiness for school. And, in some places, their performance on kindergarten-readiness tests are even being used to evaluate preschool programs.
Concerns about kindergarten readiness are not new. Preparing children for school was central to the purpose of Head Start in 1965, and the first aim of The Goals 2000: Educate America Act was that “all children in America will start school ready to learn.” Presumably this means ready to learn the kindergarten curriculum, since all children are ready to learn from birth, and possibly before.
But more recently kindergarten readiness has become something of an obsession. Readiness assessments are required in 27 states, and most districts and schools use them even in states where they are not required.
Why have we become so preoccupied with kindergarten readiness? One reason is the mounting evidence on the significant income gap in children’s social and academic skills at kindergarten entry, along with research showing that children’s skills at the beginning of kindergarten strongly predict their achievement throughout their schooling. Another reason is the increased academic demands in kindergarten reflected, for example, in the Common Core State Standards, and kindergarten instruction that looks increasingly like what 1st grade instruction used to look like. The increasing emphasis on accountability puts pressure on K-12 teachers and schools to ensure that students meet the standards, and they, in turn, put pressure on preschool teachers to prepare children to succeed when they get to school.
Providing all children opportunities to develop social and cognitive skills in early childhood is critically important. But the concept of kindergarten readiness is more complex than is usually acknowledged, and its current use has important downsides.
First, what constitutes “ready” is arbitrary to the point of being meaningless. The word ready suggests a dichotomous variable—children are either ready, or they are not. This view of readiness is seen in claims such as one made in a recent Brookings Institution report: “Fewer than half (48 percent) of poor children are ready for school at age five.” In reality, skills on any dimension are best measured continuously, and there is very little empirical evidence to support a particular cut-off score for kindergarten readiness. Despite being arbitrary, these scores can have significant consequences for a child—determining, for example, whether his parents are encouraged to hold him out for a year or whether he is placed in a pre-kindergarten class. A highly subjective cut-off point may also have consequences for preschools that are evaluated based on how many of their children are “ready for kindergarten.”
There is also the question of which dimensions of development to consider in an assessment of readiness. Although we are learning more about which skills in early childhood predict school success, the knowledge base is hardly definitive. Moreover, children’s skills are not equally developed on all dimensions; for example, a child may have advanced academic skills but poor social skills, or vice versa. Again, which dimensions are included and how each is weighted is subjective.
The concept of readiness also makes no sense without considering what children need to be ready for. Whether a child is ready depends on the nature and demands of the school she will enter. Children who have relatively poor academic skills will rarely succeed in a class in which the teacher rigidly adheres to a curriculum that starts beyond their reach, but they might do well in a class in which the teacher differentiates instruction to meet individual needs.
Clearly the concept of readiness needs to have built into it an interaction between children’s skills and dispositions on the one hand, and the demands and experiences they encounter when they enter school on the other.
The concept of readiness also depends on what we define as success. If an English-language learner enters an English-only kindergarten and fails to meet all of the kindergarten standards, but makes considerable progress in all skills, has she failed? If a child enters kindergarten having already met most of the kindergarten standards, but then doesn’t surpass them at the end of the year, has she succeeded? One could say the former was not “ready” for kindergarten and the latter was. But it was the former who benefited most from the kindergarten experience.
An interactive concept of readiness suggests that as much attention should be given to schools’ readiness for children as to children’s readiness for school. We do need to ensure productive learning opportunities for children before they enter school. Whatever awaits them in kindergarten, we know that children benefit from having a strong foundation to build on. But we also need to make sure schools are ready to address children’s learning needs, whatever their skills when they walk in the door. For example, we need to help teachers provide instruction that is tailored to the needs of individual students and to offer the extra assistance children need if they enter kindergarten far behind their peers.
To date, the focus has been on readying children. We need to pay more attention to readying schools.
Deborah Stipek is the Judy Koch Professor and former dean of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. She has been involved in policy and research related to early-childhood education for many decades.
By: Valerie Strauss
Reporter
Every now and then, critics of preschool will come out with something saying that there is no research showing that it has positive long-term effects on young children. W. Steven Barnett, founder and senior co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, has debunked that repeatedly, such as here and here, and now he is back with a post about how quality preschool programs can improve the health of students.
Barnett’s research includes studies of the economics of early care and education, including costs and benefits, the long-term effects of preschool programs on children’s learning and development, and the distribution of educational opportunities. He has authored or co-authored more than 200 publications and was recently named as one of the 75 most influential education researchers in the United States, according to the Education Next journal.
It’s February — which means by now, 80 percent of New Year’s resolutions to eat better and exercise more are already abandoned.
It’s no surprise many of us make New Year’s resolutions to improve our health, given that two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. It turns out lifelong habits are hard to break. Who knew?
That’s why the best way to reduce obesity and improve public health is to start early. Building a strong foundation for a culture of health begins in early childhood. And high-quality preschool can help families do that.
A new research brief by the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University finds high-quality preschool can improve child health in three ways:
Introducing children to heart-healthy foods and balanced diets in school and promoting exercise through active play, high-quality preschool can alleviate obesity and prevent the development of metabolic disease in 3- and 4-year-olds. Kids can carry these habits, and outcomes, for the rest of their lives.
Preschool can improve parents’ mental health, parenting skills, and health knowledge through outreach. Parents are the number one educators of children, and high-quality early childhood programs can help them do their best to improve child development and prevent toxic stress.
Improving socio-emotional skills, cognitive skills, and mental health, high-quality preschool prepares children — especially low-income and dual-language children — for success later in life. This is a worthy goal in and of itself, but since health outcomes strongly correlate to income and education, this boost can also help children become healthier adults.
Today, obesity-related illnesses cost us around $350 billion in health care in 2013, and it’s been getting worse each year since then (and there’s research indicating that we’re underestimating that). Since obesity reverse-correlates with income, that means these costs fall disproportionately on those who can afford it the least.
But so far, progress has been slow. About a third of 4-year-olds and an even smaller percentage of 3-year-olds have access to high-quality pre-K — the kind of pre-K that leads to lasting benefits. With recent changes in federal policy, progress in early education depends more than ever on states.
Governors already proposing new resolutions for preschool education span the country. They include Gina Raimondo in Rhode Island and Phil Murphy in New Jersey to Kay Ivey in Alabama, Jared Polis in Colorado, Jay Inslee in Washington and David Ige in Hawaii.
Now is the time for a New Year’s policy resolution we can keep. Let’s set and implement standards that promote health directly and indirectly in public preschool programs — and make sure there is access to these high-quality programs, especially for the most vulnerable. The return on investment is high and some of the needed steps are inexpensive. Even states unwilling to make major new investments could set better standards for nutrition and activity in child care and preschool.
We all know healthy habits are hard to start and harder to keep, but the earlier we start, the easier it is. And the outcomes are worth it for all of us.
Source: University of Delaware
Summary: Immigrant parents worry their children will struggle with reading and fret that as non-English speakers, they can’t help. A new study shows that’s simply not true. Reading to a young child in any language will likely help them learn to read in English.
A new study has found that children who had strong early reading skills in their native Spanish language when they entered kindergarten experienced greater growth in their ability to read English from kindergarten through fourth grade.
Importantly, when the researchers factored in how well the students spoke English, it turned out that native language reading skills mattered more — even at kindergarten entry — to the students’ growth across time. Plainly stated: children who had stronger Spanish reading skills upon entering kindergarten did better across time, even than their Spanish-speaking peers who were more fluent in speaking English but less proficient in reading Spanish.
In teasing apart the data, the University of Delaware’s Steven Amendum and his fellow researchers discovered a telling detail when they compared students who had strong Spanish reading skills but spoke less English to their bilingual peers who had fewer Spanish reading skills but spoke more English. The data showed that the students who entered kindergarten with weaker Spanish reading skills increasingly lagged behind their peers in their ability to read English. And, this finding held true across time, even though these students initially exhibited a stronger ability to speak English.
“This suggests that well-developed Spanish reading proficiency early on likely plays a greater role in English reading development than a student’s proficiency in speaking English,” said Amendum, an associate professor of literacy education in UD’s College of Education and Human Development.
For parents, the message is simple: read to your children in whatever is your best language. The skills they learn from reading with you will translate in the classroom no matter what language you use.
While much research exists on the English reading achievements of Spanish-speaking bilingual students, few studies have explored what contributes to these outcomes.
Latino children from Spanish-speaking homes are the most rapidly expanding segment of school-age population in the United States, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Today, students of Latino descent constitute nearly 78% of English learners enrolled in U.S. schools.
For bilingual students in the early elementary grades, learning to read in a new language involves processing the language twice, in both the native and the new language. According to Amendum, the researchers’ findings support the idea that knowledge students have in a first language can help them learn a second language. This is known as cross-language transfer.
Since 2014, Amendum has worked with Delaware teachers on instructional techniques to leverage Spanish to assist children in learning English. One way to do this is by helping these young students understand English-Spanish cognates — words that look similar or have similar meaning across both languages, such as family and familia, elephant and elefante, or ocean and océano.
Similarly, he said, fostering a child’s decoding skills can help them make connections and understand the similarities and differences in the sounds different letters make in each language, leading to greater reading fluency and growth later on.
“Even early skills like being able to hear sounds in words transfer easily across languages, so, if a child can segment the sounds in the word ‘sol,’ then the process is the same if someone asks what sounds the child hears in the word ‘top,'” said Amendum.
For the sample of children studied, Amendum said he was surprised by how clear the importance of native Spanish reading was, and that it showed up so early — developmentally — at kindergarten entry.”Many studies have shown cross-language transfer but not necessarily at such an early age, and we are not aware of any studies that have shown how that influence lasts across such a long learning spectrum,” he said.
Further, while Amendum agrees that measuring students’ English language proficiency is vital, he believes it should be done as in concert with, not at the expense of, children and families growing in their native language.
“We can’t ignore native language,” Amendum said. “Helping kids become bilingual and biliterate is always a great long-term outcome for kids. We want to support a child’s native early reading and language skills, and to help teachers and families understand how they can use a first language to help students learn a second language, while continuing to develop their native language.”
The data set used in the study was part of a nationally representative sample from the National Center for Education Statistics that followed a cohort of children from kindergarten through fourth grade. Results from the study are particularly compelling, Amendum said, because while smaller study results can be unique to a particular region, this study shows that the findings can apply across the country, regardless of geography.
Amendum and Jackie Eunjung Relyea, an assistant professor of literacy education at North Carolina State University, recently published their study results in the journal Child Development.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Delaware. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Jackie Eunjung Relyea, Steven J. Amendum. English Reading Growth in Spanish‐Speaking Bilingual Students: Moderating Effect of English Proficiency on Cross‐Linguistic Influence. Child Development, 2019; DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13288
The nation’s capital offers a popular pre-K program that leaves new parents with just three years of childcare to cover.
By Conor P. Williams
Dr. Williams is the father of two graduates of Washington’s public pre-K program.
Free public school starting at age four, or even three, is growing in many American cities. It’s gaining traction as a way to help young children learn the reading, counting and social skills that prepare them for kindergarten. It also promises to help close academic gaps between rich and poor children. Above all, it may have lasting benefits for attendees, including success in school and better lives as adults.
But promises are not guarantees, and universal pre-K works better in some places than in others. Washington, D.C., runs one of the country’s oldest, best-funded, most comprehensive pre-K systems. So what can other cities learn from Washington’s success?
Here’s how pre-K looks in one Washington classroom:
Amina, who is 4 years old and introduces herself as a writer, looks up from chopping plastic carrots. She and two of her classmates are pretending to cook a family meal together. Her “sister” Lesley, who said she is a librarian-professor, is prepping tomatoes. Their third “sister,” Madison — “I don’t work. I just sit on my computer all day,” she said — is making caramel for the salad. That doesn’t seem right, I say.
Amina shrugs. It’s an odd salad, but not out of bounds for the dramatic play center at the Parklands campus of AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter School. It’s in the Shipley Terrace neighborhood of Washington, a largely low-income, African-American part of the city.
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Amina gathers all the ingredients and passes me the bowl. “Here! Try some!”
Amina, Lesley and Madison are three of the more than 13,000 children enrolled in Washington’s universal public pre-K program.
The city introduced universal pre-K in 2008. Over the next decade, glittering rhetoric about pre-K’s benefits helped sell the public — and policymakers across the country — on the idea. Studies show that high-quality pre-K can advance children’s linguistic, academic and social development. Research also suggests that pre-K programs reduce the need for special education placements, raise students’ future incomes, lower incarceration rates and get parents back to work.
And yet enthusiasm for these programs has often outrun practicalities. Several studies of recent efforts to increase public pre-K have hinted that cities and states have expanded access at the cost of quality. Some expansions have been rushed and others given too little money; many face both problems.
Beside issues of politics, there are questions of what we want universal pre-K to do. “The big problem in the sector is, what do we mean by quality?” asks Jack McCarthy, AppleTree’s president and chief executive.
The range of pre-K’s promised benefits makes this a surprisingly complex question. Is the goal academic readiness, social and emotional learning, better health outcomes, access to childcare, raising future incomes, decreasing the size of future prison populations — or some combination of these? Then, once we’ve defined success, how do we measure it? And, finally, how can new pre-K programs in cities like New York, San Antonio and Seattle deliver it?
A decade into building — and reforming — its universal pre-K program, Washington provides some hints.
The program is popular with parents: 73 percent of 3-year-olds and 85 percent of 4-year-olds were enrolled in the 2017-2018 school year. “With the pre-K participation rates that we have across the city, I think we can truly say that our public education system starts at age three,” says Miriam Calderon, who was the school district’s director of early childhood education during the program’s early years. (Now she heads Oregon’s early education system.)
The city’s enthusiasm for early education is at least partly a function of its skyrocketing cost of living. Washington designed its pre-K program to help families financially and became one of the few cities that offers it to 3-year-olds, leaving new parents with just three years of child care to cover.
It also runs all day. Most campuses provide at least six and a half hours of care and education each day. A Center for American Progress study found that Washington’s program has increased mothers’ participation in the labor force.
But quality pre-K isn’t solely — or even primarily — about helping parents afford to have children or get back to work. Analysis of universal early education programs like Quebec’s suggest that while it is reasonably straightforward to provide safe, daylong care that allows parents to return to work, it is more complicated to ensure that these programs also advance children’s development.
Across Washington, educators and administrators say that pre-K classrooms aim to close academic achievement gaps before they have grown too large. Such measurement makes sense: Just as second grade prepares children for third and middle school prepares children for high school, pre-K ought to pre-prepare children for kindergarten.
Of course, kindergarten preparation is unique. It covers a holistic span of child development, and it’s long on social and emotional skills — paying attention, working with peers, recognizing and solving conflicts. It’s about learning how to be at school and how to get the most out of it. For instance, when Amina, Lesley and Madison serve caramel salad, they’re learning to create collaboratively in a team.
Laura Steinmetz, a pre-K teacher in Washington, calls this “the underlying piece” of her work. Take wooden blocks. They develop some obvious skills: Students acquire dexterity and learn how their choices affect a structure’s stability. They learn to plan and persist in the face of failure. But there’s more, Ms. Steinmetz says. “Maybe somebody walked by and touched one of the support blocks and the whole thing fell down, so you have to learn how to manage your feelings and talk to that peer.”
Turner Elementary School’s principal, Eric Bethel, said he’s seeing the impact of the pre-K program in his kindergartners. “They’re not spending the first three or four weeks of school crying because it’s some sort of foreign place to them,” he said. “They know school routines. They have stamina.”
But high-quality pre-K isn’t only about patiently navigating imaginary salads, block towers and frustration. These social and emotional skills help students’ acquire knowledge by building their abilities to learn in group settings. Good pre-K also builds academic foundations.
At a literacy table in one Turner classroom, Tanisha Watson, a veteran pre-K teacher, reads “Be Boy Buzz” with a student. The boy prompts her to read by pointing to each word. In just two minutes, she reinforces a pile of basic literacy skills. “If I read, you’ll point, right? Are you ready? We go left to right,” she reminds him. “Do we start at the bottom or the top? What’s that period mean? O.K.! Now we need to keep going. What do we do to keep reading? We turn the page? Great!” She stretches him to think about what’s happening — “Does he seem like he’s talking loud? What do you think he’s doing here? He’s crying? How do you know? Why is he crying?” Those are the building blocks of reading.
Skilled instruction like Ms. Watson’s doesn’t come cheap. Unlike most American communities, Washington pays its pre-K teachers at rates similar to those its elementary schoolteachers get. Their salaries make up a large part of the nearly $19,000 the city spends annually on each preschooler. San Antonio, for comparison, spends just under $14,000 per child.
What’s more, Washington also uses federal Head Start funding in its pre-K sites. All district pre-K classrooms must adopt Head Start’s holistic approach to child development, which means providing access to health, nutrition and family outreach programs. In many cities, public pre-K classrooms enroll students separately from Head Start classrooms, which primarily serve children from low-income families. Washington’s systemwide funding coordination helps avoid this de facto segregation. No other city blends local and federal early education funding as smoothly on a large scale.
Most important, more than 95 percent of Washington’s pre-K seats are in public schools. This can help students acclimate to the facilities where they’ll spend their elementary school years. It can also make it easier for kindergarten to pick up precisely where pre-K leaves off.
Just five years ago, 80 percent of kindergartners at Turner Elementary started the year behind on basic print concepts, like how to hold and use a book. As the school’s pre-K program has improved — Turner’s pre-K teachers have worked with a full-time coach for three years — the data have flipped. Last year, 76 percent of incoming kindergartners had mastered those reading basics.
At both Turner Elementary and AppleTree’s Parklands campus, nearly every student is growing up in a low-income, African-American family. But Washington’s pre-K classrooms seem to be getting results with all their students.
For example, children who were learning English at schools using AppleTree’s curriculum finished pre-K performing as well as, or better than, native English-speaking peers on math and literacy tests. At AppleTree’s Columbia Heights campus, children who speak a language other than English at home — one-third of the school’s students — showed stronger growth on early literacy and math skills than their native English-speaking peers.
In 2018, the school district reported that fewer than half of 3-year-olds were meeting early literacy benchmarks when they arrived in pre-K classrooms. However, 86 percent were finishing pre-K ready for kindergarten on the cognition skills measured by the city’s early childhood assessment — and 83 percent were becoming kindergarten-ready on language metrics. More than 75 percent reached kindergarten-ready skills on fluently matching sounds with letters.
It is too early to say for certain whether Washington’s system is delivering on all of the many promises made on pre-K’s behalf. (Paradoxically, the program’s popularity makes it difficult to study, because there are few students outside the program who could make up a control group.) Right now, the earliest 3-year-olds to have enrolled in the city’s expanded pre-K system are only now arriving in the later elementary grades, where standardized academic assessments become more common. Students in Washington’s public schools have shown steady academic improvement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, particularly in the elementary school years. While many factors contribute to this trend — the city simultaneously embarked upon major K-12 education reforms and has seen significant demographic changes in its schools — these are grades that enroll more students who attended the city’s pre-K programs.
But it will be decades before researchers can determine whether the program has affected students’ incomes or incarceration rates as adults. So far, though, Washington’s example does suggest that a universal, full-day, well-funded, school-based, developmentally-appropriate, holistic pre-K program can improve children’s lives — if the public is patient, and willing to pay.
Conor P. Williams (@ConorPWilliams) studies educational equity as a fellow at the Century Foundation.
Source: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
Summary: Babies seek to understand the world around them and learn many new things every day. Unexpected events — for example when a ball falls through a table — provide researchers with the unique opportunity to understand infants’ learning processes. What happens in their brains as they learn and integrate new information?
Miriam Langeloh from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Moritz Köster from the Freie Universität Berlin, and Stefanie Höhl from the University of Vienna address that question in a new study with nine-month-old babies, published in Psychological Science.
The research team invited parents, with their nine-month-olds, to the lab to look at short picture stories with either expected or unexpected physical and social outcomes. For example, infants saw a man who was holding a pretzel. In the expected outcome condition, he led the pretzel to his mouth. In the unexpected outcome condition, to violate infants’ expectations, he led the pretzel to his ear.
Importantly, observing new or unexpected events allows researchers to investigate infants’ processing of novel information. Scientists have already shown that the theta rhythm is important for the integration of novel events in adults. In their current project, the scientists ask whether the theta rhythm also supports the integration of novel information when observing unexpected events in young babies.
“In order to find out how infants integrate new information into their existing knowledge, we looked at the electroencephalogram (EEG) during the presentation of the images,” explains Miriam Langeloh. EEG measures the electrical signals underlying information transfer between nerve cells. The signal can fluctuate at different frequencies that are associated with different ongoing cognitive processes.
Miriam Langeloh further describes, “The babies were shown the picture stories very quickly, flickering at a 4 Hz (theta) or a 6 Hz (alpha) frequency. For example, in the theta condition, the events were presented at a flickering rate of four images per second. The brain areas that are responsible for seeing, the visual cortex, synchronized their activity to the speed of the presented images. We were able to show that the brains of the babies, like in adults, respond to the rhythmic presentation of the events.”
In the next step, the research team looked at how the brain reacted for expected and unexpected outcomes. “Only the theta rhythm was sensitive to the unexpected compared to the expected actions. This shows us that the theta rhythm is responsible for the encoding of novel information in the infant brain. Importantly, in the alpha rhythm, which we looked at for comparison, there was no difference between expected and unexpected outcomes,” says Moritz Köster.
Thus, the theta rhythm seems to play a fundamental role in the integration of new events into existing knowledge already in nine-month-old infants. In future studies, the scientists will investigate whether learning processes in babies can be actively promoted by visual stimulation of the theta rhythm.
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Materials provided by Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Pointing at an object… in one sense you might say that this simple gesture doesn’t just replace a word, but that it is a word – perhaps the first word. We know that it and other such gestures play a fundamental role in human language, but until now, we have not known where these gestures come from. To find out more, my colleagues and I investigated the hypothesis that pointing originates from touch.
I was interested in understanding why a pointing gesture picks out one object and not another because I am also interested in how demonstrative words – words like this and that – pick out their objects. Demonstratives and pointing gestures are some of the simplest and earliest ways we have of “referring” to things so that understanding these words and gestures gets us close to understanding the foundations of linguistic communication in general.
One evening at the Café Waikiki in Paris, Brent Strickland and I hypothesized that we were pointing at objects not by creating arrows with our fingers, but as if we were “virtually touching” them in the distance. Brent, who works on gestural communication, had thought a lot about the angle the finger makes when it points, and how precisely it should be directed toward the objects to designate them. Another colleague, Gregor Kachel, had also worked on infants’ understanding of others’ pointing gestures. We decided to put our heads together and come up with some studies investigating the possibility that pointing originates in touch.
In our new paper, we discovered three things. First, when people point at objects, they are inclined to orient their finger-tip as if they are aiming to touch the object they point at. The angle of their finger does not predict which object they point at – as we might be inclined to assume. Pointing gestures do not work like arrows, as street-signs do. Instead, the line that connects the producer’s eye and finger-tip is the best predictor of what they are pointing at. This suggests that pointing is somehow rooted in touch.
At left, pointing like an arrow. Right, pointing as touch to touch. Cathal O’Madagain, Gregor Kachel, Brent Strickland, Author provided
Pointing, touching
Second, we discovered that when we point at objects at odd angles, we are inclined to rotate our wrist as if we are trying to touch the object – even if it’s far away. Imagine yourself pointing at the label on a bottle of wine when the label is facing to your right – you might find yourself rotating your wrist clockwise, as you would if you were trying to touch the label; or, if the bottle is rotated so that the label is on the left side, now you may find yourself rotating your wrist anti-clockwise again as you would if you were trying to touch it.
We found this effect even with 18-month-old infants – everyone seems to point as though trying to touch the things they point at. Finally, we discovered that although adults can interpret pointing gestures as arrows, very young children and infants seem to have a hard time interpreting them as arrows, and instead treat pointing gestures as referring to the object closest to the finger-tip.
The work sheds light on the origin of human language. Something distinctive about human linguistic communication is that we deliberately “tell” each other things – that is, we inform each other in such a way that the other person knows we are trying to tell them something. It is widely thought that the first gesture or communicative act that infants undertake where it is clear that they are deliberately trying to draw their parents’ attention to something – to “tell them” about something – in this way, is the pointing gesture. I’m inclined to think of the pointing gestures produced by infants as their first “words”, for these reasons.
The psychologist Jean Piaget speculated that pointing may come from reaching. But wanting to have something for ourselves (by grabbing it) is very different from telling someone else about it. You might point something out for someone, simply because you want them to know about it or see it. Think of pointing at the moon simply because you think it looks nice and you want someone to get to see it. You don’t want them to hand the moon to you, you just want them to look at it.
In fact, infants produce gestures that are similar to pointing gestures – where they stretch out their arm and hold their hand out with all fingers splayed in a “grabbing” shape – when they want something handed to them. But independently, they also produce these distinctive “pointing” gestures – with the index finger extended and other fingers curled into the palm – that is, not in a reaching shape (since you can’t pick something up with just an index finger). Our studies show that a much more plausible origin for pointing is in attempts to touch things.
We think that children discover that they can draw their parents’ attention to things by touching them. Touch and visual attention are closely linked – we often look at what we touch, and, we think, parents and caretakers are inclined to look at what children touch more than what they grab or reach for. We think that once children discover that they can draw their carers’ attention to things by touching, they “aim” to touch things in the distance, for the same purpose of drawing their carers’ attention to those things. Once children discover this, a good deal of the time they spend focusing their own attention on nearby objects through touch becomes spent on establishing joint attention to objects further away, through pointing.
The Virgin of the Rocks (1483–1486). Léonard de Vinci
The very familiar scenario where two humans jointly attend to an object or event so that they talk about it is at the heart of human communication. The pointing gesture is the first event in child development where this “triangle” of attention between two speakers and an object is established. But until now we have not known where these gestures come from, and hence how this fundamentally important ability of humans to coordinate attention comes about. We think we have solved that riddle.
What is nice about these studies is that the results are scientifically important, but also at least in the case of the first two, can be checked immediately by any reader for herself. Most people we talk to are surprised to learn that they point at objects in the distance as if touching them, or that they rotate their wrists when pointing at objects at odd angles, but are inclined to quickly agree when they check. It is nice to discover something that was hiding in plain sight. The connection between pointing and touch, once identified, becomes hard not to see – something that’s very satisfying to us as researchers.
Preschoolers are capable of learning more complicated math concepts than most parents realize, according to a new Vanderbilt study. What’s more, these concepts can be easily introduced through simple games and tasks at home.
Lead author is Erica Zippert, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University Peabody College of education and human development. She and her colleague Bethany Rittle-Johnson recently published a report, “The Home Math Environment: More Than Numeracy” in Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
Their study revealed that parents of preschoolers seem to reinforce counting and number recognition, and leave the more complex concepts to the child’s future teachers.
Zippert explains that preschool age is not too soon to introduce these three fundamental math concepts:
numeracy (counting objects as well as naming, comparing and combining numbers);
patterning (creating patterns and replicating them with the same and different materials); and
spatial skills (exploring dimensions; identifying features, like corners and sides; looking for orientations, and remembering locations of objects).
“We found that parents primarily reinforced only the easier number concepts, like counting and numerals, and were less likely to support pattern and spatial skills,” Zippert says. “We also found that parents spent less time providing math support through playful activities like reading number books and playing number games, and more time engaged in direct instruction of number concepts.”
Parents can improve the way they help their preschoolers build a foundation for math in lots of fun and easy ways using items they already have around the house, she says:
Play board games and card games
Board games like “Chutes and Ladders”and card games like “War” provide opportunities to count, compare and combine numbers through addition. They also provide lots of symbolic and non-symbolic number cues, such as spades/clubs on cards, and board game spaces and spinners.
Block and puzzle activities provide an opportunity to introduce more complex concepts like spatial dimensions (size, height), spatial features (corner, side), and locations and directions (on top of, upside down). Ask “Which Lego tower is higher?” and “Which side of your building is red?”
Create and notice patterns in everyday activities
Point out how the days of the week repeat in a month and how months repeat each year. While doing laundry, line up different colored socks in a pattern (red-red-blue-red-red-blue). Ask the child, “What comes next?” and let them continue the pattern. Then ask the child to replicate the pattern using different color socks or different objects.
Zippert says that common myths remain about preschoolers and math learning:
MYTH: Preschool math is all about numbers, especially basic skills like counting.
TRUTH: Non-numeracy domains like spatial skills and patterning are also vital to the development of math skills, and can be introduced at a young age. Also, preschoolers are capable of comparing numerical magnitudes (e.g., 4 is “bigger than 3”) and adding simple sums.
MYTH: Math should be taught formally (direct instruction), and primarily at school.
TRUTH: Math learning starts at home and it can and should be fun. Parents can support math learning through lots of informal activities and play, whether at home, doing laundry and cooking, or on the go, at a grocery store, a museum or the park. Teaching math in the moment during everyday interactions makes it more meaningful.
MYTH: Not everyone can understand math.
TRUTH: Math is for everyone. When parents approach math with positivity, it is easier for the child to learn. Try not to say “I’m not a math person,” as that reinforces a negative stereotype about math.
The report, “The Home Math Environment: More Than Numeracy” is published in Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
Source: Binghamton University
Summary: Parents who take paid family leave after the birth of a newborn are more likely to have their child vaccinated on time compared to those who do not, according to new research.
Parents who take paid family leave after the birth of a newborn are more likely to have their child vaccinated on time compared to those who do not, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York. The effect is stronger on families living below the poverty line.
“Currently, many people do not vaccinate their child within the recommended schedule and are late,” said Solomon Polachek, professor of economics at Binghamton University. “Often this might be due to parental time constraints. When an infant is really young, these immunizations are critical, since infants are at a higher risk of infection and illness if not vaccinated properly.”
In 2004, California was the first state to implement a Paid Family Leave (PFL) policy, allowing private-sector employees up to six weeks of leave with partial wage replacement to care for a newborn baby. This time not only helps parents settle into their new caregiving roles, but it also allows them time to make vital parental decisions, such as ensuring their child is vaccinated on time.
Binghamton University PhD student Agnitra Roy Choudhury, who conducted this study under Polachek’s direction, looked at the National Immunization Survey to collect data regarding child vaccination rates between 19-35 months old. Specifically, the researchers looked at children born before and after the PFL policy was implemented in California and whether children received vaccinations on time compared to children in other states during the same time period. Vaccinations studied include Hepatitis-B (HepB), Diphtheria Tetatus Pertusis (DTP) and Haemophilus Influenza Type B (HIB).
They found that the PFL policy in California granting six weeks of family leave with partial wage replacement reduced late vaccination rates in infants.
“The research finds that paid family leave (at least in California) increases the chance an infant will be inoculated for the second HepB injection by over 5 percent relative to states not implementing paid family leave, and for the DTP injection by about 1.5 percent,” said Polachek. “The effects are bigger for poorer families, who are less likely to have access to paid family leave from their jobs alone.”
According to Polachek, vaccinating infants on time is vital to their future health and well-being, since vaccines can ward off diseases that can impact future attendance at school. Not only do these outcomes lead to less learning for children, but also they can lead to lower earnings power.
“Poor school attendance and less early childhood learning can have consequences regarding the widening earnings distribution,” said Polachek. “Paid family leave might be a viable national policy if it mitigates these detrimental effects.”
Future research will focus on using more precise survey data and analyzing other states, such as New York, that have recently implemented PFL policies.
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What we get wrong about early-childhood math
By Kathy Liu Sun
As a mathematics educator who also happens to be a new mom, I have serious concerns about the future math classroom my daughter will enter. One of my biggest fears is that the math class will stifle much of her curiosity and creativity that I have witnessed every day during her first few months of life.
In my collaborations with preschool to 2nd grade early-childhood educators over the past five years, I have found that teachers often wrestle with two historically competing philosophies of educating young children. One philosophy embraces the importance of creating play-based environments, where children learn by exploring and engaging in play. The other emphasizes the need to prepare students to meet state and national mathematics standards by focusing on specific academic skills. These two philosophies are not either-or. In fact, mathematical thinking and learning often happen during play.
With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards and an increasing focus on so-called 21st-century skills, our thinking about supporting students’ curiosity and creativity has progressed in recent years. However, as with most change, the implementation of our ideas hasn’t yet panned out the way we might have hoped.
I am finding that teachers are increasingly feeling the pressure to address learning standards in ways that do not build upon young children’s inherent curiosity and inclination to experiment. Math instruction in the early grades is too often becoming more like traditional high school math classes. I have seen kindergarten and 1st grade teachers giving short lectures followed by having children complete worksheets filled with math problems. These worksheets often consist of the same type of problem just with different numbers (e.g., 1+2 = __; 1+3 = __; 1+4 = __) and noninteractive images for young children to count or compare.
What I am witnessing is not surprising given our misconceptions of what it means to learn math in school. Many think that math is all about learning procedures and memorizing rules. At both the high school and elementary levels, procedurally focused learning is not conducive to supporting students’ understanding of important mathematical concepts. In fact, a 2016 study published in Scientific American found that students who rely on memorization are half a year behind their peers who approach math by relating concepts to existing knowledge and monitoring their own understanding.
It is important to attend to mathematical learning goals while fostering creativity early in a child’s education. We need to create more opportunities for young children to explore mathematical ideas in interactive and playful ways. Instead of doing math worksheets, young children need intentionally designed activities that allow them to think and engage like mathematicians by testing out different ideas, experimenting with strategies, and explaining their thinking. Unlike traditional math worksheet problems that can only be solved one way, children should engage in problems that have many possible solution strategies and are ripe for discussion and debate.
What can we do as educational practitioners and leaders?
1. Be curious about how children think. Young children have fascinating strategies for how to solve mathematical problems. Our goal is to support them to develop perseverance, confidence, and critical thinking skills when solving math problems. Rather than telling them exact steps for solving a problem, a good first step is to ask open-ended questions (“How did you figure it out?”). Then watch to see what the child does before asking another question that is based on what you observed (“I noticed that you moved the blue bears. Why did you do that?”).
2. Support teachers to change things up. Teachers should be encouraged to focus on the creative nature of math. It’s OK if math assignments don’t look like traditional math worksheets. If teachers give homework, it should be interactive and exploratory in nature, not stagnant worksheets.
3. Get parents on board by encouraging them to find opportunities to engage in math in our everyday lives and surroundings. A great way to start is by counting collections of objects with young children. A collection can be made up of anything found at home, such as coins or utensils. The goal is to figure out how many objects are in the collection and to support children to think deeply about quantity in a way that makes sense to them. In my experiences, children are very excited to figure out how many objects are in their collections and will use a variety of strategies in the process (e.g., sorting, multiplying, adding, etc.).
If we make a concerted effort to push back against traditional math worksheets, my concerns might be alleviated by the time my daughter enters kindergarten.
Kathy Liu Sun is currently an assistant professor of education at Santa Clara University, where her research examines the barriers that prevent students from succeeding and advancing in mathematics and STEM-related fields. She previously taught high school math in San Jose, Calif.
Upon entering the world, a newborn lets out a loud, distinct cry — a sign of health and vigor. It’s a cry that new parents will quickly become used to in the coming days and weeks. But if you look closely, you’ll see that a newborn’s cry is a bit different from an older infant’s: there are no tears.
Tears, of course, are necessary to protect the eyes and keep them moist. When faced with extreme emotions such as sadness, anger or even happiness, we cry, said Sage Timberline, a pediatrician at the University of California, Davis, Children’s Hospital in Sacramento, California. That temporary stress triggers a fight-or-flight response, which produces tears to further protect the eye. These emotional tears can also help release stress-inducing hormones that may have been building up during tough times; this contributes to that sense of relief that follows a good cry, she told Live Science.
While a baby is born with tear ducts, they’re not fully developed yet. They produce enough tears to coat the eye and keep it moist, but not enough to form drops that trickle down those chubby cheeks. After three or four weeks, a baby’s tear ducts usually mature enough to form teardrops associated with strong emotions, Timberline said.
A newborn’s eyes tend to be dry — and so does its skin. No matter how hot it gets, a newborn hardly sweats for the first couple weeks of its life. That’s because the sweat glands aren’t yet fully functional.
Humans have two types of sweat glands, called eccrine and apocrine glands, both of which are formed in newborns even if they’re not yet producing sweat. Apocrine glands secrete sweat through hair follicles but aren’t activated until hormonal changes take place during puberty. While apocrine sweat is odorless at first, it can become smelly. It’s filled with water and electrolytes as well as steroids, lipids and proteins — which bacteria can process to produce odors.
Eccrine glands start to form during the fourth month of gestation, appearing first on the fetus’s palms and on the soles of its feet. By the fifth month, eccrine glands cover almost the entire body.
After a baby is born, the most active eccrine glands are the ones on the forehead, Timberline said. Soon after, an infant starts sweating on his or her torso and limbs.
Because newborns can’t fully sweat, they rely on caregivers to keep them cool. Watch out for signs of overheating, including sweating (since newborns do produce some sweat); warm, flushed skin; rapid breathing; fussiness; and decreased activity of arms and legs, Timberline said. If your baby is too warm, just remove a layer of clothing or use a fan to keep the air circulating.
But once those glands start pumping out sweat, some parents worry that their babies sweat too much when feeding or sleeping, said Katie Ellgass, a pediatrician at Stanford Children’s Health Altos Pediatric Associates in Los Altos, California. “Both actions are tough work,” she told Live Science. “When feeding, a baby is often close to their caregiver, so body heat is transferring. It’s a sweatfest!”
Fortunately, sweaty babies are usually not a concern, Ellgass said. Babies are screened for metabolic diseases and newborn heart problems, so as long as they’re gaining weight, baby sweat is … well, nothing to sweat about.
On Thursday, the Labor party pledged an additional A$1.75 billion for early education if elected the next government of Australia. This is the largest investment in early childhood education in Australian history.
Most of this investment will go towards funding 15 hours a week of free preschool or kindy for three-year-old children. This means all Australian children will have access to two years of quality early childhood education before they start school.
Current funding only supports preschool programs for children the year before they start formal schooling. Typically, 15 hours a week equates to five short days per fortnight or two days a week of a preschool program in a school preschool, community kindy or long daycare center.
Early childhood educators, researchers, and economists have long advocated the importance of early childhood education. If Labor does win the next election and commit to this promise, everyone will benefit. Two years of preschool will give young Australian children the best start in life.
What does the research say about development?
Neuroscience has shown the early years, particularly birth to eight years, are critical for optimal learning and development. Preschool attendance has shown consistent positive short and long-term effects across the world including in the US, Europe, Canada, and New Zealand.
Play-based preschool programs delivered by qualified early childhood educators improve children’s learning and developmental outcomes and are particularly important for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
A recent independent report to state and territory education ministers argued, in terms of improving school outcomes, the single most impactful reform Australia could make would be to increase access to quality early childhood education (preschool) for three-year-olds.
Another report showed two years of preschool has more impact than one, especially for children who are developmentally vulnerable (such as those from a low socio-economic background).
Compared to other OECD countries, Australia is lagging behind in early childhood education. Australia ranked in the bottom third for participation in early childhood education and care. Only 15% of Australian three-year-olds are enrolled in a preschool program.
It also makes economic sense
Economists also back getting three-year-olds into preschool, as it’s a great opportunity for investment in human capital and the future workforce. It’s much more cost-effective and beneficial to invest in early education than later remedial interventions targeted at poor literacy, school drop-outs, and adults with limited basic skills. In early childhood, we set the foundation for learning dispositions and life skills.
Preschool education has positive effects on early language and literacy, and school achievement. A recent study showed two years of preschool had a cost-benefit ratio of four, meaning for every one dollar invested, four dollars are returned to the economy.
What would these programs look like?
Universal access means younger children will have access to a four-year degree qualified teacher who provides a play-based program aligning with the Early Years Learning Framework. Play-based learning is where children learn through play, either self-directed (often called free play), or guided play where an adult intentionally extends children’s learning through play and related activities.
Read more: Play-based learning can set your child up for success at school and beyond
High-quality preschool programs promote children’s academic and social development and provide a balance of intentional teaching and freely chosen play activities. Educators extend children’s learning by engaging in prolonged conversations where the educator and child solve problems together, clarify concepts or evaluate things that develop and extend thinking or understanding.
And what about these children and their parents?
Labor has promised the three-year-old preschool programs will be delivered through a range of early education settings. These include long daycare centers, community preschools/kindies, and schools. This is good news for parents who will be able to choose a program that suits their family’s needs and especially for children who currently attend childcare. Embedding strong early learning programs with qualified teachers into childcare means a more integrated and seamless learning experience for children.
Three-year-old preschool programs will also help parents with childcare affordability. For parents with children already in care, 15 hours will be funded by the government, cutting costs to families.
The one caution in thinking about the logistics of providing 15 hours of preschool is around the current extreme shortage of early childhood teachers and other early childhood educators. As the 2015 Productivity Commission reported, the supply of early childhood teachers does not meet demand. Unless there is a massive increase in training early childhood teachers the likelihood of staffing the new preschool places by 2021 is slim, especially in rural and remote Australia.
Today’s announcement of free training for early childhood education and care qualifications through the vocational education and training (VET) system should Labor be elected next year is welcome.
But caution is warranted as VET-credentialed educators (with certificates and diplomas) are not qualified, early childhood teachers. Simply offering free training is a long way short of ensuring qualified educators are willing and able to actually work where they’re most needed.
And as the recent ASQA report highlighted, the quality of delivery of many VET courses in early childhood education and care is variable and often problematic.
No matter what your political or educational perspective, giving children the best start to early learning makes good sense. Investment in early childhood education can only benefit children, families and the nation.
As the new year dawns, parents likely turn their thoughts to their child and new beginnings they may experience as they enter an early childhood education and care center or preschool. Naturally, it’s a time of reflection on the previous year, and excitement about the possibilities for the new year to come.
Parents might reflect on the friendships their child makes in the coming year. Making friends is not always instinctive for a young child. Learning to make friends is part of the social development curriculum in early childhood.
Social development skills are just as important as cognitive skills when learning. In recent studies, positive social skills are highlighted as key predictors for better outcomes in adulthood. It’s important for parents to be aware of ways to ensure positive social development skills in their young children.
Parents can begin by looking for interpersonal people skills, such as empathy, listening and communication skills. This will help your child transition into the next stage of their educational journey.
Is your child’s social development on track, at-risk or vulnerable?
The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) researches longitudinal data about the five important learning domains for a young child. The domains are:
social development
physical health and well-being
emotional maturity
language and cognitive skills
communication skills and general knowledge.
Credit: Australian Early Development Census
Each domain is essential for learning how to build friendships, though social development is the central one. The following table outlines what is considered developmentally on track, at-risk or vulnerable in the social competence domain.
After reading this table, if you feel your child is developmentally at risk or vulnerable, there may be several reasons for this. Be guided by the educator at your preschool or early childhood education and care centre center when deciding which service might best support your child to develop healthy social skills.
To help you, there is a broad range of services available. These include art and music therapists, dietitians, occupational therapists, speech therapists, physiotherapists, audiologists, and child counselors.
Making friends through the stages of play
There is a range of research about stages of play a young child engages in when they’re learning to make friends. According to brain development research, a young child begins to develop pathways in their brain for social skills from birth.
According to research, there are six stages of play with associated social skills. These are assessed in the early childhood curriculum. The following stages and social skills are approximate and to be used as a guide only:
Understanding some of these key indicators of social skills required for play will help you consider their ability. Take time to observe your young child’s social interactions in a range of settings. Watch them at home, with family and friends, as well as in their preschool or early childhood education and care center. This may help you determine if your child is engaging socially during play to make friends.
What’s next?
When a child moves from one educational setting to another, we call this movement a transition. Positive social development skills are an asset to your child during this time. Educators at both educational settings will work in partnership with you, and each other, to make sure the transition is as smooth as possible.
Essentially there are some key indicators that will help children during transitions: self-care, separating from parents, growing independence, and readiness to learn. As parents you can:
familiarise your child with the new environment
engage in active listening as your child expresses their thoughts and feelings about starting in a new learning environment
ensure children start the new year with all required equipment recommended by the center or school
arrange to meet other people starting in the new year and practice turn-taking, listening, asking questions and asking for help before the new year begins.
This will support the development of social skills for your young child and help them make new friends more readily.
THE QUALITY OF children’s lives are a top priority for countries worldwide, with many nations looking at ensuring a better life for the younger generations. And plenty are succeeding, according to a new report from Save the Children.
At least 280 million children, or 1 in 8, are dramatically better off today than at any time in the past two decades, according to the Global Childhood Report, the international advocacy group’s assessment of how well countries are providing for children. At the same time, about 1 in 4 children are still denied the right to a safe and healthy childhood, according to the report.
The report evaluates 176 countries’ moves to protect and provide for their children in terms of health and education, and other weighs in additional factors such as child marriage and teen births. The report, released on Tuesday, found significant improvement in reducing malnutrition, teen births, child homicides, and the rate of children dying before the age of 5.
Among the main findings that compare the quality of children’s lives today to the year 2000:
There are 4.4 million fewer child deaths per year, with the group reporting a 49% reduction in the death rate of children under 5 years of age.
49 million fewer children are reported to have inhibited physical growth.
115 million fewer children out of school, a 33% reduction.
94 million fewer child laborers, a drop of 40%.
11 million fewer married girls.
3 million fewer annual teen births, a decline of 22%.
12,000 fewer child homicides per year, a 17% reduction.
Singapore ranked first in terms of protecting and providing for children. The top 10 countries included eight Western European nations and South Korea. The United States tied with China at No. 36 of the 176 nations evaluated, between Russia and Belarus.
The Central African Republic, Niger and Chad finished at the bottom of the list.
The group lauded Sierra Leone for making the most progress in the past two decades in improving the lives of children, followed by Rwanda, Ethiopia and Niger. The report has implications for policymakers in the group, said one of the group’s leaders.
“We examined 18 years of data – the span of a childhood – and found that sustained investment in child-focused policies has greatly increased children’s chances to grow up healthy, educated and safe,” Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children, said in a prepared statement.
Severe and persistent infant sleep problems in the first year are linked to poor maternal mental and physical health during pregnancy, a new study by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute has found.
The study, led by Dr. Fallon Cook, found that it’s very common to experience difficulties with infant sleep at some point in the first year, with about 60 percent of mothers reporting mild or fluctuating problems. But for 20 per cent of mothers their infants sleep problems are both persistent and severe during the first year.
“These mothers were more likely to have poorer mental and physical health during pregnancy in comparison to mothers of infants with no sleep problems,” Dr. Cook says.
The findings show that for some, infant sleep problems may have more to do with a mother’s wellbeing during pregnancy than with parenting style.
Until now it was unclear whether it was possible to predict which infants will have sleep problems. The current findings, along with other emerging research, suggest that severe and persistent infant sleep problems are linked somehow to mothers’ wellbeing during pregnancy.
Dr. Cook says this is an important finding because parents of sleep-disturbed infants often feel severely fatigued, depressed and anxious, and worry they are doing something to cause their infants to sleep problems.
“Our findings suggest some infants may be predisposed to have sleep problems, despite parent’s best efforts to help their infant sleep better,” she says.
“Identifying and supporting mothers with poor mental and physical health during pregnancy is crucial. These mothers may benefit from more intensive support once the child is born.
“Parenting an infant who isn’t sleeping well is extremely hard. It’s important that parents seek help from their GP or child health nurse if feeling depressed, anxious or exhausted, and reach out to family, friends, and local parenting groups for additional support.”
Story Source:
Materials provided by Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Fallon Cook, Laura Conway, Deirdre Gartland, Rebecca Giallo, Elizabeth Keys, Stephanie Brown. Profiles and Predictors of Infant Sleep Problems Across the First Year. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 2019; 1 DOI: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000733
Deafness in early childhood is known to lead to lasting changes in how sounds are processed in the brain, but new research published today in eLife shows that even mild-to-moderate levels of hearing loss in young children can lead to similar changes.
Researchers say that the findings may have implications for how babies are screened for hearing loss and how mild-to-moderate hearing loss in children is managed by healthcare providers.
The structure and function of the auditory system, which processes sounds in the brain, develops throughout childhood in response to exposure to sounds. In profoundly deaf children, the auditory system undergoes a functional reorganization, repurposing itself to respond more to visual stimuli, for example. However, until now relatively little was known about the effects of mild-to-moderate hearing loss during childhood.
A research team led by Dr. Lorna Halliday, now at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, used an electroencephalogram (EEG) technique to measure the brain responses of 46 children who had been diagnosed with permanent mild-to-moderate hearing loss while they were listening to sounds.
Dividing the children into two groups — younger children (8-12 years) and older children (12-16 years) — the team found that the younger children with hearing loss showed relatively typical brain responses — in other words, similar to those of children with normal hearing. However, the brain responses of older children with hearing loss were smaller than those of their normally hearing peers.
To confirm these findings, the researchers re-tested a subset of the group of younger children from the original study, six years later. In the follow-up study, the researchers confirmed that as the children with hearing loss grew older, their brain responses changed. Responses that were present when the children were younger had either disappeared or grown smaller by the time the children were older. There was no evidence that the children’s hearing loss had worsened over this time, suggesting instead that a functional reorganization was occurring.
“We know that children’s brains develop in response to exposure to sounds, so it should not be too surprising that even mild-to-moderate levels of hearing loss can lead to changes in the brain,” says Dr. Axelle Calcus, lead author of the paper, from PSL University, Paris. “However, this does suggest that we need to identify these problems at an earlier stage than is currently the case.”
“Current screening programs for newborn babies are good at picking up moderate-to-profound levels of hearing loss, but not at detecting mild hearing loss. This means that children with a mild hearing impairment might not be detected until later in childhood, if at all,” says Dr. Lorna Halliday from the University of Cambridge.
“Children with hearing problems tend to do less well than their peers in terms of language development and academic performance. Detecting even mild degrees of hearing impairment earlier could lead to an earlier intervention that would limit these brain changes, and improve children’s chances of developing normal language.”
Story Source:
Materials provided by the University of Cambridge. The original story is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Axelle Calcus, Outi Tuomainen, Ana Campos, Stuart Rosen, Lorna F Halliday. Functional brain alterations following mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss in children. eLife, 2019; 8 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.46965
Hollywood’s version of science often asks us to believe that dinosaurs can be cloned from ancient DNA (they can’t), or that the next ice age could develop in just a few days (it couldn’t).
But Pixar’s film Inside Out is an animated fantasy that remains remarkably true to what scientists have learned about the mind, emotion and memory.
The film is about an 11-year-old girl named Riley who moves from her happy home in Minnesota to the West Coast, where she has no friends and pizza is made with broccoli. Much of the film is spent inside Riley’s mind, which features a control center manned by five personified emotions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust.
“I think they really nailed it,” says Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley who worked as a consultant to the filmmakers.
The movie does a really good job of portraying what it’s like to be 11, Keltner says. “It zeroes in on one of the most poignant times in an individual’s life, which is the transition to the preteen and early teen years, where kids — and, I think, in particular girls — start to really powerfully feel the loss of childhood,” he says.
As the filmmakers were working, they would fire off emails to Keltner and to Paul Ekman, a pioneer in the study of emotions. The process helped create a movie that’s true to the underlying science when it shows things like how emotions tend to color Riley’s perception of the world.
“When you are in a fearful state, everything is imbued with threat and uncertainty and peril,” Keltner says. And when Riley is sad, he says, even her happy memories take on a bluish hue.
The filmmakers get a lot of other scientific details right. Inside Riley’s head, you see memories get locked in during sleep, experiences transformed into abstractions, and guards protecting the subconscious.
There are a few departures from the scientific norm. Long-term memories are portrayed as immutable snow globes, though scientists know these memories actually tend to change over time. And Riley gets five basic emotions instead of the six often described in textbooks. (“Surprise,” apparently, didn’t make the cut.)
Also disgust is present in a pretty mild form — the reaction a child has to eating broccoli. The film plays down a more powerful version of disgust, “like if you suddenly eat a piece of food and it has a worm in it, or it’s rotting, Keltner says.
One of the film’s high points, though, is its depiction of sadness, Keltner says. In many books and movies for kids, he says, sadness is dismissed as a negative emotion with no important role.
In Inside Out, star-shaped Joy gets more screen time. But when the emotions are in danger of getting lost in the endless corridors of long-term memory, it is Sadness, downcast and shaped like a blue teardrop, who emerges as an unlikely heroine.
For kids, Keltner says, that makes “a nice statement about how important sadness is to our understanding of who we are.”
Source: Elsevier
Summary: Although food preferences are largely learned, dislike is the main reason parents stop offering or serving their children foods like vegetables. A new study has demonstrated that repeatedly offering a variety of vegetables increased acceptance and consumption by children.
Although food preferences are largely learned, dislike is the main reason parents stop offering or serving their children foods like vegetables. A new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier, demonstrated that repeatedly offering a variety of vegetables increased acceptance and consumption by children.
“In Australia, dietary guidelines for vegetable consumption by young children have increased although actual consumption is low,” said lead author Astrid A.M. Poelman, PhD, CSIRO Agriculture & Food, Sensory, Flavour and Consumer Science, North Ryde, Australia. “This study introduces an effective strategy for parents wanting to address this deficiency.”
This study recruited 32 families with children between the ages of four and six where low consumption of vegetables was reported. Parents completed an online survey and attended an information meeting prior to participating. Three groups were created: children introduced to a single vegetable; children to receive multiple vegetables; and a group where eating habits were not changed.
Study data were collected in several ways: two dinner meals served at the research facility during which children could eat as much of the broccoli, cauliflower and green beans as they wished; changes to actual vegetables consumed at home, childcare or school recorded through food diaries; and parents reporting on usual vegetable consumption.
Strategies of offering vegetables were parent led and home based. Families introducing one vegetable served broccoli and families trying multiple vegetables served broccoli, zucchini and peas. Parents were provided with a voucher to purchase the vegetables and given instructions on portion size and cooking instructions along with tips on how to offer the vegetables. Children were served a small piece of vegetable three times a week for five weeks. A sticker was given as a reward to children trying a vegetable.
There was no difference between groups at the start of the study for any of the methods measured. The dinner meal, during which the children ate without parents present, did not increase consumption perhaps due to an unfamiliar setting. Vegetable acceptance increased for both the single and multiple vegetable groups during the intervention. Families that offered multiple vegetables recorded an increase in consumption from .6 to 1.2 servings, while no change in consumption was observed in families serving a single vegetable or families that did not change their eating habits. Increased acceptance for multiple vegetables was noted during the five weeks of the study and sustained at three-month followup. Following the study parents reported that offering the vegetables was “very easy” or “quite easy” with the majority following the instructions provided by the study.
Dr. Poelman recommended, “While the amount of vegetables eaten increased during the study, the amount did not meet dietary guidelines. Nonetheless, the study showed the strategy of offering a variety of vegetables was more successful in increasing consumption than offering a single vegetable.”
Story Source:
Materials provided by Elsevier. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Astrid A.M. Poelman, Conor M. Delahunty, Maeva Broch, Cees de Graaf. Multiple vs Single Target Vegetable Exposure to Increase Young Children’s Vegetable Intake. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 2019; 51 (8): 985 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneb.2019.06.009
TWO-AND-A-HALF-YEAR-OLD Daniel enters my waiting room. His parents sit anxiously, watching his every move with worry and concern on their faces. Daniel flits around the area, going from one thing to the next before finally settling on a book, “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” – not the usual book selection for most kids his age, with lots of words and very few pictures. Daniel is non-verbal, does not respond to his name, emits a few repetitive sounds and appears to be hearing impaired. He makes poor eye contact and does not point. He runs all over the place but does not walk. It’s difficult to keep him engaged. I go through a list of questions on my patient questionnaire with Daniel’s parents, including a new addition: “About how much total screen time did your child have per day between the ages of 0 to 18 months?” The answer: “More than four hours per day.”
When you think that infants spend most of their daily hours asleep, more than four hours a day accounts for a good deal of their awake time. The parents then told me that this was the only way they could get Daniel to eat, remain calm or get dressed. With a screen in front of his face, he became sedated, zoned out and would tolerate almost anything. In France, some doctors are referring to the behaviors resulting from overexposure to digital devices as “virtual autism.” The good news is many of these behavioral symptoms improve as we eliminate or at least minimize screen time exposure.
Now imagine how excessive screen time might be especially dangerous for the developing brains of babies and young children, like Daniel. According to an article by pediatrician Dr. David L. Hill, “Video entertainment is like mental junk food for babies and toddlers.” Surveys report that 92.2 percent of 1-year-olds have used a mobile device, some starting as young as 4 months. Many parents think they’re providing their infants with a digital head start in life. Instead, they’re stymying their cognitive development. Developing brains simply cannot make sense of the symbols on these devices until at least 18 months of age.
While infants may stare at the bright, moving colors on a screen, there is strong evidence that regular use of screen viewing before 18 months (defined as more than two hours a day) has lasting negative effects on children’s language development, reading skills and short-term memory. Even having the TV on in the background can delay language development, as studies show parents generally speak fewer words per hour to their toddlers than when the TV is off. Other research indicates early screen time exposure may later contribute to problems with obesity, sleep, self-regulation, socialization, executive function and attention.
[Read: How Electronics Could Be Affecting Your Child’s Health.]
According to the 2016 policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics, children under the age of 2 need hands-on exploration and social interaction to develop motor, social-emotional, language and cognitive skills. That means getting back to the basics and playing on the floor, being face-to-face with kids, laughing, tumbling, pretending and sharing. These types of interactions activate the child’s right brain, their social brain, which begins to develop before the left brain. Children first learn to understand facial expressions and voice intonation. The left brain kicks off more after the first year of life, as babies begin to develop higher level discrimination and speech-language skills. Once a baby is at least 18 months of age, parents can begin to introduce limited digital media to them, but experts encourage parents to join in with their children at these times and engage with them. That doesn’t mean your toddlers should never watch TV alone. What the policy statement is suggesting is we should use “electronic babysitters” sparingly and be selective about what we let our kids watch and for how long. Parents should also be sure that care givers and daycare centers are aware of the negative effects of screen time on infants and toddlers and limit their exposure.
With so many things in the world that are beyond our control, there are still some things we can control to promote healthy brain development in our babies. A digital diet of “no screen time” may seem outrageous, but before the age of 18 months, it is essential. From 18 months to 5 years of age, cap electronic use to one hour per day while eliminating screens at dinner time and bedtime for all family members, allowing the family to re-connect. Avoid placing electronic devices in your children’s bedroom, where they might be tempted to turn them on while others are sleeping. Plan TV time or use of electronic media together that’s child-friendly. The conversation during and after often includes teachable moments.
[Read: How to Customize a Healthier Approach to Screen Use for Your Family.]
Most of all, be a good role model. Children are watching and imitating parental behaviors from a very young age. Set your cell phone or tablet down, and try to remain emotionally present and connected with your child as often as possible.
Their brains will thank you.
Dr. Leah Light, Contributor
Dr. Leah Light is founder and director of Brainchild Institute in Hollywood, Florida.
(HealthDay News) — Kids who grow up confident that their parents, friends and community have their back are far less likely to struggle with depression or other serious mental health issues as adults, new research indicates.
The survey of nearly 6,200 adults also found that bad experiences, such as emotional or physical abuse, don’t inevitably doom kids to a difficult adulthood. When children who have experienced such traumas are nurtured by family love and friendship, they are more likely to overcome them and develop healthy relationships later in life, the researchers said.
“We believe our study offers the hopeful possibility that children and adults can thrive despite their accumulation of negative childhood experiences,” said study lead author Christina Bethell, a professor of population, family and reproductive health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
And that, she added, “points to the need to foster nurturing parenting, and to build a caring capacity in communities and society in order to turn the tide on the nation’s epidemic of mental and social problems.”
In the study, published online Sept. 9 in JAMA Pediatrics, Bethell and her colleagues reported their analysis of responses to a 2015 survey of Wisconsin adults.
Respondents were asked to recall positive aspects of their youth, including being able to talk to family members; having family support during bad times; and feelings that they belonged, were supported by friends and protected at home by adults.
Participants were also asked if they’d ever been subjected to physical, emotional or sexual abuse, or to drug abuse or violence at home. An estimated two-thirds of U.S. adults have had one or more such experiences, Bethell said.
The takeaway: A more positive childhood led to a more positive adulthood, even if one’s childhood included significant trauma.
Among respondents who mostly lacked positive childhood experiences, 48% went on to experience depression as adults, the study found.
But depression affected only about 13% of adults whose youth was broadly positive, whether or not childhood trauma had occurred.
And regardless of early trauma, those reporting a broadly positive childhood were 3.5 times more likely than others to always get the adult social and emotional support they desired.
In contrast, only one-third of those who described their youth as lacking said they always got the social and emotional support they desired as adults. But that figure doubled among those whose childhood was characterized by broad support, love and belonging, the investigators found.
The good news, said Bethell, is that when parents and friends provide love and support, it can help a child “heal” from trauma.
The bad news: When kids lack a nurturing environment, the risk of mental health trouble rises, even in the absence of trauma, she added.
Two experts who reviewed the study reacted cautiously.
Rose Alvarez-Salvat, clinical supervisor of the psychology division at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, said the findings were not surprising. She added that they underscored the complex nature of mental health.
Positive and nurturing childhood environments “can consistently lead to more positive coping, and serve as a protective factor into adulthood and mental health,” Alvarez-Salvat said. At the same time, a host of other issues likely comes into play, including genetic predispositions, education and cultural factors, she added.
Turhan Canli, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y., noted that the study does not show a cause-and-effect relationship between childhood experiences and adult depression.
“The questions about positive childhood experiences are all phrased in such a way that the respondent has to remember how they ‘felt’ as a child,” he noted. “But both memory and feelings are quite subjective, so we don’t have any objective confirmation that these positive experiences occurred as people remember them.”
The only way to really know what’s going on, Canli said, is to do more long-term research that would track and observe individuals as they move from childhood into adulthood.
More information
For more on positive parenting, visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
SOURCES: Christina Bethell, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.P.H., professor of population, family and reproductive health, and director, Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore; Rose Alvarez-Salvat, Ph.D., child psychologist, training director and clinical supervisor, division of psychology, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, Miami; Turhan Canli, Ph.D., professor of psychology and psychiatry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y.; Sept. 9, 2019, JAMA Pediatrics, online
Last Updated: Sep 9, 2019
(HealthDay News) — Women who keep moving during pregnancy may have infants with more advanced motor skills, a small study suggests.
Researchers discovered the difference among 1-month-olds: Those whose moms got regular aerobic exercise during pregnancy tended to have stronger movement skills, versus babies whose mothers did not.
The movement tests included things like head turning, said researcher Linda May, an associate professor at East Carolina University, in Greenville, N.C.
(HealthDay News) — Prenatal opioid exposure (POE) is negatively associated with neurocognitive and physical development in offspring from the age of 6 months into school age, according to a study published online July 12 in JAMA Network Open.
Su Lynn Yeoh, from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and colleagues reviewed data from 26 peer-reviewed cohort studies to examine the correlation between POE and cognitive and motor development in children aged 6 months to 18 years. Cognitive outcomes were compared for 1,455 children with POE and 2,982 nonexposed children across three age groups (mean age at cognitive testing, 13 months, 4.5 years, and 13 years for the toddler, preschool, and school-aged groups, respectively). For 688 children with POE and 1,500 nonexposed children up to age 6 years, motor outcomes were compared.
The researchers found that the standardized mean difference in cognitive tests was lower for children with POE at 0 to 2 years and 3 to 6 years (d, −0.52 [95 percent confidence interval (CI), −0.74 to −0.31; P < 0.001] and −0.38 [95 percent CI, −0.69 to −0.07; P < .001], respectively); for those aged 7 to 18 years, the difference was not significant (d, −0.44; 95 percent CI, −1.16 to 0.28; P = .23). Children with POE had significantly lower motor scores (d, −0.49; 95 percent CI, −0.74 to −0.23; P < .001).
“The exact cause and the association of these findings with clinical factors and environmental adversities are unclear but suggest that children with POE should be provided long-term support and intervention beyond infancy,” the authors write.
(HealthDay News) — Many people wait until they’re older to have children, and that decision can raise the risk of problems like infertility and genetic abnormalities. But new research suggests there may be at least one benefit to having children later in life.
The study found that kids with at least one older parent were less likely to be defiant rule-breakers or physically aggressive.
“Older parents-to-be may be reassured that their age is not necessarily a negative factor with respect to behavioral problems in their child,” said study author Marielle Zondervan-Zwijnenburg. She’s a post-doctoral researcher at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
But what is it about delayed parenthood that could lead to even a small increase in better behavior?
“We believe that older parents are more often able to create favorable environments for their children. Older parents may be more sensitive to the child’s needs and provide more structure,” Zondervan-Zwijnenburg said.
She added that older parents also likely have better financial resources and may have a higher education. However, the researchers did compare the effects of socioeconomic factors between younger and older parents. They said these factors didn’t account for the differences in children’s behavior.
Another possibility is that younger parents who have more “externalizing” behaviors may be more impulsive, which could be related to having children at a younger age, the study authors suggested.
Eric Herman, a clinical psychologist at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, was familiar with the study. He agreed that younger parents might pass down more impulsive traits that could lead to a higher risk of behavior problems.
The study included almost 33,000 Dutch children between the ages of 10 and 12. The kids were part of four different past studies. Parental ages ranged from 16 to 68.
Problem behaviors were reported by parents, teachers and even the children themselves.
The researchers saw positive effects if either the mother or the father was older. They didn’t look at combined effects if both parents were older, however. The study found the positive effects were slightly more pronounced if the mother was older.
Certain behaviors called “internalizing” behaviors weren’t affected by the age of mom or dad. These are mental health concerns such as anxiety, depression and social withdrawal, Zondervan-Zwijnenburg said.
Herman said this finding makes sense because internalized behaviors are often genetically based, and can happen despite a child’s upbringing.
Herman also said that he doubted parents would make a decision about the timing of their children based on this study, but he suggested that it offers a bit of positive information to weigh against the potential risks involved in waiting to have kids.
“An increase in the father’s age has been associated with autism and schizophrenia. There’s a higher risk of chromosomal abnormalities and other medical problems when people decide to wait,” he explained.
And there are so many different factors that influence how a child behaves — including parent ages, incomes, education, the child’s education and peer group — that it’s difficult to tease out what factors truly make an impact, Herman added.
What this study did show is that “parents really can make a difference in some behaviors,” Herman said. And he thinks that’s true no matter what your age when you become a parent.
The findings were published July 31 in the journal Child Development.
More information
No matter what your age, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has information for parents on child development.
SOURCES: Marielle Zondervan-Zwijnenburg, post-doctoral researcher, Utrecht University, the Netherlands; Eric Herman, M.A., L.L.P., clinical psychologist, department of psychiatry and psychology, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit; July 31, 2019, Child Development
Trying your best to understand the underlying cause of the biting will help you develop an effective response. Children bite in order to cope with a challenge or fulfill a need.
Biting is a very common behavior among toddlers, which means there are a lot of concerned parents out there. You are not alone. The good news is that there is a lot that parents and caregivers can do to reduce and, ultimately, eliminate biting.
To set the stage for effectively addressing this challenge, avoid calling or thinking of your child as a “biter” and ask others not to use this term. Labeling children can actually lead to them taking on the identity assigned to them, which can intensify biting behavior rather than eliminate it.
Shaming and harsh punishment do not reduce biting.
Children bite in order to cope with a challenge or fulfill a need. For example, your child may be biting to express a strong feeling (like frustration), communicate a need for personal space (maybe another child is standing too close) or to satisfy a need for oral stimulation. Trying your best to understand the underlying cause of the biting will help you develop an effective response. This makes it more likely that you will be successful in eliminating the behavior.
Why do toddlers bite?
There are many reasons why toddlers might bite. Some are listed below. If you think one of these reasons might by why your child is biting, read specific strategies on how to respond later in the article. Toddlers might bite if they:
Lack language skills necessary for expressing important needs or strong feelings like anger, frustration, joy, etc. Biting is a substitute for the messages he can’t yet express in words like: I am so mad at you, You are standing too close to me, I am really excited, or I want to play with you.
Are overwhelmed by the sounds, light or activity level in this setting
Are experimenting to see what will happen
Need more active playtime
Are over-tired
Are teething
Have an need for oral stimulation
What Can I Do to Prevent Biting?
Questions to Consider
As you watch your child at play, you can begin to anticipate when a bite might occur. The following questions can guide you in identifying the kinds of situations often lead to biting:
What happened right before the bite?
Who was your child playing with?
Who was bit? Is it always the same child, or different children each time?
What was your child doing?
Where was your child?
Who was caring for your child?
Strategies to Prevent Biting
If you see signs that your child might be on the verge of biting, you can:
1. Distract your child with a toy or book. Suggest looking out the window or take a walk to another room or outside. The goal is to reduce the tension and shift your child’s attention.
When parents shift their focus and energy to the child who was bitten, they clearly communicate that biting does not result in more attention. (Credit: Szefei / Shutterstock.com)
2. Suggest how your child might handle the situation that is triggering the need to bite. For example: Marcus, you can tell Ana: “You are a little too close to me. I don’t like it when you touch my hair.” If you think your child might be biting due to a need for oral stimulation, offer your child something he can safely bite and chew—a cracker, some carrot sticks, or a teether.
3. Suggest ways to share. Take out a kitchen timer to give children a visual reminder of how long they can each play with a particular toy. In a group caregiving setting, you will want to make sure that the classroom has more than one of the most popular toys. Sharing is one of the most common triggers for biting.
4. Reading books about biting can also help. As you read, ask your child how the different characters might be feeling. If you have an older toddler, you can ask him to “read” the book to you, by telling you what is happening based on the pictures. Some titles to recommend include:
What Do I Do When My Toddler Bites?
First, keep your own feelings in check. When a toddler bites, you might feel frustrated, infuriated, annoyed, embarrassed, and/or worried. All of these feelings are normal, but responding when you are in an intense emotional state is usually not a good idea. So calm yourself before you respond—count to 10, take a deep breath, or do whatever works for you.
Identifying the kinds of situations that often lead to biting will help you find the best way to prevent biting. (Credit: Issarapong Srirungpanich / Shutterstock.com
In a firm, matter-of-fact voice (but not angry or yelling), say: No biting. Biting hurts. Comment on how the other child is feeling: Look, Madison is crying. She is crying because you bit her. Biting hurts. Keep it short, simple and clear.
Next, shift your attention to the child who was bitten. Often when a child bites, adults pay a lot of attention to him or her. This is usually negative attention, but it is still very reinforcing and can actually cause the biting behavior to continue, rather than stop. When parents shift their focus and energy to the child who was bitten, they clearly communicate that biting does not result in more attention. Showing concern and sympathy for the child who was bitten also teaches empathy.
Remember, learning a new behavior takes time.
If your child is verbal and able to talk about his experiences, go back and talk with him about the different strategies he can use next time, instead of biting: If Tyler grabs your cuddly and won’t let it go, you can say: “Tyler, that is my cuddly. Give it to me.” If he won’t give it back, you can come get me and I will help you. Or: When you want to play, you can say: “Will you play with me?” Then your friend knows you are ready to play.
Help the children move on. Ask: What would you like to play now? It might help to offer activities, like play-dough, drawing, or playing in sand or water, that allow them to release energy in constructive ways and can help them relax. The toddler who bit and the child who was hurt should not be made to play with one another, unless they want to.
Remember, learning a new behavior takes time. Your toddler may bite again, so continue watching playtime closely. It also helps to use the same words (No biting. Biting hurts.) as consistently as possible to emphasize the message.
Strategies to Respond Based on Your Child’s Development
1. Support Communication and Language Skills
If you think biting is a substitute for not having the language skills to express himself you can:
Put into words what you guess your child might be thinking: Tanya, do you want to have a turn on the tricycle? You can ask Henry, “Can I have a turn now?”
Help your child express his feelings in appropriate ways. If your child is really angry, you can say: Max, you are so mad! You are really, really angry. Then suggest a way to deal with these feelings: Making angry lion faces and growling, ripping up newspapers, punching the couch cushions, banging a drum, jumping up and down—whatever is acceptable to you.
Reinforce your child when he uses words to share his feelings: You asked me for a turn blowing bubbles instead of grabbing them. Great job. Here you go.
Give your child age-appropriate choices, for example, about what to wear or who to play with. Having choices gives children a sense of control and can reduce biting.
Consider a speech-language assessment if you think your child’s verbal skills might be delayed.
2. Help Your Child Cope With Feeling Overwhelmed
If your child is easily overwhelmed by lights, sound, and activity, you can:
Keep television and radio off or on low volumes.
Avoid big crowds and high-activity settings like the mall or the playground on a sunny Saturday morning.
Schedule activities with a lot of sensory input (like clothes-shopping or trips to dentist or doctor) for your child’s “best” times of day, when he is fed and well-rested.
Talk with your child’s other caregivers about his difficulty managing a lot of sensory input. Brainstorm ways to reduce the stimulation in his other caregiving settings.
Give your child a firm “bear” hug when you sense she is feeling stressed and out of control and perhaps about to bite. This can help children feel “held together” which can be very soothing.
Create a “cozy corner” in your house with pillows, books and other quiet toys like stuffed animals, or use a playtent as a safe place to take a break. Explain that this is a place your child can go if he wants to be alone or feels out of control and needs to cool down. Ensure that your child’s other caregiving settings have a “cozy corner” as well.
3. Explain the Effects of Their Actions
If your child is experimenting to see what will happen when he bites, you can:
Provide immediate, firm, unemotional (as best you can) feedback (No biting. Biting hurts.). Shift attention away from your child to the child who was bit.
Help your child understand about cause-and-effect: You bit Macy and now she is crying. When you bite, it hurts your friends. Biting is never okay.
4. Provide Opportunities for Active Play
If your child needs more active play, you can:
Set aside time each day to be active. Take a walk after breakfast. Turn music on while you are cooking dinner and have your child dance with you.
Talk with your child’s other caregivers to ensure that active play is a part of everyday. Toddlers who bite should not be punished by losing “recess” time. This may make the problem worse.
Build activity into your child’s everyday routines—for example, doing 10 jumping jacks before lunch or stretching before bed.
5. Address Sleep Challenges
If your child is over-tired, you can:
Try incrementally moving her bedtime 30 to 60 minutes earlier over a few weeks.
Set up a schedule of naps or, if she won’t nap, “quiet times” when she is in her crib or bed with a book and soft music playing.
Avoid play-dates or other potentially stressful activities on days when she is very tired.
Tell your child’s other caregivers when she has not slept well or is tired so they can shadow her, in order to reduce the possibility of a biting incident.
6. Support Healthy Teething
If your child is teething, you can:
Offer him a teether or cold washcloth to bite.
Talk to your child’s caregivers to make sure they understand he is teething and to identify appropriate teethers in the classroom.
7. Provide Oral Stimulation
If your child has a need for oral stimulation:
Offer her crunchy (healthy) snacks at regular intervals across the day. Research has found that this intervention can actually reduce biting incidents.
When to Seek Help
While biting is very common behavior, it usually stops by age 3 to 3 ½. If your toddler continues to bite, or the number of bites increases instead of decreases over time, it is probably a good idea to request an assessment from a child development specialist.
This professional can help you identify the reason for the biting and develop a strategy for addressing the behavior. Remember, there is no quick fix. Over time, and with assistance, your child will stop biting and use more appropriate ways to express her needs.
What absolutely WILL NOT work to stop biting?
Shaming or harsh punishment do not reduce biting, but they do increase your child’s fear and worry—which can actually increase biting incidents. Aggressive responses like these also do not teach your child the social skills he or she needs to cope with the situations that trigger biting.
Biting your child back, which some might suggest, is not a useful response. There is no research to show this behavior reduces biting. However, it does teach your child that it’s okay to bite people when you are upset! Keep in mind that human bites can be dangerous, and biting constitutes child abuse. This is not an appropriate response to toddler biting.
Source: Ruhr-University Bochum
Summary: Over two-thirds of all people prefer to carry a baby in their left arm. The figure is as high as three quarters for women, and the same also applies to right-handed people. This is the result of an analysis of 40 studies from the past 60 years.
The experts assume that one reason for this preference is that emotions are primarily processed in the right hemisphere of the brain, which is linked to the left side of the body. The team led by lead author Julian Packheiser reports in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews on 26 June 2019.
The first study from 1960
International researchers have been investigating since 1960 whether and why people have a preferred side when cradling a baby. Some studies have demonstrated a preference, others have not. “In order to explain the effect, we looked for all of the studies we could find on this topic,” says Julian Packheiser. The Bochum-based researchers included 40 studies in their analysis.
They ultimately found that between 66 and 72 percent of all people hold an infant with their left arm. For right-handed people, the figure is even higher at 74 percent, while it is only 61 percent for left-handed people. The ratio is similar for men and women: 64 percent of all men and 73 percent of all women hold a baby with their left arm. “There may, of course, be links between gender and handedness,” explains Packheiser. After all, men are 23 percent more likely to be left-handed than women. “Unfortunately, this link has not been considered in any study,” says the researcher.
Emotions can be crucial
There has been much speculation about the reasons for the side preference. Perhaps right-handed people are only holding the baby on the left so that they have their right, more dexterous hand free. However, since emotions are primarily processed in the right hemisphere of the brain, people may also tend to move their baby into their left visual field, which is linked to the right hemisphere of the brain. This could be especially true for mothers who have already established a strong emotional bond with their child during pregnancy.
As regards men, the researchers from Bochum are comparing the results of the analysis with their own study on hugs. During this study, they discovered that men who are uncomfortable hugging other men tend to hug each other from the left because of the strong negative emotions. “Further studies would have to take into account the emotional context of holding babies,” says Julian Packheiser.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Ruhr-University Bochum. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
By Rebecca Parlakian and Sarah S. MacLaughlin
All parents have been there. You’ve tried feeding, burping, and changing his diaper. You checked for fever. You even checked to see if his socks are too tight! Could it be gas? Is he too hot or too cold? Maybe he’s teething. Regardless, you’ve tried everything you can think of and now you’re starting to stress. He. Just. Keeps. Crying.
Some babies cry more than others for reasons we don’t fully understand. This doesn’t mean that you are doing anything wrong as a parent or that your baby doesn’t like you! Many parents have to cope with babies who cry a lot in the early months of life. If you have found yourself bouncing, patting, humming, or soothing a fussy baby, you are not alone!
It’s normal to feel stressed when babies cry.
A crying baby can rattle even the most level-headed person. Why? It has to do with the way our brains are wired. We feel a sense of urgency when babies cry. It’s almost like a fire alarm goes off in our brains. This is nature’s way of making sure we do our jobs: respond to our babies’ needs and take care of them! But what if we’ve done all we can to help, and the crying doesn’t stop? Here’s what might happen for you as your baby continues to cry:
The “thinking” part of your brain shuts down, affecting your ability to be calm and think logically.
Your reactions may be panicked, meaning that you feel out of control and are not thinking clearly.
You may find it difficult to calm yourself down and regulate your own feelings and reactions.
Babies tune into our feelings and reactions.
For better or worse, a baby tends to “tune in” to her caregivers’ emotional state. This means that just when babies need us to be at our calmest so we can help calm them, we are often feeling stressed, frustrated and wound up! Our arms and shoulders are tense, and our facial expressions also may show stress. A caregiver’s stress can add to the baby’s stress and intensify her fussiness.
Calming yourself is job number one.
The first trick to calming your baby is to recognize that you yourself are anything but calm. Take a moment to name how you are feeling (frustrated, angry, sad, rejected, etc.). After that crucial first step, here are some additional strategies that may help:
Put your baby down in a safe place (like a crib) and take a break. Give yourself the gift of a few minutes to calm down and attend to your own needs. It’s just like when you’re on a plane and the flight attendant tells you to put on your own oxygen mask first before assisting your child. Make time throughout the day to feed yourself, drink enough water, shower, get some exercise, or call a friend. This kind of self-care will help you stay calm and self-regulated. When you are in a calmer state of mind, you are better able to help your baby.
Try taking deep, even breaths. People often breathe shallowly when stressed, so changing your breathing actually helps you feel calmer. Deep, even breathing sends the message to your nervous system that you are safe, which helps your body start to regulate. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Try counting to 10, or putting your hand on your stomach as you breathe to make sure you’re taking deep breaths.
Sleep. Not surprisingly, parents who report having a baby who cries a lot also tend to report being exhausted. Often, this exhaustion can’t be relieved by just one good night of sleep. Talk to your baby’s health care provider, or your own, if you are experiencing feelings of being overwhelmed, sad, depressed, or unable to care for your baby. New parents need and deserve support.
Remember that your baby loves you, but is having a tough time right now. Sometimes babies cry or are fussy for reasons we just can’t figure out. But this fussiness is no reflection on your baby’s feelings for you! Your baby loves you and is doing the best she can right now. So, take breaks when you can, ask for help when you need it, and consult with your health care provider if your baby’s fussiness causes concern.
What’s a parent to do when one of the most commonly used tools for discipline is called into question?
A number of recent articles in popular media that denounce the use of time-outs have sent many parents, understandably, into a tailspin. Critics believe that instead of helping children calm down, time-outs have the opposite effect—causing children to become even more distressed and “dysregulated,” or out of control. Further, children can become so overwhelmed by the disruption in their relationship with their parent during time-out (and by the shame they feel for being “bad”) that their emotional upset increases and their likelihood of learning from the experience decreases. But all of these negative outcomes assume that time-out is approached with anger, shaming, and harshness by the parent. When implemented this way—as punishment—time-out can no doubt be detrimental to the child.
Giving children (and parents!) space to calm themselves can be helpful, not harmful.
Opponents of time-out often suggest “time-in,” which entails a parent physically comforting a child to calm him or her, no doubt a great strategy. But as anyone who has been the parent or caregiver of a young child knows, there are times when children are so out of control—throwing objects, kicking, hitting, biting—that they cannot accept comfort and in fact, the more the parent tries to soothe the child, the more out of control she gets. She’s on system overload. At these times, parents are also pushed to their emotional limit, their last nerve worked. When emotions (and cortisol levels in the brain) are sky-high, a break for both parent and child can be a healthier solution than an ongoing battle. Sure, in a perfect world, parents would be able to manage their reactions (indeed, the lion’s share of my work with parents is on helping them learn this very skill). But alas, parents are also human, and as hard as we may work on controlling our emotions, there are times when the only way that is going to happen is when we can take a break from the intensity of the moment.
In this situation, giving the child a break can actually be a positive parenting strategy. The critical factor is the way this break is implemented. When done calmly and lovingly, it can be an important opportunity to prevent further escalation, to provide both child and parent a chance to regain control, and to then come back together to solve the problem when both are calm. There are a range of ways to do this, including the ideas below that families in my practice have used with success.
Create a special, safe space.
In my household, we established the “cozy corner.” A family I work with created the “peace place.” I recommend parents talk with the child in advance about the purpose of this safe space—that it is where people in their family go when they are losing control and need a break. (I suggest parents also use it to take a break themselves, which can serve as some very powerful role modeling.) Parents include children in designing the space, giving them choices of acceptable items that can be included. One family put a small nylon teepee in their child’s room, which provided a sense of boundary and comfort. When a parent assesses that a break is needed, it is done calmly and lovingly. Even if you are holding your child out at arm’s length to avoid his kicks and swatting at you, as calmly as possible, take him to his break place and let him know that you can’t wait until he can calm himself so that you can play again. Separations aren’t inherently or automatically harmful to young children. When separations are framed and approached lovingly and supportively—not punitively—they can be caring, not callous.
Keep expectations for what the break will accomplish in check.
Children—especially those under 3 years old—do not yet have the ability to reflect on their own actions and behavior. This means that the goal of taking a break is not self-reflection (“Gee, I wonder why I let my emotions get the best of me—I really shouldn’t have thrown that train” is beyond most 2-year-olds), but to provide a quiet place where children can move from a state of high agitation and upset to a sense of calm. The break offers the space for both parent and child to regroup, and then come back together to talk about what the child could do the next time this situation arises. No learning takes place when children are in an agitated, emotionally flooded state.
Choose a time limit best suited to your child.
One approach is to have the break end when the child is calm. Another option is to set a timer for—3 to 5 minutes—then go back to the child and check in. At this point, she may still be upset, but if she is no longer out of control and is willing to accept being comforted, you can help her move on. Remember, you’re not giving in to whatever caused the original upset—you’re just helping her learn to calm herself and to accept an alternative, for example, reading a book together instead of playing on the tablet that you had taken away, which caused the tantrum.
Ignore the behavior but not the child.
If a child is out of control but not harming herself or others, it can be very effective to just ignore the behavior. If a child is having a tantrum because you took away toys that he was throwing, acknowledge his anger (which is neither right nor wrong—it just is) and then move on. You might let him know you are going to make dinner and would love a helper when he is calm and ready. Or pick up one of his favorite books and start reading it aloud. This communicates that you are still a loving, present parent, ready and eager to engage, but that you’re not going to participate in or fuel his tantrum. (Check out this short video clip to learn about ways to help children manage their emotions.)
Using breaks mindfully, as a tool to help young children learn to cope with their strong emotions, is all about the way it’s done. Breakdowns are evidence that children are having a hard time coping with one of life’s inevitable frustrations or disappointments. They are not purposefully misbehaving, they are just reacting. Their intense emotions—and limited skills in self-regulation—sometimes cause them to lose control over their minds and bodies. A short break from interaction can help them cool down. In the context of a loving, strong parent-child relationship, giving children (and parents) this space to calm themselves can be helpful, not harmful.
Learn what important factors influence your child’s behavior, and what you can do in challenging moments.
Amelia, told that she can’t have a fifth book before bedtime, shouts: “You are the meanest mommy! You are not invited to my birthday party!” Derek, when offered a choice between carrots and cheese, not ice cream, before dinner announces: “I don’t like the choices you are choicing me!” Alex hurls a bowl of his favorite cereal off the table and screams, “I said the red bowl, not the blue bowl!” If any of these exclamations sounds familiar, you are not alone. Welcome to what can feel like the Wild West of toddlerhood.
But seen through the eyes of the child, and through the lens of development, these behaviors, while maddening, are utterly normal, and signal important milestones are being achieved. Further, these incidents don’t have to be dreaded, as they are opportunities to teach children to manage their emotions, learn to cope with frustration and disappointment, and find ways to feel in control of their ever-expanding worlds in prosocial, acceptable ways.
Getting clear on expectations is critical because the meaning we assign to a child’s behavior influences how we manage our own emotions and reactions to the behavior at hand. If we see the behavior as manipulative or purposely designed to drive us crazy, then we are much more likely to react in angry or harsh ways that escalate instead of calm our child. If, instead, we see these behaviors in the context of normal development, then we can approach our children with empathy and be more effective in teaching good coping skills.
Here are some important factors that influence young children’s behavior that are helpful to keep in mind when dealing with challenging behaviors:
Young children are driven by emotions, not logic, so irrational behavior is normal and to be expected. The part of the brain that controls emotions and actions — that allows us to think, plan and problem-solve — doesn’t start to develop until close to age 3. Most kids cannot consistently self-regulate until age 5 or 6; even then, it is a skill that most of us are working on into adulthood.
Toddlers are becoming increasingly aware that they are separate beings—that they can have different thoughts and feelings from others. This means that while they want to sleep in your bed, they know this is not what you have in mind. This new cognitive milestone, coupled with toddlers’ innate drive to exert some control over their world, leads to an all-out effort to bring you around to their way of thinking. They are extremely clever and will try any and all tactics at their disposal (calling you names, threatening to never go to sleep, or throwing a knock-down-drag-out tantrum, to name a few). This is often what many parents call “manipulation,” but which I like to think of as strategic, as beautifully illustrated by this shrewd three-year-old. When she cried out for food every night after she was put to bed (not more than 15 minutes after having passed up the snack offered at book-reading time), her parents appeared at her bedside, snacks in hand. The next morning she told her dad, “I just want to let you know that tonight after you put me to bed I am going to be very hungry!”
Toddlers have strong feelings but few tools for managing them at this young age. Think about it—many adults are still working on being aware of their feelings and choosing to act on them in healthy ways.
So, what’s a parent to do?
Stay in control when your child is spiraling out of control. Managing your emotions and reactions is one of most important parenting tools at your disposal. When parents get reactive and emotional, it tends to escalate the child’s upset and intensify power struggles. When your child is losing it, she needs you to be her rock and stay sane and rational.
Keep in mind that you can’t actually make your child do anything–eat, sleep, pee, poop, talk, or stop having a tantrum. What you do have control over is how you respond to your children’s actions, as this is what guides and shapes their behavior. If throwing a tantrum results in extra iPad time, a later bedtime, or simply getting more of your attention, your toddler is putting two and two together, making an important assessment: “Excellent strategy! Put that one in the win column.”
This is not manipulation, it is a smart calculation, and means you are raising a really competent kid. He is figuring out successful ways to get what he wants, which is awesome. It is our job is to teach our kids which strategies are effective and which aren’t. So any behaviors you don’t want him to rely on can’t be successful, or what would be the motivation to give them up?
Show empathy and validate the feeling. “I know the blue shirt is your favorite and you are really disappointed that you can’t wear it today, but it’s in the wash.” It isn’t feelings that are the problem, it’s how they get acted on that can be problematic. The more you validate feelings, the less likely children are to have to act on them.
Set the limit and provide acceptable choices. “Your choice today is the red or yellow shirt.” If your child refuses the “choices you are choicing” him, then you let him know that you will make the choice. He may throw a fit. As calmly as you can, put a shirt on him and move along so he experiences the consequence of his actions. That is how children ultimately learn to make good decisions—by experiencing the outcomes of their choices and assessing which get them what they want and which don’t. If a tantrum leads to you taking that blue shirt out of the laundry, you:
give him the false expectation that he will get everything he wants, making it harder for him to learn to be flexible and accept alternatives—a critical life skill for getting along in the world;
send him the message that tantrums or refusal to cooperate are successful strategies, which he will naturally continue to rely on; and
communicate that you don’t think he can handle this disappointment, a missed opportunity for him to experience that he can indeed survive wearing a different shirt—building flexibility and important coping skills.
When my son was three and my daughter one, after over 600 consecutive nights of his getting to choose the books we read at bedtime, my daughter spoke up and said, “I want Clifford!” Since it seemed utterly fair for her to finally get a chance to choose, I promptly started to read about the big red dog, when my son shouted: “I NEVER GET TO CHOOSE THE BOOK!” What planet do you live on? (said the voice in my head). Talk about irrational! I completely mishandled it (despite being a child development specialist even back then), shaming him for being so selfish and engaging in all sorts of inappropriate and ineffective responses, like freezing him out and refusing a hug at bedtime. I still cringe when I think about it 20 years later. But I ultimately learned from my mistakes and made some course corrections. It’s never too late.
AUTHOR
Claire Lerner, Contributor
If you imagine a teething child, what do you see? An irritable tot with a fever, in pain, and generally unwell?
Teething’s a normal developmental process that people have long associated with illness. However, the evidence says otherwise.
How strong is this evidence? Is there anything you can do to help a teething child? What about teething gels and teething necklaces?
Teething is when new teeth emerge through the gums, and usually starts at about six months of age.
A review of 16 studies found that although teething was linked with signs and symptoms, these were usually mild involving gum irritation, irritability, and drooling.
Although body temperature may be slightly raised, the review found poor evidence to suggest teething caused fever. Many symptoms linked to teething, like irritability, sleep disturbance and drooling, are difficult to measure objectively and are based on what parents report, which is subjective and may be inaccurate.
And, as teething comes and goes, and its timing is relatively unpredictable, recording even measurable symptoms like temperature changes in a reproducible, reliable way is virtually impossible.
So teething problems seem to be over-reported in the types of studies that rely on people remembering what happened.
What else could cause the symptoms?
Other biological triggers may in fact explain the symptoms traditionally linked to teething. Teething coincides with normal changes in children’s immunity; the mother’s antibodies are transferred to babies in pregnancy and help protect the baby in the first 6-12 months of life, but start to wane at about the same time as teething.
This, together with behavioural changes as infants start to explore their surroundings, increases the chances of catching viral infections with symptoms like those reported for teething.
Separation anxiety and normal changes in sleep patterns may also account for irritability and sleep disturbances, which may be mistakenly attributed to teething.
As teething symptoms are generally likely to be mild and focused on the mouth, parents are warned against presuming that signs of illness in other parts of the body are due to teething. That’s because this may delay the detection of potentially serious infections that may need medical attention. It may also delay parents getting help settling their child to sleep.
How about teething gels?
The search for solutions to the perceived problem of teething may lead parents to pin their hopes on gels, toys and other products, none of which have been scientifically assessed to alleviate teething symptoms.
Nevertheless, teething gels usually contain a variety of ingredients that help relieve supposed teething-related symptoms. Some, such as the recently discontinued Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital Teething Gel, contain the anesthetic lidocaine.
Very little lidocaine is absorbed into the body when applied to the gums, and only minor complications like vomiting have been reported in Australia. However, accidental swallowing and applying too much can lead to poisoning, resulting in seizures, brain injury, and heart problems.
The decision to discontinue the gel follows a 2014 warning issued by the US Food and Drug Administration against using teething gels with topical anesthetics, after reports of infant and child hospitalization and death.
There have also been warnings about teething gels containing benzocaine. This is another anesthetic applied to the gums that can lead to a dangerous and fatal blood condition called methemoglobinemia, which affects the blood’s ability to carry oxygen.
Another common ingredient in popular teething gels is choline salicylate, an anti-inflammatory similar to aspirin. This increases the risk of liver disease and brain injury if the child eats too much. This may also carry the risk of Reye syndrome, a rare but serious condition that can lead to seizures, loss of consciousness and death. Reye syndrome has been linked to the use of aspirin in children, particularly during viral infections.
A case of suspected teething gel-induced Reye syndrome in 2008 led to the products being contraindicated (warned against) in children in the UK.
A number of young Australian children who used too much salicylate-containing teething gel have also reportedly been hospitalized with side-effects. But the products are still available in Australia.
How about ‘natural’ products?
Although a range of “natural” and homeopathic teething solutions are heavily marketed to parents of young children, these too have risks.
A manufacturer recently recalled a range of natural teething gels after cases of reported poisoning. And US regulatory authorities found the same range contained higher than reported levels of belladonna, a poisonous plant that despite its dangers is used as a homeopathic pain killer and sedative.
In searching for “natural” therapies, parents are also turning to amber teething necklaces that supposedly relieve teething symptoms. Amber is a fossilized tree resin that has historically been suggested to have anti-inflammatory properties.
However, several widely reported cases of strangulation have led to warnings from both US and Australian regulatory authorities. There is currently no scientific evidence these necklaces work.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says amber and other “teething” necklaces, even when mothers wear them, are:
…colourful and playful in design, and may be confused with toys.
All toys for children aged 36 months and below, including teething toys, are strictly regulated by Australian standards. As the ACCC warns, teething necklaces are unlikely to fulfill this requirement.
What to do?
So what are the best options to relieve teething symptoms? With a lack of any good-quality evidence to recommend any specific therapy, experts suggest the best remedy is affection and attention.
Rubbing a clean finger on the gum, or applying gentle, firm pressure with a cooled (but not frozen), clean washcloth or teething ring may provide some relief. Although it’s hard to know exactly how these work, they are unlikely to lead to serious problems.
Teething can be a difficult time, but it will eventually pass. In the meantime, it is important that parents avoid falling prey to supposed cures that are not only unproven but are also potentially dangerous.
By Len Canter
HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay News) — With school, sports and assorted activities, many kids have little or no free time. That fast-paced lifestyle can actually stifle their development, making them less likely to be self-starters.
It could also limit their imagination, an important ingredient in creativity and problem-solving.
University of Colorado-Boulder researchers found that kids who spend more time in less-structured activities have better self-directed control and thinking skills than those who spend more time in structured activities. Think of less-structured activities as free play — alone or with friends — reading, drawing and casual social outings.
Other research has found value in some completely unstructured time to daydream and let the mind wander. Give your children time, space and some simple tools, like paper and colored pencils, to start their creative juices flowing.
Free time allows kids to come up with imaginative ideas and find creative solutions to problems. It encourages qualities such as independent thinking, self-reliance and perseverance — the drive to keep trying if something doesn’t work the first time. So when you’re looking ahead at the weekly calendar, be sure to leave some blocks of time empty.
Not sure if your child is overscheduled? The American Academy of Family Physicians lists these common warning signs:
Your child is constantly tired.
Your child is often grumpy.
Your child has developed physical problems like headaches or belly aches.
Your child has difficulty sleeping.
Your child shies away from social contacts and would rather stay home.
Your child no longer enjoys or wants to do activities that used to be his or her favorites.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more advice to create the right balance of activity and down time for kids.
Beloved pediatrician Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, who died recently at the age of 99, established his reputation by arguing that babies are not “lumps of clay,” as was the prevailing view when he entered the medical field in the 1940s, but rather complex expressive beings whose behavior is “purposeful and meaningful.” In the decades since Brazelton first began making a case for the purposefulness of the infant mind, research on infant cognition has demonstrated that it is even more complex than he ever imagined. A new study just published in Science reveals that babies as young as twelve months old are actually capable of syllogistic reasoning.
Cesana-Arlotti et al. conducted a series of experiments to investigate the logical processes behind preverbal infants’ continuous efforts to understand how the world around them works. Beginning with the premise that infants are capable of developing, testing, and adapting hypotheses about uncertain future events, the researchers sought to characterize the “basic logical representations” with which they might formulate such hypotheses, given the fact that they have not yet developed the language skills which are often considered a prerequisite for such logical thinking. In order to identify the framework upon which such baby reasoning is constructed, the researchers focused on “one simple logical representation and rule: disjunction (either A or B) and disjunctive syllogism (not A, therefore B).” In other words, they designed their experiments to see whether or not infants were capable of reasoning through the process of elimination.
Infants of 12 and 19 months of age were presented with computerized vignettes in which two different objects, such as a dinosaur and a flower, were shown being hidden behind a wall. Once the objects were out of sight, a cup entered the picture and scooped up one of the objects and brought it out from behind the wall, but only the top part of the object—identical to the top of the other object—was visible in the cup. Next, the wall was lowered, revealing the object behind it—the object that had not been lifted up by the cup. Finally, the object in the cup emerged and was revealed to be either A) the object that was not behind the wall (as would logically be expected), or B) an object identical to the object behind the wall (a violation of logical expectation). Or, in dinosaur and flower terms, if it was the dinosaur that was scooped up and the flower left behind the wall, in one case, the expected dinosaur would emerge from the cup, and in the other an unexpected replica of the flower would emerge.
Since infants’ visual attention is drawn to whatever they find most interesting at any given moment, the amount of time they spent looking at the different objects was measured to determine whether the unexpected outcome had any effect upon their interest level. As was hypothesized, the infants stared longer at the unexpected outcome than at the expected outcome, indicating that they were aware of what the outcome logically should have been according to the disjunctive syllogism, “not A, therefore B.”
As a test to determine whether inferences were being made by the infants at appropriate stages throughout the vignette, or if they only reacted to a violation of expectation at the big cup reveal at the conclusion, the researchers analyzed their oculomotor responses at stages where inferences were called for. Significantly, the infants’ pupils dilated more when the scene called for an inference than when it did not, indicating increased cognitive activity during these stages.
Even though reasoning through the process of elimination is a rudimentary form of logic, the authors of the paper point out that it is this same form of reasoning that is most favored by the master logician Sherlock Holmes as he undertakes a “case-by-case analysis of different possibilities, excluding alternatives until the culprit is found.” The results of this study suggest that the sort of logical reasoning that astonishes us in a Sherlock Holmes is actually not a rare or even an acquired ability, but rather innate and universal, and that “intuitive and stable logical structures involved in the interpretation of dynamic scenes may be essential parts of the fabric of the mind.”
References
Cesana-Arlotti, Nicoló, et al. “Precursors of Logical Reasoning in Preverbal Human Infants.” Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 16 Mar. 2018.
Halberda, Justin. “Logic in Babies.” Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 16 Mar. 2018.
Klass, Perri. “How Dr. T. Berry Brazelton Shaped Pediatrics.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Mar. 2018
Among the most exciting moments during pregnancy is when a mother-to-be feels her baby move inside her. Now, research suggests that that kicking isn’t just for kicks: With each kick and jab, your baby may be mapping out its brain and building an information superhighway.
These kicks, known as fetal movements, enable a baby to construct a basic brain network so that it can understand what part of the body is moving and how it is being touched, the researchers found.
This early spatial mapping lasts only until birth, when within just a few days, the very same types of movements no longer have the same effect on the brain. It is as if the movements in the womb are preparing the baby for life on the outside, providing the neural scaffolding upon which the brain will build layers of complexity with all the new kinds of sensory input in the world, the researchers suggested.
And the reward for feeling around within the womb is nearly instant.
“These fundamental aspects of touch are useful immediately from birth for skills like breastfeeding,” said Kimberley Whitehead, a doctoral student at University College London (UCL), who co-led the study.
The study’s findings may have implications for neonatal clinical care, such as how to wrap a very premature baby so that it can maintain that sense of being in the womb and further develop this basic brain network, said Whitehead and her dissertation adviser and study co-lead, Lorenzo Fabrizi, a senior research fellow at UCL.
The study is published today (Nov. 30) in the journal Scientific Reports.
Previous research conducted by others has found that spontaneous movements and consequent feedback seen just after birth are necessary for proper brain mapping in animals such as rats. Yet rodents are born in a premature state, less developed than newborn humans. For example, baby rats don’t open their eyes until they are about 13 days old.
The question for Fabrizi was whether humans have the same early brain mapping before birth. And yet, researchers can’t study the brain waves of babies still in the womb. [That’s Incredible! 9 Brainy Baby Abilities]
So, Fabrizi’s laboratory devised a study in collaboration with University College London Hospital to examine a variety of newborn humans, including those born premature. A total of 19 newborns, about 2 days old, on average, took part in the study; they were between 31 and 42 weeks in so-called corrected gestational age when studied. Corrected gestational age takes into account their age if they were still in the womb; a baby born at 35 weeks and being 1 week old, for instance, would have a corrected gestational age of 36 weeks.
Using noninvasive electroencephalography (EEG), the researchers measured brainwaves as these infants slept, focusing on the times when the newborns kicked their limbs during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. And they found evidence for this building of brain networks, especially among the prematurely born babies.
For example, the movement of a baby’s right hand caused brain waves to fire immediately afterward in the part of the left brain hemisphere that processes touch for the right hand. The size of these brain waves was larger (meaning a greater increase in activity) in premature babies, who at their age would otherwise still be in the womb, compared with the infants born full-term.
Whitehead said her team’s most recent data, not yet published, suggests that other aspects of touch develop in the first several weeks after birth, such as combining information from both the left side and the right side of the body.
“These early patterns [developed in utero] lay out the pathways on which then experience after birth can work on to refine the initial map,” Whitehead told Live Science.
For premature babies, the findings suggest that keeping a newborn swaddled or nested in a cot may be beneficial to allow the baby to feel a womb-like surface when he or she moves. Also, as these movements were observed during REM sleep, the results support the notion that sleep should be protected in newborns in hospitals with minimal disturbance for necessary medical procedures.
They are busy building their beautiful brains, after all.
Whether you’re the long-suffering parent or an unlucky passenger sitting in a neighboring row, a crying baby on an airplane is never fun. We’ve all been there. As the plane ascends or descends, baby feels the scary sensation of her or his ears popping, and a whimper that turns into a high-pitched shriek fills the cabin.
Of course, there are many reasons that a baby might cry on an airplane. Feelings of discomfort, exhaustion, hunger, loneliness, boredom, anger, pain and general unrest are all expressed by wails and tears, if not a total meltdown. However, there is general agreement that the pressure caused by flying at altitude is particularly difficult to bear for babies and toddlers. There is a fundamental anatomical difference between baby and adult ears, Dr. Simon Baer, a consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon in the United Kingdom, told Live Science. [Why Do Babies Barely Blink?]
“Certainly, one of the main reasons babies cry on planes is that they are not good at pressure equalization in the middle ear, as the infantile Eustachian tube does not generally function as well as [the one in] adults,” Baer said.
The Eustachian tube is a canal connecting the middle ear to the nasopharynx — the upper throat and the back of the nasal cavity. Basically, this tube controls the pressure within the middle ear, making it equal to the air pressure outside the body. The Eustachian tube remains closed most of the time, opening only for activities such as yawning, swallowing and chewing, which allows air through the passage between the middle ear and nasopharynx. When atmospheric pressure changes rapidly, causing a sudden feeling of blockage in the ear (such as during airplane travel), most adults yawn or swallow on purpose to open the tube and equalize the pressure within the middle ear.
Baer added that the pressure is particularly problematic during the descent, as equalization is more difficult going from a low atmospheric pressure to a relatively higher one, which happens as the plane goes down for its landing.
“While the problem can occur on ascent, the way the tube works means that it is easier to adjust from a higher atmospheric pressure to a lower pressure, which is what happens when we ascend,” he said. “Although modern aircraft are to a certain extent pressurized, there are still significant air pressure changes in the plane from the ground pressure to the pressure when flying at 30,000 feet [9,100 meters].”
But there are ways to help out baby’s ears. Another good way to equilibrate the pressure differential in the middle ear is through the so-called Valsalva maneuver — that is, pinching the nose and blowing, according to a 2007 review in Paediatrics & Child Health, the official journal of the Canadian Paediatric Society.
Baer had even more advice.
“Three ways that can assist include making sure the baby is awake on ascent and descent, getting baby to suck a bottle at these times, and perhaps avoiding flying when the baby is suffering with an upper respiratory tract infection,” Baer said.
Gordon Harrison, the chief audiologist at the U.K. optical and hearing retail chain Specsavers, told Live Science that a simple way to help ease the effects of pressure on the ear is to introduce as much air as possible to the ear via swallowing or yawning. However, he admitted that this is not always easy when dealing with a hysterical 1-year-old.
“It’s much easier to mitigate the effects of ear pressure in adults than in babies,” Harrison said. “However, while tricks like sucking on a hard-boiled sweet, chewing gum, yawning or drinking through a straw during takeoff and landing all help, these are obviously not things a baby can do.”
Harrison also suggested giving the baby a bottle or pacifier to suck on during takeoff and landing, or breastfeeding at those times.
“Rest assured, though, that usually the pain is only temporary,” he said. “It won’t cause any lasting problems and most likely will ease within a few minutes as the Eustachian tubes open to let the air pressure equalize on both sides of the eardrums.”
If babies had a universal trait, it would have to be their babbling. During the earliest months of their lives, babies’ interactions with us basically boil down to strings of ba’s, ga’s and da’s, punctuated by the occasional gurgle or wet raspberry.
But does this seemingly random string of sounds serve any purpose — other than to entertain besotted parents and fuel adorable social media clips? A growing body of research over the past few decades has revealed that, nonsensical though it may sound, a baby’s babble actually lays the groundwork for the development of language in later life.
Amid the varied soundscape of coos, gurgles and other random noises that babies emit, babbling is recognized as a distinctive category of sound that kicks in around the 6- to 8-month mark of a baby’s life. It can be defined as “the production of repetitive, speech-like syllables,” said Catherine Laing, a linguistics researcher at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, who focuses on early language development in infants. “Babble is the beginning of learning the sounds that can be used in speech,” she summarized. [Why Do Babies Kick in the Womb?]
Babble is also noticeable enough that anyone paying attention to a baby’s vocalizations will notice when it begins, according to Marilyn Vihman, a professor of language and linguistic science at the University of York in the United Kingdom, who has written several books on language development: “It’s a really sharp change which adults can recognize. You don’t have to be a linguist to recognize it.”
However, being able to detect the different phases through which babble unfolds may require a closer listen. Starting out, babies will produce a range of different consonants that they develop a habit of repeating very rhythmically. Soon after, they will typically limit their exploratory inventory to just one or two consonants that they start to repeat more frequently — as in, “babababa!” or “dadadada!” Laing told Live Science. “Having a couple of different consonants that you can produce at will seems to be a prerequisite for really beginning to do words,” Vihman said. “It’s kind of a predictor for being able to get word forms under control, so that you can make words that people will recognize.”
At this stage, babies seem to perform these long syllabic strings as a kind of reflexive motor behavior, without recognizing its practical value. But soon, those strings graduate into shorter, more clipped expressions that start to resemble words. This is something that Vihman has explored in depth over the course of her research. It’s thought that this shift is driven by the baby’s growing awareness of the words that adults around them are speaking — and their desire to mimic them. “Adults are like gods in their universe, the people that provide comfort, warmth and social stimulation. So the big motivation for the baby is to be like the adults,” Vihman told Live Science.
Intriguingly, research shows that deaf babies also start babbling like hearing ones; it’s just slightly delayed. But that progress grinds to a halt at the stage where their babble would start to sound more word-like, because deaf babies can’t hear the words of the adults they’d ordinarily be trying to mimic. In hearing babies, however, after a few more months of practicing these shorter syllables, they’ve “picked up on word forms that are similar to the babble they’re able to produce,” Vihman explained. This becomes the essential bridge that equips them to start repeating words they often hear — words that they might realize have an association with something, or an impact on their listeners. (Think: “uh-oh” and “bye-bye.”) [Why Do Babies Barely Blink?]
At this point — usually between the 10- to 15-month mark — babies will dish up a melange of babble and fully formed words. By the time they have a repertoire of 20 to 30 words that they’re speaking regularly, what they’re doing is probably defined less as babble and more as speech, Vihman said.
And, if you have any lingering doubts about the profound influence of babble on shaping language, there are several fascinating studies that have demonstrated its importance. For example, premature babies who’ve had tracheostomies inserted into their lungs to help them breathe are unable to make babbling sounds like healthy babies. But research has shown that when these tracheostomies are removed, babies will start babbling — even if it’s several months after it should have first begun. “They still go through a babble period before they start to produce words. They sort of pick back up,” Laing said — highlighting the importance of babble in laying the groundwork for speech.
Similarly, hearing-impaired babies who receive a cochlear implant to help them hear again will soon start babbling, as if they’re trying to catch up on everything they’ve missed. “Essentially, if you think about it, it’s like rehearsing the different bits of the words that you’re going to go on to produce. There’s a sense of preparing yourself for word production,” Laing said.
So what’s the main takeaway from all of this? Since babble is a stepping-stone to language, it should be encouraged through plenty of communication with babies. And while some people might think that reciting Shakespeare is best for their offspring, you’d do just as well with a bit of baby talk. “Often parents worry, is it bad to use baby talk? There’s no harm, as long as you’re keeping pace with your baby’s development, and that as they’re understanding more, you’re talking in a slightly more complex way,” Vihman said.
Equally, for working parents who might feel concerned about how pressured schedules and weariness affect the quality of their time — and consequently, their chat — with their babies, Laing has an interesting perspective to share. Emerging research suggests that so long as someone is talking to them — whether another caregiver, a grandparent or a sibling — babies will benefit. “Babies can be quite resilient in terms of what they draw on as an influence,” Laing said. “One-to-one interaction with parents is known to be important, but interactions with a wider range of speakers can support other kinds of learning.”
Children’s home environments have a bigger effect on social mobility than being born into low-income backgrounds or attending underperforming schools, the education secretary has said.
Damian Hinds described the issue as “the last taboo in public policy”, and added that “what parents do is actually more important than who your parents are” in an unscripted speech addressed to people involved in education on Monday.
Speaking before a Tory leadership election and with a cabinet reshuffle looming, Hinds said growing up in households where arguments were frequent and parents were disengaged from their children’s education had the effect of nine grades at GCSE level on a child’s attainment.
He used the event to announce a package of measures from the Department for Education, including the launch of a programme in July “which isn’t going to be patronising and lecturing” to advise parents on how to create a better learning environment at home.
“Nobody wants to be the politician that starts talking about ‘well you should do this and you should do that’ or make it sound like they know better than a family and I don’t want to be that person either,” said Hinds.
“But, if we are serious about social mobility we have to go there, we have to care about the home learning environment because it is going to determine the futures of a lot of those children.”
Other measures announced on Monday included a plan to ensure new teachers in England are trained in how to spot early warning signs of mental illness, better sharing of information between councils and schools and tackling absence and exclusions.
In light of a government review published on Monday, Hinds also said school admissions codes would be changed to speed up school moves for vulnerable children – such as domestic abuse victims.
Responding to Hinds’ announcement, Anntoinette Bramble, a councillor and chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, said: “Schools and councils are both struggling with insufficient budgets, which makes it increasingly difficult to give children the support they need to thrive.
“Councils face an £8bn funding gap by 2025, while an additional £1.6bn is required in high-needs funding by 2021. It is essential that government uses the forthcoming spending review to address these shortfalls, and to ensure schools are adequately funded to support all children to achieve their ambitions.”
In a bid to shore up her “legacy”, it has been reported that the outgoing prime minister, Theresa May, is also attempting to add an extra £27bn to the education budget.
Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Although many of these measures are positive and welcome, sooner or later the government will have to recognise that without decent levels of basic funding for schools and public services, the hard work and positive ideas of so many will simply go to waste.
“We desperately need new money from the Treasury for schools and children’s services, or children will continue to be failed.”
(HealthDay News) — Breastfeeding moms with healthy eating habits have slimmer infants, who could then be protected from obesity later, researchers say.
Rapid weight gain and fat accumulation during an infant’s first six months of life is a risk factor for obesity later on, they explained.
“A baby who is shooting up through the percentiles in weight-for-length during the first six months is two to three times more likely to become obese as early as adolescence,” said study author Ellen Demerath, a professor of public health at the University of Minnesota.
She and her colleagues investigated the effect a nursing mother’s diet has on infant growth and body fat.
Their study included 354 mothers who were breastfeeding exclusively. They were asked about their eating habits during pregnancy and at one and three months after giving birth.
Children of mothers who had a healthier diet at any of those points were slimmer, weighed less and had a lower body fat percentage in the first six months than those whose moms had poorer diets.
A mother’s diet did not affect how much fat-free tissue, including bone and muscle, the child had, according to the study published recently in the journal Nutrients.
“This is evidence that breastfeeding mothers with high-quality diets may help their babies be slimmer and have lower-percent body fat than those who have lower-quality diets, while also supporting healthy growth in length and lean body mass. This bodes well for their risk of obesity later in life,” Demerath said.
The next step is to find out what it is in breast milk that could help infants have healthy size and body composition as they grow.
That information could help mothers decide what to eat to make the most nutritious milk, according to Demerath.
About 1 in 5 kids in the United States between ages 6 and 19 is obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more on children and weight.
SOURCE: University of Minnesota, news release, May 14, 2019
— Robert Preidt
Source: University of Pennsylvania
Summary: Children who nap 30 to 60 minutes midday at least three times a week are happier, have more self-control and grit, and showcase fewer behavioral problems, according to new research. These children also have higher IQs and excel academically.
Ask just about any parent whether napping has benefits and you’ll likely hear a resounding “yes,” particularly for the child’s mood, energy levels, and school performance. New research from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Irvine, published in the journal SLEEP backs up that parental insight.
A study of nearly 3,000 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders ages 10-12 revealed a connection between midday napping and greater happiness, self-control, and grit; fewer behavioral problems; and higher IQ, the latter particularly for the sixth graders. The most robust findings were associated with academic achievement, says Penn neurocriminologist Adrian Raine, a co-author on the paper.
“Children who napped three or more times per week benefit from a 7.6% increase in academic performance in Grade 6,” he says. “How many kids at school would not want their scores to go up by 7.6 points out of 100?”
Sleep deficiency and daytime drowsiness are surprisingly widespread, with drowsiness affecting up to 20% of all children, says lead author on the study Jianghong Liu, a Penn associate professor of nursing and public health. What’s more, the negative cognitive, emotional, and physical effects of poor sleep habits are well-established, and yet most previous research has focused on preschool age and younger.
That’s partially because in places like the United States, napping stops altogether as children get older. In China, however, the practice is embedded into daily life, continuing through elementary and middle school, even into adulthood. So, Liu and Raine, with Penn biostatistician Rui Feng, UC Irvine sleep researcher Sara Mednick and others, turned to the China Jintan Cohort Study, established in 2004 to follow participants from toddlerhood through adolescence.
From each of 2,928 children, the researchers collected data about napping frequency and duration once the children hit Grades 4 through 6, as well as outcome data when they reached Grade 6, including psychological measures like grit and happiness and physical measures such as body mass index and glucose levels. They also asked teachers to provide behavioral and academic information about each student. They then analyzed associations between each outcome and napping, adjusting for sex, grade, school location, parental education, and nightly time in bed.
It was the first comprehensive study of its kind, Mednick says. “Many lab studies across all ages have demonstrated that naps can show the same magnitude of improvement as a full night of sleep on discrete cognitive tasks. Here, we had the chance to ask real-world, adolescent schoolchildren questions across a wide range of behavioral, academic, social, and physiological measures.”
Predictably, she adds, “the more students sleep during the day, the greater the benefit of naps on many of these measures.”
Though the findings are correlational, the researchers say they may offer an alternative to the outcry from pediatricians and public health officials for later school start times. “The midday nap is easily implemented, and it costs nothing,” says Liu, particularly if accompanied by a slightly later end to the day, to avoid cutting into educational time. “Not only will this help the kids, but it also takes away time for screen use, which is related to a lot of mixed outcomes.”
Future directions could look at why, for example, children with better-educated parents nap more than children with less educated parents, or whether, by investigating the influence of culture and personality, nap interventions could be advanced on a global scale. Ideally, a randomized control trial would get at causation questions like whether napping leads to better academic achievement or whether they’re linked in some other way. However, none of this is yet in the works.
For now, the researchers say they hope the results of this current study can inform future interventional work that targets adolescent sleepiness.
Funding for the work came from the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (grants R01-ES018858, K02-ES-019878, and K01-ES015877) and the National Institute on Aging (grant R01-AG046646).
LAURA SANDERS
In the midst of breastfeeding my third child, I once started to calculate how many hours of my life I’ve spent attached to a breast pump. I quickly and smartly gave up, after realizing that “a lot” was a satisfying answer. Like many mothers who breastfeed, I’ve relied on pumping multiple times a day to express milk for my babies’ bottles.
And probably like many mothers, I’ve wondered whether those bottles are the same as nursing directly. The answer, at least in some aspects, is no, according to a new study that compares the microbial makeup of pumped breast milk with that of milk received directly from the breast.
Milk from breastfeeding women who do not pump and milk from women who pump at all (exclusively, occasionally or infrequently) differed in their bacterial makeup, researchers reported February 13 in Cell Host & Microbe. That finding, taken from 393 mother-baby pairs in a larger dataset called the CHILD study, suggests that all breast milk is not, strictly speaking, the same.
Along with microbiologist Shirin Moossavi and colleagues, epidemiologist Meghan Azad of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, found two main differences between the mothers’ milk. Milk from women who pumped had more of the bacteria that can cause infections under the right conditions. It also had fewer bifidobacteria, which are generally thought to be beneficial. It’s too soon to say whether these bacterial differences are good or bad for infant health — or completely irrelevant. “We just show they are different,” Azad says.
Azad and her colleagues hope to answer that question in a future analysis. “The babies in this study are now 8 years old, and we have continued following their growth and development,” she says.
While scientists agree that breast milk is most definitely not sterile, they disagree on where the bacteria come from. Some researchers suspect that internal bacteria, such as that found in the gut, can travel to the breast and make its way into milk. Other researchers think that external sources, such as a baby’s mouth and anything it comes into contact with, can seed bacteria in the breast. Many scientists, including Azad, think both are true.
The researchers found that milk for babies fed directly at the breast contains more bacteria typically found in the mouth, providing support for the idea that the babies’ oral bacteria are a source for the breasts’ bacteria. This baby backwash, which is thought to trigger infection-fighting proteins in the milk, isn’t a factor when a woman pumps.
These bacterial differences between pumped and nonpumped milk are interesting, and I’m excited to see what scientists learn about them. But before women begin to worry about their pumped milk, keep this in mind: The overall variability of the bacteria among women was huge, the study showed, and pumping influenced just one small part of that. About 70 percent of the total variability among women couldn’t be explained by factors the researchers looked at. Of the remaining 30 percent, about 4 percent of the variability could be tied to pumping — a percentage that is small but potentially important, Azad says.
Other factors that influenced breast milk bacteria included the mothers’ BMI, whether a baby had siblings and the sex of the baby. Some ingredients of breast milk are thought to differ depending on whether it’s being made for a boy or a girl.
The results help give a picture of standard breast milk that’s anything but. It seems the more we learn about it, the more it appears there is no single “normal.”
These types of studies might also point out ways to tweak the microbial content of breast milk in a targeted way, perhaps by different pumping or storage methods. Azad emphasizes that the results should not make pumping mothers feel bad. “Pumping is hard work,” she says. “The last thing we want to do is discourage mothers who pump.”
Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.
How do babies learn to talk? – Ella, age 9, Melbourne.
What a great question, Ella!
Babies are born ready to learn and although they don’t “talk” in the first weeks of life, they know how to communicate what they are feeling. They do this by crying. And it is something they do a lot before they produce words.
Babies begin to learn the rules of language as soon as the little bones inside their ears and connections to their brain have grown. They can hear the rhythm and melody of their mother’s voice for three months before they are born and this changes the way their brain develops.
The experience that babies get from eavesdropping on their mother’s conversations in utero helps their brain tune into the language that they will learn to speak once they are born.
Infant-directed speech
Have you ever heard someone talking to a baby with a funny voice that sounds almost like they are singing? People often use a higher pitch, speak slower and repeat what they say when they talk to babies.
Research from baby labs all over the world shows that adults help babies work out the sounds of language by using this special style of speech. Researchers call it infant-directed speech.
Scientists have developed different methods to test what babies like to listen to. We know that in the first year of life, babies turn their heads towards a speaker using infant-directed speech. Or they may suck on a dummy that will play recordings of someone who is using infant-directed speech instead of the flatter style of speech adults use to talk to each other.
This shows that babies prefer infant-directed speech to adult-directed speech.
Using a sing song voice helps babies tell the difference between words like “mummy” or “daddy” because:
1) the higher pitch draws the baby’s attention to speech
2) speech sounds like “ma” and “da” are exaggerated, simplified or repeated. That gives babies a better chance at hearing the difference between them.
3) the affectionate tone of voice encourages infants to play with caregivers who draw attention to different words by speaking more loudly or slowing down their speech.
Learning a language
When babies listen to lots of speech, the connections in their brains are more sensitive to speech that is spoken in the environment around them.
So a baby who hears lots of Cantonese or Mandarin, for example, will learn that the difference in the tone of the speaker’s voice is important and can change the meaning of a word.
A baby learning English, on the other hand, will learn that the tone of a speaker’s voice does not necessarily have the same effect on meaning.
Did you know?
Parents who respond to their baby’s happy babbling sounds by imitating them or talking about the sounds they were making might be onto a good idea. Researchers found that this was linked to the baby making more complex sounds and developing language skills sooner.
Infants can understand many words before they can say them. By nine months of age, babies can usually understand words like “bye-bye” and wave when somebody says it.
As infants get older, they babble more and their babble begins to sounds more like words than non-speech sounds.
By the time babies reach their first birthday, most infants have started to produce their first words. At one year of age, babies can usually understand as many as 50 words, and can say one or two words like “mama” or “dada”.
The story of how babies learn to talk is a fascinating one, Ella. It is amazing to think that you and I, and even your own parents were once little babies learning how to use language to communicate.
Young children who are exposed to large amounts of adult speech tend to have better cognitive skills
Date: April 30, 2019
Source: University of York
Summary: A major new study has identified a link between kids who hear high quantities of adult speech and better nonverbal abilities such as reasoning, numeracy and shape awareness.
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The major new study, led by researchers at the University of York, identified a link between kids who heard high quantities of adult speech and their nonverbal abilities such as reasoning, numeracy and shape awareness.
The researchers gained unprecedented insight into the secret lives of pre-schoolers by fitting tiny audio recorders into the clothing of children aged two to four.
The experiences of 107 children and their interactions with parents and other caregivers were recorded in the home environment over three days for up to 16 hours per day.
Parents were also asked to complete activities with their children — involving drawing, copying and matching tasks — designed to test their child’s cognitive skills.
Lead author of the study, Katrina d’Apice, a PhD student from the University of York’s Department of Education, said: “Using the audio recorders allowed us to study real-life interactions between young children and their families in an unobtrusive way within the home environment rather than a lab setting.
“We found that the quantity of adult spoken words that children hear is positively associated with their cognitive ability. However, further research is needed to explore the reasons behind this link — it could be that greater exposure to language provides more learning opportunities for children, but it could also be the case that more intelligent children evoke more words from adults in their environment.”
The researchers also found that high quality adult speech may have benefits for children’s linguistic development, as children in the study who interacted with adults who used a diverse vocabulary knew a greater variety of words themselves.
The study also analysed the recordings to look at the impact different parenting styles might have on the children’s behaviour.
d’Apice and her colleagues found that positive parenting — where parents are responsive and encouraging of exploration and self-expression — was associated with children showing fewer signs of restless, aggressive and disobedient behaviours.
The study’s senior author, Professor Sophie von Stumm from the Department of Education at the University of York, said: “This study is the largest naturalistic observation of early life home environments to date.
“We found that the quantity of adult spoken words that children were exposed to varied greatly within families. Some kids heard twice as many words on one day as they did on the next.
“The study highlights the importance of treating early life experiences as dynamic and changeable rather than static entities — approaching research in this way will help us to understand the interplay between environmental experiences and children’s differences in development.”
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Materials provided by University of York. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
SATURDAY, April 27, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Another reason breast is best: Breast milk boosts levels of chemicals crucial for brain growth and development in premature babies with very low birth weight, a new study reveals.
“Our previous research established that vulnerable preterm infants who are fed breast milk early in life have improved brain growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes,” said Catherine Limperopoulos, director of MRI research of the developing brain at Children’s National Health System in Washington, D.C.
However, she added, “It was unclear what makes breastfeeding so beneficial for newborns’ developing brains.”
For the new study, her team used “proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy” to solve the mystery. The non-invasive imaging reveals the chemical makeup of specific brain structures, enabling researchers to measure metabolites essential for growth.
With this technology, the researchers examined the brains of very low birth weight babies (under 3.3 pounds). The infants were born after no more than 32 weeks of pregnancy.
The team focused on the right frontal white matter and the cerebellum, a brain region that’s involved in balance, muscle coordination and supports high-order mental functions.
Compared to formula-fed babies, those fed breast milk had significantly higher levels of inositol in the cerebral white matter, and significantly higher creatine levels.
Study lead author Katherine Ottolini explained that “key metabolite levels ramp up during the times babies’ brains experience exponential growth.”
The percentage of days infants were fed breast milk was associated with significantly higher levels of both creatine and a water soluble nutrient called choline, the researchers reported.
“Creatine facilitates recycling of ATP, the cell’s energy currency. Seeing greater quantities of this metabolite denotes more rapid changes and higher cellular maturation. Choline is a marker of cell membrane turnover; when new cells are generated, we see choline levels rise,” Ottolini said in a health system news release.
The study is scheduled to be presented Monday at a meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, in Baltimore. Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
About one in 10 U.S. infants is born preterm, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More information
The March of Dimes has more on premature babies.
SOURCE: Children’s National Health System, news release, April 27, 2019
— Robert Preidt
Parents have found their young children asleep in dog baskets, inside cupboards and sometimes face-down in their dinner, according to a new study.
Research into pre-schoolers’ strange sleeping habits has revealed children will take a quick nap behind the sofa or in a laundry basket rather than miss an opportunity for sleep.
The study also found children nodded off in supermarket trolleys, on the toilet and even while standing-up.
The research of 1,000 parents of kids aged five and under found children will sleep somewhere unusual three times a month on average.
A spokesperson for the makers of In The Night Garden, who commissioned the research ahead of this Sunday’s clock change, said: “As specialists in early years television, we know through our work with very young children that their bodies develop at their fastest between the ages of zero and five.”
They added: “In that short space of time they learn to walk, talk and socialise and that uses up a lot of energy, so it’s not surprising that fatigue sometimes appears in rather unusual places.’’
Other unusual sleep locations included on window sills behind curtains, half in and out of beds and midway up the stairs.
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Three-quarters of parents admitted the temptation to get a photo or video of their child sleeping somewhere unusual was too hard to resist.
On average, they uploaded three clips or pictures to social media to share with friends, family and followers.
However, although they enjoyed the sight of their child sleeping in a bizarre place, six in 10 worried their child would not sleep properly if they had a nap during the day.
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In fact, two-thirds said one of the biggest challenges was getting their child to sleep when and where they should – rather than face-down in their dinner or on the kitchen floor.
Parents said they typically had to battle to get them to bed seven times a month.
Nevertheless, the research carried out through OnePoll, found seven in 10 respondents considered their children to be good sleepers.
EVERYONE OCCASIONALLY feels uncomfortable due to gas in the digestive system. Gas-related discomfort “may occur if gas is trapped or not moving well through your digestive system,” according to the Mayo Clinic. When infants experience gas-related discomfort, they can become fussy and cry, says Dr. William Mudd, a board-certified pediatrician and doctor of osteopathic medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. Fortunately, parents can use these strategies to provide relief to their infant:
Feed your infant smaller amounts.
Burp your baby more frequently.
Try the bicycle maneuver.
Consider using different feeding bottles.
Try an OTC medication.
Causes of Gas in Babies
For adults, eating certain foods can result in feeling gassy. For example, beans, legumes, fruits, vegetables and whole grains are high in fiber and good for digestion, but can also cause gas. For some people, eating deep-fried or fatty offerings can cause gas and indigestion. Consuming dairy products can do the same for people with lactose intolerance. For babies, swallowing too much air while feeding is the most common cause of being gassy, says Dr. Steph Lee, a South Carolina-based pediatrician specializing in preventive medicine and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Babies are still learning how to swallow and suck,” she says. “They’re swallowing more air than they should.”
U.S. News, in partnership with Pharmacy Times, surveyed nearly 300 pharmacists about what they would recommend to someone considering infant gas products. Of those, 224 (78 percent) suggested Infant’s Mylicon Gas Relief Drops, while 34 (12 percent) recommended Little Remedies Little Tummys Gas Relief Drops. Hyland’s Baby Gas Drops got 16 votes, for 6 percent, and Pediacare Gas Relief Drops received 14 votes, representing 5 percent.
[ SEE: What to Eat, Drink and Do to Relieve Constipation. ]
Strategies to Relieve Baby Gas
1. Feed your infant smaller amounts. A newborn’s stomach is about the size of his or her fist, Lee says. “It’s pretty small. Make sure you give the infant 1 to 2 ounces every hour instead of feeding more volume every two or three hours. You don’t want to overwhelm (the baby’s) digestive system. Overfeeding your baby can sometimes cause more gas.”
2. Burp your baby more frequently. Burping your baby more frequently is a good way of getting rid of additional air he or she swallowed while feeding, Lee says. She recommends burping the child for several minutes between each five to 10 minutes of feeding.
3. Try the bicycle maneuver. With your baby on his or her back, hold onto his or her calves and move them as if the baby was making a cycling motion, Lee suggests. This creates hip movements “that help the tummy move the gas along and out.” It’s also a form of exercise, which can help the infant avoid constipation.
4. Consider using different feeding bottles. If you’re providing pumped breast milk or formula to your baby, you might consider changing the bottle or nipples to reduce the air the child swallows along with the liquid, which can increase gas, says Dr. Eric Barth, a pediatrician with Allina Health Clinics in the Minneapolis area. This could entail switching to a slow-flow nipple or using an angled bottle, he says. Failing to consistently tip a regular bottle could increase the air a child gulps. Another option is a bottle with a bag inside that collapses as the baby drinks, which may result in less swallowed air, Barth says.
5. Try an OTC medication. There are several over-the-counter medications available to treat infant gas, says Dr. Jacqueline Jossen, assistant professor, division of pediatric gastroenterology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Most of these OTC medications contain simethicone, the active ingredient commonly marketed to adults as Gas-X, says Jossen, who is a pediatric gastroenterologist. This medication breaks up large gas bubbles into smaller ones and in theory should help babies pass gas with less discomfort. There’s no scientific research to support using simethicone for infant gas, but it’s a safe medication to try, she says.
What Is Baby Constipation?
Just as everyone feels gassy on occasion, we all get constipated at times, including infants. While baby constipation isn’t common, according to the Mayo Clinic, it does happen. “Infants may struggle to pass gas or stools even of soft consistency,” Mudd says. “The proper medical terminology for this condition is ‘infant dyschezia.’ This is most often what parents mean when they bring a young infant for constipation. The condition is caused by problems coordinating pelvic musculature contraction/relaxation. This process takes time and practice for our immature brains to master.”
Symptoms of Baby Constipation
Apparent straining (stiffening of the body, turning red-faced).
Increased fussiness.
Abdominal distension prior to a bowel movement.
Hard or pellet-like bowel movements.
Difficult bowel movements that cause the baby to arch his or her back or cry.
Infrequent or less frequent bowel movements.
Infant Bowel Habits
Constipation in babies is not defined by the number of bowel movements the infant is having, says Dr. Christina J. Valentine, medical director for Reckitt Benckiser/Mead Johnson Nutrition, North America. She’s also a neonatologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. “Rather, (baby constipation) is hard stools with or without blood.” This can be caused by an infection, a problem with the baby’s intestines or low fluid intake, she says. Mudd concurs that baby constipation isn’t necessarily defined by how often an infant poops. “Breastfed infants initially have frequent bowel movements but will then have decreasing frequency of stools,” Mudd says. “These infants can go up to a week without having a bowel movement (as they are utilizing every bit of nutrients provided in the breast milk), and this is completely normal as long as the stool is not hard when it is expelled.”
If your baby has a pattern of having only one bowel movement a week, which happens on occasion, and doesn’t evacuate for longer than one week, that could also indicate a problem, says Dr. Anna Baldino, a board-certified pediatrician and medical director at Independence Blue Cross. For babies who are eating cereal, “if a parent notices that the baby is straining for more than 10 minutes, or the stools are pellet-like in appearance, they should consider switching to a barley-based cereal, which is less binding than rice but generally well tolerated,” Baldino says.
It’s worth knowing that babies under the age of 8 weeks often experience something called benign infant dyschezia, says Dr. Whitney M. Sunseri, an assistant professor of pediatrics, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. This is when they are crying, grunting, turning red/purple in the face and trying to pass a bowel movement for anywhere up to 20 minutes, and when it finally comes out it is soft in consistency,” Sunseri says. “This is not constipation. It is simply the child has difficulty coordinating the act of bearing down to generate pressure to pass a bowel movement along with the relaxation of their external sphincter. Although it is painful for parents to watch, it is not causing the child any physical harm or discomfort.”
Fortunately, most of the time irregularity issues will resolve themselves by the baby’s first birthday. Here are two approaches to baby constipation:
Liquids for babies less than 6 months old.
Limit constipating foods for babies ages 6 months and older.
1. Liquids for babies less than 6 months old. After a baby is 1 month old and until he or she starts eating solids, if you think the infant is constipated, try providing small amounts of 100 percent juice, Lee says. Apple, pear or prune juice work well because the sugars aren’t digested very well and they help draw water into the gut and soften stool. In one day, you can safely give about an ounce per every month of life. “For example, a 3-month-old baby can get up to 3 ounces a day, but I would start with just giving 1 ounce a day and see if that resolves the constipation. Babies don’t need additional water apart from breast milk or formula, so I generally don’t recommend water until after 6 months of age,” Lee says. “If this doesn’t work, consult your pediatrician, because there are safe stool softeners for babies that can help.”
2. Limit constipating foods for babies ages 6 months and older. Once a baby can start eating solid food after 6 months of age, ways to treat constipation include limiting constipating foods, such as rice cereal, white toast or bananas, Lee says. Barth agrees, adding that he recommends giving babies old enough for solid food “p” foods to alleviate constipation: “Prunes, pears, plums, peaches (and apricots),” Barth says. “Prunes have a well-deserved reputation for keeping folks ‘regular.’ I have a number of patients who do very well as long as they get some prunes or prune juice every day.”
Pediatrician Advice Parents Ignore
A pediatrician checks the reflexes of a girl in an examination room.
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Updated on March 11, 2019: This story was originally published on June 14, 2016, and has been updated with new information.
Ruben Castaneda, Staff Writer
Ruben Castaneda has worked at U.S. News since September 2016. Mr. Castaneda
Research shows that playing games can enhance our personal, social and emotional well-being, as well as our mental acuity.
A study conducted at Harvard Medical School in 2017 points out that loneliness can be more detrimental to health than smoking. Happiness, on the other hand, is strongly correlated with close relationships with family members and friends.
Playing both board games and video games with family members provide opportunities to get together and develop these relationships. They stimulate players physically, mentally and emotionally.
Games have also been found to change the brain structurally and functionally, according to many scientific studies. They can promote neurogenesis — the growth of new neurons in the brains. They can also promote neuroplasticity — changes in neural pathways and synapses that lead to structural changes in the brain.
These changes result in new brain cells and better connectivity among the different brain regions, thus enhancing mental skills such as memory, attention span, spatial intelligence, language learning ability and coordination.
Enthusiasm, stress reduction, calmness
A 2017 study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience showed that experienced players of the board game Baduk, or Go, had increased gray matter in the nucleus accumbens and decreased gray matter in the amygdala, as compared to novices.
Games can improve memory and decision making skills. (Shutterstock)
The nucleus accumbens is an area of the brain responsible for processing environmental stimuli related to rewarding or unpleasant experiences. Its functioning is based on the neurotransmitters dopamine, which promotes desire, and serotonin, which promotes satiety and inhibition.
Increase in gray matter in the nucleus accumbens leads to more positive experiences and enthusiasm.
The amygdala is an almond-shaped set of neurons located deep in the brain’s medial temporal lobe. It is part of the limbic system and responsible for processing emotions. A decrease in gray matter in the amygdala leads to stress reduction and increased calmness.
Better decision-making
Research also shows that action video game experts have more grey matter and enhanced functional connectivity in the insula subregions of their brains.
The insula is a small portion of the cerebral cortex, responsible for self-awareness and present moment awareness. Increase in gray matter in the insula of the brain facilitates better decision-making.
Many board games also strengthen the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of the brains of players. This results in improved cognitive functions such as IQ, memory, information retention and problem-solving.
Human brains have two hippocampi, located in each of the temporal lobes below the cerebral cortex. These are mainly responsible for memory consolidation along with spatial navigation and orientation. An increase in gray matter in the hippocampus is desired for better memory and for prevention of dementia.
Research shows playing video games with family or friends can reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s among adults. (Shutterstock)
The prefrontal cortex is located at the very front of the brain and is responsible for performing “executive functions” such as reason, logic, problem-solving, planning, memory, directing attention, developing and pursuing goals and inhibiting counterproductive impulses.
Improving memory
A study published in Frontier Human Neuroscience in 2015 documented the results of using a “Virtual Week (VW)” training game with older adults. This was a computerized game that simulated the schedule of a day on the circuits of the board, engaging participants in events such as choosing what to eat for meals or how to interact with others. The game also asked them to remember to do things on time — for example to take medication at breakfast, or deliver a message to colleagues.
Participants were trained to play the game for 12 sessions of one hour, over a period of a month. This resulted in cognitive and neural plasticity, improving the “prospective memory” of the participants — the ability to remember and successfully execute intentions and planned activities.
Playing collaborative strategic board games in an informal and interactional context has also been found to improve computational thinking — including skills such as conditional logic, distributed processing, debugging, simulation and algorithm building.
Reducing mental problems
Research has also found that playing video games with family or friends can reduce the risk of mental health problems such as schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s among adults.
One study, published in 2014 in the American Psychological Association also reported that playing video games could help children with dyslexia.
It is important to strike a balance between video games and board games for kids. (Shutterstock)
Then benefits of playing games can be increased by metacognition (thinking about thinking) and meditation sessions. Although there is ample research evidence to show that playing board and video games substantially affect the brain positively, adults need to stimulate metacognition in children — encouraging them to explain why they made certain decisions during the game.
This type of probing can make video and board games more powerful tools for developing mental acuity among kids.
Combining game sessions with short meditation sessions may also enhance the quality of time spent together with family and friends in a purposeful, joyous manner.
Balance board games and video games
Games do come with many cognitive benefits but striking a balance is the key. Too much of anything can be detrimental.
Research shows that kids need to be encouraged to participate in social games as well as instructional and video games, but the negative consequences of getting addicted to these should also be explained to them.
As adults also we need to keep a watch on how much time we spend playing games, and on the type of games played.
Children typically begin lying in the preschool years, between two and four years of age. These intentional attempts at deception may worry parents, who fear their child will become a pint-sized social deviant.
But from a developmental perspective, lying in young children is rarely cause for concern. In fact, lying is often one of the first signs a young child has developed a “theory of mind”, which is the awareness others may have different desires, feelings, and beliefs to oneself. When a child misleadingly claims “Daddy said I could have an ice cream”, they’re using this awareness of others’ minds to plant false knowledge.
While lying itself may not be socially desirable, the ability to know what others are thinking and feeling is an important social skill. It’s related to empathy, cooperation, and care for others when they’re feeling upset.
How lying changes with age
Young children’s first lies are often more humorous than effective. Imagine the child who claims not to have eaten any cake while her mouth is still full, or who blames the family dog for drawing on the wall. Young children may know they can deceive others, but they don’t yet have the sophistication to do so well.
Before age eight, children frequently give themselves away when lying. In one study, children aged three to seven were asked not to peek at a mystery toy (Barney) that had been placed behind them. Nearly all did, and nearly all lied about it later (increasing with age).
But across the group, children also had trouble maintaining the lie. Liars aged three to five were surprisingly good at keeping a straight face but typically gave themselves away by describing the Barney toy by name. Liars aged six and seven had mixed success, with half feigning ignorance and half accidentally saying Barney’s name.
As children get older and their perspective-taking ability develops, they’re increasingly able to understand the kinds of lies that will be believable to others. They also become better at maintaining the lie over time.
Moral development also kicks in. Younger children are more likely to lie for personal gain, while older children increasingly anticipate feeling bad about themselves if they lie.
Read more: The evolution of lying
Older children and teens are also more likely to draw distinctions between different kinds of lies. White lies, to them, are considered more appropriate than harmful or antisocial lies.
While studies that estimate the frequency of lying among children and teens are rare, teenagers are especially likely to lie to parents and teachers about things they consider their own personal business.
One study found 82% of US teenagers reported lying to their parents about money, alcohol, drugs, friends, dating, parties, or sex in the past year. They were most likely to lie about their friends (67%) and alcohol/drug use (65%). Perhaps surprisingly, they were least likely to lie about sex (32%).
When reading short scenarios in which the protagonist lied to his or her parents, the teens were also likely to consider the lying acceptable if it was to help somebody or keep a personal secret, but not if it was to harm or hurt someone.
Is lying a cause for concern?
Despite its prevalence, lying among children is rarely cause for concern. It’s important to remember many adults also lie – sometimes for good, as in the case of white lies that protect someone’s feelings, and sometimes for ill. While estimates vary, a study found approximately 40% of US adults reported telling a lie in the past 24 hours.
In some instances, chronic lying can become a concern if they occur alongside a cluster of other behaviours that are maladaptive. For example, deceitfulness through lying is often present in conduct and oppositional defiant disorders (ODD).
Young people with conduct disorders or ODD cause considerable disruptions in the home or at school through persistent aggression and harm to others or property. But to meet diagnoses, lying would have to occur with a cluster of other symptoms such as refusal to comply with authority figures, persistent violations of rules, and failure to take responsibility for their actions.
Read more: Truth is, everyone lies all the time
Another cause for parental concern is if lying serves to mask other mental health problems due to fear or shame. For example, a child or adolescent suffering from severe anxiety may lie chronically to avoid confronting situations that make them afraid (for example, school, parties, germs).
They may also lie to avoid the stigma of mental health disorders. In these instances, consulting your doctor or a mental health professional (such as a psychologist or psychiatrist) will help clarify whether lying is indicative of a mental health concern.
Parents and teachers make a difference
While lying is developmentally normal, parents and teachers can support children’s truth-telling in three ways.
First, avoid excessive or over-the-top punishments. In a study comparing a West African school that used punitive punishments (such as hitting with a stick, slapping, and pinching) and a school that used non-punitive reprimands (such as time outs or scolding), students at the school with punitive punishments were more likely to be effective liars.
Children from families that place a strong emphasis on following the rules and not open dialogue also report lying more frequently.
By figuring out whether your child is trying to deceive you on purpose, you can target your response more effectively. from www.shutterstock.com
Second, discuss emotional and moral scenarios with children. This “emotion coaching” supports children’s understanding of when lies are most harmful, how they affect others, and how they themselves might feel when they lie. Children increasingly anticipate pride for telling the truth, and parents can emphasise these positive aspects of truth-telling.
Third, ensure the lie really is a lie. Very young children are prone to blend real life and imagination, while older children and adults frequently remember arguments differently to one another. If a child reports physical or sexual abuse, these allegations must always be investigated. By distinguishing whether or not there is a deliberate attempt at deception, parents and teachers can target their response effectively.
Read more: How’s your poker face? Why it’s so hard to sniff out a liar
Lying in children is developmentally normal
Lying is developmentally normal and an important sign other cognitive skills are also developing.
If lying is persistent and is impairing the child’s ability to function effectively in everyday life, it’s worth consulting a mental health expert or your doctor.
But in other situations, remember that lying is just one way children learn to navigate the social world. Open and warm discussions about telling the truth should eventually help to reduce children’s lies as they develop.
Please note: This article was published more than one year ago. The facts and conclusions presented may have since changed and may no longer be accurate. And “More information” links may no longer work. Questions about personal health should always be referred to a physician or other health care professional.
Pregnant women who nibble just a small piece of chocolate each day may improve the circulatory health of their unborn child, a new study suggests.
The tiny treat may also reduce the risk for preeclampsia, a potentially deadly condition in which a pregnant woman with normal blood pressure suddenly develops dangerously high blood pressure, the researchers said.
The findings held up regardless of whether the chocolate consumed contained high or low amounts of so-called flavanols. Some experts believe these compounds — found in certain plant-based food items — may confer a number of health benefits.
But the association seen in the study did not prove that eating chocolate during pregnancy caused better circulatory health in pregnant women and their babies.
“Our observations suggest that a regular small consumption of dark chocolate — whether or not the level of flavanol is high — from the first trimester of pregnancy, could lead to an improvement of placental function,” said study author Dr. Emmanuel Bujold. He is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Universite Laval in Quebec City, Canada.
And at least one nutritionist said she wasn’t ready to embrace the study’s findings.
The findings were scheduled for presentation Thursday at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s annual meeting, in Atlanta. The data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Flavanols are naturally present in large quantities in unprocessed cocoa. However, they have a somewhat bitter taste and some of the techniques used to turn natural cocoa into tasty cocoa powder or chocolate (such as fermentation) can result in a significant loss of flavanols, experts say.
For consumers, knowing when a piece of chocolate does or does not have a high amount of flavanols can be tricky.
That said, Bujold’s team decided to see whether differences in flavanol content had any effect on the pregnancies of nearly 130 women.
All of the women in the study were at the 11- to 14-week mark of their pregnancy, and carrying one child.
All were instructed to consume 30 grams of chocolate (a little more than one ounce) each day over a 12-week period. That’s equivalent to about one small square of chocolate per day, Bujold said.
Half of the women consumed high-flavanol chocolate, while the other half were given low-flavanol chocolate. All were then tracked until their delivery date.
Regardless of which type of chocolate was consumed, the women faced the same risk for both preeclampsia and routine high blood pressure. Placental weight and birth weight was also the same in both groups, the investigators found.
Similarly, fetal and placental blood circulation levels, as well as in-utero blood velocity, did not appear to be affected by shifting flavanol levels.
However, simply consuming a small amount of chocolate — no matter what the flavanol content — was associated with notable improvements in all blood circulation and velocity measures compared to the general population, the researchers said.
Bujold said this suggests that there’s something about chocolate, apart from flavanol levels, that may exert a positive influence on the course of pregnancy. Finding out exactly what that is “could lead to improvement of women’s and children’s health, along with a significant reduction of treatment cost,” he said.
However, he added that the “consumption of chocolate must remain reasonable during pregnancy, and caloric input has to be considered in the equation.”
That point was seconded by Lona Sandon, an assistant professor in the department of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
“This is not a license to go wild with chocolate,” she said. “Keep in mind the amount of chocolate was only 30 grams, or one ounce. That is just a few bites. Piling on the chocolate bars may pile on the pounds beyond what pregnant women would be advised to gain,” Sandon warned.
“Also, there are plenty of other nutrients that pregnant women would be better off focusing on for proper growth and development of the baby,” Sandon said, “such as folate, calcium, protein and iron from quality food sources.”
Her bottom-line?
“Enjoy a little good chocolate from time to time,” Sandon said. “But I am not recommending it yet for a healthy pregnancy.”
SOURCES: Emmanuel Bujold, M.D., professor, obstetrics and gynecology, Universite Laval, Quebec City, Canada; Lona Sandon, R.D.N., L.D., assistant professor, department of clinical nutrition, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas; Feb. 4, 2016, presentation, Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine annual meeting, Atlanta
(HealthDay News) — You eagerly await baby’s first words and delight at his growing vocabulary. But that excitement may cause you to miss speech problems that should be corrected quickly.
According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), many parents don’t know common warning signs of speech problems or that they’re easier to correct before age 4.
At 12 to 24 months, signs of a speech sound disorder include saying p, b, m, h and w incorrectly in words. At 24 to 36 months, signs include saying k, g, f, t, d and n incorrectly and producing speech that sounds unclear.
Stuttering affects many youngsters temporarily and often stops on its own. But look for worrisome signs between 30 to 36 months, such as repeating the first sound of words, like “b-b-b-ball” (buh-buh-buh-ball) for ball and stretching out sounds like f-f-f-f-farm (fffffharm) for farm.
Early signs of stuttering:
Struggling to say sounds or words.
Repeating the first sound of words.
Stretching out sounds.
Pausing noticeably between words.
Signs of a language disorder can start even earlier: For instance, a baby who doesn’t babble between 4 and 7 months or doesn’t understand what others are saying after 7 months. Later signs include speaking only a few words or words that aren’t easily understood.
What should you expect? Between 18 and 36 months, your child should be putting words together to make sentences, playing and talking with other children, and then developing early reading and writing skills.
Early learners may make mistakes. Be sure to say sounds correctly when you talk, but don’t correct speech sounds or interrupt or stop your child while he or she is speaking. If you’re concerned, see a certified speech-language pathologist for an evaluation. Ask your doctor for a referral, use the ASHA ProFind tool at http://www.asha.org/profind/ or contact your state’s early intervention program.
More information
The Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center has state-by-state listings of early intervention coordinators and websites to help you find resources in your area.
(HealthDay News) — Milk allergy affects more than half of American infants who have food allergies in their first year of life, a new study finds.
However, study lead author Christopher Warren said, “Our findings suggest that while milk allergy is relatively common during infancy, many children are likely to outgrow their milk allergies.
“We observed that while an estimated 53 percent of food-allergic infants under age 1 have a milk allergy, the number drops to 41 percent of 1- to 2-year-olds, 34 percent of 3- to 5-year-olds and 15 percent of 11- to 17-year-olds,” Warren said in a news release from the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
Warren is a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.
For the study, the researchers surveyed more than 53,000 parents nationwide. The investigators found that more than 2 percent of all children under age 5 have a cow’s milk allergy, and 53 percent of food-allergic infants under age 1 have this type of allergy.
Study co-author Dr. Ruchi Gupta pointed out that confusion exists over what a real milk allergy looks like. She is a professor of pediatrics and medicine at Northwestern Medicine, in Chicago.
“A child may have a milk intolerance that his parents mistake for a milk allergy,” Gupta said. “It’s important that any child suspected of having a milk allergy have the allergy confirmed with an allergist.”
A food allergy of any kind can have a big effect on a household, including food costs and quality of life, she noted.
“A child with a milk allergy should receive counseling on how to avoid milk, but also on what it means to unnecessarily cut out foods. You don’t want to get rid of necessary nutrients,” Gupta said.
The study also found that only 26 percent of milk-allergic children in the United States have a current epinephrine auto-injector prescription. An “EpiPen” can save a child’s life if a serious allergic reaction occurs.
“Parents need to make sure they have an epinephrine auto-injector available and should talk to their child’s allergist if they have any questions,” Gupta said.
The study was scheduled for presentation Friday at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, in Seattle.
Research presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
More information
Food Allergy Research and Education has more on milk allergy.
SOURCE: American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, news release, Nov. 16, 2018
Children who are stubborn at a young age are more likely to be successful as adults, a study spanning 40 years has found.
The study, published in the Development Psychology journal, followed 700 children from the age of 12 to 52.
It looked at how behaviour in late childhood could predict participants’ success later in life and whether or not stubbornness was a factor in achieving throughout adult careers.
Researchers examined how parents’ socioecomic status (SES) would affect the children.
At the start of the experiment, researchers looked at the children’s behaviour, including inattentiveness, sense of inferiority, impatience, rule breaking and defiance of parental authority.
Children were evaluated on their non-cognitive personality traits including entitlement and academic conscientiousness. The same people were then examined for the same traits 40 years later.
The team then examined which personality traits were most common in the children who grew up to be the most successful.
The results showed that children who frequently broke the rules, defied their parent and were a responsible student were the ones who went on to be high achievers and earn the most in their careers.
However, researchers did take into account the participant’s SEs and their IQ at the age of 12 into their findings.
Competitive parenting, iPads and screens are all contributing to a decrease in child mobility that can impact on academic learning
Rachael Pells Education Correspondent
A “concerning” number of today’s four-year-olds are not physically ready to start school, new research has revealed, with children’s mobility levels said to be at an all-time low.
Early-years specialists monitoring children of school age found a higher number experience problems with their balance and coordination than previously thought, ultimately affecting their ability to learn in class. Researchers from the University of Loughborough said the increase was partly a result of modern children being less active in their early years compared with previous decades, with typical movements associated with play and development reduced by the introduction of electronic toys and screens.
Read more
Read more A psychologist says parents should do these 17 things to raise a more
Tests to assess Foundation Stage children’s physical development at the start of the first school year found almost a third to be “of concern” for lack of motor skills and reflexes. Almost 90 per cent of children demonstrated some degree of movement difficulty for their age.
The tests suggest up to 30 per cent of children are starting school with symptoms typically associated with dyslexia, dyspraxia, and ADHD – conditions which can be improved with the correct levels of physical activity, experts say.
Dr Rebecca Duncombe, who led the study, said the lack of physical ability shown demonstrated that children are not as active as they should be in the beginning of their lives.
“A child’s physical development level impacts their ability to complete simple tasks such as sitting still, holding a pencil, putting on their shoes, and especially reading – all skills essential for school,” she said.“Our research shows that not only are children starting school less physically ready than ever before, but that teachers are noticing this change and its impact in the classroom.”
Specialistcs from Loughborough’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences tested 45 Foundation Stage children at two different schools to determine the effect of mobility levels on their learning.
In a supplementary study of 25 Foundation Stage teachers, 80 per cent said they had identified a sudden decline in physical mobility happening within the past three to six years.
“Young children have access to iPads and are much more likely to be sat in car seats or chairs,” Dr Duncombe said. “But the problem can also be attributed to competitive parenting – parents who want their children to walk as soon as possible risk letting them miss out on key mobility developments which help a child to find their strength and balance.”
Physical development is part of the Early Years curriculum within nurseries and schools, but there appears to be a lack of awareness and understanding of the kinds of activities this could include, she added.
Following a daily programme that gave children opportunities to move, improve motor skills and develop primitive reflexes, researchers found that the majority of children experienced dramatic physical and academic improvement.
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Professor Pat Preedy, who co-leads the Movement for Learning programme, said: “Children today are moving less, they’re developing less well, and they’re learning less; we need to do something drastic to make sure children now and in the future get the movement they need to develop properly physically, intellectually and emotionally.
“Research shows there is a link between early movement and children’s development and learning. The Movement for Learning programme helps children do those movements they should have had the opportunity to do when they were younger and to be really ready to start learning and make the progress they should be doing when they start school.
“It’s an easy, cost-effective solution for a growing problem, and this research shows it could be life-changing for so many children, particularly those with additional needs such as dyspraxia and dyslexia.”
Researchers are now extending the Foundation Stage pilot to 30 schools and are in the process of recruiting Year One classes for the forthcoming school year.
Positive and negative interaction molds the architecture of infants’ brains at a much earlier age than most parents assume.
PARENTS ARE THEIR children’s first and most important teachers. And they have a crucial job: Recent advances in developmental science make clear that the first five years of life are critically important to children’s future learning and success.
We now know that human brains aren’t born – they’re built from the ground up, through the combined influences of children’s genes and early experiences. During the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, over 700 neural connections are formed every second, literally shaping the architecture of a young child’s brain. Those rapidly growing connections are largely driven by a child’s interactions with parents and other caretakers in the very first months of life. And new research shows that children are affected by early experiences at much younger ages that previously understood.
But do parents know just how significant they are? Last month, Zero to Three, a nonprofit advocacy organization, and the Bezos Family Foundation, released the results of a survey with a nationally representative sample of 2,200 parents on that very question. The study – “Tuning In: Parents of Young Children Speak Up About What They Think, Know, and Need” – found that across all socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups, parents are deeply committed to parenting well. Yet many don’t fully recognize how influential they are on their child’s development.
False Childhood Choices
Don’t buy that we have to choose between pre-K access and investing in infants and toddlers.
Sara MeadJune 23, 2016
In what the report calls the “missing first year,” large percentages of parents underestimate – by months or even years – how early their children are aware of and impacted by interactions with adult caretakers and what’s going on around them, both positive and negative. Key facts of early development and parents’ mistaken beliefs found in the survey include the following:
The quality of care has a long-term impact on a child’s development starting at birth. But 50 percent of parents believe that the quality of care matters beginning at 6 months of age, and 27 percent don’t believe it’s really important until age 2.
Reading aloud to a child builds future language skills starting at 6 months. But 45 percent of parents think that reading aloud to children doesn’t have an impact until they’re at least 2.
Talking to a child supports growing language skills starting at birth. But 63 percent of parents believe talking to children doesn’t matter until 3 months or older, and 34 percent don’t think it matters until children are at least a year old.
Infants can experience feelings like fear and sadness starting at age 3 to 5 months. But 49 percent of parents think children have those feelings starting at age one, and 23 percent think not until age two.
Children are affected by parents’ moods and can sense if they’re angry or sad starting at around 3 months of age. But 63 percent of parents believe children aren’t affected until 6 months of age, and 47 percent believe not until they’re a year old. Over a quarter (28 percent) thought children weren’t really affected until age two.
Children are affected by shouting in the home, even when they’re asleep, starting at 6 months of age. But 47 percent of parents believe they aren’t affected until age one, and 28 percent believe not until age two.
Children’s brain development is significantly affected by witnessing repeated violence beginning at 6 months of age. But 47 percent of parents believe children aren’t affected until age one, and 27 percent believe not until age two. And 15 percent think children aren’t affected by witnessing violence until they’re at least 3 years old.
While parents may misunderstand how important they are, it’s not because they don’t care. In fact, 91percent of the parents surveyed said that parenting is their greatest joy, including 91 percent of low-income parents (household income under $35,000) and 92 percent of parents with a high school degree or less. Almost 9 out of 10 said that they work hard to be more effective, including 88 percent of low-income parents and 87 percent of less-educated parents. Eight out of 10 agree that “good parenting can be learned” and over half said they want to learn more about the science of children’s emotional and brain development. (You can see videos of parent responses in pre-survey discussion groups here.)
This presents a valuable, cost-effective opportunity to make a big difference in young children’s lives by providing better information to parents about their impact and supporting them in fulfilling their crucial role. And a project launched in 2014 called Vroom (also funded by the Bezos Family Foundation) is a great model of that approach. With the motto “every parent has what it takes to be a brain builder,” Vroom is working in partnership with communities, national organizations like Child Care Aware, Nurse Family Partnership and Save the Children and other systems – including early childhood programs, social services, grass roots organizations, clinics, the faith community, businesses and others – to provide low-income families with tips and tools that make use of everyday activities to promote their children’s brain development.
The Lifesaving Power of Books
Reading aloud – from a book, not a tablet – can help close the alarming health equity gap.
John HuttonMarch 30, 2016
The project offers a library of over 1,000 downloadable “Tip Cards” in both English and Spanish that aim to inspire interactions between parents and children, giving parents activities for engaging with their children along with an explanation of how the interaction supports brain development; a Vroom App that provides daily “brain building” tips to parents and other caregivers; and videos and other digital materials. Vroom has also established collaborations with Amazon, Goya and Johnson & Johnson to include Vroom tips on packaging and special inserts for products used at specific daily moments like meals and bath time, and has a range of partnerships in the works with other brands, media companies and retailers. (Their “holy grail” partnership is getting diapers with Vroom tips printed on them to capture the brain-building opportunity of the roughly 8,000 diaper changes that occur in a child’s first three years of life.)
Vroom’s long-term goal is to catalyze a cultural shift where every parent sees themselves as a brain builder, “helping children not just survive but thrive,” as Jackie Bezos explains. Indeed, as early childhood programs proliferate across the country, Vroom reminds us that the most important education a child receives doesn’t start at age four in a pre-K classroom – it starts on the very first day of life at home. Parents are a child’s greatest asset. Our top early childhood priority must be supporting and empowering them, in both policy and practice.
When it comes to kids, parents, and playtime, we often think of dads as being loud and physical, while moms are not. Researchers studying how parents and kids relate have identified certain attitudes during play that can make a difference.
when horacio ruiz has spare time to spend with his son, it’s all about soccer wherever there’s room.
“I try to get him to practice a little bit of soccer inside here,” dad Horacio Ruiz said.
Rough and tumble or more reserved? Even during play, is there a parenting approach that can better help a child’s development? Natasha Cabrera studies parents’ actions and the effect on their child’s social development, especially intrusive play, that’s where the parent takes decisions away from the child.
“So the child picks up a truck. The parent might say, ‘Oh, let’s play with this.’ or take the truck away and don’t let the child interact with the toy,” Cabrera said.
Social scientists followed 74 low-income families of moms, dads and toddlers and taped their playtime together when the children were 24 months and 48 months. the researchers observed that fathers were more intense during intrusive play than moms.
“Moms when they’re intrusive, even though they are not as intense as dads, they really have a negative emotion. they’re frowning. they are unhappy. They are not smiling. Dads are intrusive, but they’re happy.”
Researchers found that the emotional tone of the play was more important than the activity itself. for example, when moms were unhappy and intrusive, children were less sociable. When moms were happy, children were more sociable. Early steps toward learning self-regulation and better behavior.
Researchers found children tended to show more positive emotions during intrusive play with their dads. They say it’s likely, because even though the fathers were controlling the play, they were more positive.
Crabby crab is my four-year-old son Fisher’s imaginary friend. Crabby appeared on a holiday in Norway by scuttling out of his ear after a night of tears from an earache. Like other childhood imaginary friends, Crabby should be an indication that Fisher’s mind is growing and developing positively. Indeed, research shows that invisible companions can help boost children’s social skills.
But what happens when children grow up and their imaginary friends disappear? Will Crabby have influenced Fisher into adolescence or adulthood? And what if you continue to have imaginary friends as an adult? The vast majority of the research on imaginary friends looks at young children as this is the time when these playmates are most likely to appear. But researchers have started looking into the impact of imaginary childhood friends in adolescence and adulthood.
Imaginary friends in childhood are classified as invisible beings that a child gives a mind or personality to and plays with for over three months.
It is very rare that adults have imaginary companions. But there are a few different types of behaviour that could be considered a form of imaginary friendship. For example, adult authors can be seen as prolific creators of imaginary friends in the form of characters. That’s because their characters have personalities and minds of their own, and authors often report their characters leading the writing rather than vice versa. Tulpas, objects created through spiritual or mental powers in mysticism, are also a sort of imaginary friend.
Social skills in adolescence
Research has shown that the positive effects of having imaginary friends as a child continue into adulthood. Adolescents who remember their imaginary playmates have been found to use more active coping styles, such as seeking advice from loved ones rather than bottling things up inside, like their peers. Even adolescents with behavioural problems who had imaginary friends as children have been found to have better coping skills and more positive adjustment through the teenage years.
Scientists think this could be because these teens have been able to supplement their social world with imagination rather than choosing to be involved in relationships with more difficult classmates. It could also be because the imaginary friends help to alleviate these adolescents’ loneliness.
Teenagers who had imaginary friends are more likely to talk to their parents. milicad/Shutterstock
These teens are also are more likely to seek out social connections. Some older research suggests that such adolescents have higher levels of psychological distress than their peers who do not remember having imaginary playmates. But the majority of research being done points to mainly positive outcomes. Current research being done now by my student, Tori Watson, is taking this evidence and looking at how adolescents who report having imaginary friends as children deal with bullying at school. We suspect that teens who remember their imaginary friends will be better at dealing with bullying.
Creativity and hallucinations
Adults who had imaginary friends, meanwhile, report that they are more creative and imaginative than those who did not. We also know that they are better at describing a scene that they have constructed in their imagination. This could be because they were more imaginative to start with and/or that playing with an imaginary friend in childhood helped boost such capabilities.
Childhood friends can create a habit of talking to yourself. Eva Madrazo/Shuttesrstock
There are also other discrepancies in how adults see and interact with the world around them that scientists think stems from the use of imagination when playing with an invisible friend as a child. For example, adults who had imaginary friends talk to themselves more. This is thought to be because they have grown up being more comfortable talking when no one else real is around. Interestingly, research has shown that talking to yourself can be a sign of high cognitive functioning and creativity.
Read more: Is talking to yourself a sign of mental illness? An expert delivers her verdict
Adults who had imaginary companions as children may become used to seeing things that aren’t really there and explaining them to people. For this reason, imaginary friends have been looked at as a type of hallucination that is experienced by normally developing children. Importantly, the children know that these friends aren’t actually real. Adults similarly can have hallucination experiences when going in or coming out of a deep sleep. We sometimes also see or hear things that aren’t there, for example in the corner of our eye – knowing it’s our mind playing tricks on us.
My team and I recently investigated whether people who had imaginary friends as children also report more such hallucination experiences. Interestingly, our study, published in Psychiatry Research, found that this actually is the case. Importantly, these individuals were not a greater risk of developing psychosis or schizophrenia, they were just more likely to have common forms of hallucinations. We know that because we also tested other perceptual experiences like unusual thoughts and ideas as well as symptoms of depression. These experiences, in combination with more intense hallucinations, can put people at higher risk of developing schizophrenia.
But people who had had imaginary friends didn’t show this combination of symptoms. There was one exception, though – individuals who had also suffered child abuse. These people were more likely to have both unusual thoughts and ideas, and depression, possibly making them more vulnerable to psychosis. It’s unclear whether this link has got anything to do with imaginary friends or whether it is all down to the trauma of having suffered child abuse, with imaginary friends instead playing a comforting role.
So while we know a lot about childhood imaginary friends such as Crabby Crab, and the positive effects they can have, there is still a lot to learn about imaginary friends and how our childhood experiences with them might make us see the world differently.
TUESDAY, March 19, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Thinking about a TV for your young child? Based on new evidence, you might want to reconsider that.
Preschoolers who had a TV in their bedroom were at increased risk for poor eating habits, overweight/obesity and social/emotional struggles in their teens, Canadian researchers say.
“The early years are a critical period in a child’s development,” said study author Linda Pagani. She’s a professor at the University of Montreal School of Psycho-Education, in Quebec.
“Intuitively, parents know that how their children spend their leisure time will impact their well-being over the long term,” she said in a university news release.
The findings highlight the risks of too much of any type of screen time, according to the researchers.
“It’s clear that the many hours [kids] spend in front of the screen is having an effect on their growth and development, especially if the TV is in a private place like the bedroom,” Pagani said.
For the study, the investigators looked at more than 1,800 children in Quebec who were born between 1997 and 1998.
At age 13, those who had a TV in their bedroom at age 4 were more likely to have: “a significantly higher body mass index [BMI — an estimate of body fat based on weight and height]; more unhealthy eating habits; lower levels of sociability; and higher levels of emotional distress, depressive symptoms, victimization and physical aggression,” the findings showed.
These associations were independent of individual and family factors that could have caused such problems.
“The location of the TV seems to matter,” Pagani said.
“Having private access to screen time in the bedroom during the preschool years does not bode well for long-term health. The children in our study were born at a time when television was the only screen in the bedroom,” she added.
“Our research supports a strong stance for parental guidelines on the availability and accessibility of TVs and other devices,” Pagani concluded.
The study was recently presented in Paris at the International Convention of Psychological Science. It was also published in the journal Pediatric Research.
More information
The American Academy of Pediatrics has more on screen time.
SOURCE: University of Montreal, news release, March 7, 2019
MONDAY, March 18, 2019 (HealthDay News) — New parents worry about a lot of things, but the American Academy of Pediatrics says one thing they can cross off that list is concern about giving high-allergy foods too early in life.
In fact, the pediatric group says it’s likely better to introduce foods like peanut butter when kids are around 6 months of age.
“There’s no reason to restrict early introduction to allergenic foods,” said a co-author of a new clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Dr. Frank Greer. He’s a professor emeritus of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Although experts had advised parents in the past to avoid highly allergenic foods early in life, more recent research has suggested that early exposure to these foods might be a better option.
In addition to freeing up parents to let their youngsters try peanut butter or ground peanut products at an early age, the report also said that moms don’t need to restrict their diets during pregnancy and breastfeeding to try to prevent allergies.
The report recommends exclusive breastfeeding for at least the first three to four months of life to help protect against the allergic skin condition eczema. Breastfeeding past three or four months (even if it’s not done exclusively) may also offer some protection against wheezing for the first two years of life, and against asthma for an even longer time period.
For parents who use formula, the AAP has some good news for your wallet. Using pricey hydrolyzed baby formulas doesn’t appear to help prevent allergies. And, that’s true even in families with a history of allergies.
The most common foods that cause allergies include cow’s milk, eggs, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybean, according to the AAP. As early as 2008, the AAP concluded that there was no convincing evidence that delaying the introduction of these foods would prevent allergies.
The new report highlights new studies that have shown that introducing these foods early can help prevent allergies. The report suggests introducing peanut protein as early as 4 months to 6 months of age. (Whole peanuts are not recommended because they are considered a choking hazard until a child is 4 years old.)
Dr. Jennifer Appleyard, chief of allergy and immunology at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit, said, “The old thought was that the immune system was in such disarray in the first three years of life that it couldn’t handle allergic foods. Now, the thinking is that the immune system needs to be stressed — let kids get dirty, let them have pets, let them eat certain foods. Maybe protecting them from everything isn’t such a good thing.”
Greer explained that “allergies have only increased as we’ve become more and more clean. We’re not bombarding the human system with antigens.” That means the immune system doesn’t have a chance to learn to react normally to substances that aren’t harmful, such as peanuts or pet dander.
Appleyard pointed out an important caveat from the new report: “The report says the available data still limits the ability to draw firm conclusions. So, none of this is set in stone.”
And, that’s important because parents of kids with severe allergies may wonder if they could have done something to prevent their child’s allergies.
She said parents shouldn’t feel guilty about kids’ allergies, especially when they were just following the standard advice of the time. And, even when kids are given peanuts or eggs, or another allergic food early now, some will still develop an allergy.
“Just because you introduce peanuts at a certain time doesn’t guarantee your child won’t have a peanut allergy. That’s just the current thinking. And even if you can tolerate peanuts at 6 months or a year old, you could still have a reaction later in life,” she warned.
The AAP said that if kids have severe eczema that requires prescription treatments or they have a known egg allergy, testing for a peanut allergy before introducing peanut foods is something that might be considered. In that same group of children, introducing peanut foods with the supervision of a health care provider is also something else that can be considered, the AAP said.
But Greer said in most cases, testing isn’t necessary.
The report was published online March 18 in Pediatrics.
More information
Learn more about food allergies in children from the American Academy of Pediatrics’ HealthyChildren website.
SOURCES: Frank Greer, M.D., professor emeritus, pediatrics, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Jennifer Appleyard, M.D., chief, allergy and immunology, Ascension St. John Hospital, Detroit; March 18, 2019, Pediatrics, online
ALL DAY, ALL NIGHT Stomach size is just one of several factors that drive a newborn to feed.
I’m making my way through my third round of breastfeeding a newborn and taking stock of how things are going. Some aspects are definitely easier: My milk came in really quickly (a perk of being a repeat lactator), the fancy breastfeeding baby holds are no longer mysterious to me and I already own all of the weird pillows I need to prop up my tiny baby.
But one thing isn’t easier this time around: the bone-crushing, mind-numbing exhaustion. Just like my other two, this sweet baby seems to eat all the time. All day. All night. Sometimes multiple times an hour, especially in the witching hours of the evening. This frequency got me curious about the biology of newborns’ stomachs. Just how small are they? Are they so microscopic that one can hold only enough sustenance to keep my newborn satisfied for a thousandth of a second?
Birth educators and medical professionals often use a marble to illustrate the size of a newborn’s stomach, a tiny orb that holds about 5 to 7 milliliters of liquid. But that small estimate has come into question. A 2008 review published in the Journal of Human Lactation points out that there aren’t many solid studies on the size of the infant stomach, and some of the ones that do exist come to different conclusions. Another review of existing studies concluded that the average newborn stomach is slightly smaller than a Ping-Pong ball and can hold about 20 milliliters, or about two-thirds of an ounce.
The question of stomach size at birth isn’t settled, and that may be in part because there is no one answer. Just as babies come in a variety of sizes, their stomachs may too. What’s more, size isn’t everything. Drinking ability, the stretchiness of the stomach and the speed at which food gets digested are all part of the equation, and those physiological skills may take a few days, or longer, to get sorted out. There’s evidence that brand new stomachs get better at relaxing after a few days, which lets them expand and hold more liquid, for instance.
Because we don’t really know how big any particular newborn’s stomach is, the best approach to feeding frequency comes from watching the baby’s behavior. Babies should be fed on demand, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends. And babies “demand” a meal — either breastmilk or formula — by rooting around with their heads or starting to suck on something (their hands, their parents’ arms, whatever’s within reach). Crying is often one of the last signals they send. Breastfeeding sessions should be attempted eight to 12 times in a 24-hour period.
We’re definitely in round-the-clock territory in my house. During a recent back-to-back nursing session, I had a vague memory of a study on the !Kung hunter-gatherers of Namibia and Botswana. Reading the study again gave me a whole new appreciation for these women. During the daytime (when researchers were observing), the women’s babies, who ranged in age from 12 weeks to more than 2 1/2 years, nursed an average of four times an hour, with about 13 minutes between nursing bouts. Those astonishing numbers put my own nursing marathons into perspective, and reminded me that the struggle to keep up with growing babies’ appetites is universal.
ST. LOUIS – When children are playing, not only are they having fun, they are also diving deep into learning. The importance of childhood play should not be ignored, especially for little ones just starting on their journeys.
Childhood specialist Peaches Lott from the Lume Institute visits KPLR 11 News at Noon to address the misconception that children aren’t learning when they’re playing.
Lott says when children play they are constantly making new connections in their brain. Practicing literacy, learning problem-solving skills, and exercising their bodies, all of which help nurture brain development.
Some people think talent is born. The often-told story of Mozart playing piano at 3 and composing at 5 reinforces such beliefs.
But here’s the rest of that story: Mozart’s father was a successful musician, composer and instructor. He was devoted to teaching Mozart and helping him practice hard and achieve perfection.
Despite all this, Mozart did not produce his first masterwork until his early 20s – after about 15 years of arduous practice and top-notch instruction.
Talent, I argue, is not born, it’s made – and parents can make a big difference.
Conditions for success
Although some might believe that talent is rare, psychologist Benjamin Bloom said otherwise after he investigated top performers in six talent domains: “What any person in the world can learn, almost all persons can learn if provided with the appropriate conditions of learning.”
Those appropriate conditions include five things: an early start, expert instruction, deliberate practice, a center of excellence, and singleness of purpose.
Children can’t ignite and stoke these talent factors on their own. Instead, as I argue in my 2019 book, “Nurturing Children’s Talents: A Guide for Parents,” children need a talent manager, most often a parent, to nurture talent growth. I make this case as an educational psychologist who specializes in learning and talent development.
Let’s take a closer look at these talent factors and parents’ influence.
1. Early start
The seeds of talent are usually planted early and in the home. One study revealed that 22 of 24 talented performers – from chess players to figure skaters – were introduced to their talent domains by parents, usually between ages 2 and 5.
“I think my daughter had an advantage because of my job,” coach Cook said. “She grew up around volleyball. When she was a little kid, we set up a mini court in the basement and would play volleyball on our knees.”
Some parents were not linked to the child’s eventual talent area but provided a nurturing early environment that sparked a talent interest. Such was the case for Adora Svitak, an accomplished child writer and presenter.
Adora published two books by age 11 and made hundreds of international presentations, including a TED Talk viewed by millions. Adora’s parents, John and Joyce, were not writers or presenters, but they set the stage for Adora’s accomplishments. As her mother describes, they read “interesting and fascinating” books to her for more than an hour each night. “Reading really helped shape Adora’s love for learning and reading,” she said.
In addition, they encouraged Adora’s early writing, offered guidance, helped her publish her books and arranged speaking engagements. Joyce eventually quit her job to manage Adora’s career. She said, “It is a full-time job, and it can be hard. But, I don’t just manage somebody; I manage my daughter.”
2. Expert instruction
Parents go to great lengths to provide or arrange expert instruction. Chess grandmaster Kayden Troff learned how to play chess at age 3 while observing his father, Dan, and older siblings play.
With few chess resources near their Utah home, Dan assumed chess-coaching duties. To do so, Dan studied chess 10 to 15 hours a week during lunch breaks and after hours.
He read books, watched videos, and studied grandmaster games that allowed him to create a book with specialized lessons to instruct Kayden during nightly training sessions. Eventually, when Dan could no longer keep pace with Kayden’s growth, he arranged for Kayden to take lessons from grandmasters via the internet.
To pay for lessons costing US$300 a month, Dan, a banker, and his wife worked extra jobs as custodians and spent 400 hours organizing an annual chess camp.
3. Deliberate practice
Practice among the talented is never casual, it’s deliberate: goal-directed and beyond one’s comfort zone.
State high school swim champion Caroline Thiel described her taxing practice routine this way:
“Some days in practice you’re just so exhausted. You’re sore and your entire body aches, and it’s hard to find motivation. Your brain shuts down but your body keeps going through the muscle aches, heavy breathing and throwing up. People don’t realize how hard swimmers practice; they think we just jump in the pool and swim a few laps.”
4. Center of excellence
When I asked Jayde Atkins, a national high school rodeo champion, why she is so talented, she said, “Look at all I have, I should be good.” Jayde was raised on a horse ranch in central Nebraska and began riding at age 2.
Her parents, Sonya and J.B., are riders and professional horse trainers who taught her the ropes and practiced with her for hours each day. The Atkins had well-bred horses and a big trailer to transport them to nearby towns for rodeo competitions. The family ranch was a self-made center of rodeo excellence.
Most talented performers do not a have a center of excellence outside their back door. In those cases, they may travel to get to one. Consider three tennis players from Lincoln, Nebraska, my hometown. With their parents’ blessing and support, Jon and Joel Reckewey left home as teenagers and moved three hours away to Kansas where they trained at the prestigious Mike Wolf Tennis Academy.
Wimbledon and U.S. Open doubles champion Jack Sock traveled weekly to that same tennis academy as a boy before his entire family eventually relocated to Kansas. With parents’ support, budding stars often gravitate to centers of excellence, where top coaches and rising stars flock.
5. Singleness of purpose
Talented people display a singleness of purpose.
One chess parent I interviewed told me, “The extraordinary time we put toward this one activity takes him out of a lot of fun and games.” Another parent said, “He’s not interested in school; he’s interested in chess. He just lives and breathes chess.” That same parent said, “We once took chess away (because of low school performance) and he was miserable. It was like yanking out the soul.”
When I asked chess parents why their children dedicate themselves to chess the way they do, they were unanimous about how much joy and satisfaction their children got from pursuing chess.
Parents support this singleness of purpose. However, on occasion, they may find themselves supporting more than one passion. For instance, McKenzie Steiner is an all-state softball player and rising country music star. Her father, Scott, was McKenzie’s longtime softball coach, logging thousands of hours a year on the diamond and practicing pitching in the backyard, and also serving as her country band assembler, promoter and manager.
Talent journey
Although stories of pushy parents abound, the parents I spoke with recognize that children must drive the talent train with passion and hard work and that parents can only help keep the train on track. They helped because they saw a need that only they could meet. They would no sooner ignore a talent need than a medical need. And, of course, they help because they love their children and want them to be fulfilled.
Experts urge early cochlear implantation of deaf infants as a public policy priority
Source: Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Summary: Researchers present further evidence that deaf children who received cochlear implants (implanted electronic hearing device) before 12 months of age learn to more rapidly understand spoken language and are more likely to develop spoken language as their exclusive form of communication.
Researchers from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago present further evidence that deaf children who received cochlear implants (implanted electronic hearing device) before 12 months of age learn to more rapidly understand spoken language and are more likely to develop spoken language as their exclusive form of communication. In their study, published in Otology and Neurotology, this was true even for children with additional conditions often associated with language delay, such as significantly premature birth. Researchers also showed that implantation surgery and anesthesia were safe in young children, including infants.
“Our results clearly show that kids who received cochlear implants in infancy make progress more rapidly and are more likely to use spoken language as their sole means of communication” says lead author Stephen Hoff, MD, from Lurie Children’s, who is also Associate Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “More than 90% of deaf children have hearing parents. Most parents hope that a cochlear implant will enable their child to talk. However, early implantation is not a public policy priority. For this reason, many children are not evaluated for cochlear implantation until they are over age 12 months.”
Currently, every state has a newborn hearing screening requirement, which has resulted in earlier diagnosis of hearing loss and fitting of hearing aids. However, no public policy promotes early identification of deaf infants whose hearing would be much improved with cochlear implantation in comparison to hearing aids.
“Cochlear implants are remarkable in that they enable children to hear the high pitch consonants such as “s.” These are the sounds that hearing aids cannot make audible to deaf children. The sooner children are able to hear through an implant, the more likely they will understand when others talk, and learn to speak clearly,” says senior author Nancy Young, MD, Medical Director of Audiology and Cochlear Implant Programs at Lurie Children’s and Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Infants should be evaluated to determine if cochlear implantation would provide superior hearing. The procedure is safe and the results can be transformative.”
In the study, researchers reviewed Lurie Children’s experience with 219 children who underwent cochlear implantation before they were three years old, including a group of 39 children who were implanted when younger than 12 months of age. The mean age at last follow-up was 7.5 years. They found that implanted infants developed word understanding ability one year earlier than those implanted as toddlers and were more likely to use spoken language alone to communicate. Children who were implanted after 2 years of age were much less likely to use spoken language exclusively.
Drs. Young and Hoff are preparing to lead a multicenter clinical trial on the safety and efficacy of implantation of infants and children receiving a MED-El cochlear implant system. The study, expected to open later in 2019, has the potential to expand Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling for cochlear implantation to children as young as age 7 months of age. At present all cochlear implant systems have approval for use in children 12 months of age and older, based upon FDA clinical trials done several decades ago. However, many implant programs use these devices off label based on more recent studies indicating superior outcome.
Growing evidence suggests that screen time may have some negative consequences for young children’s development.
In a new study of nearly 900 children between six months and two years old, researchers found that those who spent more time using handheld devices were more likely to have delays in expressive speech, compared to children who didn’t use the devices as much. For every 30 minutes of screen time, there was a 49% increased risk of expressive speech delay. The research, which was led by pediatricians at the Hospital for Sick Children in Canada, was presented at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies.
The researchers say they did not find any effect of screen time on other communication skills, such as gesturing, body language or social interactions. But the effect on speech is worth investigating.
“What these results show is that if parents are trying to address their child’s language development with educational apps, it’s probably not working on a population scale,” says Dr. Jenny Radesky, assistant professor of developmental behavioral pediatrics at the University of Michigan and member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ executive committee of the council on communications and media. Radesky, who was not involved in the study, says there are a number of reasons why the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against handheld devices or computers for children under 18 months, and instead encourages parents to take advantage of this critical time by engaging directly with their infants. For one, the latest studies suggest children that young aren’t able to understand the connection between the two-dimensional world on the screen and the three-dimensional world around them. “Even if they can mimic what they see on the screen, they can’t always transfer that to the real world and the rest of their lives,” she says. “Symbolic thinking and memory flexibility is something that apps haven’t been able to overcome, no matter how interactive they are.”
Even if parents are exposing their infants to handheld devices with educational content, that screen time might not be helping their development. Radesky also notes that the amount of screen time young infants get may actually reflect social, cultural and economic factors that might have more to do with how stressed parents feel, or how consistent the caregiving is for the child. More studies are needed to look at how such things can affect child development, including expressive language.
“What’s important is creating unplugged spaces and time so families can create boundaries for screen time,” says Radesky. Making space for live, face-to-face interactions with children might not be easy, but it appears to be important.
Contact us at editors@time.com.
Research challenges theoretical constraints on visual forms that can represent language
Source: Society for Neuroscience
Summary: A part of the brain that maps letters to sounds can acquire a second, visually distinct alphabet for the same language, according to a study of English speakers. The research challenges theoretical constraints on the range of visual forms available to represent written language.
A part of the brain that maps letters to sounds can acquire a second, visually distinct alphabet for the same language, according to a study of English speakers published in eNeuro. The research challenges theoretical constraints on the range of visual forms available to represent written language.
For adults, becoming fluent in a foreign language, particularly one with a new alphabet, can be challenging. This may be because their brain has been specialized by their first language. It is unclear whether the so-called visual word form area (VWFA) — a brain region that responds to letters — is similarly inflexible in adulthood.
Lea Martin, Julie Fiez, and colleagues taught undergraduate university students how to read a fictional writing system called HouseFont, which assigns images of houses to English phonemes. Participants achieved proficiency in this pseudo writing system akin to a first-grade reading level. After the training, the researchers observed increased VWFA activity that predicted participants’ reading speed. This effect was not observed in the parahippocampal place area — a brain region that has been shown to respond selectively to images of houses. These findings suggest HouseFont was acquired as an additional alphabet, and show how learning a new writing system shapes the reading brain.
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Materials provided by Society for Neuroscience. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Lea Martin, Corrine Durisko, Michelle W. Moore, Marc N. Coutanche, Deborah Chen, Julie A. Fiez. The VWFA is the home of orthographic learning when houses are used as letters. eneuro, 2019; ENEURO.0425-17.2019 DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0425-17.2019
(HealthDay News) — A newborn’s vision isn’t as developed as an older child’s, although significant progress is made during the initial months of life, the American Optometric Association says.
Although rare at this early age, signs of vision problems among newborns and young infants include:
Excessive tearing – this may indicate blocked tear ducts
Red or encrusted eye lids – this could signal an eye infection
Constant eye turning – this may signal a problem with eye muscle control.
Extreme sensitivity to light – this may indicate elevated pressure in the eye.
Appearance of a white pupil – this may indicate an eye tumor that could be cancerous.
Children with autism spectrum disorder, and those with other types of developmental delays who have symptoms of the disorder, often have a harder time getting to sleep and staying asleep, according to a study in the March 2019 issue of Pediatrics.
“Sleep Problems in 2- to 5-Year-Olds with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Developmental Delays” compared sleep habits of 1,987 children ages 2 to 5 years from multiple locations within the United States.
Children were divided into four groups: children with a classification of an autism spectrum disorder, children with other developmental delays with characteristics of autism spectrum disorder, children with other developmental delays without characteristics of autism, and children in a general population group.
Researchers found that children with autism spectrum disorder or other developmental delays with autism characteristics were more than twice as likely to experience sleep problems as children in the general population group. They theorized that several factors are likely to contribute to sleep problems for the groups with characteristics of autism spectrum disorder including anxiety, difficulty making transitions, and differences in melatonin production.
Since childhood sleep problems have been shown to affect a child’s daytime behavior and quality of life for children and their families, the authors conclude that further research on causes and treatments for sleep problems in this group of children is needed.
Six-month-old babies who are brought up hearing more than one language show advantages in the early development of attention
Date: January 30, 2019
Source: York University
Summary:
In the study, infants who are exposed to more than one language show better attentional control than infants who are exposed to only one language. This means that exposure to bilingual environments should be considered a significant factor in the early development of attention in infancy, the researchers say, and could set the stage for lifelong cognitive benefits.
The advantages of growing up in a bilingual home can start as early as six months of age, according to new research led by York University’s Faculty of Health. In the study, infants who are exposed to more than one language show better attentional control than infants who are exposed to only one language. This means that exposure to bilingual environments should be considered a significant factor in the early development of attention in infancy, the researchers say, and could set the stage for lifelong cognitive benefits.
The research was conducted by Ellen Bialystok, Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology and Walter Gordon Research Chair of Lifespan Cognitive Development at York University and Scott Adler, associate professor in York’s Department of Psychology and the Centre for Vision Research, along with lead author Kyle J. Comishen, a former Master’s student in their lab. It will be published January 30, 2019 in Developmental Science.
The researchers conducted two separate studies in which infants’ eye movements were measured to assess attention and learning. Half of the infants who were studied were being raised in monolingual environments while others were being raised in environments in which they heard two languages spoken approximately half of the time each. The infants were shown images as they lay in a crib equipped with a camera and screen, and their eye movements were tracked and recorded as they watched pictures appear above them, in different areas of the screen. The tracking was conducted 60 times for each infant.
“By studying infants — a population that does not yet speak any language — we discovered that the real difference between monolingual and bilingual individuals later in life is not in the language itself, but rather, in the attention system used to focus on language,” says Bialystok, co-senior author of the study. “This study tells us that from the very earliest stage of development, the networks that are the basis for developing attention are forming differently in infants who are being raised in a bilingual environment. Why is that important? It’s because attention is the basis for all cognition.”
In the first study, the infants saw one of two images in the centre of the screen followed by another image appearing on either the left or right side of the screen. The babies learned to expect that if, for example, a pink and white image appears in the centre of the screen, it would be followed by an attractive target image on the left; If a blue and yellow image appeared in the centre, then the target would appear on the right. All the infants could learn these rules.
In the second study, which began in the same way, researchers switched the rule halfway through the experiment. When they tracked the babies’ eye movements, they found that infants who were exposed to a bilingual environment were better at learning the new rule and at anticipating where the target image would appear. This is difficult because they needed to learn a new association and replace a successful response with a new contrasting one.
“Infants only know which way to look if they can discriminate between the two pictures that appear in the centre,” said Adler, co-senior author of the study. “They will eventually anticipate the picture appearing on the right, for example, by making an eye movement even before that picture appears on the right. What we found was that the infants who were raised in bilingual environments were able to do this better after the rule is switched than those raised in a monolingual environment.”
Anything that comes through the brain’s processing system interacts with this attentional mechanism, says Adler. Therefore, language as well as visual information can influence the development of the attentional system.
Researchers say the experience of attending to a complex environment in which infants simultaneously process and contrast two languages may account for why infants raised in bilingual environments have greater attentional control than those raised in monolingual environments.
In previous research, bilingual children and adults outperformed monolinguals on some cognitive tasks that require them to switch responses or deal with conflict. The reason for those differences were thought to follow from the ongoing need for bilinguals to select which language to speak. This new study pushes back the explanation to a time before individuals are actively using languages and switching between them.
“What is so ground-breaking about these results, is that they look at infants who are not bilingual yet and who are only hearing the bilingual environment. This is what’s having the impact on cognitive performance,” says Adler.
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MONDAY, Jan. 7, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Parents of kids with Down syndrome often worry whether their children can develop life skills, but new research suggests that the picture is far from bleak.
“More and more parents are opting for prenatal testing during their pregnancies, and if they learn about a diagnosis of Down syndrome they want to know real-life answers to such questions,” said Dr. Brian Skotko. He is director of the Down syndrome program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
“Contrary to some public beliefs, people with Down syndrome never stop learning, and functional skills can still be attained and improved well into adulthood,” he said in a hospital news release.
For the study, Skotko and colleagues combined the results of surveys of more than 2,600 families in the United States and the Netherlands.
The U.S. survey, conducted in 2009, asked parents to rank their child’s functional abilities in 11 areas: walking; eating; speaking; grooming and personal hygiene; reading; writing; preparing meals; working at a job; going on dates; traveling alone; and living independently.
Parents were also asked if their child had significant health problems or learning difficulties.
The same questionnaire was completed by Dutch families in 2016.
For both groups, the ages of the family members with Down syndrome ranged from under 5 to over 40, with the largest number in the younger age groups.
The results showed that most people with Down syndrome in the United States could walk by 25 months, speak reasonably well by age 12 years, maintain personal hygiene by 13 and work independently by 20.
By age 31, nearly half were reading reasonably well, 46 percent could write reasonably well, 34 percent were living independently, and about 30 percent could travel independently, the findings showed.
Dutch parents reported largely similar results.
Learning problems were reported more often than health problems, and serious health problems increased with age, the researchers found.
“Now we have guideposts — based on the responses of thousands of parents — that can help clinicians know when children may be falling behind their peers with Down syndrome and, when necessary, refer parents to additional supports, resources and therapies,” Skotko said.
In America, “wrongful birth” and “wrongful life” lawsuits have been filed by parents of children with Down syndrome or on behalf of the children. These suits claim that they were not given information allowing them to terminate a pregnancy or that the child is living a life of suffering, Skotko said.
“These headline-grabbing lawsuits center around basic questions, such as what a person with Down syndrome can reasonably be expected to achieve. Such discussions should be centered around accurate information, rather than wild, outdated speculation, and we hope our research will help give clearer answers to those questions,” he explained.
The report was published online Jan. 2 in the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A.
More information
For more on Down syndrome, visit the National Down Syndrome Society.
FRIDAY, Dec. 14, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Good sleep routines can help children get the rest they need, researchers say.
For the new report, investigators reviewed 44 studies from 16 countries in North America, Europe and Asia. The studies included a total nearly 300,000 children, aged 4 months to 18 years.
“Good sleep hygiene gives children the best chances of getting adequate, healthy sleep every day. And healthy sleep is critical in promoting children’s growth and development,” said review leader Wendy Hall. She’s a nursing professor and sleep expert at the University of British Columbia, in Canada.
“Research tells us that kids who don’t get enough sleep on a consistent basis are more likely to have problems at school and develop more slowly than their peers who are getting enough sleep,” she added in a university news release.
“We found good-to-strong endorsement of certain sleep hygiene practices for younger kids and school-age kids: regular bedtimes; reading before bed; having a quiet bedroom; and self-soothing — where you give them opportunities to go to sleep and go back to sleep on their own if they wake up in the middle of the night,” Hall said.
A regular bedtime is also beneficial for older kids, according to the findings published online recently in the journal Paediatric Respiratory Reviews.
The study also revealed the importance of limiting technology use just before bedtime or during the night when kids are supposed to be sleeping.
“One big problem with school-age children is it can take them a long time to get to sleep, so avoiding activities like playing video games or watching exciting movies before bedtime was important,” Hall said.
More information
The National Sleep Foundation has more on children and sleep.
SOURCE: University of British Columbia, news release, Dec. 3, 2018
From educational toys to governmental guidelines and detailed nursery progress reports, there are lots of resources available to help parents track and facilitate their children’s development. But while there are tricks we can use to teach children to talk, count, draw or respect others, a surprisingly big part of how they develop is determined by the culture they grow up in.
Child development is a dynamic, interactive process. Every child is unique in interacting with the world around them, and what they invoke and receive from others and the environment also shapes how they think and behave. Children growing up in different cultures receive specific inputs from their environment. For that reason, there’s a vast array of cultural differences in children’s beliefs and behaviour.
Language is one of the many ways through which culture affects development. We know from research on adults that languages forge how people think and reason. Moreover, the content and focus of what people talk about in their conversations also vary across cultures. As early as infancy, mothers from different cultures talk to their babies differently. German mothers tend to focus on their infants’ needs, wishes or them as a person. Mothers of the African tribal group Nso, on the other hand, focus more on social context. This can include the child’s interactions with other people and the rules surrounding it.
This early exposure affects the way children attend to themselves or to their relationship with others – forming their self image and identity. For example, in Western European and North American countries, children tend to describe themselves around their unique characteristics – such as “I am smart” or “I am good at drawing”. In Asian, African, Southern European and South American countries, however, children describe themselves more often around their relationship with others and social roles. Examples of this include “I am my parents’ child” or “I am a good student”.
Because children in different cultures differ in how they think about themselves and relate to others, they also memorise events differently. For example, when preschoolers were asked to describe a recent special personal experience, European-American children provided more detailed descriptions, recalled more specific events and stressed their preferences, feelings and opinions about it more than Chinese and Korean children. The Asian children instead focused more on the people they had met and how they related to themselves.
Cultural effects of parenting
Parents in different cultures also play an important role in moulding children’s behaviour and thinking patterns. Typically, parents are the ones who prepare the children to interact with wider society. Children’s interaction with their parents often acts as the archetype of how to behave around others – learning a variety of socio-cultural rules, expectations and taboos. For example, young children typically develop a conversational style resembling their parents’ – and that often depends on culture.
European-American children frequently provide long, elaborative, self-focused narratives emphasising personal preferences and autonomy. Their interaction style also tends to be reciprocal, taking turns in talking. In contrast, Korean and Chinese children’s accounts are usually brief, relation-oriented, and show a great concern with authority. They often take a more passive role in the conversations. The same cultural variations in interaction are also evident when children talk with an independent interviewer.
Cultural differences in interactions between adults and children also influence how a child behaves socially. For instance, in Chinese culture, where parents assume much responsibility and authority over children, parents interact with children in a more authoritative manner and demand obedience from their children. Children growing up in such environments are more likely to comply with their parents’ requests, even when they are reluctant to do so.
By contrast, Chinese immigrant children growing up in England behave more similarly to English children, who are less likely to follow parental demands if unwilling.
From class to court
As the world is getting increasingly globalised, knowledge regarding cultural differences in children’s thinking, memory and how they interact with adults has important practical implications in many areas where you have to understand a child’s psychology. For instance, teachers may need to assess children who come from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Knowing how children coming from a different culture think and talk differently can help the teacher better interview them as part of an oral academic test, for example.
Another important area is forensic investigations. Being aware that Chinese children tend to recall details regarding other people and be brief in their initial response to questions may enable the investigator to allow more time for narrative practice to prepare the child to answer open-ended questions and prompt them with follow up questions.
Also, knowing that Chinese children may be more sensitive and compliant to authority figures – and more obedient to a perpetrator within the family – an interviewer may need to spend more time in building rapport to help the child relax and reduce their perceived authority. They should also be prepared to be patient with reluctance in disclosing abuse within families.
While children are unique and develop at their own pace, the cultural influence on their development is clearly considerable. It may even affect how quickly children reach different developmental milestones, but research on this complicated subject is still inconclusive. Importantly, knowledge about cultural differences can also help us pin down what all children have in common: an insatiable curiosity about the world and a love for the people around them.
If a standoff over vegetables at dinner is a daily hurdle with your child then good news parents – a picky toddler is still likely to grow up to be a normal weight and height.
That’s according to new research from the University of Bristol’s Children of the 90s study. Researchers have struggled to agree on an exact definition of picky eating, or identify who picky eaters are – which makes it difficult to compare different studies and draw overall conclusions.
However, as a general rule, picky eaters have strong preferences for particular foods and are reluctant to try unfamiliar foods. Sometimes these children insist on having their food presented in a particular way and can be very slow about eating it.
How picky eating develops
Picky eating is a source of anxiety and stress for many parents. The constant battles at mealtimes, combined with worry about whether the child is getting the right nutrients to grow and develop normally, can be exhausting and disruptive to family life and relationships.
It’s a common behaviour in preschool children, but children tend to grow out of it in the early school years, perhaps as they mix with their peers and develop greater autonomy. Some people think it’s an evolutionary hangover that once helped infants to avoid bitter-tasting foods that might have been poisonous. A fear of new foods could also be partly inherited through our genes and perhaps related to genetic variation in how sensitive people are to bitter tastes. For many children it’s a normal stage of development that most will leave behind eventually.
The Children of the 90s study has followed the development of children who were born in the Bristol area in the early 1990s, providing data about their health and well-being as they grew up. In our study we identified children as picky eaters at three years old. We looked at what it was about their early feeding and family life before that age that made it more likely that they would develop picky eating habits.
We also tracked their diets and growth into adolescence and compared them with a group of non-picky eaters.
We found that there are some ways in which parents can help to avoid their child becoming fussy about food. Using the responses from about 6,000 questionnaires, we found that late introduction of solid foods during weaning (after nine months old) was a contributing factor to the child becoming picky at three years old.
Parents worrying about their child’s choosiness at an earlier age was also an important predictor. Fifty percent of three year olds whose parents were greatly worried about their choosy eating habits at two years old were picky eaters at three years old, compared with only 17% if their parents were more relaxed about the choosiness.
Family mealtimes with home-cooked foods were also important, with all family members preferably eating the same meal. The importance of repeated serving of unfamiliar foods, but without pressure to eat, has been highlighted in other studies. There’s also a place for parents leading by example, showing their children that it’s normal to enjoy a wide variety of foods.
Growing up healthy
Picky eaters in the Children of the 90s study tended to eat fewer servings of fruits and vegetables and less meat than other children at three years old. However, in common with the findings of similar studies, calorie intakes were still generally adequate. These habits lingered at ten and at 13 years old.
To find out whether these differences in diet affected growth, we looked at the average heights, weights and body mass indices (BMI) that were measured annually from age seven to 17 years in about 300 of the children who were identified as picky eaters at three years old.
When the results were plotted on reference growth charts the values were consistently just above the 50th centiles, which indicates the average measurement for all children in the population. This shows that the children were growing normally. There were a few children, however, who were thin, with a low BMI during adolescence. If these children can be identified at a young age, they may benefit from extra support and monitoring during their early years.
Parents naturally worry about their children, whatever age they are – and that’s difficult to change. But we’ve shown that even children who are picky as preschoolers usually eat well enough over time to ensure that they grow properly. A reassuring message for parents – and one that might even help to prevent picky eating behaviour in the first place.
Dear Parent,
Santa here. I know this season has been hard. Your eight-year-old looked at you baldfaced and said I wasn’t real. How can this be? Is the innocence and magic already gone? It seems like just yesterday they were so easily convinced that crumbs on the plate were irrefutable evidence that I’d been there. And they have no respect for how hard I work to make my handwriting look just like yours!
No matter that you never got a chance to tell them I don’t exist. Most children come to that conclusion themselves.
But don’t worry about your kids too much. Coming to disbelieve in Santa is not particularly distressing for them. You, like many parents, are actually sadder than your kids are about it. And they probably won’t blame you for having told them I exist, either. Kids who no longer believe in me think that other kids should be encouraged to.
And a little happiness can’t hurt, particularly in light of evidence that people are less happy around Christmastime, (with the exception of devout Christians).
Parenting is tough these days. I don’t get a lot of news up here in the North Pole, though we’ve gotten a lot more since Mrs. Claus talked the elves into using pixie-dust to make a rocking horse that functions as an Amazon Echo. But from the little news we get, we can tell that people are super-judgmental about every decision you make, including your decision to (or not to) tell your kids to believe in Santa Claus.
Some Christians think Santa strengthens consumption as religion. Indeed, like the gods of religions, I do have “strategic knowledge” about what your kids do that is good and bad, paying more attention to moral issues than anything else (I don’t pay any attention to you, parents, so don’t worry about clearing your browser history, ho ho ho!). But the similarity of believing in me to believing in the gods of religions is tenuous, because I have failed to attract a substantial community of true believers.
Your skeptical kids are not alone. Not many people over the age of seven-and-a-half believe in Santa Claus.
Some think that telling kids about me is lying, and destroys trust, but there’s no evidence that that happens. In fact, there isn’t any scientific evidence that believing in me is harmful in any way.
But belief might have some benefits: kids are more generous after talking about me (versus when they talk about pets or the Easter Bunny). But it’s unclear whether bringing up Santa promotes good behaviour.
So if your kids stopped believing, or if they never did, it probably doesn’t matter much either way. But don’t be too sad. Just because a sleigh ride ends doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun, does it?
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night,
Santa Claus
Date: November 26, 2018
Source: University of Washington
Summary: A new study shows that parents who learn how and why to speak ‘parentese’ can have a direct impact on their children’s vocabulary.
When it comes to helping infants learn to talk, it’s not just how much parents say, but how they say it.
Speaking directly to the baby with a style of speech known as “parentese” — talking slowly and clearly, often with exaggerated vowels and intonation — appears to improve infant language development. A new study from the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) shows that parents who learn how and why to speak parentese can have a direct impact on their children’s vocabulary.
“We know from over 30 years of research in the lab that infants prefer parentese over standard speech, and that infants who are exposed to more parentese at home have larger vocabularies as toddlers,” said Patricia Kuhl, professor of speech and hearing sciences and co-director of I-LABS. “We wanted to explore whether parents benefit from “coaching” by adapting their own speaking style and whether this would affect their child’s language outcomes.”
In the new study, published online in Developmental Science, researchers used audio recordings of participating families’ typical weekends. Parents were randomly assigned to the “coaching” or “control” groups: Those in the control group were recorded, while those in the coaching group not only were recorded, but also participated in individual parent coaching sessions during which they received language-interaction tips in the form of cards with “brain building” tips from Vroom, and discussed their recordings with the coach. Babies whose parents received coaching during the study were significantly more verbal by 14 months of age.
Parentese is not what many people think of as “baby talk.” The latter is typically a mash-up of nonsense words and silly sounds (think: “cutesie-wootsie”), whereas parentese is fully grammatical speech that involves real words, elongated vowels and exaggerated tones of voice — it sounds happy and conveys total engagement with the child. Spoken directly to the child — and used across many languages — parentese resonates with infants, researchers say, and helps babies tune in socially to their parents, and motivates them to talk back, even if that just means babbling.
“Most parents know that the amount of language their child hears is important. What we shared with them through coaching is that how they talk to their baby may matter even more,” said Naja Ferjan Ramírez, a research scientist at I-LABS and lead author of the study. “We explained to them the research behind parentese, and made sure they were aware of the connection between their language input, and their speaking style in particular, and their baby’s language outcomes.”
The research team decided to examine the role of coaching, Ferjan Ramírez said, because parents vary widely in their understanding of how babies learn to talk, and of their own role in language development. So the study pool deliberately included people of different socioeconomic backgrounds.
The study involved 77 parents and their infants, who were 6 months old at the beginning of the project. All families were given a lightweight recorder, to be worn by the baby in a specially designed vest, and asked to record the entirety of two weekend days when babies were 6, 10 and 14 months old. The device can record everything the baby hears and says, so it allowed researchers to track both parent and infant speech. Individual coaching sessions occurred at six and 10 months. Researchers evaluated the recordings of families in both groups.
The coaching sessions for parents in the intervention group provided lessons and feedback on specific communication strategies: parentese, speaking directly to their child, and incorporating language in one-on-one interactions. During the sessions, the coach played recordings of specific speech styles and compared the parents’ own recordings to research-based targets for child language development. Parents then were provided tips on how to use these communication strategies through daily routines, such as mealtime or bath time.
According to the study, between six and 14 months, parents in the coached group increased the amount of speech directed to their child and increased parentese by 15 percent. Parents in the control group showed less growth in their use of both strategies, averaging about 7 percent.
To measure child language skills, the team classified infant recordings as “babbling” — use of vowels, consonant-vowel syllables and strings of word-like sounds — or as words if they were clearly recognizable English words. For the purposes of this study, all participating parents spoke English as their primary language.
The researchers found that babies of coached families babbled, on average, in 43 percent of the analyzed recordings, while control babies babbled in 30 percent of the recordings. In addition, at 14 months, intervention babies produced significantly more words than control babies, as measured by the recordings as well as parent reports.
A key takeaway is that any parent can incorporate these communication strategies — using parentese, interacting with the child — in their usual activities.
“Language learning can be ignited during daily routines, such as diaper changes, grocery shopping or sharing a meal,” Ferjan Ramírez said. “Everyday moments and daily interactions really matter, and parents can create more such moments and be more intentional about them.” The study showed that parent speech is malleable, across a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, she added.
“Parents are a child’s first and most important teachers, and we are happy to show they can have an immediate positive effect on the growth of their child’s language. Early language skills are important predictors of a child’s learning to read and of their success in school, and parents can directly affect their child’s outcomes in this way.”
The study was funded by the Overdeck Family Foundation and the I-LABS Ready Mind Project. Other authors of the study were Sarah Lytle, outreach and education director at I-LABS, and graduate student Melanie Fish.
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Spanking may be increasingly harmful for children on a more global scale than previously known, a new University of Michigan study indicates.
Most research on how spanking affects children has involved studying families in high-income countries, such as the United States and Canada, but less was known about how spanking affects children in low- and middle-income countries — or developing countries.
Spanking is one of the most common forms of child discipline used by parents worldwide.
The new international research used data collected by UNICEF in 62 countries — representing nearly one-third of the world’s countries — and demonstrated that caregivers’ reports of spanking were related to lower social development among 215,885 3- and 4-year-old children.
A parent or caregiver was asked in person if the child gets along well with other children; if the child hits, kicks or bites others; and if the child gets distracted easily. The question about spanking concerned the physical discipline used within the last month with the child or their sibling.
One-third of the respondents indicated they believed physical punishment is necessary to bring up, raise or educate a child properly. Among the children studied, 43 percent were spanked, or resided in a home where another child was spanked.
A child’s social development suffered in both cases in which he or she was spanked or during times when a sibling had been spanked, the study showed.
“It appears that in this sample … spanking may do more harm than good,” said Garrett Pace, the study’s lead author and a doctoral student of social work and sociology.
Pace also noted that “reductions in corporal punishment might do a great deal to reduce the burden of children’s mental health and improve child development outcomes globally.”
More effort to create policies that discourage spanking has occurred globally. In fact, 54 countries have banned the use of corporal punishment, which can only benefit children’s well-being long term, Pace and colleagues said.
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JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — A child’s curiosity coupled with wilderness is powerful.
At Teton Science Schools’ forest kindergarten summer program, a bird book, spatula, rope and a few other key ingredients kept children happy and learning without the need for screens.
“They don’t ask for technology; it’s not even really talked about,” said Jane Strader, a prekindergarten teacher. “I try to keep the materials as natural as possible. They seem to be fine without all that stuff, and I think it’s a beautiful thing. It’s awesome to see what they can come up with and create using their imaginations without using technology to spur ideas. They’ve got it all in them already.”
Teton Science Schools experimented this summer with the idea of forest kindergartens, which are geared toward preschoolers ages 4 to 6 but called “kindergarten” because of the terminology of where they originated. Jane Strader and co-teacher Christina Macy led a pair of three-week sessions, one in Wyoming and one in Victor, Idaho. Each day was as long as a traditional school day and focused on outdoor play, hands-on experiential learning and children guiding their own discoveries.
Forest kindergartens, and the idea of youngsters spending more time outside, are exploding in popularity. A 2005 book by Richard Louv, “Last Child in the Woods,” coined the term “nature deficit disorder.” Documentaries like “School’s Out: Lessons from a Forest Kindergarten” explore schooling that’s radically different from the test-centric, screen-centric American philosophy.
It isn’t all hype. A 2003 doctoral dissertation by Peter Hafner in Germany showed that graduates of German forest kindergartens had a “clear advantage” over graduates of regular kindergartens, outpacing their peers in cognitive and physical abilities, as well as in creativity and social development.
Another study on children in England and Wales found that forest kindergartens improved confidence, social skills, communication, motivation, physical skills, knowledge and understanding.
Forest schools are sweeping the U.K., and they are popping up in New Zealand, Japan, Israel and other countries. But since the programs are relatively new in the U.S., long-term results are unknown. A map on the American Forest Kindergarten Association’s website shows that most states have a handful of programs.
Strader stumbled into teaching at a forest kindergarten when she lived in Germany during college. The “total happenstance,” she said, was pivotal. She’s since worked with influential leaders in the field of nature-based early education, like Ellen Doris and David Sobel at Antioch University.
“I was just totally amazed that education could look like that at such an early age and how formative it was for those children going into their school careers, how it prepared them socially and emotionally and connected them to the world around them and each other,” Strader said. “Since then I’ve continued to pursue education with the goal of starting my own. It’s wild. Life comes at you when you least expect it.”
At R Park on Aug. 1, the students enjoyed the natural habitat. Some played with sticks in the water, imagining pontoon and sea planes taking off, or “caught” fish with a rope. Mia Scharnhorst, 6, made a boat of two crossed sticks and tied a rope to it to drag it along the water. Her classmate Jed Bowerstock, 5, did something similar. The children were in their own worlds, creating fanciful additions with every passing moment.
Some made a “river” in the gravel, using a spatula to dig in the dirt and working together to cause the water to run downstream.
“Look at it!” Cassius Musser, 4, said. “We made a mini-Snake River.”
“We just play,” Charlotte Ahlum, 4, said.
Earlier, she said, she got soaking wet in the pond.
And that’s OK. After the session in Victor, parents told Strader that the kids were “pretty chewed up by the bugs” and “super tired.” While the bugs might be able to be mitigated, dealing with the second is less of a priority.
“There might be a magical face painted on it (forest kindergarten), and it’s true, extremely magical moments happen throughout the day,” Strader said. “But it’s not always pretty. They still get in fights, I still have to redirect, they’re not always listening. It’s real, it’s raw, it’s right there. There’s nothing fake about it.”
A few feet away, Charlotte’s classmate Flynn Jackson, 6, shouted ecstatically.
“I caught a thing! I caught a thing!” he said.
The thing, or things, were grasshoppers that Flynn wanted to make an improvised bug catcher for.
“I bet it’s going to bite me,” Flynn said. “I’m going to make a natural habitat for them with some grass.”
But what kind of grass? Flynn and his classmates looked up species of native plants in a guidebook. They learned that pineapple weed could make tea and that ticks sometimes hang out in sagebrush.
Parents, Strader said, like it when their kids come home with knowledge like this. The session at Snowdrift Farms in Victor focused on plants.
“The kids all came home knowing the names of all these different wildflowers,” Strader said. “The parents were pretty psyched on it.”
Children in the forest kindergarten program needed a change of pace as the morning progressed. That’s all part of Strader and Macy’s plan and structure, which starts with free play, moves to “sit spots” at a “base camp” that stays the same all session, then back to play before lunch, with time allotted for naps and stories.
“I create rules with them in the beginning of the session,” Strader said. “Since it’s their rules, it helps keep them accountable.”
She softly sang a song about mountains, something she remembered from camp as a child, with hand gestures to reiterate the lyrics. Then, she instructed the children to go to their sit spots, quiet places they picked out in the beginning of the session, to draw things they found special and bring them back to share in a group meeting.
“They can just breathe and observe,” Strader said. “They say some beautiful things. I’m amazed at their ability and their excitement to be there.”
Students returned to the circle with observations of plants, bugs and some mythical creature sightings. Strader and Macy jotted it all down, taking notes of what the kids said and did so they could ask better questions later and facilitate educational play.
“It’s a lot less about what I want them to learn and a lot more about what they know and what they love and how I can draw them out to see it,” Strader said.
And with that, quiet reflection time was over. Children jumped up, excited to spend more time playing. Isaac Kinney, 5, and his buddy, Felix Fleck, 5, headed to a tipi they built from sticks while other boys and girls headed toward a zip line strung between two trees.
At the Teton Valley Community School in Victor, teachers already try to have weekly days in the woods.
“We’ve worked really hard these past three years to get our kids into the woods as often as possible,” Strader said. “The magic and learning that happens in the woods is beyond the environment you could ever create in the classroom.”
Another benefit of time spent in the forest, she said, is a shift in the teacher-student dynamic.
“I find that it evens the playing field,” Strader said. “I am no longer necessarily a teacher; I feel like I’m more of a guide and a resource. They’re problem solving, they’re asking their own questions, they’re laughing and playing in the most simple, free-form of ways. Kids come home tired and dirty and happy and asking questions.”
True forest kindergartens are year-round – rain, shine or snowstorm. Would that work in the Tetons, where Old Man Winter comes and stays with a vengeance?
Strader thinks so. The forest kindergarten programs this summer were a trial run, minus the extreme weather.
“Winter would look different,” she said. “My main crux right now is property and where to run the program. If it were to run in the winter it would definitely need some sort of indoor structure where kids can take their gloves off and eat lunch and dry their clothes.”
A yurt would be “pretty ideal,” Strader said. She’s spending this fall visiting other model programs and how they work in freezing temperatures.
“I think it’s definitely possible,” Strader said.
There’s a market for outdoor-based educational opportunities in Jackson. While parents certainly take their children outside, like the informal parent-led woods days with young children in Kelly, there aren’t official forest kindergarten programs in the area. The closest is Roots For School, a forest preschool in McCall, Idaho, or the Honeybee Nature School in Ogden, Utah.
“There’s certainly a huge parent buy-in and interest in this community,” Strader said. “I feel like now, more than ever, is a time to get one going.”
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(HEALTHDAY NEWS) — Childhood is the perfect time to start healthy eating habits, the American Academy of Pediatrics says.
While children need fat in their diets to get the daily energy they need, too much fat can lead to health problems, especially if it’s in the form of saturated fat that can lead to heart disease later in life.
Children should be offered healthier fats, such as those found in poultry, fish, lean meats and low-fat dairy products. The academy says fats should make up less than 30 percent of calories in your child’s diet, with no more than one-third coming from saturated fats.
When it comes to salt, it’s a leading cause of high blood pressure, which can lead to heart attack and stroke. The academy suggests using spices in place of salt to add flavor to your child’s food. Also, avoid processed foods, which typically contain a lot of salt.
Your child also shouldn’t eat too much sugar, which can lead to weight gain and tooth decay, the academy warns.
For Jernica Quiñones, the reality of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, hit close to home this year when a friend woke up on New Year’s Day and discovered the lifeless body of her baby girl.
That’s why Quiñones’ 4-month-old son, Bless’n, has spent a lot of his life so far sleeping in a cardboard box.
The 33-year-old mother of five took part in a program in New Jersey that promotes safe sleep education through the distribution of “baby boxes” that double as bassinets.
“Some mothers can’t buy a Pack-n-Play or a crib,” Quiñones says. And that can lead to bed sharing, a risk factor for SIDS.
The program is a riff on Finland’s well-known baby box, or maternity package, which the government gives to expectant mothers who get a prenatal checkup: It’s the box, plus clothing, blankets and other supplies.
Now that Finnish model is making inroads in the U.S., but with a twist. Instead of being a prenatal incentive, it’s being used to deliver a postpartum safe sleep message.
This week, Alabama will join Ohio and New Jersey in making free baby boxes available to the families of all newborns in the state. Parents watch online videos about SIDS and safe sleep and complete a short quiz. They can pick up a box at a local distribution center or have it mailed to them. The sturdy, portable box comes with a firm foam mattress and tight-fitting sheet; also included are breastfeeding accessories, a onesie, diapers and wipes.
New Jersey plans to distribute 105,000 boxes; Ohio, 140,000; Alabama, 60,000. The boxes are provided by the California-based Baby Box Co., which also helps produce the educational videos, hosted on its Babybox University website and tailored to local communities.
“The whole premise is that people like free things,” says Dr. Kathryn McCans, chair of New Jersey’s Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board, which is partnering with the Baby Box Co. for the New Jersey program. “It’s about getting the information out there.”
“Through education and awareness, people can make better choices and hopefully we can see fewer children dying,” she says.
There are about 3,500 sudden unexpected infant deaths a year in the U.S. The rate dropped significantly after the launch of 1994’s Back to Sleep campaign, which urged parents to put their babies to sleep on their back. But after a plateau, the rate has seen a slight uptick in recent years.
By comparison, Finland began its baby box program 80 years ago, when nearly one out of every 10 children in the country died before age 1. To qualify, women must get a health check before the end of their fourth month of pregnancy. Now, the country has one of the world’s lowest infant mortality rates.
In the U.S., it’s impossible to require pregnant women to get a prenatal checkup. Instead, the New Jersey and Ohio programs rely on educating new moms through videos.
With a running time of 15 to 20 minutes, the videos reflect the American Academy of Pediatrics safe sleep guidelines, which includes advice to put babies to sleep alone on a firm mattress, with no toys or soft bedding in the crib.
Kyle Stimpert, a mother of twins in Cleveland, received some of the first baby boxes in the Ohio program, which launched this month. She says she would have been a lot less anxious if she’d had them when her son and daughter came home from the hospital in December. “You don’t have to research, you don’t have to text a friend, you just know it’s a safe place,” the 36-year-old says.
In most cases, a baby box can be used for the first six months of life. The risk of SIDS is greatest between two and four months.
The Baby Box Co. says on its website that their boxes “meet or exceed all applicable tenets” of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. But the CPSC does not have standards for baby boxes.
Dr. Rachel Moon, a SIDS researcher at the University of Virginia and chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ SIDS Task Force, cautions that cardboard boxes are not bassinets, which have firm frames with legs or other supports.
“The box companies want to do the right thing and want to make sure their products are safe,” Moon says “But we’re not quite there yet. There’s still more testing that needs to be done.”
It’s a cool box, and a great hook for safe sleep education. But how effective is this approach?
People certainly are attracted by the free baby box. And the program has reached more people in less time than some of the state’s other safe-sleep efforts, McCans says.
Since the New Jersey program began in January, approximately 17,000 boxes have been distributed; in Ohio, 6,000 boxes have been distributed since its program launched earlier this month.
Ultimately, McCans says she doesn’t care whether babies actually sleep in the boxes.
“I’m not wedded to the box itself. It’s about the education,” she says. And, she says, it’s about making the boxes available to everyone so no one feels stigmatized.
Dr. Kristi Watterberg, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on the fetus and newborn, applauds the effort but worries that the process — learning about the program, going online, watching the videos and taking a quiz — may be too overwhelming or complicated for the people who need the education the most.
“The people who can really benefit from this are those who don’t have any clue what you need when you take a baby home,” she says. “They don’t have the social structure to support them. These are the moms who most need what’s in that box and the box itself.”
Watterberg also doesn’t want to see videos take the place of prenatal care, which remains the most important factor for healthy babies.
A study underway at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, a city with one of the highest infant mortality rates in the U.S., may yield some answers.
In the study’s first phase, mothers who delivered at the hospital received standard postpartum talks about SIDS, shaken baby syndrome and other topics. The hospital followed up with a phone call that included questions about risk factors for SIDS, such as bed sharing.
The results: Within 72 hours of leaving the hospital, 6.3 percent of mothers self-reported co-sleeping with their babies — just after they were told not to.
Those findings are lower than the national rate, which is 11.2 percent of parents co-sleeping with infants 7 months and younger, according to the National Infant Sleep Position Study.
“We identified the lack of a place for the baby to sleep as a risk factor for bed sharing,” says Dr. Megan Heere, medical director of the well baby nursery at Temple University Hospital.
The study’s second phase, which ended in November, introduced the baby box and a revamped educational component. Every mother had a one-on-one discussion exclusively about safe sleep with a specially trained nurse. The sessions lasted up to 45 minutes.
At discharge, new moms were given a baby box and taught how to use it. They also got a review of safe-sleep practices and watched a three-minute video provided by the Baby Box Co. The results are expected in May.
Heere hopes the baby box helps promote the cause of safe sleep, but she’s skeptical about the videos.
“Videos can be on and nobody watches them,” she says.
About a month after Quiñones, the New Jersey mom, watched the BabyBox University videos, she can quickly recall what she learned: That breastfeeding reduces the risk of SIDS, that you shouldn’t use bumpers or put teddy bears in the crib. Though she’s not a first-time mom, Quiñones says those facts were all new to her.
And word of the baby boxes has spread: Her sister and a friend have gotten them, too.
“Everyone wants a baby box,” Quiñones says. But the best part of the program, she says, is that it’s raising awareness: “I’m excited even if it saves one child.”
Parents need more support to encourage early-science learning, research says
By Naomi Hupert
Hand-wringing about the low science achievement of American students is a favorite activity of policymakers, business leaders, and others worried about economic potential and job growth in this country. Educators also are worried about the leaky pipeline to higher levels of science achievement and potential STEM jobs—particularly among underrepresented student groups, such as girls and nonwhite students. Where are the students with the ability and interest to pursue academic coursework in the sciences? Why are so few pursuing sciences at our colleges and universities? Two recent studies hold some answers and point to possible solutions.
One study, released by Education Development Center (EDC) and SRI International earlier this year, suggests that parents of young children are much less confident supporting their child’s science learning than they are supporting other academic subjects. An earlier study, released by Michigan State University last summer, indicates that teachers of young children also lack the knowledge to support early science learning. Together, these findings suggest a perfect storm for young children who are underprepared, underinformed, and underexposed to foundational science concepts, language, and experiences.
As a researcher who spoke to many parents for the most recent of these two studies, I began to wonder: Is this situation different from that of past generations of children, parents, and teachers? After listening closely to what parents had to say, I believe it is. We have created a slowly escalating science crisis in this country through narrow education policy, limited funding, low regard for teacher professional development, and a lack of respect for early-learning professionals. The result is a generation of parents who have not benefited from the early-learning experiences in science that would help them shape their own children’s science understanding.
Our study included a nationally representative survey of nearly 1,500 parents of 3- to 6-year-old children, a series of focus groups with 65 parents, and home visits with 11 families in three different communities. Nearly every parent we heard from—across economic, education, and ethnic differences—wanted to do and discuss science with their children, but they often lacked the background knowledge or experience to do so. Parents told us their older children in elementary school never came home with science homework and rarely did science at school. Many parents had little or no memory of their own science experiences as young students.
It is no coincidence that many of these parents are among the first wave to be influenced by No Child Left Behind, the 2001 federal law that emphasized literacy and mathematics testing as measures of school and districtwide accountability. Because the law prioritized reading and math, schools—especially those strapped for cash—focused their instruction on those subjects, often at the expense of instruction in other areas. NCLB may no longer be the law of the land, but it has had a lasting effect on how families of preschool-age children engage with science today. Regardless of how the Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, may change science instruction in the classroom, it cannot address the existing gap in science experience among families and parents of young children.
This concern is compounded by other challenges to science learning: a lack of qualified middle and high school science teachers, limited funding for up-to-date textbooks and classroom supplies for science activities, and cutbacks in class field trips.
Informal science learning can be just as challenging outside of the classroom. Children and families in some communities lack access to safe outdoor play areas that could offer hands-on learning. At the same time, many discovery centers, zoos, and science museums continue to raise admission prices to offset decreases in local, state, and federal funding. All of these factors have contributed to the generation of parents our research has found lack the tools and information to support their own young children with a solid foundation for early science learning.
If we want to change this picture, we—anyone who believes that every child has a right to an equal start in education—must begin at the beginning: young children, their teachers, their families, their pre-schools, and their communities. Children have a natural curiosity about the world around them. To ensure parents and educators are able to join them in wondering about and exploring new ideas, we must give children more, not fewer, opportunities to learn. Educators require professional development tailored to the developmental levels of the children they teach. They need resources that support a whole-child approach to learning, that don’t fracture learning experiences into isolated categories like math or reading, but instead recognize that learning happens across boundaries and in real-life settings. Early-learning settings need the resources and guidance to engaging whole families in learning experiences that can open doors to the natural and designed world.
Parents and caregivers play a substantial role in supporting and encouraging their young children’s learning experiences. Like educators, parents need guidance on how to engage their children in science activities and exploration. Reassuring parents and caregivers that they don’t need to hold the answers to children’s questions is the first step toward encouraging children to ask “why” and then begin the journey of finding the answer.
The educational media community can also help parents foster their children’s interest and competency in science. Commercial and nonprofit developers of videos, games, and apps aimed at young children have broad and deep reach into their homes and lives. Young children spend hours watching videos and playing games. These activities could offer an opportunity to engage children in thinking about, watching, and doing science. They could help to expand awareness of what science is, how it can be found everywhere, and what it looks like when all kinds of people do it.
If we are serious about supporting a new generation of science learners, there is also a role for local community, state, and federal governments to play. We must support access to science experiences through affordable fees to museums, zoos, and learning centers, as well as public transportation to these places serving all communities. Adequate funding for summer and after-school programs, science camps, science competitions, and field trips is also critical.
There will always be some number of children who succeed in science, either because of their advantages or despite their disadvantages. We can choose to accept this status quo or we can expand these opportunities by laying the foundation for a scientifically knowledgeable generation. Let’s begin by ensuring that all parents, caregivers, and educators have the support to foster science thinking and doing for children of all ages.
Quality early-childhood education demands a well-trained workforce
By Michele Miller-Cox
Parents know that a child’s early experiences greatly influence their success later in school and in life. While parents are young children’s first and best teachers, they rely on early educators as partners in preparing their children for success. And when that partnership is strong, we have the building blocks for prosperous communities, states, and nations. As a result, states and communities across our country have started to raise the qualifications and credentials for early educators. That is a great thing—as long as the resources are in place to assist early educators with the real costs of preparation and professional development while the bar is being raised.
It takes more than love of teaching for a person to be an effective early educator. I started my career in child care after entering a secretarial-degree program and landing a summer internship at a nonprofit that supported early-childhood and Head Start programs. I became interested in going into early education but I didn’t know the extent of knowledge, skills, and expertise it took to be a top-notch teacher until I accepted a job at one of the highest-quality child-care facilities in North Carolina. There, teachers were expected to maintain high levels of skills and continuous professional development.
Working at such a high-quality facility required that I spend evenings and weekends attending trainings and sometimes taking college courses necessary to complete my company’s required 66 in-service training hours per year. It wasn’t easy. However, it became very rewarding when I became more intentional in the teaching strategies I used and saw the difference it made in the development of my pupils. Those experiences also made me realize that I needed to learn more, and that meant going back to school to earn degrees.
Developing foundational skills in young children is a complex job that requires competency and skill. That’s why it is critically important to have standards for the lead early educators who are primarily responsible for fostering children’s social-emotional and academic growth while overseeing the work of assistant teachers and paraprofessionals. Those who work with the youngest children must know how to build trust with children and families.
Teachers—whether they run a family-child-care home or work in a child-care center—need to understand and abide by local rules and state regulations, be able to develop and implement lesson plans, have the skills to assess children’s development, design curricula that’s appropriate, and have a true understanding of the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Code of Ethical Conduct, which provides a common basis for resolving the primary ethical dilemmas that early educators face. These skills and knowledge are not innate, any more than the skills and knowledge to design and build buildings are innate. Strong instructional programs must exist to help student-teachers develop the knowledge, skills, and expertise to become effective.
Many fear that raising qualifications for early educators will make the profession less diverse and no longer reflective of the children it serves. That is simply not true. In North Carolina, 44 percent of center directors and 47 percent of center early educators are people of color, according to a 2015 survey from the Child Care Services Association. Nationally, a significant percentage of our profession consists of low-income women of color who are hungry for professional advancement and will seek out opportunities if we provide the pipeline and assistance to make higher education possible. If the resources are there, we can then have diversity, a well-qualified workforce, and better outcomes for children and communities.
My experience running a child-care business in North Carolina shows that this is not impossible, as some suggest. I worked 12 hours a day and went to school at night. My family sacrificed, and my advancement was made possible by a system that made higher education possible. For example, the Child Care Services Association’s T.E.A.C.H. early-childhood scholarship program—which offers a three-way partnership between the nonprofit, the scholarship recipient, and a sponsoring child-care center—paid for 80 percent of what it cost to earn my associate and bachelor’s degrees while still running my business. It also reimbursed me for books, provided a travel stipend, supported release time for me to study and go to class, and provided a counselor to support my journey.
I also received support from a statewide initiative (WAGE$), which provides education-based salary supplements to low-paid teachers, directors, and family-child-care educators working with children from birth to age 5. The program is designed to increase retention, education, and compensation.
We need to expand these kinds of supports to provide the same resources and opportunities to all early-childhood professionals.
But it is not just funding support that early-childhood educators need to complete their education. Many also need people who can help them navigate the path to obtaining higher education, especially those for whom college and technology can be intimidating. Early educators will meet the call as long as there’s a path and a system in place that helps them achieve their aspirations to be the best possible teacher for the children placed in their trust.
By raising the qualifications and increasing professional development and compensation opportunities for early educators, our communities, states, and nation have much to gain. Children who come to school with foundational skills that foster reading at grade level are on the pathway to be high school and college graduates and productive citizens.
Investing in early educators has a real return. And parents need early educators who know their children, see their potential, and know how to employ all the ways to bring it out. Children and families deserve nothing less—and we need to work together to make that happen.
By Tamara Mathias
(Reuters Health) – Teaching toddlers in daycare to use hand sanitizers could go a long way in keeping them from falling ill, missing school and reducing their need for antibiotics, a study suggests.
The findings, published in the journal Pediatrics, showed children trained to use hand sanitizer developed fewer respiratory infections and received fewer antibiotics than those left to follow their usual hand-washing procedures or taught to use soap and water.
“Schools are a good place to focus on programs promoting health, as they provide a relatively easy and sustainable way to achieve long-term change in the behavior of the students,” Dr. Ernestina Azor-Martinez of Distrito Sanitario Atención Primaria Almería in Almería, Spain, the study’s lead author, told Reuters Health in an email.
The eight-month study included 911 healthy children aged three and younger at 25 daycare centers in Spain. The centers were randomly divided into three groups. In one group, children were taught to wash their hands with soap and water. In another, children were trained to use hand sanitizer under the supervision of staff or parents. In the third group, no extra training was provided and centers followed their usual procedures.
Parents in the hand-sanitizer group and the soap-and-water group received supplies to use at home.
Researchers found hand sanitizer use was the most effective way to prevent illness.
Altogether there were 5,211 episodes of respiratory infections. Compared to children at centers that didn’t get extra training, children who used hand sanitizers were 23 percent less likely to suffer one of these episodes and 31 percent less likely to receive antibiotics.
Children using soap and water did better than children who didn’t get extra training but were still 21 percent more likely to suffer a respiratory infection than kids who used hand sanitizers and 31 percent more likely to receive antibiotics.
The number of days absent due to respiratory infections was significantly lower in the hand sanitizer group than in the other two groups.
Dr. Kerry-Ann O’Grady of the Institute of Health & Biomedical Innovation at Queensland University of Technology in Australia, who was not involved in the study, commented by email that because parents and staff knew their group assignment, they might have modified other behaviors, too, which would have affected the results. Also, she noted, handwashing had to be supervised by adults only in the sanitizer group, so the thoroughness of the wash probably differed.
Still, she said, the results match those of previous studies and are not surprising.
Dr. Michael Pitt of the Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis agreed. “This was a large study and builds off previous literature. The results are not unexpected, but rather confirm what one would hypothesize,” he said by email.
Azor-Martinez said a lack of handwashing facilities, soap and hand tissues in schools can hinder proper hygiene. Hand sanitizer dispensers offer a low-maintenance alternative, she said.
Pitt, who was not involved in the study, said, “Hand washing isn’t sexy science, but it saves lives.”
“Many serious infections piggyback off of the common cold, ranging from pneumonia to post-viral complications… so this type of work goes beyond decreasing missed days of school and sniffles but preventing serious complications of everyday viruses,” he said.
O’Grady added, “The most common problem with hand hygiene studies is what happens when the study is finished and soap/hand sanitizer is no longer supplied and people are no longer having their hand hygiene monitored . . . the effort to get people to wash their hands properly and regularly is an ongoing challenge.”
SOURCE: Pediatrics, online October 8, 2018.
Date: October 16, 2018
Source: University of Connecticut
Summary: Researchers looked at the mechanisms involved in language learning among nine-month-olds, the youngest population known to be studied in relation to on-screen learning.
Infants are more likely to learn from on-screen instruction when paired with another infant as opposed to viewing the lesson alone, according to a new study.
You read that correctly: Infants.
Researchers at the University of Connecticut and the University of Washington looked at the mechanisms involved in language learning among nine-month-olds, the youngest population known to be studied in relation to on-screen learning.
They found neural evidence of early learning among infants who were coupled with a peer, as compared to those infants who viewed the instruction alone. Critically, the more often that new, unfamiliar, partners were paired with the infants, the better results the babies showed.
“Novelty increased learning,” says Patricia K. Kuhl, Bezos Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Learning at the University of Washington. “What this study introduces for the first time is that part of the reason we learn better when we learn collaboratively is that a social partner increases arousal, and arousal in turn increases learning. Social partners not only provide information by showing us how to do things, but also provide motivation for learning.”
Kuhl worked with Adrian Garcia-Sierra, assistant professor of speech, language, and hearing sciences at UConn; and Sarah Roseberry Lytle, director of outreach and education, at the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington.
Their paper, “Two Are Better Than One: Infant Language Learning From Video Improves in the Presence of Peers,” appears this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The pattern of neural response exhibited by infants in the paired-exposure setting was indicative of more mature brain processing of the sounds, write the researchers, and it is likely that they represent the earliest stages of infants’ sound learning.
The findings support previous research highlighting the importance of social interaction for children’s learning, especially from screen media.
While previous studies have confirmed that children’s language learning is better from live humans than from screens, other studies have built on that work to suggest that the screen itself may not be the issue, but the lack of interactivity.
Thirty-one infants were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned to individual or paired conditions. The researchers put infants in control of their video-viewing experience with touchscreen technology, and the infants were “quick to learn” that they had to touch the screen to activate a video, the researchers note.
The results revealed brain-based evidence of immature phonemic learning in infants in the individual settings, while evidence of more mature learning emerged from infants in the paired sessions.
Critically, the differences could not be attributed to the amount of exposure time, the number of videos viewed, touches to the touchscreen, or infants’ motor ability, the researchers say.
Story Source:
Materials provided by the University of Connecticut. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Date: October 10, 2018
Source: Springer
Summary: A mother’s weight during early pregnancy may affect how well her baby is able to self-regulate during its first months and years of life. This is according to a study of more than 3100 Finnish women.
A mother’s weight during early pregnancy may affect how well her baby is able to self-regulate during its first months and years of life. This is according to a study of more than 3100 Finnish women in the journal Pediatric Research, which is published by Springer Nature. According to lead author Polina Girchenko of the University of Helsinki in Finland, there is a one in five chance that overweight or obese women will have babies who suffer from multiple regulatory problems, and these babies may also show a delay in some developmental milestones when they reach childhood.
Previous research has found that one in every five infants struggles to self-regulate in the first year of life. This means that these babies may cry excessively, have problems feeding or difficulties falling asleep unless soothed by a caregiver. As they grow older, such children often show behavioral and neurodevelopmental problems such as hyperactivity or difficulties concentrating, as well as having poorer muscle function. Some have lower IQs or are placed on the autism spectrum.
The aim of this study was to find out whether a mother’s weight during early pregnancy influences her child’s neurodevelopment. Girchenko and her colleagues drew on data from 3117 women from different Finnish towns who had given birth between 2006 and 2010. All participants were part of the Prediction and Prevention of Pre-eclampsia and Intrauterine Growth Restriction (PREDO) study.
Medical data was gathered about the mothers’ weight during the first few months of their pregnancies, and whether they suffered from high blood pressure or gestational diabetes during this period. Up to three months after delivery, the women then answered questions about their babies’ ability to regulate and calm themselves. Follow-up assessments of the children’s developmental milestones were conducted between 2011 and 2012.
In general, the participants who were overweight or obese tended to be older mothers and to deliver their babies through a cesarean section. They were also less likely to have a tertiary education and quite often decided to stop smoking when they first heard that they were pregnant.
By the age of 17 days, infants of mothers who were overweight were already found to struggle more often with regulatory behavior problems. In fact, there was a 22 percent higher chance that overweight or obese mothers would have children with multiple self-regulatory problems. The research team confirmed that weight was the significant factor, and not whether a mother suffered from high blood pressure or gestational diabetes.
“Our findings show that regulatory behavior problems in infancy have prenatal origins that can be attributed at least partially to mothers being overweight or obesity,” explains Girchenko. “We suggest that the prevention of weight problems in women of childbearing age may benefit their later offspring and could reduce the burden of regulatory problems in infancy and prevent their long-term neurodevelopmental consequences.”
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Materials provided by Springer. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
IT’S BEEN HARD TO PROVE that attending preschool makes a difference for kids, academically. Many research studies have found that children who didn’t go to preschool catch up to those who did in just a few years. By third grade, there’s often no difference in math and reading scores between the preschooled and the non-preschooled child. Experts call it “fadeout.”
That hasn’t sat well with advocates of early childhood education. They point to other studies that have looked beyond elementary schools’ test scores, and have found that preschooled children are more likely to graduate from high school, be employed and raise families in stable marriages.
Now a pair of researchers has taken this line of research one generation further, and found that the offspring of preschooled children are living significantly better young-adult lives than the offspring of non-preschooled children. In that second generation, whose parents lived in a community that offered a free, federally funded Head Start preschool program in the 1960s, people were graduating from high school and attending college in much higher numbers, and were far less likely to be involved in crime or become a teen parent themselves.
“We wanted to ask the question of whether programs can disrupt the transmission of poverty from one generation to the other,” said Chloe Gibbs, an economist at the University of Notre Dame who presented the as-yet-unpublished paper “Breaking the Cycle? Intergenerational Effects of an Anti-Poverty Program in Early Childhood” to economists over the summer. “We think we have some strong proxies.”
The researchers said it’s too soon to conclude whether the second generation is no longer living in poverty and earning a good income. In the data examined, many of these young adults are in their twenties, still figuring out their future vocations. However, the difference in education and other outcomes associated with poverty is striking. For example, among children born to mothers without a high school diploma who lived in a Head Start community in the 1960s, 90 percent of their offspring graduated from high school and 69 percent went on to attend at least some college. By contrast, for children born to mothers without a high school diploma, but who didn’t live in a town that offered Head Start, 77 percent of their offspring graduated from high school and 52 percent went on to attend some college. That’s a 13 percentage-point difference in high school graduation and a 17 percentage-point difference in the college-going rate.
Teen parenting declined. Only 13.4 percent of the Head Start-associated second-generation became teen parents themselves, compared with 22 percent of the non-Head Start offspring. Criminal activity plummeted. Roughly 30 percent of the second generation from non-Head Start communities had been arrested, convicted or were on probation, compared with 14.4 percent from the Head Start communities.
Keep in mind that what’s driving these results is whether their parents lived in a Head Start community, not whether the second generation, themselves, attended preschool. Some did; some didn’t.
Gibbs and her co-author, Texas A&M economist Andrew Barr, conducted this study by looking at an existing Labor Department data set (NLSY79) that regularly surveyed a group of people from 1979 onward. The researchers focused on respondents born between 1960 and 1964 who were from low-income communities. Head Start was introduced in some of these communities when these people hit preschool age, and the researchers could compare outcomes of people who had the option to attend a Head Start program with those who didn’t. The demographic characteristics of the two groups are similar. The authors estimate that 50 to 80 percent of the people in their data sample actually attended a Head Start program if it was available in their community.
One question is whether the first counties to get Head Start also had other anti-poverty programs going on simultaneously that might be driving the results. But Gibbs said they had controlled for other social welfare efforts, such as community health programs, and the strong results for Head Start still persisted. Gibbs also compared sisters from the same family, some born before Head Start launched in their town and some born after, and again the multi-generational benefits of Head Start still held, she said.
Among studies that have found long-term life benefits from preschool, some studied children who went to very expensive programs, such as Perry Preschool or Abecedarian, which were difficult to replicate across the country. Head Start, by contrast, is much cheaper and was rolled out nationwide, showing that it’s possible for less intensive preschools to have lasting impacts.
Exactly what these Head Start kids learned in preschool that helped them and their children live better lives is a mystery, and requires more research.
This column was written by Jill Barshay and produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
Parenting is a doozy of an emotional workout, chock-full of highs and lows, joys and despairs.
One moment you’re elated, and the next you’re dejected. One morning, you wake up feeling euphoric, only to go to bed that evening feeling utterly heartbroken.
Children add rocket fuel to your emotional life. How you manage these powerful feelings will ultimately define the quality of your relationship with your kid. (See “Things Parents Do That Enrage Kids”)
Next time you’re at your wit’s end, keep this in mind: making mistakes is natural — correcting them is not. It takes courage to admit your faults, especially to your children. Starting over and creating a new, healthier relationship with them is a challenge. But that’s the gift of parenting; children give you the chance to keeping evolving and developing as an individual. Growing with your kids won’t just make you a better parent — it will make you a better human being.
In my book, WHEN KIDS CALL THE SHOTS: How to Seize Control from Your Darling Bully — and Enjoy Parenting Again, I discuss the greatest hits of parenting blunders; the sanity lapses and slip-ups that I’ve culled from twenty-five years of working with families. Take your time, read through the list, and find your tendency. Develop a knack for knowing your weak spots and it will be much easier to keep cool in heated moments.
So let’s count down parenting mistakes that every parent is bound to make:
10. Micromanaging
Micromanagers are dedicated and hardworking folks; they love their kids and want them to succeed. The problem is that they do too much for them. As a result, their kids remain dependent on them and have great difficulty standing on their own; they have trouble self-governing, they lack drive and motivation, and, despite their intelligence, they’re emotionally immature. Instead of micromanaging, give your kid the tools to be self-reliant and independent. The more your kids can succeed without you lording over them, the more drive they’ll have to succeed on their own.
9. Enabling
A parent’s actions are usually well intended, but enabling is one of the most disastrous parenting tendencies. When parents pander to their kids’ every need, their kids fair poorly in relationships; they expect everyone else to cater to them. They shrink from challenges and avoid hard work, yet maintain a sense of entitlement. Emotionally, they suffer from a bizarre mix of low self-esteem and arrogance. To sidestep the trap of enabling, strive to engender personal responsibility in your kids; encourage them to achieve on their own. Stop enabling — and start empowering.
8. Bad modeling
A parent’s first and foremost job is to be a good role model. Yet, there are many parents whose misbehaviors serve as poor examples for their children. Parents that erupt in rages, blame others, tell untruths, or play the victim, are subconsciously training their kids to do the same. Blaming your kids for the behaviors and bad habits you taught them is like blaming the mirror for your reflection. Behave the way you want your kids to behave. Be the person you want your kid to be. Above all, before you fault your kids for their conduct, consider amending your own.
7. Bullying
Bullying parents tend to be control freaks. Rather than understand their kids, they overwhelm them with orders, directives, threats of violence, or actual violence. They aim to shape and define their kids by intimidating them, rather than let their kids unearth their own individuality. Sadly, children of bullying parents suffer low self-esteem and anxiety problems; they have difficulty trusting others and fear intimacy. Bullying parents may get their way, but their kids suffer mightily for it.
6. Inconsistency
Inconsistent parenting drives kids (and therapists) nuts. Parents that change their minds often, don’t take a stand, have difficulty making decisions or providing strong leadership, are very likely to produce emotionally volatile children. These children emerge with unstable cores and weak identities. They have trouble defining themselves, and often develop oppositional and defiant behaviors to camouflage their insecurities. Providing a stable and consistent home may not always be possible, but providing stable and consistent parenting is always within reach.
5. Criticism & Comparison
No one enjoys criticisms or comparisons. Yet many parents compulsively criticize and compare their children daily. “Why can’t you be more like _____?” or “Why are you so _____?” This is a surefire way to impair your kids’ esteem and damage their fragile egos. Children who are criticized grow up to think of themselves as outsiders and underachievers. They don’t celebrate their strengths because they were never taught to, a direct result of having internalized their parents’ negative voices. It only takes a thoughtless moment to hurt your kids with criticism or comparisons — but it can take a lifetime for them to recover.
4. Poor Structure, Limits & Boundaries
Providing balanced structure, limits, and boundaries is essential to good parenting. What exactly are structure, limits and boundaries? Here’s the breakdown: Structure: consistent schedules and routines. Limits: curbing destructive or risky behaviors by engendering good judgment. Boundaries: honoring and respecting the physical and emotional space between people. Some parents are too strict with limits; some don’t provide enough structure or boundaries. Strive to find the right balance for your children and they will be better prepared for relationships, jobs, and the world outside your door.
3. Neglect
Parents don’t set out to neglect their kids, but many do. Adults get absorbed in their work, delegate parenting responsibilities to eldest children or grandparents, miss important events in their kids’ lives or worst of all, they become terrible listeners – all forms of emotional neglect that undermine a child’s healthy sense of self. Emotionally neglected kids always suffer mood and behavioral problems. The simple act of listening to your kid has a healing effect that remedies many parenting dilemmas. Children who feel understood by their parents don’t act out for attention and are less likely to engage in destructive behavior. Spend quality time listening, understanding, and identifying with your kid. It doesn’t cost you anything and it will save you a fortune in therapy bills in the future.
2. Disregarding Learning Problems
Many academic and behavioral problems are the direct result of undiagnosed learning difficulties. (See “Signs Your Kid Has Learning Difficulties”) Impatient parents, too quick to label kids lazy, unmotivated, and apathetic about school, often fail to consider what might really be triggering their kids’ attitudes toward learning. Even exceptionally smart kids suffer from difficulties with processing speed, executive functioning, and sensory and memory deficiencies. These under-the-radar complications often don’t emerge until middle school or high school. Such difficulties make learning a painful and exhausting experience. So save your money; psychotherapy isn’t going to help resolve these problems in the least. If your kid has even the slightest difficulty with learning, an educational evaluation is the first step to finding a solution.
1. Invalidating Feelings
When your children reveal their feelings and insecurities to you, for goodness sake don’t contradict them, correct them, offer unsolicited advice, or use it as an opportunity to lecture about your experiences. Remember, they are taking a risk in doing so; therefore your sensitivity is imperative. Kids want to feel understood; they want to feel validated by their parents. Many symptoms of hyperactivity, defiance, and mood problems are generated in children of parents who invalidate their feelings. (See “Rules for Fighting with Teenagers”)
Parenting: The Ultimate Learn-As-You-Go Experience
Parenting is a full-time job without no training or supervision. Everyone is certain to make mistakes, especially during those chaotic first years. But no need to fret; parenting is an evolutionary process. You grow into it day by day, year after year. Strive to learn from your mistakes and improve; your parental journey will be far less hindered by self-doubt and worries, and far more joyful for you and your kids.
Children get six to eight colds a year – twice as many as adults – but there’s little evidence on what helps improve symptoms like blocked or runny noses and sneezing.
So are there remedies worth trying?
Pharmacies and supermarkets are full of cough and cold medicines which claim to relieve symptoms of the common cold.
But there is little evidence that many of them work, according to a BMJ review of trials on over-the-counter treatments.
And some, like decongestants, are not suitable for babies, children or pregnant women.
The common cold can cause a sore throat, cough, congestion, a raised temperature and sneezing – all irritating symptoms – but after a week or so they should go away on their own.
The truth is there is no magic cure.
Does anything help clear the nose?
Dr. Rahul Chodhari, consultant pediatrician and spokesman for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, says parents should try using saline nasal washes, also called nasal irrigation.
They can be bought over the counter in the form of drops or sprays.
The saltwater solution helps to clear the mucus from the nose and reduces the feeling of congestion.
“There are no side effects, it can be used many times a day and it’s well proven to reduce swelling around the nose,” Dr Chodhari says.
Apart from that, paracetamol in the form of Calpol, is useful for treating a fever – but it doesn’t help relieve a blocked nose.
Use honey first for a cough, guidelines say
End sore throat antibiotic use, GPs told
What to do if you have a cold or flu
What is not recommended?
Decongestants are not suitable for children under 12, according to the NHS, because of the risk of side effects, like drowsiness and stomach upsets.
Adults can use them for a maximum of three to seven days, but the BMJ research says they have “a small effect on nasal symptoms”.
They can help ease blocked or stuffy noses by reducing the swelling or the blood vessels in the nose, which helps open up the airways.
However, they also increase the risk of headaches and insomnia, among other side effects, and using them for too long can lead to chronic nasal congestion.
Dr Chodhari says cough syrups are not recommended because they stop children coughing up mucus and getting rid of it.
And antibiotics only work against bacterial infections and so they do nothing to combat colds.
Vapour rubs and steam inhalation are not advised either, he says.
What about home remedies?
Research on whether these kind of remedies work is really lacking.
The following ones have not been studied in children, or aren’t effective, the BMJ research says:
heated humidified air
humidified steam
echinacea
probiotics
eucalyptus oil
According to NHS UK, there is little evidence that supplements such as vitamin C, zinc or garlic prevent colds or speed up recovery.
When do I go to my GP? Make an appointment to see your GP:
if your child has a temperature of more than 38.5 degrees
develops a rash which does not go away
the symptoms do not improve after a number of days
Any other advice?
Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water and keep warm to help see off a cold.
The common cold is usually caused by viruses which are spread easily between people, especially small ones – particularly from coughs and sneezes.
So you can avoid catching a cold by washing your hands regularly in warm water and soap and not touching your eyes or nose in case you have come into contact with the virus.
Use tissues to trap germs and bin them as quickly as possible.
We’d like to hear about your favorite remedies – join the debate on Facebook.
Although 70 percent of young children are vaccinated a small but growing number of children are not, worrying health officials.
A small but growing proportion of the youngest children in the U.S. have not been vaccinated against any disease, worrying health officials.
An estimated 100,000 young children have not had a vaccination against any of the 14 diseases for which shots are recommended, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Thursday.
Which flu vaccine should you get?
“This is pretty concerning. It’s something we need to understand better — and reduce,” said the CDC’s Dr. Amanda Cohn.
Most young children — 70 percent — have had all their shots. The new estimate is based on finding that, in 2017, 1.3 percent of the children born in 2015 were completely unvaccinated. That’s up from the 0.9 percent seen in an earlier similar assessment of the kids born in 2011. A 2001 survey with a different methodology suggested the proportion was in the neighborhood of 0.3 percent.
Young children are especially vulnerable to complications from vaccine-preventable diseases, some of which can be fatal.
The latest numbers come from a telephone survey last year of the parents of about 15,000 toddlers. The 100,000 estimate refers to the 2017 vaccination status of kids born in 2015 and 2016.
A separate CDC study found that overall vaccination rates for older, kindergarten-age children continue to hold about steady, with close to 95 percent fully vaccinated.
The researchers didn’t ask why parents didn’t get their kids vaccinated.
A significant minority of them did not have health insurance coverage. Health officials said that was a surprise because a government program pays for vaccines for uninsured children.
But the majority were insured. What’s going on isn’t clear, but one factor may be some parents’ misperceptions about the safety and importance of vaccines, some experts said.
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The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Source: Care New England
Summary: It has long been known that there are many physical and mental health benefits of breastfeeding for mothers and babies. But can these benefits be due to genetic changes induced by breastfeeding? New research suggests that connection.
It has long been known that there are many physical and mental health benefits of breastfeeding for mothers and babies. But can these benefits be due to genetic changes induced by breastfeeding? New research suggests that connection.
The research, published in the September 2018 edition of the Pediatrics, was led by Barry M. Lester, PhD, director of Women & Infants Hospital’s Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and a member of Care New England Medical Group.
“What we found is that maternal care changes the activity of a gene in their infants that regulates the infant’s physiological response to stress, specifically the release of the hormone cortisol,” explained Dr. Lester.
Dr. Lester and his colleagues looked at more than 40 full-term, healthy infants and their mothers, one-half of whom breastfed for the first five months and one-half of whom did not. They measured the cortisol stress reactivity in infant saliva using a mother-infant interaction procedure and the DNA methylation (changing the activity of the DNA segment without changing its sequence) of an important regulatory region of the glucocorticoid receptor gene which regulates development, metabolism, and immune response.
“Breastfeeding was associated with decreased DNA methylation and decreased cortisol reactivity in the infants. In other words, there was an epigenetic change in the babies who were breastfed, resulting in reduced stress than those who were not breastfed,” said Dr. Lester.
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Materials provided by Care New England. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
By: JillVettel
There has long been a strong link between reading to young children and a boost in literacy skills, but now researchers have found a similar link between engaging young children in math activities at home and an increase in numeracy skills later on.
But it’s not flash cards and math drills that help kids learn about math from a young age. Researchers from KU Leuven in Belgium found that activities such as talking about money while shopping and how to measure ingredients while cooking, playing card and board games, and sorting objects by color, shape, and size are all associated with an early acquisition of mathematical skills.
“These activities,” said the study’s lead author Belde Mutaf Yildz, “were linked with a more accurate estimation of the position of a digit on an empty number line. In addition, engaging in activities such as card and board games was associated with better pictorial calculation skills.”
And an earlier study from Purdue University also found that encouraging math skills early on goes even farther than just boosting children’s understanding of math concepts, but also increases a child’s overall vocabulary. This may be due to the question and answer nature of math, the Purdue researchers think, that when parents have a dialogue about values and comparisons and quantities, it improves children’s oral language skills.
Both studies emphasize that there needs to be increased awareness of the importance of early math learning and that parents should be encouraged to work on these skills with their children at home, just as there has been a big push over the years to read to young children in order to improve their literacy skills.
But if you aren’t a math whiz yourself, don’t stress. The important math skills to focus on aren’t big, complex concepts or difficult computations, but engaging children in how math is part of our everyday lives: Point out different shapes while grocery shopping, count how many strawberries are on their plate at lunch and how many are left as they eat them, point out patterns in the tile floor, collect small objects on a walk and estimate how many were found then count to see how close they were.
Kids are naturally drawn to math concepts, as David Purpura, of the authors of the Purdue study, said. “It’s never too early to talk about numbers and quantities. One of the first words young children learn is ‘more.’”
Infants can use a few labeled examples to spark the acquisition of object categories
Date: September 19, 2018
Source: Northwestern University
Summary: New research reveals that infants can use even a few labeled examples to spark the acquisition of object categories. Those labeled examples lead infants to initiate the process of categorization, after which they can integrate all subsequent objects, labeled or unlabeled, into their evolving category representation.
Even before infants begin to speak, hearing language promotes object categorization. Hearing the same label, “That’s a dog!” applied to a diverse set of objects — a collie, a terrier, a pug — promotes infants’ acquisition of object categories (e.g., the category “dog”). But in infants’ daily lives, most objects go unlabeled. Infants are constantly seeing new things, and even the most determined caregivers cannot label each one.
How can we reconcile the power of labels with their relative scarcity? New research from Northwestern University reveals that infants can use even a few labeled examples to spark the acquisition of object categories. Those labeled examples lead infants to initiate the process of categorization, after which they can integrate all subsequent objects, labeled or unlabeled, into their evolving category representation.
This strategy, known as “semi-supervised learning” (SSL), has been documented extensively in machine learning. Labeled examples provide an initial outline of a category, and subsequent, unlabeled examples flesh out that outline, making sure it represents a broad range of category members.
Northwestern researchers asked whether this efficient strategy also was applicable to 2-year-olds. To do so, they showed infants six objects from the same novel category, one infants had never seen before. They then varied whether and how these objects were labeled (“Look at the dax!”). Infants for whom all six objects were labeled successfully learned the category, but those who heard no labels failed. Critically, infants in the semi-supervised condition — for whom only the first two objects were labeled — succeeded, learning the new category just as successfully as if all the objects were labeled.
“These results suggest that semi-supervised learning can be quite powerful. Seeing just two labeled examples jump-starts infants’ category learning. Once they’ve heard a few objects receive the same label, infants can learn the rest on their own, with or without labels,” said Alexander LaTourrette, the lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate in cognitive psychology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern.
Moreover, the timing of the labeling mattered. If the two labeling episodes came at the end of the learning phase, after infants had already seen the unlabeled objects, they failed to learn the category. This tells us that infants can use semi-supervised learning. They use the power of labeling to learn more from subsequent, unlabeled objects.
“This insight from machine learning sheds light on a paradox in infant development. How can labels be helpful to infants if they’re so rare? In semi-supervised learning, labels exert a powerful influence even if they are rare,” said Sandra Waxman, senior author of the study, director of the Infant and Child Development Center, faculty fellow in Northwestern’s Institute for Policy Research and the Louis W. Menk Chair in Psychology at Northwestern. “Naming objects certainly does promote early language and cognitive development. This new works shows how efficiently infants link objects and the words we use to describe them. Like our most powerful computers, infants do not need us to name every single object they see.”
Story Source: Materials provided by Northwestern University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
As providers and caretakers, adults tend to view the world of children as happy and carefree. After all, kids don’t have jobs to keep or bills to pay, so what could they possibly have to worry about?
Plenty! Even very young children have worries and feel stress to some degree.
Sources of Stress
Stress is a function of the demands placed on us and our ability to meet them. These demands often come from outside sources, such as family, jobs, friends, or school. But it also can come from within, often related to what we think we should be doing versus what we’re actually able to do.
So stress can affect anyone who feels overwhelmed — even kids. In preschoolers, separation from parents can cause anxiety. As kids get older, academic and social pressures (especially from trying to fit in) create stress.
Many kids are too busy to have time to play creatively or relax after school. Kids who complain about all their activities or who refuse to go to them might be overscheduled. Talk with your kids about how they feel about extracurricular activities. If they complain, discuss the pros and cons of stopping one activity. If stopping isn’t an option, explore ways to help manage your child’s time and responsibilities to lessen the anxiety.
Kids’ stress may be intensified by more than just what’s happening in their own lives. Do your kids hear you talking about troubles at work, worrying about a relative’s illness, or arguing with your spouse about financial matters? Parents should watch how they discuss such issues when their kids are near because children will pick up on their parents’ anxieties and start to worry themselves.
World news can cause stress. Kids who see disturbing images on TV or hear talk of natural disasters, war, and terrorism may worry about their own safety and that of the people they love. Talk to your kids about what they see and hear, and monitor what they watch on TV so that you can help them understand what’s going on.
Also, be aware of complicating factors, such as an illness, death of a loved one, or a divorce. When these are added to the everyday pressures kids face, the stress is magnified. Even the most amicable divorce can be tough for kids because their basic security system — their family — is undergoing a big change. Separated or divorced parents should never put kids in a position of having to choose sides or expose them to negative comments about the other spouse.
Also realize that some things that aren’t a big deal to adults can cause significant stress for kids. Let your kids know that you understand they’re stressed and don’t dismiss their feelings as inappropriate.
Signs and Symptoms
While it’s not always easy to recognize when kids are stressed out, short-term behavioral changes — such as mood swings, acting out, changes in sleep patterns, or bedwetting — can be indications. Some kids have physical effects, including stomachaches and headaches. Others have trouble concentrating or completing schoolwork. Still others become withdrawn or spend a lot of time alone.
Younger children may pick up new habits like thumb sucking, hair twirling, or nose picking; older kids may begin to lie, bully, or defy authority. A child who is stressed also may overreact to minor problems, have nightmares, become clingy, or have drastic changes in academic performance.
Reducing Stress
How can you help kids cope with stress? Proper rest and good nutrition can boost coping skills, as can good parenting. Make time for your kids each day. Whether they need to talk or just be in the same room with you, make yourself available. Don’t try to make them talk, even if you know what they’re worried about. Sometimes kids just feel better when you spend time with them on fun activities.
Even as kids get older, quality time is important. It’s really hard for some people to come home after work, get down on the floor, and play with their kids or just talk to them about their day — especially if they’ve had a stressful day themselves. But expressing interest shows your kids that they’re important to you.
Help your child cope with stress by talking about what may be causing it. Together, you can come up with a few solutions like cutting back on after-school activities, spending more time talking with parents or teachers, developing an exercise regimen, or keeping a journal.
You also can help by anticipating potentially stressful situations and preparing kids for them. For example, let your son or daughter know ahead of time that a doctor’s appointment is coming up and talk about what will happen there. Tailor the information to your child’s age — younger kids won’t need as much advance preparation or details as older kids or teens.
Remember that some level of stress is normal; let your kids know that it’s OK to feel angry, scared, lonely, or anxious and that other people share those feelings. Reassurance is important, so remind them that you’re confident that they can handle the situation.
Helping Your Child Cope
When kids can’t or won’t discuss their stressful issues, try talking about your own. This shows that you’re willing to tackle tough topics and are available to talk with when they’re ready. If a child shows symptoms that concern you and is unwilling to talk, consult a therapist or other mental health specialist.
Books can help young kids identify with characters in stressful situations and learn how they cope. Check out Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst; Tear Soup by Pat Schweibert, Chuck DeKlyen, and Taylor Bills; and Dinosaurs Divorce by Marc Brown and Laurene Krasny Brown.
Most parents have the skills to deal with their child’s stress. The time to seek professional attention is when any change in behavior persists, when stress is causing serious anxiety, or when the behavior causes significant problems at school or at home.
If you need help finding resources for your child, consult your doctor or the counselors and teachers at school.
Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Suzanne Bouffard’s new book, The Most Important Year, may be just what parents of preschoolers have been waiting for: a guide to what a quality pre-K program should look like.
Bouffard spent a lot of time in classrooms watching teachers do some really good things and some not-so-good things.
What are some of the things you learned?
Successful pre-K [programs] teach children to learn to be learners, how to be curious about how things work and find answers to problems.
You want to have hands-on experiences and opportunities for children to learn about things that apply to their lives. Good teachers always engage children in rich conversations and ask them open-ended questions, what they think and what they want to know.
Another really important piece of a good program is that it focuses on things like self-control and behavior in the class, how to wait your turn, how to share, how to deal with frustration and how to solve conflicts. Those are skills kids are just beginning to develop at 3, 4 and 5 years old.
People ask me that question a lot. Parents play an important role. But at home, [children] they’re not in a group so they don’t learn how to wait their turn or they may not learn how to share. Even if a child is well-regulated at home, there will be new things to learn at school.
You give interesting examples of how children learn and what both teachers and parents miss. You highlight a story where a little boy wrote his sixes backward.
His teacher was getting really frustrated, requiring that he write [his sixes] over and over again, but it wasn’t breaking that habit. Eventually, the teacher had the boy stop whenever he came up to a six, switch pencils and write the six in a different color.
It worked because it broke the habit by helping the child develop a new habit. It was a matter of learning a self-regulation skill. So you’re fixing a problem and at the same time teaching kids they can be problem solvers.
You say this is all part of executive functioning. What is that?
It’s basically the ability to manage your thoughts, emotions and behaviors to accomplish goals. It’s like an air traffic controller at a busy airport. You’re able to manage multiple pieces of information, coming and going, and you’re keeping everything safe. It’s the part of the brain that allows you to be organized and thoughtful.
Executive functioning is a skill that takes a very long time to develop. Children start to develop it at 3 or 4 years old, but it continues to develop throughout [K-12] and into adulthood.
Research shows that one of the reasons teenagers make more risky decisions is because their executive functioning skills are not yet fully developed.
There’s growing pressure on parents and schools to get kids to read early and to test children early. You say this is bad and wrong-headed.
Young children develop skills at different rates. Some learn to walk first. Some learn to talk first. But by the time they get to school, unless there’s some kind of developmental problem, they’re all walking and talking. It doesn’t really matter if they started walking or talking at 10 months or 14 months.
Reading is the same way. There’s a completely normal range of development in which children start learning how to read. If you push too hard, sometimes it turns kids off.
Now that being said, it’s never too early to expose children to rich language, word games, shapes of letters and the sounds they make. But there’s a big difference between exposing children to those things and expecting everybody to meet a certain reading standard at a certain age and testing them on it.
You also talk about the dangers of “shaming kids to improve” and creating a culture of humiliation for both kids and teachers.
First of all, that’s not the norm, but I did observe it in some classrooms. It’s the idea that if we’re very strict with children and make it painful for them if they don’t meet our expectations, that they will be motivated to learn more.
For example, I talked to teachers who had very strict expectations of the number of words a child should recognize at the end of the school year. In order to meet that goal, they would use flash cards and test kids, constantly. There was a lot of pressure not just on children, but on teachers. One teacher I talked to, her principal would publicly call out teachers whose kids were not meeting the goal. Kids were anxious, stressed and didn’t want to come to school.
Let’s talk about the assumptions most pre-K teachers make about the way children learn. You say they need to get away from “passive learning” and encourage young children to “construct” their own learning. What do you mean by that?
Passive learning is when children sit and listen and adults tell them things. For example, I visited a teacher who was showing children how to mix colors to make new colors. She had kids sit in a circle with her at the front and she used paper cups to mix paints, then showed kids what happened.
It was not an effective lesson because it was really difficult for children to see what was happening and they weren’t involved themselves.
Read an excerpt of The Most Important Year
So having the children mix the colors themselves would have let them “construct their own learning”?
Yes. Studies show that [most] kids actually remember and understand the information better when they learn in a hands-on way.
We’ve lost lots of kids because most classroom instruction is based on passive learning. As kids move forward and their school activities and projects get more complicated and difficult, it gets harder and harder for them to rely on their rote knowledge. They don’t understand the process of solving problems. They don’t know how to innovate.
One of the more contentious debates in preschool education these days is play vs. academics. What does the research say?
The research says very clearly that children learn through play and this notion that you have to choose between play and academic learning is a false dichotomy.
One study showed that you can give children building blocks and let them build whatever they want. Or you can give children building blocks with a goal — to build a landing pad for a helicopter, for example. In both cases, everybody ends up having fun and learning something but the kids who had a goal actually used richer vocabulary, especially around spacial skills and building concepts.
Free play is very important and it has its place in and out of school, but we shouldn’t be afraid of curricula that tries to teach specific things. Also, you don’t have to push children who aren’t interested in doing a particular activity.
The ideal is to give children choices.
You caution that we should not view pre-K as the answer to solving the achievement gap. Can you explain?
Pre-K is a really important part of the puzzle, but it’s not enough on its own, for a couple of reasons. Children need a solid foundation for learning long before they get to preschool, [but] we also need elementary and secondary school programs that are of high quality.
If a child has been in a supportive and nurturing classroom, then goes into a classroom that’s strict and focused on punishing children, that’s a rude awakening.
The big takeaway here is: Any gains a child makes in a quality preschool program will fade away in a classroom that’s not supportive and nurturing.
We all know what quality programs do for children, and yes, they’re expensive. But not as expensive as all the remedial programs we fund these days to “fix” kids who missed out. So the choice should be simple.
‘Toilet training is not something you can do in two days over the weekend’
Parents are too busy to teach their children how to use the toilet before starting school – and they are becoming increasingly reliant on nursery staff to do the job, the Ofsted boss has suggested.
Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of Ofsted, said more children are being potty trained at an older age, with parents struggling to teach their children over just two days at the weekend.
Ms. Spielman warned in a speech to nursery leaders today that more and more children are not toilet trained when they arrive at school, adding that they “risk being teased” by classmates
‘Teachers spend million hours a year helping children use toilets’
Speaking to the media at the Pre-School Learning Alliance conference, the head of the schools’ watchdog suggested that nursery workers need to take a greater role in helping to potty train young children.
“Without taking responsibility away from parents, if your child is in nursery every day, toilet training is not something you can do in two days over the weekend, and say boom, it is done.
“In practice it becomes something that’s got to be a bit of a cooperative exercise.”
Ms Spielman added that potty training used to be done by parents before a child went near formal childcare – but now the responsibility has been blurred as more children enter pre-school provision.
“Something that you used to be able to say was clearly, definitely, [done by] parents, and done before they got into education provision, now there’s a sort of blurring of who, what, when.”
Her warnings come after a report this week revealed that teachers lose more than a million hours every year teaching children basic hygiene and how to use the toilet.
The Ofsted leader’s speech to nursery leaders this morning highlighted the rising number of youngsters who lack basic hygiene and language skills when they turn up to school at the age of four.
Some parents do not appreciate the importance of early education and teaching young children life skills – such as how to communicate or use the toilet, early years experts said at the conference.
There has been an increase in young children with issues such as poor language skills and there has been a lack of involvement and interaction by some parents with pre-school children, they said.
Gary Jeffries, a nursery manager from Birmingham, who has 16 years’ experience in the industry, said the fact that a lot of parents were spending time on their phones had contributed to the problem.
Mr Jeffries said: “I would say that not all parents value early years, and I don’t think the government values it enough.”
He added that parents may need help and guidance on reading to children, how to speak to them, dietary requirements, and some “may not know where to start with things like potty training”.
“I always say to my parents, if you haven’t got time to do anything at home, but have got time to do one thing, education-wise I always just say, read a bedtime story, read, read, read, talk to them, ask them questions, point things out when you’re in the supermarket, on a car journey,” he said.
Melanie Pilcher, quality and standards manager for the Pre-School Learning Alliance, who has managed and worked in nurseries, said: “It’s always been the case with children that it takes longer to get dry, to potty train, but from what our members are telling us, they are finding these things are increasing.
“The big issue is we have parents who need help but don’t know it. When you’ve got a parent who needs help and wants help and recognises it, then they will seek it with you and we are able to signpost.”
Source: Arizona State University
Summary: Two-year-old children were taught novel words in predictable and unpredictable situations. Children learned words significantly better in predictable situations.
The first few years of a child’s life are crucial for learning language, and though scientists know the “when,” the “how” is still up for debate. The sheer number of words a child hears is important; that number predicts school performance. In an upcoming study in Current Biology, published online August 16, researchers at the Arizona State University Department of Psychology report an additional factor that is important for language: the predictability of the learning environment.
The study taught two year-old children novel words in predictable and unpredictable situations.
Predictability is useful for all kinds of learning, not just language. Researchers know children and adults form expectations about what will happen and learn when those expectations are violated. For example, a child might learn the stove is not the same as the kitchen countertop when it is warm to the touch.
“Children are very sensitive to the predictable regularities in their environment, and we wanted to test how predictability affects their language learning,” said Viridiana Benitez, assistant professor of psychology and lead author of the study.
A bosa, tulver, sarn and pisk
During the experiment, toddlers sat on their parent’s lap in front of a large screen. The screen showed four closed boxes, one in each corner of the screen. Inside the boxes were pictures of novel and unfamiliar shapes. In the first part of the experiment, the boxes opened one at a time and always in the same order. The sequence of box openings was predictable, but the object inside the box was not.
After five repetitions of the boxes opening and closing in the same order, the researchers started giving the objects names. Like the objects, the names were also novel, such as “pisk,” “bosa” or “tulver.” The children heard the name of the object after the box opened and their gaze was fixed on that box. The researchers tracked where the children were looking with a special camera that was mounted beneath the screen.
On half of the trials when the children heard names for the objects, the boxes opened in the expected order. On the other half of the object-naming trials, a box would open out of order.
“This experimental design separated the content of what the children were learning — the object-label pairings — from the predictability of the situation,” Benitez said. “We were able to show that just predicting something, like when and where to look, had a cascade effect on learning something new.”
Predictability increased learning
The researchers also used the child’s gaze to test whether they learned the novel words. Two objects were shown on the screen, and the children were asked questions like “Where is the sarn?” The researchers used the eye-tracking camera to see if the children looked at the correct object.
In this way, the researchers compared how well children learned the names of objects when the boxes opened in the expected order to how well they learned when the boxes opened unpredictably.
The researchers completed the experiment twice, with two different groups of two year-olds. The results were the same in both experiments: toddlers learned the novel words better when the boxes opened in order, or when their environment was predictable.
“We have known for some time that infants and children are amazing statistical learners,” said Linda Smith, professor of psychological and brain sciences at Indiana University. Smith studies cognitive development in infants and young children and was not involved with the study. “The findings from this study have important implications for both education and parenting. Regularities in the everyday lives of children and in the classroom can support learning.”
Information from unpredictable events can be useful for learning. Unexpected events can cause children and adults alike to pay more attention to what just happened, but these findings suggest predictable situations in a young child’s environment might create advantageous learning moments, in particular for language acquisition.
“When situations are predictable, young children do not have to keep track of what is different than expected,” Benitez said. “They know exactly what will happen next, and this might allow children to learn better.”
The study was completed with Jenny Saffran, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and will be published in the September 10 print issue of the journal.
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Infants watched animated scenarios in which leaders and bullies interacted with three protagonists who obeyed or disobeyed an order to go to bed. Scientists can discern infants’ expectations by observing how long the infants gaze at different scenarios.
Credit: Graphic courtesy Renee Baillargeon
A new study finds that 21-month-old infants can distinguish between respect-based power asserted by a leader and fear-based power wielded by a bully.
The study, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed infants’ eye-gazing behavior, a standard approach for measuring expectations in children too young to explain their thinking to adults. This “violation-of-expectation” method relies on the observation that infants stare longer at events that contradict their expectations.
Previous studies had shown that infants can recognize power differences between two or more characters, said University of Illinois Psychology Alumni Distinguished Professor Renee Baillargeon, who conducted the new research.
“For example, infants will stare longer at scenarios where larger characters defer to smaller ones. They also take note when a character who normally wins a confrontation with another suddenly loses,” she said. “But little was known about infants’ ability to distinguish between different bases of power.”
To get at this question, Baillargeon developed a series of animations depicting cartoon characters interacting with an individual portrayed as a leader, a bully or a likeable person with no evident power.
She first tested how adults — undergraduate students at the University of Illinois — responded to the scenarios and found that the adults identified the characters as intended. Next, she measured the eye-gazing behavior of infants as they watched the same animations.
“In one experiment, the infants watched a scenario in which a character portrayed either as a leader or a bully gave an order (“Time for bed!”) to three protagonists, who initially obeyed,” Baillargeon said. “The character then left the scene and the protagonists either continued to obey or disobeyed.”
The infants detected a violation when the protagonists disobeyed the leader but not when they disobeyed the bully, Baillargeon found. This was true also in a second experiment that repeated the scenarios but eliminated previous differences in physical appearance between the leader and the bully (see graphic).
A third experiment tested whether the infants were responding to the likeability of the characters in the scenarios, rather than to their status as leaders or bullies.
“In general, when the leader left the scene, the infants expected the protagonists to continue to obey the leader,” Baillargeon said. “However, when the bully left, the infants had no particular expectation: The protagonists might continue to obey out of fear, or they might disobey because the bully was gone. The infants expected obedience only when the bully remained in the scene and could harm them again if they disobeyed.
“Finally, when the likeable character left, the infants expected the protagonists to disobey, most likely because the character held no power over them,” Baillargeon said.
The new findings confirm earlier studies showing that infants can detect differences in power between individuals and expect those differences to endure over time, Baillargeon said.
“Our results also provide evidence that infants in the second year of life can already distinguish between leaders and bullies,” she said. “Infants understand that with leaders, you have to obey them even when they are not around; with bullies, though, you have to obey them only when they are around.”
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Source: Oregon State University
Summary: A school-based intervention that promotes warm and caring interactions between a teacher and child can reduce the child’s stress in the classroom, a new study has found.
A school-based intervention that promotes warm and caring interactions between a teacher and child can reduce the child’s stress in the classroom, a new study has found.
The intervention was designed for teachers of preschool-aged children and focused on fostering close teacher-child relationships through one-on-one play. Children who participated in the intervention showed reduced levels of the hormone cortisol, an indicator of stress, said Bridget Hatfield, an assistant professor in Oregon State University’s College of Public Health and Human Sciences and lead author of the study.
Researchers believe it is the first time a study has examined the relationship between a teacher-child intervention and a child’s cortisol levels in an early childhood education setting.
The findings highlight the importance of the relationship between child and teacher, and underscore the value of warm and caring interactions, including one-on-one play time between a child and his or her teacher, Hatfield said.
“The big message here is that positive relationships between teachers and students matter,” she said. “What a teacher does in the classroom, the way they behave, their positivity and supportiveness, has an enormous impact on the children and their health.”
The findings were published recently in the journal Prevention Science. The co-author of the paper is Amanda Williford of the University of Virginia. The research was supported in part by grants from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences and the American Psychological Association.
About 61 percent of children under the age of five spend time in formal childcare and education settings such as preschool. Past research has shown that this setting may increase children’s stress, which in turn can lead to disruptive classroom behavior.
Children who have frustrating or difficult relationships with their teachers also have shown decreased academic success in kindergarten and their challenging behaviors may increase in intensity as they get older.
“If a child can’t develop a healthy stress response system in early childhood, it limits their ability to develop strong school-readiness skills,” Hatfield said. “That’s why these early teacher-child relationships are so important.”
Hatfield and Williford wanted to see if an intervention designed to improve child-teacher interactions could reduce stress levels in children with challenging behaviors.
In all, 70 teachers and 113 children participated in the study. They were divided into three groups: one group was designated as “business as usual” and the children did not participate in any special activities; one group participated in a “child time” intervention; and one group participated in an intervention called “Banking Time.”
In the child time intervention, the child and teacher spent time playing one-on-one but the teacher was not given any specific guidance or instructions from a consultant for the play period.
Banking Time is a much more formal intervention, designed to foster sensitive, responsive interactions between a teacher and a child, creating a relationship the child and teacher can use as a resource during times of challenge in the classroom.
“When you ‘bank time’ with a child and that relationship, you’re building equity,” Hatfield said. “Then if a conflict arises, you can make a withdrawal.”
To build that relationship, the teachers and children participating in the study had one-on-one play sessions. Consultants directed the teachers in key elements of the program: allowing the child to lead the play sessions, carefully observing and narrating the child’s behavior, describing the child’s positive and negative emotions, and being available as an emotional resource.
Using saliva samples that were assayed for cortisol, researchers found that children whose teachers participated in the Banking Time intervention showed declines in cortisol levels during the school day compared to those in the business as a usual group.
Children in the child time intervention also showed some benefits from the one-on-one time, but they were not as significant. Hatfield said additional research is needed to better understand the effects of the Banking Time intervention and what, in particular, is having the positive impact on the teacher-child relationship.
“Is it one thing, or a combination?” she asked. “We know there is something meaningful about that one-on-one time within Banking Time and we want to know more about how we may be able to incorporate that into classrooms every day.”
It may difficult for preschool teachers and early childhood educators to spend 15 minutes a week in one-on-one play with each child in their class, Hatfield said, but even small, positive, one-on-one interactions could have a valuable impact over time.
“Spending even five minutes, once a week in a one-on-one with a child can help you get to know them, what they think and what they might be interested in,” she said. “That investment could pay off during a challenging time later on. It’s the quality of the time that matters.”
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A result of industrial toxins and pesticides, the poison contaminates rice while it is growing and can impact the development of young children
Parents should avoid giving rice to young children, scientists have said, after a new study found almost three-quarters of rice-based products sold as baby food contain illegal levels of arsenic.
A maximum level of arsenic allowed in rice used for baby food was introduced by the EU in January 2016 to reduce children’s exposure to the harmful toxin.
But when researchers at Queen’s University Belfast tested 73 different rice-based products often given to babies, they found almost 80 percent of rice crackers, 61 percent of baby rice and 32 percent of rice cereals flouted these regulations.
Inorganic arsenic contaminates rice while it is growing as a result of industrial toxins and pesticides and can impact the development of young children, Andy Meharg, who led the study, told The Independent.
“We’re talking about immune development, growth, IQ. They’re all impacted at the levels of consumption you’d get from rice consumption,” he said. “I’m not scaremongering. EU laws have been passed, and what we’re doing is saying these laws aren’t being met.”
Among the products specifically marketed for children, 73 percent contained more than the EU limit 0.1 milligrams of arsenic per kilogram of rice, while 56 percent exceeded this overall.
Earlier this year, Professor Meharg raised concerns about harmful levels of the chemical left in rice cooked through a common method – simply boiling it in a pan until the water has steamed out.
By testing three different ways of cooking rice, the biologist found the best way to remove arsenic is to soak the rice overnight, which reduces toxin levels by 80 percent.
Arsenic is carcinogenic, said Professor Meharg, but “you’d have to eat rice over your lifetime for the excess cancer risk” and young children are more likely to be impacted by the chemicals contained in their food.
“Babies have five times higher exposure to inorganic arsenic through their weaned foods, which are primarily rice-based, than before they are weaned,” he said.
“There are warnings on most cartons of rice milk specifically. They say not suitable for children under the age of five years. If rice milk has warning, why shouldn’t it be done for other rice products?”
Concern among parents about their children’s gluten intake meant rice-based baby foods were more popular than ever, but parents should consider alternatives such as oat porridge instead of rice porridge, he added.
The researchers tested 13 types of baby rice, 29 packets of rice cakes, and 31 types of rice cereal from nine different brands or manufacturers from 17 different shops in Belfast.
Competitive parenting, iPads and screens are all contributing to a decrease in child mobility that can impact on academic learning
A “concerning” number of today’s four-year-olds are not physically ready to start school, new research has revealed, with children’s mobility levels said to be at an all-time low.
Early-years specialists monitoring children of school age found a higher number experience problems with their balance and coordination than previously thought, ultimately affecting their ability to learn in class. Researchers from the University of Loughborough said the increase was partly a result of modern children being less active in their early years compared with previous decades, with typical movements associated with play and development reduced by the introduction of electronic toys and screens.
Tests to assess Foundation Stage children’s physical development at the start of the first school year found almost a third to be “of concern” for lack of motor skills and reflexes. Almost 90 per cent of children demonstrated some degree of movement difficulty for their age.
The tests suggest up to 30 per cent of children are starting school with symptoms typically associated with dyslexia, dyspraxia, and ADHD – conditions which can be improved with the correct levels of physical activity, experts say.
Dr Rebecca Duncombe, who led the study, said the lack of physical ability shown demonstrated that children are not as active as they should be in the beginning of their lives.
“A child’s physical development level impacts their ability to complete simple tasks such as sitting still, holding a pencil, putting on their shoes, and especially reading – all skills essential for school,” she said.
“Our research shows that not only are children starting school less physically ready than ever before, but that teachers are noticing this change and its impact in the classroom.”
Specialistcs from Loughborough’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences tested 45 Foundation Stage children at two different schools to determine the effect of mobility levels on their learning.
In a supplementary study of 25 Foundation Stage teachers, 80 per cent said they had identified a sudden decline in physical mobility happening within the past three to six years.
“Young children have access to iPads and are much more likely to be sat in car seats or chairs,” Dr Duncombe said. “But the problem can also be attributed to competitive parenting – parents who want their children to walk as soon as possible risk letting them miss out on key mobility developments which help a child to find their strength and balance.”
Physical development is part of the Early Years curriculum within nurseries and schools, but there appears to be a lack of awareness and understanding of the kinds of activities this could include, she added.
Following a daily programme that gave children opportunities to move, improve motor skills and develop primitive reflexes, researchers found that the majority of children experienced dramatic physical and academic improvement.
Professor Pat Preedy, who co-leads the Movement for Learning programme, said: “Children today are moving less, they’re developing less well, and they’re learning less; we need to do something drastic to make sure children now and in the future get the movement they need to develop properly physically, intellectually and emotionally.
“Research shows there is a link between early movement and children’s development and learning. The Movement for Learning programme helps children do those movements they should have had the opportunity to do when they were younger and to be really ready to start learning and make the progress they should be doing when they start school.
“It’s an easy, cost-effective solution for a growing problem, and this research shows it could be life-changing for so many children, particularly those with additional needs such as dyspraxia and dyslexia.”
Researchers are now extending the Foundation Stage pilot to 30 schools and are in the process of recruiting Year One classes for the forthcoming school year.
Nursery helps youngsters develop social and everyday skills, while staying at home can lead to poorer speech and movement, according to report
Young children are better off going to nursery than staying at home with a parent, according to new research.
A recent report suggests going to nursery is more beneficial for helping youngsters develop social and everyday skills, while by contrast staying at home can lead to poorer speech and movement.
The study, by researchers at the London school of Economics and Oxford University, found children aged between two and three tended to be more stimulated at nursery due to the interaction with new children and adults, which helped their development.
The research was based on a survey carried out among 800 German mothers, which asked about the progress of their children when they were aged two and three, as well as their education and financial status.
It asked questions such as “Can your child cut pieces of paper with scissors?” or “Can your child speak in two-word sentences?” in order to assess how well children were developing.
The researchers concluded that singing children’s songs and painting and doing arts and crafts were found to have a positive impact on dexterity, which researchers linked to the actions associated with songs and the hand skills needed for arts and crafts.
Reading or telling stories, singing children’s songs and visiting other families were unsurprisingly also both found to have a positive impact on talking capabilities.
The researchers also examined the effect of certain activities on young children. Reading and shopping were found to make them happiest, while reading or telling stories and singing children’s songs were found to have a positive impact on talking capabilities.
Singing children’s songs and painting and doing arts and crafts – all activities common in nursery school – were found to have a positive impact on the development of movement skills, which researchers linked to the actions associated with songs and the hand skills needed for arts and crafts.
Taking walks outdoors was meanwhile negatively associated with movement skills, which is surprising but the authors suggested it may be because it often means children spending long periods in a pushchair.
As well as the benefit to development from attending nursery, the research also found that spending more hours being cared for by grandparents was associated with better talking and social skills
Professor Paul Anand, one of the authors of the report and a professor of Economics at the LSE, said: ‘We are delighted that one of first economic studies to look at the behaviour of very young children comes out with positive messages about activity involvement with parents, and shows that different activities promote different skills.”
Date: January 16, 2018
Source: University of Washington
Summary: A new study provides one of the first looks inside the infant’s brain to show where the sense of touch is processed — not just when a baby feels a touch to the hand or foot, but when the baby sees an adult’s hand or foot being touched, as well. Researchers say these connections help lay the groundwork for the developmental and cognitive skills of imitation and empathy.
Touch is the first of the five senses to develop, yet scientists know far less about the baby’s brain response to touch than to, say, the sight of mom’s face, or the sound of her voice.
Now, through the use of safe, new brain imaging techniques, University of Washington researchers provide one of the first looks inside the infant’s brain to show where the sense of touch is processed — not just when a baby feels a touch to the hand or foot, but when the baby sees an adult’s hand or foot being touched, as well.
The evidence of activity in the somatosensory cortex for both “felt touch” and “observed touch” shows that 7-month-old infants have already made a basic connection between “self” and “other,” which researchers say lays the groundwork for imitating and learning from the behavior of other people, and for empathizing with them.
The findings by the UW Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) are published this week in Developmental Science.
“Long before babies acquire spoken language, touch is a crucial channel of communication between caregivers and babies,” said the study’s primary author, Andrew Meltzoff, UW psychology professor and co-director of I-LABS. “Now we have the tools to see how the baby’s body is represented in the baby’s brain. This allows us to catch the first glimpse of a primitive sense of self that provides a building block for social learning.”
Past studies investigated how infants’ brains respond to touch, generally. The authors believe this is the first experiment to measure the specific networks of the brain where this processing occurs, and to illuminate how babies’ brains respond to seeing another person being touched, in the absence of being touched themselves.
For the study, researchers used the I-LABS Magnetoencephalography (MEG) machine to capture images of brain activity in 7-month-old infants as they were touched on the hand and foot, and as they watched videos of an adult hand and foot being touched.
Researchers were particularly interested in the brain’s somatosensory cortex, a region generally described as a strip of tissue in the brain that runs between the ears, over the top of the head. It is in this region, in separate places and at different levels of strength, that the brain processes touch to different parts of the body. A touch to the hand, for example, is a stronger sensation — and is processed in a different location along the somatosensory cortex — than a touch to the foot.
In the first experiment, each infant was seated in the MEG to measure brain activity as they received light touches. A small, inflatable balloon-like device was placed on the top of the baby’s hand, and when it expanded and contracted according to a computer-controlled timetable, it produced light taps on the baby’s skin. The same procedure was followed for the top of the baby’s foot.
The data showed that, when the hand was touched, the hand area of the somatosensory cortex was activated in all 14 infants tested; when the foot was touched, activation occurred in the foot area of the brains of all of the infants but one.
A different group of infants provided data for the “observed touch” experiment, in which they also were seated in the MEG but watched separate videos of an adult hand and an adult foot being touched by a small rod. Researchers discovered that the infants’ own somatosensory cortex (the “touch center” in the baby brain) also became activated when the babies simply observed someone else being touched.
There was a weaker response to “observed touch” than to “felt touch,” which was expected, Meltzoff said. The same is true of adults: A touch to your own hand is going to generate greater brain activity in the somatosensory cortex than merely seeing the touch to someone else’s hand.
The key, Meltzoff pointed out, is that the same part of the infant’s brain registered both kinds of touch, indicating a baby’s capacity for recognizing the similarity between their own body parts and those they see in other people.
This new evidence for shared neural regions processing touch to self and touch to others makes sense, Meltzoff said. As parents know, babies watch and imitate what adults do. Imitation is a powerful learning mechanism for infants, but in order to imitate, infants have to perceive how body parts correspond. In other words, they need to reproduce the same movement with the same part when they imitate what their parent is doing. Scientists have wondered how infants make this connection. “Before they have words for the body parts, babies recognize that their hand is like your hand, and their foot is like your foot. The neural body map helps connect babies to other people: The recognition that another person is ‘like me’ may be one of the baby’s first social insights,” Meltzoff explained.
With development, this “like-me” recognition eventually flowers into feeling empathy for someone else. If you see someone accidentally hit their thumb with a hammer, you rapidly, if perhaps imperceptibly, recoil by moving your hand. This is where a shared neural body map that connects self to other comes into play.
Further research could use the MEG to investigate how infants develop more sophisticated body awareness as they grow older, the paper notes.
“The idea of using brain science to study how and when humans first feel a sense of connectedness with others is important and fascinating,” Meltzoff said. “We can now look under the hood and see what’s happening when a baby watches and connects to others. It’s a touching sight.”
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Washington. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Andrew N. Meltzoff, Rey R. Ramírez, Joni N. Saby, Eric Larson, Samu Taulu, Peter J. Marshall. Infant brain responses to felt and observed touch of hands and feet: an MEG study. Developmental Science, 2018; e12651 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12651
The more baby talk words that infants are exposed to the quicker they grasp language
Date: August 1, 2018
Source: University of Edinburgh
Summary:
The more baby talk words that infants are exposed to the quicker they grasp language, a study suggests. Assessments of nine-month-old children suggest that those who hear words such as bunny or choo-choo more frequently are faster at picking up new words between nine and 21 months.
The more baby talk words that infants are exposed to the quicker they grasp language, a study suggests.
Assessments of nine-month-old children suggest that those who hear words such as bunny or choo-choo more frequently are faster at picking up new words between nine and 21 months.
Researchers say these findings suggest some types of baby talk words — more than other words — can help infants develop their vocabulary more quickly.
The team says words that end in ‘y’ — such as tummy, mummy and doggy — or words that repeat sounds — such as choo-choo and night-night — could help infants identify words in speech.
Linguists at the University of Edinburgh recorded samples of speech addressed to 47 infants learning English.
They checked the speech addressed to each infant for features that characterise baby talk words.
As well as analysing so-called diminutives ending in ‘y’ and reduplication — which contains repeated syllables — they checked for onomatopoeic words that sound like their meaning, such as woof and splash.
They examined the rate of the infants’ language development by measuring the size of the children’s vocabulary at nine, 15 and 21 months.
They found that infants who heard a higher proportion of diminutive words and words with repeated syllables developed their language more quickly between nine and 21 months.
They did not find this effect on vocabulary growth for onomatopoeic baby talk words.
Lead researcher Mitsuhiko Ota, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, said: “Our findings suggest that diminutives and reduplication, which are frequently found in baby talk words — across many different languages — can facilitate the early stage of vocabulary development.”
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Edinburgh. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Mitsuhiko Ota, Nicola Davies-Jenkins, Barbora Skarabela. Why Choo-Choo Is Better Than Train: The Role of Register-Specific Words in Early Vocabulary Growth. Cognitive Science, 2018; DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12628
Date: July 9, 2018
Source: University of Washington
Researchers used brain imaging to gauge how the hand, foot and lips are represented in the brains of 2-month-olds — a much younger age than has been studied previously. It is believed to be the first to reveal the greater neurological activity associated with the lips than with other body parts represented in the infant brain. It also indicates how soon infants’ brains begin to make sense of their bodies, a first step toward other developmental milestones.
A typically developing 2-month-old baby can make cooing sounds, suck on her hand to calm down and smile at people.
At that age, the mouth is the primary focus: Such young infants aren’t yet reaching for objects with their hands or using their feet to get around, so the lips — for eating, pacifying and communicating — multitask.
And at the same time, new research reveals a special neural signature associated with touching the baby’s lips, an indicator of how soon infants’ brains begin to make sense of their own bodies and a first step toward other developmental milestones.
A study led by the University of Washington Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) uses infant brain imaging to gauge how the hand, foot and lips are represented in the brains of 2-month-olds — a much younger age than has been studied previously. It is believed to be the first to reveal the greater neurological activity associated with the lips than with other body parts.
“We are now able to use safe brain science technologies to study how infants represent themselves and other people. This new field of infant social neuroscience allows us to detect changes in brain activity as infants see, hear and experience touch,” said lead author Andrew Meltzoff, a UW psychology professor and co-director of I-LABS.
The study, published June 25 in Developmental Science, involved 25 2-month-old infants, each of whom wore a cap equipped with special sensors that measure brain activity by detecting minute electrical signals on the baby’s scalp, a technique called electroencephalography (EEG). Researchers used a handheld wand to deliver multiple light taps to each baby’s left foot, left hand and the middle of the upper lip. EEG registered the infants’ brain activity to the touch of each body part.
The way the human brain represents body parts, called a “neural body map,” has been studied extensively in adults, but much less so in infants. The neural activity produced by a touch of the body is focused in the somatosensory cortex, a strip of tissue that runs between the ears, over the top of the head. There, at varying locations and degrees of strength, the brain processes touch. A touch to the hand, for example, registers in a separate place and with a stronger signal over the somatosensory cortex than a touch to a less sensitive part of the body such as the forearm, the back or the foot.
As young as 2 months of age, the new research finds, babies already have a well-formed body map. They display a distinctive neural signature for touches to different body parts. A touch to the foot causes activity near the top of the brain at about the midline; a touch to one of the hands produces activity in lateral portions of the brain, opposite to the hand touched. A touch to the middle of the lip produces the strongest response of all, in lateral regions on both sides of the brain.
These findings indicate the importance of the lips to the infant’s body map, researchers said. The prominent brain signal obtained from touching the baby’s lips could be related both to the baby’s reliance on the mouth for sucking and also to the evolution of language.
“Lips are important for babies,” said Meltzoff. “They use lips for sucking, but lips are also used to articulate speech sounds and to communicate emotions — a pout versus a smile. Young babies are lip experts, and their brains reflect this.”
This study follows other I-LABS research published earlier this year that examined infant social development using a magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain-imaging machine, a slightly more sophisticated technology. In that study, the babies watched videos of an adult hand and foot being touched, and also had their own hand or foot touched. The activation of similar regions of the brain’s somatosensory cortex during both felt touch and observed touch showed that the infant brain was able to detect the similarity between “self” and “other.”
This connection between self and other is a step toward imitation, itself a chief way that infants learn from other people prior to language. Babies can imitate their parents’ hand and facial movements because their brain recognizes, for instance, that their hands correspond to mom’s hands, and that their lips correspond to mom’s lips. The researchers speculate that a baby’s ability to recognize that another person is “like them,” in terms of their body, rests on neural body maps.
Co-author Peter Marshall, chair of the department of psychology at Temple University, said, “The new study with 2-month-olds is an important step toward understanding how body maps develop and change in the baby brain. It will be intriguing to investigate whether there are alterations in the hand representations as babies begin to reach, foot representations as they begin to walk, and lip representations as they begin to articulate speech.”
There are also practical implications of this research. “The finding that gentle touch is associated with a measurable, organized response allows us to explore the benefits of touch for baby brain development and to look at individual differences to touch,” said co-author Joni Saby, a postdoctoral fellow at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
There has long been a strong link between reading to young children and a boost in literacy skills, but now researchers have found a similar link between engaging young children in math activities at home and an increase in numeracy skills later on.
But it’s not flash cards and math drills that help kids learn about math from a young age. Researchers from KU Leuven in Belgium found that activities such as talking about money while shopping and how to measure ingredients while cooking, playing card and board games, and sorting objects by color, shape, and size are all associated with an early acquisition of mathematical skills.
“These activities,” said the study’s lead author Belde Mutaf Yildz, “were linked with a more accurate estimation of the position of a digit on an empty number line. In addition, engaging in activities such as card and board games was associated with better pictorial calculation skills.”
And an earlier study from Purdue University also found that encouraging math skills early on goes even farther than just boosting children’s understanding of math concepts, but also increases a child’s overall vocabulary. This may be due to the question and answer nature of math, the Purdue researchers think, that when parents have a dialogue about values and comparisons and quantities, it improves children’s oral language skills.
Both studies emphasize that there needs to be increased awareness of the importance of early math learning and that parents should be encouraged to work on these skills with their children at home, just as there has been a big push over the years to read to young children in order to improve their literacy skills.
But if you aren’t a math whiz yourself, don’t stress. The important math skills to focus on aren’t big, complex concepts or difficult computations, but engaging children in how math is part of our everyday lives: Point out different shapes while grocery shopping, count how many strawberries are on their plate at lunch and how many are left as they eat them, point out patterns in the tile floor, collect small objects on a walk and estimate how many were found then count to see how close they were.
Zero to Three has more great ideas for developing early math skills in young kids.
Kids are naturally drawn to math concepts, as David Purpura, of the authors of the Purdue study, said. “It’s never too early to talk about numbers and quantities. One of the first words young children learn is ‘more.’”
While doctors staunchly oppose cosleeping, many families do it anyway. And many researchers agree that, if done safely, parents should be able to share their sleep with their child. But is there an age limit to the family bed?
Each of my three children bedshared. I found cosleeping to be wonderful, not only for breastfeeding at night and maximizing my sleep, but also for bonding and helping them learn to cope with nighttime fears. I allowed each to self-wean from cosleeping much like self-weaning from breastfeeding. When allowed, it happens naturally and easily.
Although the weaning process may go slower than adults feel it should, change at the child’s pace tends to work better than if forced.
My goal for all my kids was to transition to their own beds in a separate room by Kindergarten. The oldest moved to her own bed in another room, cold turkey, the day we moved into our new home when she was in preschool. My middle child needed baby steps, moving first out of the adult bed onto a crib mattress on the floor in the same room, and then eventually to another room that she shared with her big sister.
The youngest would go back and forth during his preschool years, wanting to cosleep one night and to sleep alone the next night. He fully transitioned to his own bed when my oldest moved into her own room and allowed him bunk space with my middle child.
That said, cosleeping is still part of our family’s life. I invite my kids into my bedroom with sleeping bags on the floor for an occasional family sleepover, and will welcome one if they should wake from a bad dream.
I’m a firm believer that kids will transition away from bedsharing when they’re ready. That age may vary depending on many factors, including the child’s individual temperament, family stress, other social difficulties that may be happening such as at daycare or school, and the child’s developed stress-coping skills. Bedsharing with parents provides space for security. If an older child is dealing with an overload of stress during the day, nighttime bonding is a time for recharging especially if the child doesn’t know how to resolve the stress.
I saw this with my own children. Just last year, when my son had started Kindergarten, he wanted to go back to bedsharing. And I allowed it as I helped him learn new coping skills. When he felt more comfortable with the new school experience, he began sleeping on his own again.
It seems that many parents wonder about the age limit to cosleeping. Cultures around the world routinely bedshare with their children well through their first decade, as this Notre Dame University researcher points out. But for parents who are wanting to transition their kid out of their bedroom, I suggest looking at two areas of their child’s life:
1. What’s happening during the day?
This may seem like a funny question, but what happens during the day reflects in their nighttime behavior. A child who feels more secure and less stressed during the day will tend to be more confident about sleeping on their own. A child who is struggling during the day needs the security of cosleeping to deal with the next day.
My husband and I went through a rough patch in our marriage when our older two were in preschool. I noticed quickly that they both sought extra closeness during the nights following a heated argument between their father and me. It wasn’t a coincidence, but cause and effect. Unresolved daytime stress, whether illness or family stress or not getting as much bonding time with a parent, will translate into a child needing to reclaim centeredness and security overnight.
2. What’s happening during the night?
Just as kids need to feel secure during the day, so do they at night. Bedsharing and room-sharing are but two ways that parents can practice nighttime parenting. The point is that we need to be available for reassurance even at night, whether or not we’re cosleeping with our children. They need to know they can wake us if they have a bad dream, or see a funny shadow, or hear a scratching noise on the window. They need to know that it’s OK to ask for a drink of water or just an extra hug.
Just as kids who feel more secure during the day tend to sleep better at night, so do kids who feel more secure in their parents’ presence at night.
For many families, summer means longer days, less routine and more time outside.
That’s not all good news, one expert says, because it could jumble a family’s sleeping habits.
Even without the rigorous and often hectic school-year schedule, it’s important to ensure that everyone gets enough sleep, according to Dr. Cheryl Tierney, chief of behavior and developmental pediatrics at Penn State Children’s Hospital.
“It’s about having a balance,” she said in a hospital news release. “Compromise is reasonable.”
Younger kids tend to wake up at the same time every day regardless of when they went to bed the night before. So, if they stay up too late, they’re likely to sleep less and be extra tired the next day. Like adults, children who lack sleep can become irritable, develop headaches and have trouble paying attention, Tierney noted.
“Children can get short-tempered as the day goes on,” she said. “Instead of looking like they need a nap, it can look a lot like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in some younger children.”
Getting more sleep can rectify these issues and help kids focus.
“You are more attentive, clear-headed and better able to consolidate your learning when you are rested,” Tierney said. “Your memory also improves with sleep. You can process information and make decisions more efficiently.”
Once kids are 5 to 6 years old, however, they should not take an afternoon nap, which can make it harder for them to fall asleep at night, she recommended.
It may be unrealistic to think that kids will stick to their school-year sleep routine during the summer. But younger children should not stray too far from their normal schedule, Tierney advised. That means going to bed no more than an hour past their usual bedtime.
Older children can push bedtime back no more than two hours, depending on their body clock and how they feel. “Otherwise, it can creep later and later until they are staying up all night and sleeping the day away,” she said.
A good compromise would be to allow them to sleep a couple hours later than usual in the morning — but not stay in bed until noon, Tierney suggested. Another alternative would be to stick to a normal school-year routine during the week, but have a more relaxed sleep schedule on weekends.
It’s usually easier for children to fall asleep at night if they’ve been active during the day. A cool, dark room can also promote quality sleep. It’s also important to limit the use of electronic devices and avoid large meals too close to bedtime.
More information
The American Academy of Pediatrics provides more on healthy sleep habits.
Yet another study is suggesting that feeding your baby peanuts could be a good way to prevent nut allergies later on.
The latest findings found that babies who were fed peanuts regularly significantly cut their risk of developing allergies compared to their peers who were not exposed before age five.
Over the past few years, scientists have warned that recommendations that call for no peanuts until kids are about three years old are outdated. Pediatricians began to go against the grain, doling out new advice to expose babies to peanuts to lessen allergy risks.
British doctors out of King’s College London worked with 550 kids who were categorized as high risk for developing a peanut allergy because of family history, they had a pre-existing egg allergy or they were dealing with eczema.
(The scientists worked with these kids in a 2015 study in which babies were fed peanuts as early as four months old.)
This time around, they wanted to know if regular exposure to peanuts as a baby and toddler helped in the long term if kids stopped eating peanuts.
To figure this out, half of the group regularly ate peanuts as babies while the others didn’t try them at all. Both groups then avoided peanuts for an entire year. The scientists had parents fill out questionnaires and they collected dust samples from kids’ beds to test for peanut proteins to make sure the participants were adhering to the rules.
Allergy tests were also taken at the end of the study.
After the year was complete, only 4.8 per cent of the babies who tried peanuts earlier on developed allergies to the food. But 18.6 per cent of babies who weren’t exposed to peanuts at all developed an allergy, marking a “highly significant difference,” the researchers say.
“This study offers reassurance that eating peanut-containing foods as part of a normal diet – with occasional periods of time without peanut – will be a safe practice for most children following successful tolerance therapy,” Dr. Gerald Nepom, director of the Immune Tolerance Network, said in a statement.
“The immune system appears to remember and sustain its tolerant state, even without continuous regular exposure to peanuts,” he said.
Nepom and his team say it’s unclear if allergies could set in if kids avoid peanuts for longer than a year but that he’s planning to conduct longer-term studies.
But based on their findings, they say that early and continued consumption of foods with peanuts is safe and linked to decreasing the odds of developing an allergy.
Keep in mind, peanut allergies have been steadily on the rise in recent decades. The number of allergies has more than doubled in the past 10 years across North America. Up to three per cent of kids are affected.
Peanut allergies start early in life. Kids rarely outgrow them and there is no cure.
The Canadian Paediatric Society’s own guidelines, that were reaffirmed last month, say that babies who are at high risk of developing a food allergy can be exposed to potential allergens as early as six months old.
“All of that [previous] information is really based on the consensus of experts,” Dr. Carl Cummings explained to Global News. He’s a Montreal-based pediatrician, professor at the Montreal Children’s Hospital and co-author of the CPS position statement.
“[The old advice] was based on the consensus of opinion rather than actual evidence. The bottom line is it’s believed that the unnecessary delay probably contributed to some of the increase of food allergies that we see,” Cummings told Global News.
If you’re worried about a choking hazard, don’t feed your kids peanuts until they’re able to chew or stick to feeding them a safe amount of peanut butter, doctors say. If your child’s had a food reaction before, talk to your pediatrician before testing peanuts as a safety precaution.
Hives, swelling, vomiting and trouble breathing are signs and symptoms of a food allergy.
Nepom’s full findings were published this weekend in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Children naturally love art – painting, drawing, making music, the theater. Unfortunately, when schools cut back on budgets, the arts are usually the first to go. It seems that schools do not appreciate the importance of art in building a kid’s brain.
Physiologically, the human brain consists of 2 parts, the left and the right hemisphere. The left brain is used in logical thinking and analytical processes. This is typically what is trained in school work that consists of math, reading and science. The right brain is used in emotional perception, intuition and creativity. It is the right brain that is mainly used when a person is involved in creative endeavors such as making art. It is this part of the brain that typical school environment neglects to train.
It is shown that when gifted kids solve problems in their areas of giftedness, there is increased electrical activity in both hemispheres. It appears that for the brain to be efficient, the two hemispheres of the brains must work together. By stimulating and exercising the right hemisphere of the brain, the arts strengthen the connection between the hemispheres. Kids should be exposed to the arts as their cognitive skills mature so that their right brain will be as developed as the left, and both hemispheres work in tandem, thus achieving the full potential of the mind.
Aside from the physiological effects, the New York Center for Arts Education also lists other benefits of exposing children to art:
Your kid learns to think creatively, with an open mind
Your kid learns to observe and describe, analyze and interpret
Your kid learns to express feelings, with or without words.
Your kid practices problem-solving skills, critical-thinking skills, dance, music, theater and art-making skills, language and vocabulary of the arts
Your kid discovers that there is more than one right answer, multiple points of view
School can be fun – playing can be learning
Your kid learns to collaborate with other children and with adults
Arts introduce children to cultures from around the world
Your kid can blossom and excel in the arts. Even with physical, emotional or learning challenges, can experience success in the arts.
Arts build confidence. Because there is not just one right way to make art, every child can feel pride in his or her original artistic creations.
Arts build community. Schools with a variety of differences can celebrate the arts as one community.
According to Kimberly Sheridan, Ed.D., coauthor of Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education, “It’s not as easy to test the skills that children learn from the arts, but that doesn’t make them any less important”. She noted though that participating in a school arts program increases a child’s ability to:
Observe the world carefully and discard preconceptions in order to envision something and then create it
Go beyond just learning a skill to express a personal voice
Problem-solve and persist despite frustration and setbacks
Reflect on the results and ask what could improve them
Researchers from the Michigan State University have found a very strong correlation between childhood engagement in the creative arts and measurable success later in life. Children who were exposed to a wide variety of arts and crafts were more likely to create unique inventions that is worthy of patents, come up with ideas good enough to start a new company, or publish provocative papers on science and technology. The researchers suggest that children exposed to arts and crafts are able to think “out of the box” since a lot of working with hands involve figuring out how to solve problems creatively. After studying many scientists Co-authors Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein reached this conclusion: “The most eminent and innovative among them are significantly more likely to engage in arts and crafts avocations” than the average Joe.
Arts education and appreciation were also found to have benefits on young people’s brains. In a study by researchers from University of Kansas, students who were selected to visit a museum shows stronger critical thinking skills, displayed higher levels of social tolerance, exhibited greater historical empathy and developed a taste for art museums and cultural institutions.
Also, exposure to arts and the humanities is one important way to foster creativity in children.
The following are tips to make the arts a part of your kid’s development:
Always make arts and crafts supply available and accessible to your kid – paper, pencil, crayons, etc.
Celebrate your child’s artwork – hang their drawings on the wall or save it in a folder. That way, your child feels that her creation is important.
Read books – Ask the librarian at your school or public library to suggest books about artists and the arts.
Notice the arts all around you – take your family to museums, concerts, or theater. Notice the art even in the parks, subways, and open spaces. Start a conversation about what you see.
Enjoy the arts at home – share your artistic skills and interests with your kid. Find out what your kids love about the art.
If your kid shows great interest, enroll her in arts class.
If possible, remind your kid’s school authorities about the importance of art in her education.
Expand your child’s horizon by getting her interested in other art forms including literature, dance and music. See the many benefits of music education for children
by Rita Brhel
Even as little as a generation ago, the expectation was that all babies sleep through the night. Parents assumed they must teach them to do so through “sleep-training,” often involving cry-it-out methods.
Many grandmothers and great-grandmothers continue to perpetuate this erroneous standard today with questions like, “Does he sleep through the night yet?” and “Is she a good baby?”
I believe all parents make the best decisions given the knowledge, resources, and support they have at the time. And the same holds true for family members who give advice like sleep-training a newborn. It’s what they know and therefore the advice that they pass on. It takes time for new ways of doing to trickle down into society.
This is why, despite increasingly widespread breastfeeding support and improved knowledge of biological infant behavior, the presumption that a newborn should sleep through the night persists.
Here are 5 reasons why newborns who sleep through the night should raise concerns:
1. Babies Need Closeness
Newborns are designed for physical closeness with their parents, especially the mother. This ensures the baby’s survival. Apart for too long and the baby will cry, becoming more and more frantic. But eventually, the baby will give up, his biological system assuming abandonment.
Physically these babies may appear to be the quintessential “good baby,” but biologically their bodies are a storm of stress hormones.
Newborns need proximity to their caregivers, plenty of physical contact, and frequent breastfeeding. This is what signals to the newborn’s body that all is well and his survival is ensured. Even if we take out the emotional component out of this, babies raised with less stress understandably grow better.
2. Babies Are Hungry, Especially Overnight
Newborns, with their tiny tummies, are designed to nurse at least 8 to 12 times in 24 hours.
A breastfeeding newborn is sometimes going to nurse off and on for a few hours — also known as cluster-feeding — and sometimes will stretch out nursings so there’s a couple hours between. This is completely normal, and exactly how breastfeeding is supposed to work. Babies need to nurse frequently not only for growth and nutrition, but also for the health factors contained in breast milk to get that immune system jump-started. Frequency is also partly why breastfeeding is protective against SIDS.
Also completely normal is that a newborn will want to wake several times at night to nurse. And that may include some cluster-feeding. In the early weeks, until your pediatrician says it’s okay to go longer, the most a newborn should sleep at one time overnight is four hours without being woken to eat.
With older babies, many parents notice that there are times when they sleep longer at night and other times when they begin waking up several times at night to nurse again. This is also very normal. Baby has to get all the calories in that he needs somehow, and if he’s not getting them in by breastfeeding as much during the day — whether mom’s busy schedule or baby becoming more active — he’ll wake up hungry at night more often.
But something to consider is what an adult perceives as “sleeping through the night” may be much different than what is actually considered “sleeping through the night” for a baby. Babies by 6 months old may be to the point of sleeping 5 to 6 hours at a time at night. This is considered “sleeping through the night.” It’s unrealistic to expect a newborn, or even an older baby, to sleep 8, 10, or more hours a night straight through.
3. Mom’s Breast Milk Supply Depends on Overnight Milk Removals
How much breast milk a mother’s body makes depends on how much and how frequently milk is removed, by breastfeeding and/or pumping. Even if a mother is squeezing in the recommended minimum of eight nursing sessions during the daylight hours, the longer period without milk removal sessions overnight signals to the body that not as much milk is needed.
Essentially skipping overnights initiates the weaning process! So then the body begins to produce less milk, not just at night but during the day, too. To make more milk, it’s imperative that a mom breastfeeds (or pumps) more often, including overnight.
Here’s another tidbit to add to the case for breastfeeding at night: A mom’s milk-making hormone, prolactin, is highest at night. So moms are producing more milk at night, which makes breastfeeding at night a great tip in increasing a low breast milk supply.
4. Relationship Patterns Are Hard to Break
Bonding with baby is all about both parents and baby learning each other’s cues, and parents learning how to best respond to those cues. This first step in the parent-child relationship also sets the foundation for attachment. If parents are sleep-training so their baby will sleep longer at night than that baby is biologically designed to do, there is a serious lack of attunement. Those parents are essentially ignoring their baby’s emotional needs, which is the very start to their relationship.
While it’s not impossible for parent-child relationships to change, it’s a lot harder once patterns of relating to one another are set — such as a parent dismissing a baby’s emotions cues, and the baby, therefore, learning that the parent is not interested in a two-way relationship. It snowballs into toddlerhood and onward unless the parent consciously chooses to break those relational habits. But take it from me, it’s very difficult to do and may take years to earn a child’s trust back.
5. Kids Need to Know That Parenting Doesn’t End At Bedtime
Finally, I hope parents consider that teaching babies to sleep through the night before they’re ready also teaches them to not seek help when they need it. Likely a mom would know if her baby had a health concern, but toddlers who were sleep-trained as infants may not reach out to parents at night. It’s not just situations like a bad dream or a potty-training accident, but also more serious situations like feeling nauseous or having an asthma attack.
Certainly, most parents probably give leniency in sleep expectations when these issues arise, but a child shouldn’t grow up feeling that only her physical needs are important. Denying a baby’s emotional needs is serious, too.
There is a myriad of postpartum traditions from every corner of the world. From ceremonies to special food, and from helpful family members to unique gifts, these are some of the special traditions that mothers and their loved ones experience around the world.
In North America, we have our standard tradition of the baby shower before the birth. Often, close friends and family stop by after the child is born. The new mother may treat herself to a cup of coffee after abstaining for nine months. For many women, they’re back at work within a couple of weeks.
But in certain parts of the world, things are done differently.
1. Bali
In Bali, burying the placenta is an ancient tradition that goes back hundreds of years.
According to the Huffington Post, some Hindus believe that the organ is alive. After the birth, family members hold an elaborate ceremony in which the placenta is cleaned, sealed in a container, and buried in the yard. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of attention on the newborn baby, who is seen as a divine being. In fact, their little feet don’t touch the ground for over half a year after they’re born.
Once they are placed on the earth, it symbolizes their entry into the human world.
2. Turkey
Postpartum mothers in Turkey sip a special drink called lohusa serbeti, made from water, sugar, cloves, a cinnamon, which is said to help the breast milk flow. Expectant Turkish mothers don’t have a baby shower, but after their child is born, the two rest at home for 20 days, while friends and family visit to celebrate the birth with money and gifts.
The Bump says that once the time at home is up, mom and baby set out to visit the gift-givers who rub flour around the child’s eyebrows and hairline to wish it a long and healthy life.
3. Ecuador
Rural Ecuadorian mothers in labor are given a sweaty shirt by the child’s father that, according to legend, is meant to give her strength in childbirth. Once the baby is delivered, mother and child stay in the house to protect themselves from sunlight. This may seem a strange tradition, but at the equator, it’s very possible for the sun to have a harmful effect.
After a few weeks, the mom is treated to a bath with three rose petals, herbs, and a cup of milk to help transition her back into everyday life.
4. Japan
After birth, Japanese mothers and their newborn stay with the mother’s parents for 21 days. The mom spends that time recovering from childbirth and forming a bond with her new baby. Meanwhile, her parents and family members help out with chores. Friends stop by to welcome the new child and everyone eats a special red rice and bean dish known as oseikihan.
5. The Netherlands
The Bump reports that Holland holds the world record for home births. Visits from a midwife far exceed trips to an ob-gyn, unless it’s a high risk pregnancy. Before the birth, expectant mothers pick up a kraampakket, which includes everything needed for the home birth. After the baby is welcomed into the world, the proud parents put a stuffed stork in a window to announce its arrival.
6. Nigeria
Grandma plays an important role in the postpartum traditions in Nairobi. She is responsible for giving the baby its first bath. This symbolizes that the mother is not alone in childrearing and that her family and community are there to support her. Grandmother also gives the new mama a belly-flattening massage during the recovery period. The newborn child receives a number of blessings in the form of water to ward of enemies, kola nut to ensure health and longevity, and salt and pepper to encourage an exciting life.
SUNDAY, June 10, 2018 (HealthDay News) — It’s well-known that Americans consume too much sugar. But that affinity for the sweet stuff starts as early as infancy, with some babies consuming added sugar that exceeds maximum levels recommended for adults, U.S. researchers report.
Eating foods with added sugar can influence a child’s food choices later in life. And added sugar has been linked with obesity, asthma, dental cavities and heart disease risk factors such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure, the study authors said.
The researchers analyzed data from 800 infants and toddlers between 6 and 23 months old in the 2011-2014 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
They found that 85 percent of the infants and toddlers consumed added sugar on a given day and that added sugar consumption rose with age.
Just over 60 percent of those ages 6 to 11 months averaged just under 1 teaspoon of added sugar a day. That rose to 98 percent among those babies 12 to 18 months, who averaged 5.5 teaspoons of added sugar a day.
And a whopping 99 percent of babies 19 to 23 months old averaged just over 7 teaspoons of added sugar on a given day, more than the amount in a Snickers candy bar, the study authors said.
The added sugar included cane sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and honey.
Daily recommended limits for added sugar are 6 teaspoons or less a day for children 2 to 19 years old and for adult women, and 9 teaspoons or less a day for adult men.
But most Americans exceed those limits.
The study findings are scheduled for presentation Sunday at the American Society for Nutrition annual meeting, in Boston.
“This is the first time we have looked at added sugar consumption among children less than 2 years old,” said lead study author Kirsten Herrick, a nutritional epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Our results show that added sugar consumption begins early in life and exceeds current recommendations. These data may be relevant to the upcoming 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” she said in a society news release.
“The easiest way to reduce added sugars in your own diet and your kids’ diet is to choose foods that you know don’t have them, like fresh fruits and vegetables,” Herrick suggested.
Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
More information
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has more on added sugars.
SOURCE: American Society for Nutrition, news release, June 10, 2018
— Robert Preidt
Boredom is good for children, as it fuels creativity and problem-solving, according to a Australian parenting experts.
As reported in the Herald Sun the Raising Children Network, a government-funded resource for parents, has released a new video on how boredom is beneficial for children’s development.
Network Director and acting CEO of the Parenting Research Centre, Julie Green, told Ross and John when kids are forced to find something to do, they’re forced to think creatively.
“It’s fantastic for children’s play, development and imagination,” Dr Green said.
“Playing with your children really is important but parents don’t have to entertain their children all the time.
“It’s when kids push through the boredom that there is a huge amount of creative thinking and problem solving.”
Originally published on Motherly.
By Annamarya Scaccia
When it comes to classroom discipline, each school has its own set of rules—but a universally popular response to misbehavior is to prohibit kids from participating in recess.
The problem is that a large body of research has shown recess benefits kids’ mental and physical health. So when that time to play and enjoy fresh air is stripped away as a disciplinary tactic, the consequences may be worse than intended.
Although now on the decline, withholding recess was once common practice in schools across the country. School administrators have, in the past, argued that taking away free-play time is an effective way of curbing poor behavior among students. A 2010 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation survey found 77 percent of principals reported withholding recess as punishment. That’s a slight decrease from the results of a 2006 study published in the Journal of School Health, which discovered that more than 81 percent of school districts adopted such a no-recess policy.
Increasingly, though, school officials are recognizing that taking away recess does more harm than good for a child’s physical, emotional and behavioral health. As a result, many districts are now getting rid of the practice.
“That physical activity and unstructured play, those things are not luxuries for kids,” says Sara Zimmerman, technical-assistance director of Safe Routes to School National Partnership, in an interview with Education Week. “That’s a key part of how kids learn and how they grow.”
Related: 10 important reasons kindergarteners need more play
In a 2012 position paper, the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that safe, supervised recess time benefits a student’s cognitive, social, emotional and physical development by giving them a break from the “concentrated, academic challenges in the classroom.” Experts from the AAP continued at the time, “Recess is unique from, and a complement to, physical education—not a substitute for it.”
Multiple studies have shown that, when kids have at least 20 minutes of recess—the recommended time from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—they become more attentive and productive in class. Research has also proven play can help children develop communication skills, such as problem-solving and cooperation. It’s also shown to help with coping skills, such as self-control and determination.
In fact, a 2014 University of Colorado-Boulder study published in Frontiers in Psychology discovered 6-year-old students who engaged in free play and other unstructured activities more often had stronger levels of executive functioning, such as time management and decision-making skills.
“Executive function is extremely important for children. It helps them in all kinds of ways throughout their daily lives, from flexibly switching between different activities rather than getting stuck on one thing, to stopping themselves from yelling when angry, to delaying gratification,” the study’s senior author Yuko Munakata, a psychology and neuroscience professor at CU-Boulder, says in the findings. “Executive function during childhood also predicts important outcomes, like academic performance, health, wealth and criminality, years and even decades later.”
Lawmakers have even started to recognize the necessity of recess for students. As of 2015, at least 11 states have passed laws prohibiting schools from withholding recess as a form of discipline, according to Education Week. And this past fall, lawmakers in Massachusetts began to weigh a bill that would make 20 minutes of recess mandatory in schools.
There’s no denying that recess plays a crucial role in a kid’s life. Let’s just hope more schools realize that taking it away is more detrimental than anything.
In Silicon Valley, devices are an essential part of daily life. But many of the tech titans creating these products choose to power down when they leave the office, following industry giants like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs who restricted their own kids’ access to technology at home.
“Truth About Tech” campaign takes on tech addiction
Pierre Laurent, who has worked for companies including Microsoft and Intel, said he and his family typically leave their phones at a table to charge when at home. He says the tech industry designs products to hook users, reports CBS News’ Jamie Yuccas.
“I don’t think the parents are aware of that. They don’t see the consequences because nobody’s told them, you know, there’s no warning on the product,” Laurent said.
Pierre and his wife Monica became concerned that their three children would miss out on real-life experiences while on their devices so they decided to limit their screen time. Researchers are still learning more about how technology affects kids but some early studies of heavy tech users show potential links to a rise in teen suicide rates, addiction, anxiety and loss of social skills.
“There was some pressure, especially the last one,” Pierre said of how his kids react to the rules. “She didn’t want to miss out on something and then we said, ‘no it’s not the right time.'”
None of the three children played video games or watched TV, and they didn’t get cell phones until they were teenagers. Their 13-year-old daughter Maia spends her free time knitting and playing in the backyard.
When asked if she ever misses technology, Maia said, “Not really….The only thing I might miss technology for is listening to music or an audio book.”
Their use of tech is limited both at home and at school. At the Waldorf School, where Monica is a teacher, nearly 75 percent of the kids have parents who work in tech. The school favors physical activity and art over technology. Computers are not introduced until eighth grade. Teachers use a hand clapping game to practice multiplication tables.
“Every parent is really struggling with how to reap the benefits of technology while minimizing some of the risks,” Caroline Knoor said. She is the senior parenting editor for Common Sense Media, a non-profit that studies the effect of media and technology on kids.
“We do need to look at the technology itself and understand that there’s a lot of stuff in there that is absolutely designed to change user behavior and these programs are reaching children at younger and younger ages,” Knoor said.
The organization says there’s no magic number on how much screen time kids should have and cautions that imposing limits ignores potential benefits. They recommend paying close attention to kids’ demeanor while using their devices and creating a schedule with guidelines on the types of tech activities they can do – and for how long.
Even after getting a cell phone this year, Maia says she prefers to spend time baking and doing crafts.
“I do stuff with my hands a lot,” Maia said. “I find it more fun to do that than to just watch stuff and go on social media.”
For Monica and Pierre, the hope is that a tech-free childhood will lead to more balance later in life.
“I really believe that there is a time for technology, it’s not a forbidden fruit, it should not be. But I think especially young children need to grow in a different environment that doesn’t have that much technology in it,” Monica said.
Millions of young children living in conditions of war, disaster, and displacement are at increased risk for developmental difficulties that can follow them throughout their lives. A new Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences article reviews what’s known about the effectiveness of early childhood development programs in humanitarian settings and present a framework and recommendations for future research.
The authors note that while there is robust evidence from stable contexts demonstrating effectiveness, research in humanitarian settings is lacking, and more evidence is needed to demonstrate not only which programs are effective, but importantly why, how, and in which contexts, settings, and populations these programs effectively operate. Such research would produce insights that will enable humanitarian actors to adapt, transfer, and scale successful program models to mitigate the negative effects of war, disaster, and displacement.
“We know from decades of research that early childhood programming has the powerful potential to improve the lives of children and families living in adversity. Yet in conflict and crisis settings, where experiences of severe and prolonged stress threaten healthy development, these programs are largely absent,” said lead author Katie Maeve Murphy, of the International Rescue Committee. “There is a clear need for further research — with a focus on implementation processes associated with effective outcomes in order to change the trajectory and significantly enhance the lives of children and families living in crisis and conflict.”
The paper is part of a special issue on implementation research and practice for early childhood development, intended to advance evidence for effective scaling up of nurturing care interventions that promote early childhood development.
Below are tips on how to raise your preschool child to prepare him or her for school, optimize his intellectual development, making him a smart kid:
Make nurturing your preschool child a priority. Kids whose mothers are more nurturing during the preschool years compared to later in childhood have more robust growth in brain structures associated with learning, memory and stress response than kids with less supporting moms, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Even if your child is going to school, keep teaching him at home through everyday experiences. Encourage his curiosity and the love of learning.
Studies show that success in school comes from families who values ALL kinds of learning – not just scientific, but also artistic, for example.
When a child dresses himself and chooses his own clothes, he is practicing a little independence. Giving your child an opportunity to make choices builds his self-confidence and decision-making skills, which are important for his development.
Being in the same room with your child is not the same as spending quality time with him.
A well-developed executive function is an important factor in academic success. “Executive function” refers to those neurologically based skills that involve mental control and self-regulation. A child with a well-developed executive function can manage tasks like writing a paper or completing homework on time without much difficulty. She has the ability to control her impulses so that she stays focused and attains her goal. Developing executive function in your child involves rewarding him when he overrides his impulses, and making him do routines and chores.
It is important to encourage your child, but do not push him too hard. Being able to choose what he wants to play with gives him a feeling of having control over his life and gives him self-confidence.
When a child has too much control over his parents, he becomes more unhappy and fearful. He doesn’t want the responsibility. He is much happier and more secure when you set limits and rules. Be firm with your kid. It’s your job to be the adult.
Send a clear message to your child that your child’s primary job is going to school. During the school week, the family’s number one priority is your kid’s schooling.
Your kid’s eyes light up at the sight of toys. It seems that his attraction for toys is instinctive. Maybe this is because toys fulfill his needs for using his imagination and his need to explore, pretend, and share. Toys are not only fun, they can also be valuable tools to make your kid smart – and they prepare him for skills needed to be an adult.
The best toy for your kid is the one that he chooses – and it can be as simple as a cardboard box or pots and pans. When he enjoys a toy, it provides him the greatest learning experience. Your kid is a natural learner and anything that interests him will teach him something. Also, the more variety of toys he has, the happier he is, and the more diverse his learning experience will be. He may not have access to all the toys he likes, so some you have to provide some of them yourself.
Choose toys that are developmentally appropriate for your child’s age – if it is too advanced for him, he might get frustrated with how difficult it is to play, and he will abandon it. Worse, it may even injure him. If the toy is for a younger age, he will find it boring.
Choose toys that are appropriate to your child’s gender.
Observe your child to determine his likes, interests, his skills level, his favorite characters, etc. to know what toy he will enjoy.
Choose toys that require imagination. These are open-ended toys that leave playing to the imagination. Avoid toys that can only be played in only one or a few ways. Toys that run on your kid’s imagination are better than those that run on AA batteries. For example, a Tigger toy whose limbs your kid can manipulate endless ways is better than a Tigger toy that can only somersault. Playing toys by making believe enables your child to test his idea about the world and develops his creativity. Research has also shown that this also develops language and lengthens your kid’s attention span.
Choose toys that allow your child to do something to them like snapping them together or shaping them. They improve your kid’s spatial intelligence and depth of perception. He also learns about shapes, colors and sizes.
Give your kid a variety of toys where he can learn a variety of skills. The Teachers Resisting Unhealty Children’s Entertainment group lists the benefits of particular types of toys:
Toys that encourage dramatic play like blocks, toy vehicles, toy animals, puppets, and props to recreate real life such as a store help your kid “work out his own ideas about the world.”
Toys that encourage manipulative play like construction sets, puzzles, and toys with interlocking pieces help your kid develop small muscle control and hand-eye coordination.
Creative arts toys like blank pieces of paper, paints, scissors, glue, and clay encourage self-expression and the use of symbols, which are vital skills for problem-solving and literacy.
Toys that encourage physical activity like bikes, jump ropes, balls let your child work off energy and build strength and coordination.
Strategy games like card games, dominoes, chess and checkers teach your child about taking turns, planning, following rules and cooperating with teammates or opponents.
TRUCE discourages violent toys and those related to media entertainment designed for older audiences.
When you give your chosen toy to your child, don’t just hand it to him and then shoo him off to play. Play with your child, explain how the toy works and what’s fun about it. Playing with your kid makes him feel loved, and this enhances his learning. Also, observe if he really gets interested. If not, the toy may be too advanced for him. Keep it until he is ready for it.
Introduce new toys one or two at a time. Too many choices overwhelm your kid, especially if he is an infant. You kid is more likely to make the most out of every toy and be comfortable with its familiarity if you slowly add new toys to his collection.
Make sure the toy is safe. This is especially true for your infant or very young kid. Make sure, for example, that your baby’s rattle doesn’t have holes that trap his fingers. Kids love to put toys in their mouth (as well as other holes in their body), so avoid toys that your kid can swallow and choke on. For your older child, check if toys that are designed to take his weight are sturdy and have no mechanical defects.
Store toys in such a way that your kid will be stimulated to play with them – like arranging them into little scenes or other creative arrangement. Don’t just dump everything into a toy box where your kid doesn’t even remember what is in there.
At every age and stage, children are affected by what’s happening in the news, whether parents share this information or shield them from it — because the news is everywhere.
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation Study, today’s families are watching a lot of TV. 65% of today’s children live in homes where the TV is on half the time, and in 36% of homes, the TV is on all the time. This study also points to research stating that TV in the background has an impact on children because “the content is not designed for them.”
How many hours a day children are watching the news has not been definitively researched, but news exposure is clearly having an impact. Even if parents keep the TV news off around young children (as experts recommend) the news can still be seen at the supermarket, in a doctor’s waiting room, or at a friend’s house. Therefore it’s not surprising that teachers are reporting that children as young as five are talking about the news — and see news events reflected in their play at school.
Because the news has saturated our daily lives, experts recommend you develop age-appropriate ways to talk about it with kids. While these conversations will be somewhat limited with younger children, experts recommend that you discuss the news in a more detailed way with older children. To help out, this article offers age-customized pointers for discussing the news with suggestions on how much (or how little) news they should be watching.
Safe and Sound
“One of the most important things for healthy development is for children to feel safe and secure. Violent images in the news can scare children even if they are far away, and undermine their sense of well-being. Therefore it’s important to protect young children as much as possible from these images and keep TV news off. If young children are exposed, remind them that they are safe at home and provide concrete examples using age-appropriate terms that will be understood. You might explain that a hurricane is thousands of miles away and show that on a map. You could show how you lock the doors to stay safe from burglars. You could remind her that you wear a seatbelt to keep her safe in the car. Tangible discussions will help your child calm down and feel secure.”
Diane Levin, Ph.D.
Professor of Education, Wheelock College. Co-Author, The War Play Dilemma.
Source: Queen Mary University of London
Summary: High dose vitamin D supplements improve weight gain and the development of language and motor skills in malnourished children, according to a new study.
High dose vitamin D supplements improve weight gain and the development of language and motor skills in malnourished children, according to a study led by University of the Punjab, Pakistan, and Queen Mary University of London.
Vitamin D — the ‘sunshine vitamin’ — is well known for its beneficial effects on bone and muscle health, and a study by Queen Mary researchers last year found that it could also protect against colds and flu. Now new research from the team is revealing further benefits.
Lead author Dr Javeria Saleem from University of the Punjab and Queen Mary University of London said: “High-dose vitamin D significantly boosted weight gain in malnourished children. This could be a game-changer in the management of severe acute malnutrition, which affects 20 million children worldwide.”
Senior author Professor Adrian Martineau from Queen Mary University of London added: “This is the first clinical trial in humans to show that vitamin D can affect brain development, lending weight to the idea that vitamin D has important effects on the central nervous system.
“Further trials in other settings are now needed to see whether our findings can be reproduced elsewhere. We are also planning a larger trial in Pakistan to investigate whether high-dose vitamin D could reduce mortality in children with severe malnutrition.”
The study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, took place in Pakistan, where an estimated 1.4 million children live with severe acute malnutrition and are at increased risk of long-term effects on their physical and mental health.
High energy food sachets are the standard treatment for the condition, but they contain relatively modest amounts of vitamin D.
In the study, 185 severely malnourished children aged 6-58 months were treated with an eight-week course of high energy food sachets, and were also randomised to either receive additional high-dose vitamin D (two doses of 200,000 international units / 5 milligrams, given by mouth) or placebo.
After eight weeks, vitamin D supplementation led to clinically significant improvements in weight (on average gaining an extra 0.26 kg compared to the control group).
Vitamin D supplementation also resulted in substantial reductions in the proportion of children with delayed motor development, delayed language development and delayed global development (reaching certain milestones such as learning to walk or talk).
Senior author Dr Rubeena Zakar from University of the Punjab added: “Our findings could be a great help to the Health Ministry of Pakistan in dealing with the issue of malnutrition.”
The study was funded by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.
The researchers say their study has some limitations including that it did not look at varying the dose of vitamin D to see if a lower dose would have been sufficient to boost weight gain and brain development. While they saw no overt adverse reactions, the possibility of side effects arising with clinical use of this high dose of vitamin D cannot be excluded.
Source: Elsevier
Summary: Children with greater parent communication in early adolescence have less harmful alcohol use and emotional eating in young adulthood.
Children with greater parent communication in early adolescence have less harmful alcohol use and emotional eating in young adulthood, according to a new study in Biological Psychiatry.
The 14-year study, which followed participants from 11 to 25 years old, identified that the extent of communication between parents and children promotes the development of a brain network involved in the processing of rewards and other stimuli that, in turn, protects against the overconsumption of food, alcohol and drugs. In this way, robust parent-child communication has an impact on health behaviors in adulthood.
“It might mean that social interactions actually influence the wiring patterns of the brain in the teenage years,” said John Krystal, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry. “It points to an important potential role of family interactions in brain development and the emergence of maladaptive behaviors in adulthood,” he added.
The study, led by Christopher Holmes, PhD and colleagues from the University of Georgia’s Center for Family Research, focused on rural African Americans, an understudied population that may be disproportionately at risk for these harmful health behaviors in young adulthood. In 2001, the research team began a longitudinal study involving rural African American families with a child 11 years of age. Between the ages of 11 and 13 years, participants reported on interactions with their parents, including the frequency of discussions and arguing.
When the participants reached 25 years of age, a subsample of 91 participants was recruited from the larger study to take part in a neuroimaging session that measured brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Specifically, the researchers used fMRI to study a network of brain connections called the anterior salience network (ASN). The participants also answered questions about harmful alcohol use and emotional eating at age 25.
Greater parent-child communication in early adolescence predicted greater connectivity of the ASN at age 25, supporting the idea that high-quality parenting is important for long-term brain development. Greater ASN connectivity was, in turn, associated with lower harmful alcohol use and emotional eating at age 25. The findings point to the ASN as a brain mechanism for how parenting in childhood affects health behaviors in early adulthood.
“These findings highlight the value of prevention and intervention efforts targeting parenting skills in childhood as a means to foster long-term, adaptive neurocognitive development,” said Allen Barton, PhD, corresponding author of the study.
ABC Health & Wellbeing
By Tegan Taylor
First posted yesterday at 14:23
Ever wondered why kids can run around all day and never seem to get tired? A new study suggests it’s because their muscles resist fatigue in a similar way to those of elite endurance athletes.
The study, published yesterday in Frontiers in Physiology, asked young boys, untrained men and endurance athletes to do high-intensity exercise, then looked at how quickly their muscles fatigued and recovered.
The researchers quite literally put the participants through their paces, having them perform strenuous activity on a stationary bike.
They found the boys’ muscles didn’t tire easily — even when performing at a similar level to the endurance athletes.
“The picture we get is that, in a high intensity exercise bout, kids fatigue at the same rate as elite athletes,” said researcher Professor Tony Blazevich, from Edith Cowan University.
“They may even recover more quickly than elite athletes … which might be why kids recover so quickly when they do bouts of play or activity.”
Are kids as fit as endurance athletes?
Professor of Health Science at the University of South Australia, Tim Olds, said the study was interesting — but stressed it didn’t mean young children were as fit as endurance athletes.
“What it’s found is the way they recover more resembles endurance athletes, than untrained adults,” said Professor Olds, who is not associated with the study.
In order to understand why kids have such good endurance and recovery, you need to understand how the body makes energy, he said.
“There are two broad ways to generate energy: one is aerobically … the other process is anaerobically.”
Anaerobic energy generation produces lactate, Professor Olds explained, and when high levels of lactate build up in muscles, it causes fatigue.
“But kids don’t have as highly developed anaerobic systems as the average adult … therefore they don’t produce a lot of lactic acid, and therefore they don’t seize up after repeated bouts [of exercise].
“It doesn’t mean that these kids are super fit, it just means that they haven’t yet developed their anaerobic capacity.”
The study also showed the rate at which the boys’ blood cleared lactate was faster than endurance athletes, allowing them to recover quickly.
Implications for young athletes
As well as helping explain why 10-year-old boys seem so indefatigable, Professor Blazevich said the study could be useful in showing where to focus training efforts in young athletes.
“We’ve all noticed this and now we’ve got some evidence as to why,” he said.
“If we want kids to want to participate in sport and activity, we have to understand their systems so we know how best to train them.
“This shows us kids are actually pretty good at playing, stopping, playing, stopping, playing, stopping. So that might mean that playing sports where they just get to run around a lot is much more enjoyable than doing other forms of deliberate exercise like adults might do.”
What’s more, it’s helpful for families where kids are keen to achieve at a higher level in sport, by helping identify weaknesses to target, Professor Blazevich said.
“It looks like their aerobic fitness is very good, so we might therefore target skill, because they’re usually less skilful, strength, because relatively they tend to be weaker, and their high intensity or sprint ability, because of course they are weaker in that than adults as well. So it allows us to target in youth athletes the areas they need for improvement,” he said.
The study was small, looking at 12 boys aged around 10, 12 untrained male university students and 13 male endurance athletes, which Professor Blazevich said was because of limited access to national-level endurance athletes and ethical constraints around research involving children.
‘Being a child might be healthy for us’
The research is also a step towards better understanding how the risk of developing diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes increases as we age, according to lead author Associate Professor Sebastien Ratel from Universite Clermont Auvergne.
Two laughing kids having a pillow fight on top of a bed, with feathers in the air.
Aerobic fitness at muscle level decreases as children move into adulthood, according to the researchers. (Unsplash: Allen Taylor)
“With the rise in diseases related to physical inactivity, it is helpful to understand the physiological changes with growth that might contribute to the risk of disease,” he said.
“Our research indicates that aerobic fitness, at least at the muscle level, decreases significantly as children move into adulthood, which is around the time increases in diseases such as diabetes occur.
“It will be interesting in future research to determine whether the muscular changes we have observed are directly related to disease risk. At least, our results might provide motivation for practitioners to maintain muscle fitness as children grow up; it seems that being a child might be healthy for us.”
Lots of parents wonder whether their child is bigger or smaller than other kids the same age. (In the United States, the average baby weighs about 7½ pounds at birth.)
To give you a benchmark, here are the values from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile for weight and height – meaning that half of kids fall within these ranges. A quarter of kids fall above these numbers and a quarter of kids below them.
Baby
Age
Size
Boys
Girls
Birth
Weight
6.7 – 8.1 pounds
6.5 – 7.8 pounds
Length
19.1 – 20.1 inches
18.9 – 19.8 inches
3 months
Weight
13.0 – 15.2 pounds
11.8 – 14.0 pounds
Length
23.6 – 24.7 inches
23.0 – 24.1 inches
Quick tip: For babies born prematurely, use gestational age (not age since birth) when you look up their numbers in this chart.
6 months
Weight
16.2 – 18.8 pounds
14.8 – 17.5 pounds
Length
26.1 – 27.2 inches
25.3 – 26.5 inches
Fast fact: By age 6 months, most babies have doubled their birth weight.
FRIDAY, April 13, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Breathe easy, Mom and Dad. Sending your young children to preschool or day care probably won’t increase their risk of developing asthma.
In fact, researchers report, it may help protect your kids against the respiratory disease.
Investigators at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) based that conclusion on an analysis of 32 studies published between 1964 and 2017.
They found no link between preschool/day care attendance and increased asthma risk.
For 3- to 5-year-olds, going to child care was actually associated with a 34 percent reduction in asthma risk.
“The early benefit of child care exposure can potentially be explained by the hygiene hypothesis,” said senior study author Dr. Michael Cabana, chief of the UCSF Division of General Pediatrics.
That theory suggests that childhood exposure to germs helps the immune system develop properly so it doesn’t overreact to harmless substances and then trigger allergic conditions such as asthma, according to the Mayo Clinic.
At first glance, the news for the youngest kids was not as encouraging. Among those aged 2 and younger, child care was associated with nearly double the risk of wheezing.
But Cabana suggested that may not be as worrisome as it might sound.
“There’s a saying that, ‘All that wheezes is not asthma,’ ” he said. “Wheeze is a common presentation of viral airway infections that is seen frequently in young children in child care. Bronchiolitis, for example, is found in up to one third of children 2 and under. But it doesn’t necessarily lead to asthma.”
Use of outside-the-home child care is on the rise. In 2011, according to U.S. Census data, 61 percent of preschool-aged kids were in child care, up from 52 percent in 1993.
About 8 percent of U.S. children and teens have asthma, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study was published April 9 in the Journal of Asthma.
More information
The American Lung Association has more on children and asthma.
It’s a universal truth. Dealing with children who are rude, argumentative and talk back is one of the downsides of parenting.
But parenting author, former teacher and mother of four Maggie Dent said there were ways to handle it without losing your cool.
“When you have given birth to a child, you kind of hope they are going to be a little bit nicer to you,” she said.
“When you get a bit of backchat or rude talk it pushes our heart and we think: ‘How ungrateful, all the things I do for you’.”
Ms Dent said children often picked up this type of behaviour when they started or changed schools or met new people at an afterschool activity.
“Our children haven’t suddenly decided to turn really mean, they have just picked up something,” she told ABC Radio Perth.
Ms Dent suggested the best way for parents to deal with it was to coach their children about using words that could be hurtful.
“When we actually come down really hard and punish children, particularly around the behaviour we wish they didn’t have, we might temporarily get a reprieve but what we do is actually damage the relationship.
“Our capacity to turn around behaviour is always helped by the fact that children kind of like us and trust us.
“The challenge is to see that as an opportunity to coach, to re-educate and to redirect.
“Talk about the words that are really inappropriate in our home and what words we might like to use … that’s a better alternative than punishing and sending them to their room.”
Tips and tricks from an expert
Dr Bronwyn Harman, a senior lecturer in psychology at Edith Cowan University who specialises in parenting and child development, agreed the most important thing for parents to do was to stay calm.
“You just try to be patient and explain to them what the boundaries are and explain to children what the consequences of their actions are and follow through,” Dr Harman said.
She also suggested an array of techniques that parents could use to distract their children or change the conversation when it became too frustrating.
“Children are easily tricked,” she said, laughing.
“Change the mood by just suddenly start dancing or singing or something.
“Just completely change the activity, they will get distracted. Go and stand in the backyard for a while.
“Swap children with a neighbour, not permanently, just temporarily, because sometimes when kids are with someone else they behave differently.”
Resilience vs rudeness
Ms Dent acknowledged that many parents wanted to build resilience and self-esteem in their children and hence wanted them to have a voice.
“But there is a point where it becomes disrespectful,” she said.
“I think every parent needs to master a scary face, seriously.
“We want to be able to make sure they know we are not trying to crush their ability to be strong and feisty and have those sorts of opinions, but there are times we actually need to let them know that something is actually not acceptable and put on a scary face.”
Boundary pushing a matter of biology
Children of any age may also be brimming with confidence in their ideas but their brains will let them down, Ms Dent said.
“To be able to argue well you need a prefrontal cortex,” she said.
“Your kids aren’t going to be very good at arguing until that actually completes.
“They are really good in adolescence at pushing your buttons but they are not always very good at critical argument because that part of the brain hasn’t got enough myelin [a fatty substance that grows around nerve cells].”
Dr Harman said the prefrontal lobe wouldn’t develop fully in some young people until their late teens.
“It depends on the individual, but definitely a child, no, they don’t have the ability to reason even though they think that they can,” she said.
“They have illogical reasoning; it just doesn’t make sense when they try and make an argument.
“They think they are making perfect sense but from an adult point of view it is not logical reasoning.
“But children need to be heard and not just dismissed, even when they are not making sense.”
It’s the first day of kindergarten for your child, and you’re not sure who’s more anxious. Excitement, trepidation, anticipation. Starting school can be a stressful time.
Use the summer weeks to prepare and this significant step in life can go smoothly. You can focus on more important matters like making sure you get a great photo of your child in front of the school on Day One! If you plan in advance and follow a few simple steps, the day can be memorable in all the right ways.
Helpful steps include helping your child practise new routines, introducing your child to the school staff and space and choosing a familiar object that will remind them of home when the time comes. These things can all help to ensure that everything goes smoothly on their first day of kindergarten.
I have a PhD in psychology and am a professor in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary, but my first degree was in elementary education. As a former kindergarten teacher, I took my responsibilities seriously when it came to ensuring a smooth transition to school for young children. After all, the success or failure of the first days and weeks could set the tone for their entire school career.
The good news is that there are are five easy steps you can take to exert your own leadership this summer, as a parent — to ensure that everything goes smoothly on day one. From practising new routines to finding a familiar “transition object,” these are all manageable steps that take only a few minutes and can be easily incorporated into the weeks ahead.
Why is kindergarten such a big deal?
First, it’s important to understand why the transition to kindergarten can provoke anxiety, and how normal this is. Young children are used to relying on their parents and primary caregivers as their source of security. This has long been established by early developmental researchers such as John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth.
Ainsworth discovered the attachment system, which we understand now is linked in part to the hormone oxytocin that is naturally released during parent-child interactions to increase bonding and reduce anxiety. Bowlby referred to parents as the child’s “secure base”. When we send children off to school, we are asking them to leave their secure base and head off into the great unknown, which can create anxiety.
Even if your child has been in full-day daycare, kindergarten offers a range of new challenges. These include the social demands of larger class sizes with fewer adults and more peer social interactions to navigate, as well as having to deal with older students in the hallways, bathrooms and on the playground. There is also a larger physical space and a bell system that divides the day into segments. There’s an increase in organized learning activities that require focus and attention. Taken together, the adjustment can be immense.
In the days of the one-room schoolhouse, the transition to school would likely have been easier, as older siblings, cousins and close neighbours would have been sitting together with the novice student. However, in larger cities we segregate children by age, and fewer students attend local schools because specialized magnet schools draw children from all corners of the city. The outcome is that everyone has to make new friends, which can make the adjustment more challenging.
Not to worry though. As a child’s secure base, a parent has great power to create a smooth transition for everyone.
Five steps to a smooth transition
1. Talk about the new routines
In the weeks before the start of school, you can begin to change routines like bedtime and breakfast. Predictable routines are important in early childhood and changes in routines have been linked to difficulties adjusting to kindergarten. It is wise to begin early and make changes gradually. Ask your child what they’re looking forward to at school and about any concerns they may have. Have them draw and talk about both positive and anxiety-provoking activities. Then ease their worries by acknowledging feelings and coming up with solutions.
Revisit these things frequently: “When you start school, you are going to make some great new friends!” or “Are you still worried about the washrooms at school?” Introduce your child to any new school clothes, their schoolbag and school supplies, and talk with them to decide what their snacks and lunch will consist of. The night before the big day, work with them to get everything ready for the next morning.
2. Prepare a cheat-sheet for the teacher
Prepare a one-page note with key information about your child. It should include your child’s picture, name and nickname, date of birth, medical conditions, allergies, family members, pets, interests, food likes and dislikes, favourite games and play activities, talents and interests. It might also include any worries they have about starting school.
3. Visit the classroom and locate the washroom
Go to the school the week before the start of classes so your child can meet the secretary and classroom teacher, tour their classroom, and locate the washroom. If possible, give them a chance to flush the toilet as some loud flushes can be frightening. Do not forget to tour the playground!
Some schools do offer an orientation in the spring but most young children will need to visit closer to the first day. Although some schools ban parents and children prior to the start of school, I always encourage parents to connect with their parent-school association and request this vital access. Research shows that active parental involvement in a child’s education offers many benefits.
When I was a teacher, I had an active parent council just for my kindergarten classroom. If your school doesn’t have one, you can ask your child’s teacher if they’d be open to having a parent council help them to plan events, organize field trips, fundraise or offer support in the classroom or library.
4. Choose a transitional object
Finally, you can provide your child with a “transitional object”. We are all familiar with the proverbial security blanket that some young children latch onto. It is an inborn mechanism wired into young children that allows them to attach to others and attach to soothing objects when significant adults are not available. It might be a stuffed animal, a favourite shirt or even a photograph. It could also be a small card with your photo and phone number stuck inside the outside pocket of their backpack. In the event that they need to call you for a check-in, you can be assured that your child has your contact information right at hand. Sometimes just looking at the picture will be enough.
5. Figure out the logistics ahead of time
Before school starts, make sure to find out about things like bell times, drop-off and parking procedures and unique code words if your child is being picked up by someone else. That information will make it less stressful for you as a parent.
When you do drop off your child, be sure to tell them that you’ll be there to pick them up as soon as school is finished, and remind them to have a great day.
If all goes well, you will both have memories that you can cherish for years to come.
I grew up in B.C. days—Before Computers. The closest thing I had to an iPad was an Etch-A-Sketch, which kept me entertained on many a family drive. Nowadays, it seems every four-year-old has a mobile device.
The digital world is fraught with dangers but also with wonderful possibilities. To the extent that we load Junior’s favorite cartoons and movies onto his tablet, we may be raising a generation that expects to be entertained 24-7. But there’s also plenty of quality educational software available, including programs that can teach kids reading skills. However, if these programs aren’t designed according to sound psychological principles, they may not be effective at teaching literacy.
Many children in middle-class families start learning the names of the letters at around four years of age. The most common way of teaching letter names is the see-and-say method. You show kids the letter and tell them its name, which they repeat. I recall from watching Sesame Street with my own kids that this show uses the see-and-say method: “Today’s program is brought to you by the letter A.” Given the medium, perhaps the best that an educational TV show can do is see-and-say.
But more interactive approaches are also important. In particular, Indiana University psychologist Karin James argues that practice in handwriting is needed for children to become effective readers. She gives two reasons for this assertion. First, learning-by-doing is far more effective than learning-by-seeing. It’s obvious that you can’t learn how to swim by watching a swimming video. Observing others perform a task can give you some idea of how it’s done. But until you get into the water and start making the strokes for yourself, you don’t know how to swim. This is because procedural learning always involves making connections between the sensory and motor areas of the brain that are recruited for the task.
At first glance, this argument doesn’t seem to hold in the case of reading, which appears to be purely a visual task. But James would disagree with this assertion. This point leads to her second reason for arguing that handwriting practice is an essential component of learning to read. Namely, writing out letters helps young children learn how to recognize them.
Recognizing letters isn’t the straightforward task it seems to be to those of us who are fluent readers. This is because there’s so much variability in the shapes of letters. Upper and lower case letters often bear little similarity to each other. And letter shapes also vary widely depending on the font. Back in my B.C. grammar school days, much of what we read was handwritten, and so we had even more variation in form to deal with.
It’s often thought that four-year-olds don’t yet have the manual dexterity to learn handwriting. And yet, James argues, it’s precisely poor penmanship skills in these youngsters that helps them master letter recognition. When children copy letters, their reproductions are far from exact. Lines are tilted, angles are off, and curves aren’t balanced. Still, when children look at what they’ve drawn, they know it’s “the same” as the original because they wrote it. Furthermore, as they gain more practice in handwriting, children learn the essential elements of letters are that run across families of fonts and different people’s penmanship.
To test the hypothesis that handwriting letters creates links between sensory (visual) and motor (hand) regions of the brain, James conducted an fMRI study using four-year olds. Clear links between visual and hand areas are observed in adult readers, but not in illiterate children. The children were then split into two groups. Both underwent letter recognition training, but half used the see-and-say method while the other half copied letters as well. After four weeks, the children’s brains were scanned once more. Connections between visual and hand areas were already forming in those who’d learned by handwriting, whereas none could be detected in the see-and-say group.
This study was followed up by an experiment testing the hypothesis that handwriting helps children learn to extract the essential elements from variable letter forms. To avoid any contamination of the data from prior learning, the experiments taught 5-year-olds the Greek alphabet. Some children learned by copying the letters (handwriting), while others learned by see-and-say. In a crucial third condition, another group of children learned the Greek alphabet also by the see-and-say method, but with exposure to a wide variety of fonts. The children in this condition learned just as well as did those in the handwriting condition. Those in the single-font see-and-say condition performed much worse.
Finally, in a brain-scanning study looking at the learning of cursive, children who were asked to handwrite cursive examples developed vision-hand connections in their brains, but those who just watched adults writing in cursive did not. Likewise, children who were taught to recognize letters by typing them on a keyboard didn’t develop vision-hand connections, even though the motor task of typing was involved. In short, learning letters by handwriting not only helps kids extract the essential features of letters, it’s also the only method that establishes the brain connections necessary for full literacy.
Pencil and paper may seem like ancient writing implements to today’s digital generation. Still, there are ways that computer tablets can be an effective device for teaching early literacy skills. Single-font see-and-say programs will only take Junior so far. But the research we’ve just reviewed shows that multi-font see-and-say programs can be quite effective. Such programs should be easy to design, and some may already be on the market. Furthermore, handwriting recognition software is widely available, and so it should be implemented in educational games that kids can play on their mobile devices.
The digital age has changed the way we communicate—even how we read and write. But if we’re thoughtful in how we use our devices, we can reap the benefits they offer while avoiding their dangers.
By Sarah Brown, President of Theirworld
Five things are needed as part of a child’s basic care: good nutrition, health care, learning, play and protection (and of course love when providing all of these). By the time a child reaches the age of five about 90% of its brain development is complete. It is clear that busy stimulation and learning is needed from day one to give every child the best start in life.
In these early years, a child’s brain develops 700 new neural connections every second – the highest rate of development during an individual’s lifetime. Thankfully, with an increased focus on early years and new research our knowledge of brain development and the inherent potential of all children is growing almost as fast! So the excuses need to stop – we cannot ignore investment in this area any longer. Children must be given the chance to have healthy, happy and productive lives – no matter who they are or where they are born. It is unconscionable to do otherwise.
A promise has been made. The new UN Sustainable Development Goals include a target to ensure that by 2030 all children ‘have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education.’ And the bold new Education Commission report (released last month) has gone even further, calling unequivocally for two full years of free quality pre-primary education, citing the evidence of impact on later academic success as well as the high rates of economic return. Yesterday this was backed up the acclaimed Lancet journal, who released findings from a new paper on Early Childhood Development that revealed the stark cost of inaction. It stated that for the 249 million children who lack early years care due to extreme poverty, their adult income is likely to be reduced by around 26%.
Whether or not children have access to the best start possible in life is determined by two important factors — sheer chance and political will and resources. It comes as no surprise that the world’s poorest children are missing out, so campaigners around the world are mobilising again – youth voices are calling out for their little sisters and brothers, and education, health, nutrition and care professionals alike are standing with them. The political leaders and those with deep pockets need to now follow up and begin to establish the effort and funding to make it happen.
Pre-primary education currently faces an estimated annual funding gap of US$31.2 billion to achieve universal access by 2030, but still received only 1.15% of total aid to education in 2014. The World Bank is tackling this deficit head on with a special session at the Human Capital Summit in Washington DC later today. We hope the countries declaring their commitments remember that every $1 invested in preschool education can yield a return of up to $7 in later life. Innovative foundations are also lining up to play a lead role in addressing the challenge, led by led by pioneers such as the Conrad N Hilton Foundation.
Let’s treat all our mini citizens better so they can learn, laugh and enjoy life and grow up to be the people that look after this great world of ours. It is time for them to have the best start possible and get two years of free pre-primary education so they can achieve a brighter future.
Theirworld is launching a Global Early Child Development Campaign this October. The 5 for 5 campaign will work with campaigners, Global Youth Ambassadors and Global Business Coalition for Education members to raise support for early years investment. We need to call on political leaders to step up and funders to pony up. Now’s the time to stand up for kids who haven’t mastered standing. And invest in their future, because it’s our future too.
A scientist behind a beaker, usually with glasses, is often associated with men much more than women. But as more women enter into the sciences, researchers at Northwestern University uncovered in a surprising trend, more children are drawing scientists as women.
A landmark study that began in the 1960s looked at how children depicted scientists when they were asked to draw one. Only 28 of nearly 5,000 drawings showed a woman.
As time has changed stereotypes, female scientists have appeared in children’s media, magazines, television and even textbooks. They also appeared more frequently in the “Draw a Scientist” pictures each year.
A meta-analysis by lead author David Miller and his colleagues appears in the journal Child Development, including 78 studies and over 20,000 children in the United States. Compared to less than 1 percent of children who drew a female scientist before the 1980s, the average rose to 28 percent over recent years.
Data over the past 30 years on drawings by 6 year olds show 70 percent of girls and 83 percent of boys drew their own sex, consistent with what is average when a child is asked to draw a generic person. They have few preconceptions, it seems, about who “should” be in a science role.
As children grow older, however, both boys and girls drew male scientists more often. From ages 6 to 16, there is an increase in the number of male scientists drawn, to 82 percent from 54 percent. Girls switched to drawing more male than female scientists by age 11, and by age 16 draw three times more male than female scientists.
As more women go into sciences and the media shows them doing so, younger children are getting the message. They keep drawing scientists as female more than ever before. Perhaps more of their moms are scientists.
The authors of this study include David Miller, Kyle Nolla, Alice Eagly and David Uttal at Northwestern University.
Dr. Hector M. Florimon is a third-year resident in pediatrics at New York Presbyterian-Columbia University Medical Center, working in the ABC News Medical Unit.
Parents the world over are concerned that touchscreen and tablet technology is negatively impacting children’s handwriting. But while some say that technology overuse will impact developing dexterity and handwriting skills, the fact is that there has been no research to date which systematically examines the relationship between technology use, hand strength and handwriting production.
Even in an increasingly digital age, there is no doubt that handwriting remains a crucial childhood skill. It is the main medium for writing in UK schools and most other countries, too. There are very few classrooms (if any) in the UK that use typing as their main mode of writing.
There is an abundance of research suggesting that writing by hand helps spelling ability in young children and enables a deeper level of processing compared to typing for learners of different ages. A 2014 study, for example, found that university students could recall more information when taking notes by hand than typing. Researchers attributed this to the fact that writers are not able to handwrite as quickly as they can type, so they are forced to process and selectively decide on the notes to take.
Getting a grip
One of the most contentious issues in handwriting is how one should hold a pen. For years, the dynamic tripod grip – pen held between thumb, first and middle finger – has been considered to be the most efficient or “correct” way to hold a pen. But while Britain’s national curriculum encourages a dynamic tripod in writing development, it is not mandatory.
Studies have found that the dynamic tripod grip does not offer an advantage over other common alternatives. The biomechanics associated with a tripod grip may make writing less of an effort, but other grips do not seem to hinder handwriting performance in any way. However, if a child has a grip that is clearly not functional – for example, they wrap their hand around the pencil in a palmar grasp – or they are experiencing pain, then this would warrant input.
As yet it is unclear whether using touchscreens impacts the fine motor skills – or ability to manipulate objects skillfully – young children require to grip a pen. In fact, one study which looked specifically at scrolling a screen and its relationship with developmental milestones found no evidence to support a negative association between age of first touchscreen use and early milestones (language as well as fine and gross motor skills). Instead, the authors noted that the earlier a child interacted with a touchscreen device, the sooner they demonstrated achievement of fine motor milestones.
This finding may be due to increased experimentation by the child using fine motor/manual control. But as this is not proven, this research could certainly be a starting point to study the impact of technology use on pen grip and early handwriting performance in more detail.
Handwriting difficulties
Not everyone finds handwriting an easy or natural thing to do. It is a complex skill considered to be “language by hand” – it is not just a motor skill but is closely linked to language, too. So, regardless of whether technology does or does not affect motor skills, a child may still experience handwriting difficulties.
In the early stages of writing development (five to nine years old) the amount and quality of writing (grammar, punctuation, organisation, coherence) a child can produce are strongly predicted by fine motor skill and spelling ability. Both handwriting skill and spelling are important in early writing. But this combination of motor and language demands means that trying to ascertain what has caused a handwriting difficulty can be very tricky.
In clinics and classrooms, we often observe handwriting that is illegible, slow, or painful to produce. But the non-motor skill reasons for this can be different in each child. For example, children with developmental coordination disorder (“dyspraxia”) produce fewer words per minute compared to other children of the same age. But they are able to move a pen just as quickly as their peers despite the motor difficulties that come with dyspraxia.
Children with dyspraxia have a tendency to pause while writing which has been attributed to poor letter formation impacting on the amount and quality of their text. This “pausing phenomenon” has also been found in children with dyslexia. Though, unlike dyspraxia, children with dyslexia pause within misspelled words, and produce less text of poorer quality.
It is important that children are comprehensively assessed in order to understand the reasons behind any handwriting related issue, and knowledge from research is used to underpin decisions made in the classroom/clinic or at home.
What we do know is that practice and experience is key to acquiring any motor skill. Children should be engaging in activities that help them to develop their fine and gross motor skills both at home and in school. For parents and teachers who may be concerned about a child’s handwriting, the National Handwriting Association has many different resources that can help.
MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO, psychologists Betty Hart and Todd Risley discovered what they called the “30 million word gap.” Through family visits, they estimated that children under 4 from lower-income families heard a staggering 30 million fewer words than children from higher-income families. That study was embraced by Hillary Clinton and it spurred a White House conference on the topic, public service announcement campaigns and the creation of at least two outreach organizations. The clear message: Talk to your babies a lot.
But now a team of scientists from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania is questioning whether the quantity of words matters much at all. A study they published last month in the journal Psychological Science found that young 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds who engaged in more conversation at home had more brain activity while they were listening to a story and processing language.
“What we found is that the sheer amount of language, the number of adult words, was not related to brain activation or verbal skills,” said Rachel Romeo, lead author of the study and a doctoral student at a joint Harvard and MIT program. “But what was related, strongly related, was the amount of back-and-forth conversation between children and adults. We think this research finding suggests, instead of talking at or to your child, you really need to talk with your child to have meaningful brain development and language development.”
Romeo’s hypothesis is that back-and-forth conversation might actually rewire the brain and cause it to grow. Scientists call this neuroplasticity. But that needs to be tested in a future study that Romeo is planning. All this initial research showed was that kids in the study who experienced more conversation at home had greater brain activity and verbal aptitude. We don’t know yet if conversation is really causing those changes in brain development and verbal skill.
In the study, the benefits of conversation were just as strong for low-income children as they were for high-income children. Children who experienced high amounts of conversation scored 12 percent higher on standardized language assessments.
But low-income children tended to experience far less conversation at home, the study documented. Researchers compared a peak hour of conversation for each child. A child in a high-income household had 50 more conversational turns in a single hour than a child in a low-income household. A turn is when an adult speaks and the child responds, or vice versa. A single turn could be as short as this: “Eat.” “No!”
The implications of this study are important. Many programs targeted at low-income mothers have emphasized the importance of talking to babies from birth through 3 years old. “Some parents or even educators interpret this to mean, just get the words in, it doesn’t matter how, what, or where, just talk, talk, talk,” said Romeo. “It’s not that the amount doesn’t matter. But the engagement, the social exchange, is what seems to be important.”
To be sure, Hart and Risley’s 30-million-word-gap study never made the point that only quantity was important. They also wrote about the importance of exposing babies to a range of vocabulary and offering more positive, encouraging feedback than negative prohibitions.
Romeo advises parents to ask questions and wait for responses instead of just rattling off shopping lists or narrating the day. Admittedly, engaging in intellectual discourse with a 6-month-old is a challenge. With infants, Romeo suggests exchanging coos or silly faces. For many parents, that might be easier than sustaining an hour of narration.
Conducting a monologue may be annoying (to me, at least) but it certainly isn’t harmful. Romeo suspects that the parents who do it are also incidentally engaging in back-and-forth conversation and exposing their children to a lot of vocabulary and grammatical complexity. And that might explain why the parents who talk more tend to produce more verbally skilled children.
Romeo and her colleagues began their study in an MIT laboratory where 36 Boston-area children, ages 4 to 6, were tested to measure their verbal and reasoning skills. Then, each kid entered a brain scanner, which produced MRI images of brain activity while the child listened to audio stories. Afterward, families were sent home with a lightweight digital voice recorder that could fit in the child’s pocket and were told to turn it on during the child’s waking hours for an entire weekend. Algorithms analyzed the recordings, counting words spoken by adults and conversational turns. The algorithms were able to discern real, live human voices and discard words that the child heard from the television or other devices. If the recorder picked up a caretaker talking on the cellphone, that would be categorized as adult speech and the words counted.
Finally, the researchers compared the children’s test scores and brain images in the laboratory with the audio patterns at home. They found for every 11 conversational turns, a child’s verbal test score increased by one point. And they saw that the part of the brain involved in language processing lit up more for children who had experienced more conversation at home. The researchers saw no such connections for the number of words spoken.
This is only a small study and it needs to be replicated. We will need more studies to prove that conversation is the key to language development in the brain. But this neuroscience study confirms 2009 research from psychologists who weren’t conducting brain scans, and were beginning to discern what kinds of language exposure in early childhood are most important. I was also surprised to learn, in the process of researching this piece, that Hart’s and Risley’s landmark study wasn’t much larger than this one, tracking only 42 kids. It shows how a small study can have a huge impact.
This column was written by Jill Barshay and produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
Moderating speech towards children is not self-censorship, but guidance and good parenting.
The fight over the efficacy and cultural importance of political correctness has long represented the main battle of the culture war that has raged between American conservatives and American liberals since Woodstock. There is something deeply divisive about the (often heavily policed) suggestion that people should avoid language that offends or alienates historically marginalized groups. But the way adults talk to children, arguably one of the most marginalized groups in the world, should not be considered part of that debate. Moderating speech towards children is not self-censorship, but guidance and good parenting. And it matters.
Scientists have demonstrated for decades that adults’ words exert tremendous power over a child’s developing mind. What a parent says to their kid has very real consequences and there are words that seem to have overwhelmingly negative consequences. None of this has to do with culture or background or “grit”; this has to do with the practical ramifications of the actions taken by adults. So, yes, there are words that should be removed from the vocabulary of adults, not in the interest of furthering a cultural or political agenda, but in the interest of helping kids become happy adults.
Here are nine of those words.
“Bossy”
The label of “bossy’ is generally applied to little girls who take on a leadership role in group play. This is totally understandable. It can, because of the nature of gender and cultural indoctrination, be shocking to see girls guiding their play-group. The problem with calling a girl bossy is that it’s levied as a criticism. A girl who is called bossy is basically being told that she shouldn’t take on the role of a leader. What is the supposed bossy girl doing? She’s being assertive. She is having ideas and arguing for the merit of those ideas. And assertiveness should be encouraged in girls as much as it is encouraged in boys.
This is not to say that kids don’t need to work on their delivery. If a parent has a problem with any child making demands of their peers, the issue is probably more with the delivery rather than the leadership itself. They’d do better to lean into a girl’s assertiveness and instead address the delivery of their leadership style.
“Spoiled”
The idea of a child being “spoiled” is one largely championed by America’s pilgrims. These religiously-motivated pioneers were so fearful of sparing the rod that they often took kids away from parents and put them directly to work to keep them from the dire fate of spoilage.
But the idea of spoiling has less to do with the kid than it has to do with the parent. It turns out that a child who has been given every privilege can, in fact grow to be a well-adjusted, pro-social, empathetic and giving adult as long as parents support those values in their homes. Calling a child “spoiled” makes it clear that a parent feels there’s some irreversible rottenness inside their kid. But perhaps more damagingly, it also masks the blame for who might be responsible for modeling greed, selfishness, and feelings of entitlement. That would be the parent.
“Smart”
Is it bad to praise a kid? Nope. But it can be counterproductive, which is the sneaky danger in calling a little kid “smart.” The suggestion of being smart is that a kid was simply born with some innate intelligence that allows them to easily solve certain problems. But that discounts the actual tools a kid needs to solve a problem, like creative thinking, perseverance and concentration.
What happens when a kid who believes themselves to be “smart” comes across a problem they can’t solve or struggle with? A hard problem can become an identity crisis. So, instead of empty compliments, a parent can actually help a kid by praising the specific tactics a child used to solve a problem. That way, “Gosh, you’re so smart,” becomes the much more helpful and actionable, “I really like the way you stuck with it to find a solution.”
“Stupid”
Smart’s evil twin is “stupid.” Part of the reason that calling a kid stupid is so damaging is that they understand what a debasing epithet it is. They get that it’s shocking for one kid to call another kid, stupid. The word is the equivalent of one adult calling another adult a “fucking moron” and carries just as much weight in Kindergarten circles.
So how much more damaging is it, then, for a kid to hear the label leveled at them from an otherwise rational adult who they love and claims to love them back? Add to this the fact that many kids understand that the term is used to denote intellectual weakness and it becomes downright devastating. When stupid is internalized, a kids future becomes bleak. This is a label that borders on verbal abuse.
“Asshole”
Most adults probably wouldn’t call their kid an asshole to their face. But any filter that might exist in the home is weirdly stripped away by social media. For some reason, parents feel like it makes them edgy and relatable when they tell tales of their “asshole” kids driving them crazy over one thing or another. But guess who the asshole really is?
After all, kids who are testing a parent’s patience aren’t being assholes. They are going through the typical developmental processes. These processes lead to behaviors that help them understand both their world and their place in it,
Besides, why would any parent want to frame their kid as an asshole to friends and strangers who may have limited experience with their kid, regardless of what they actually say to them in the home? What’s more, the label acts like a time-bomb. A kid will eventually be able to find a parent’s social feed. And eventually the label a parent thought they were using behind a kid’s back will be glowing bright on the screen, right in front of their face. Good luck with that.
“Selfish”
Here’s a fascinating fact about childhood brain development: Kids are inherently and naturally egocentric. That’s because until about 3-years-old they have yet to fully develop “theory of mind” which is the ability to understand that other people can have thoughts and feelings that are different from their own.
What does that mean? It means a toddler simply cannot understand why, when they want juice, anybody would have a different perspective. It might seem “selfish” for a kid, but selfishness presumes malice. And thinking a kid is malicious, and labeling them as malicious is dangerous for both the kid and the child.
This is not to say that kids shouldn’t understand that their actions have consequences on the way others feel. In fact, the best method for teaching the lesson of consequences, guilt, is good for kids to feel. But calling a kid selfish isn’t helpful in that endeavor. Helping them build empathy by walking through the steps of their actions and the results of their actions is a much better tactic.
“Liar”
Like selfish, calling a kid a liar assumes they have some evil intent when trying to deceive. The first problem with the word is that most kids aren’t being malicious in their lies. The second problem with calling a kid a liar is that it completely misunderstands all of the incredibly complex intellectual milestones a kid has to hit in order to tell a lie — milestones that should, in fact, be celebrated.
The label is also a good way to confuse a child about the fact that there are lies that society encourages people to tell every day. After all, no matter how grandma smells, we never, ever, say anything about it.
“Princess”
There is a distinction that needs to be made with the label “princess”: If a little girl has adopted the label herself and is inspired by princesses who are heroines, then, by all means, parents should let her be a princess. But there is absolutely no need for parents to pigeonhole a little girl into a demure, pink, princess box before they’ve had a chance to explore other avenues of identity.
This isn’t an argument for gender fluidity as much as it is an argument for encouraging self-sufficiency, grit, and an imagination free to dabble in roles far from castle towers and dashing princes.
“Heartbreaker”
Calling a little boy a heartbreaker is a favorite of pie-eyed parents and relatives who believe they’re giving the kid a compliment. With just a moment’s thought, it becomes very easy to understand why the label is gross.
For one thing, it puts the kid in the context of romantic love and sexuality a decade before those things should become a concern. It’s also one of the first steps towards introducing a boy to the idea that male gender roles are about power. Part of that power? The ability to break a heart. And what’s laudable about that anyway?
Sure the alleged “heartbreaker” may not be able to understand gender roles, sexuality, and romantic love, but the parent of a heartbreaker absolutely does understand. And that is really the crux of so many labels that parents apply to their kids. For many damaging words, it’s not about how the kids perceive themselves, but how parents perceive their kids and how that perception changes their behavior for better or, more often, worse.
Environmental news is not exactly recommended reading for anyone hoping to remain optimistic these days. Here in the United States, all one has to do is look at our most recent hurricane season for an example of the extreme weather events occurring with increasing frequency around the world. Combined with other devastating news, such as accelerating rates of species extinction and the widespread death of our world’s coral reefs, and it’s clear our planet faces an uncertain future.
I’m an environmental politics and global development professor, and for several years I taught an undergraduate geography course on environment and society. The students in my class were a mostly self-selected pool of smart, eco-aware environmental studies majors eager to change the world. So I was surprised, semester after semester, at how little thought they had given to a critically important component of a sustainability mindset: an environmental ethic.
American ecologist and philosopher Aldo Leopold noted in 1949 that while we have clear moral codes for how we interact with other people in our society, we have no equivalent when it comes to our interaction with the non-human world. In calling for an environmental ethic, Leopold said we should stop placing ourselves at the pinnacle of the biotic pyramid and instead operate as “plain old members” of a wider community that includes humans, plants, animals and soil. In this model, humans are placed on a more equal footing with other living things in our ecosystems.
It’s crucial that we work to create a more sustainable future for ourselves and upcoming generations, and the work must begin now ― not with young adults, but with young children. A large body of empirical social science work conducted over the last two decades supports this. According to a 2006 study, when children play in nature before age 11, they are “more likely to grow up to be environmentalists than other children.” Additional research has suggested that kids who engage with the natural world alongside “significant others” like family members and teachers are more likely to protect that nature later in life.
From curiosity comes learning, from learning comes respect, and from respect comes stewardship and advocacy.
As a parent, I have witnessed first-hand the naturally open mind of a child. Babies are born with instincts critical to their survival, but much of what children come to know and understand is gained through social learning. As kids, we learn how to appropriately interact with one another and in society. We are taught not to hit or bite; we can’t simply take whatever we want from the toy store’s shelves.
Children are also conditioned ― sometimes with purpose but usually without much thought ― to interact in certain ways with the non-human world. When a child sees an insect, for example, she looks to those around her for guidance on how to respond. When my oldest daughter was 4 years old, she discovered the larva of a green fig beetle buried beneath the dirt in our garden, and it practically became a family event. The experience only lasted a few minutes, but the questions persisted for weeks: How does the green beetle grow? How does it move? What does it eat? What eats it? This kind of curiosity and respect, when encouraged and allowed to develop, can later extend to spiders, bees, birds, forests and, eventually, entire ecosystems.
How a child treats a new insect or interesting plant may seem insignificant, but these early, entry-level and everyday opportunities to connect with non-human nature are critically important. They scale up. They encourage children to consider their own position within the enlarged boundaries of a community and weigh the impact of their actions. As kids grow into adulthood, this mindset will be brought to bear on larger-scale questions and decisions that affect the world we live in. From curiosity comes learning, from learning comes respect, and from respect comes stewardship and advocacy.
Operating under an environmental ethic may sound unrealistic, but it’s less complicated than it seems. Fostering a child’s curiosity is simple. Spend time outdoors; even a walk to the store is an opportunity for children to observe and be curious about their natural surroundings. If you’re a city-dweller without much land to call your own, plant some potted vegetables or herbs. The process of planting, growing and harvesting something they can actually eat is a powerful tool for connecting kids to nature. Let them get their hands dirty.
Furthermore, most kids are fascinated by things adults consider gross and pick up on the idea very early on that certain things are “yucky.” Don’t scream and run away when an insect approaches. Show the child you are curious about the world around you, too. And remember: Sometimes less is more. You don’t need to drag your child on a long hike every weekend to teach them to appreciate the environment. A nature scavenger hunt around the local park can be equally impactful. When weather doesn’t permit, watch nature shows as a family.
Parents and educators at every level have not only an incredible opportunity but a moral responsibility to make an environmental ethic part of our collective culture. We have reached a planetary tipping point at the precise time when connecting with nature is more difficult than ever, given the allure of screens, shrinking green spaces in urban areas and the loss of public lands. We no longer connect our behaviors and decisions to their consequences in our broader human and non-human communities.
Each of us must become leaders in our homes and in our schools to foster the development of a new mindset surrounding how we interact with nature. We must learn to recognize our interconnectedness. The spider in the garden, the crow dropping nuts from the telephone line and the squirrel in the park are all opportunities to empower children to respect our environment. We cannot afford another generation of kids growing into leadership positions or constituting the majority of the global consumer market without a sense of obligation to the non-human world.
Britt Crow-Miller is an assistant professor and senior sustainability scientist at Arizona State University and founding executive director of CityWildPDX, an environmental education non-profit based in Portland, Oregon.
Date: March 12, 2018
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Summary:
An new study finds the brain network that controls theory of mind has already formed in children as young as 3. The study is the first to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of children that young as they perform a task requiring the ability to make inferences about someone else’s state of mind.
Humans use an ability known as theory of mind every time they make inferences about someone else’s mental state — what the other person believes, what they want, or why they are feeling happy, angry, or scared.
Behavioral studies have suggested that children begin succeeding at a key measure of this ability, known as the false-belief task, around age 4. However, a new study from MIT has found that the brain network that controls theory of mind has already formed in children as young as 3.
The MIT study is the first to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of children as young as age 3 as they perform a task requiring theory of mind — in this case, watching a short animated movie involving social interactions between two characters.
“The brain regions involved in theory-of-mind reasoning are behaving like a cohesive network, with similar responses to the movie, by age 3, which is before kids tend to pass explicit false-belief tasks,” says Hilary Richardson, an MIT graduate student and the lead author of the study.
Rebecca Saxe, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences and an associate member of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, is the senior author of the paper, which appears in the March 12 issue of Nature Communications. Other authors are Indiana University graduate student Grace Lisandrelli and Wellesley College undergraduate Alexa Riobueno-Naylor.
Thinking about others
In 2003, Saxe first showed that theory of mind is seated in a brain region known as the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). The TPJ coordinates with other regions, including several parts of the prefrontal cortex, to form a network that is active when people think about the mental states of others.
The most commonly used test of theory of mind is the false-belief test, which probes whether the subject understands that other people may have beliefs that are not true. A classic example is the Sally-Anne test, in which a child is asked where Sally will look for a marble that she believes is in her own basket, but that Anne has moved to a different spot while Sally wasn’t looking. To pass, the subject must reply that Sally will look where she thinks the marble is (in her basket), not where it actually is.
Until now, neuroscientists had assumed that theory-of-mind studies involving fMRI brain scans could only be done with children at least 5 years of age, because the children need to be able to lie still in a scanner for about 20 minutes, listen to a series of stories, and answer questions about them.
Richardson wanted to study children younger than that, so that she could delve into what happens in the brain’s theory-of-mind network before the age of 5. To do that, she and Saxe came up with a new experimental protocol, which calls for scanning children while they watch a short movie that includes simple social interactions between two characters.
The animated movie they chose, called “Partly Cloudy,” has a plot that lends itself well to the experiment. It features Gus, a cloud who produces baby animals, and Peck, a stork whose job is to deliver the babies. Gus and Peck have some tense moments in their friendship because Gus produces baby alligators and porcupines, which are difficult to deliver, while other clouds create kittens and puppies. Peck is attacked by some of the fierce baby animals, and he isn’t sure if he wants to keep working for Gus.
“It has events that make you think about the characters’ mental states and events that make you think about their bodily states,” Richardson says.
The researchers spent about four years gathering data from 122 children ranging in age from 3 to 12 years. They scanned the entire brain, focusing on two distinct networks that have been well-characterized in adults: the theory-of-mind network and another network known as the pain matrix, which is active when thinking about another person’s physical state.
They also scanned 33 adults as they watched the movie so that they could identify scenes that provoke responses in either of those two networks. These scenes were dubbed theory-of-mind events and pain events. Scans of children revealed that even in 3-year-olds, the theory-of-mind and pain networks responded preferentially to the same events that the adult brains did.
“We see early signatures of this theory-of-mind network being wired up, so the theory-of-mind brain regions which we studied in adults are already really highly correlated with one another in 3-year-olds,” Richardson says.
The researchers also found that the responses in 3-year-olds were not as strong as in adults but gradually became stronger in the older children they scanned.
Patterns of development
The findings offer support for an existing hypothesis that says children develop theory of mind even before they can pass explicit false-belief tests, and that it continues to develop as they get older. Theory of mind encompasses many abilities, including more difficult skills such as understanding irony and assigning blame, which tend to develop later.
Another hypothesis is that children undergo a fairly sudden development of theory of mind around the age of 4 or 5, reflected by their success in the false-belief test. The MIT data, which do not show any dramatic changes in brain activity when children begin to succeed at the false-belief test, do not support that theory.
“Scientists have focused really intensely on the changes in children’s theory of mind that happen around age 4, when children get a better understanding of how people can have wrong or biased or misinformed beliefs,” Saxe says. “But really important changes in how we think about other minds happen long before, and long after, this famous landmark. Even 2-year-olds try to figure out why different people like different things — this might be why they get so interested in talking about everybody’s favorite colors. And even 9-year-olds are still learning about irony and negligence. Theory of mind seems to undergo a very long continuous developmental process, both in kids’ behaviors and in their brains.”
Now that the researchers have data on the typical trajectory of theory of mind development, they hope to scan the brains of autistic children to see whether there are any differences in how their theory-of-mind networks develop. Saxe’s lab is also studying children whose first exposure to language was delayed, to test the effects of early language on the development of theory of mind.
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
WATCH ABOVE: In tonight’s edition of health matters, Su-Ling Goh has a story on picky eaters and a program that combines mental health therapy and horses.
Research out of Penn State University indicates infants with more inhibited personalities are more likely to turn up their nose at new foods.
In their first 18 months, babies who were wary of new toys also tended to be less accepting of new foods, suggesting early attitudes toward food could stem from personality.
The study points out that a person’s temperament usually falls somewhere on the exuberant-inhibited spectrum. Those on the exuberant end approach new things and situations head on, while people who are more inhibited are more reserved.
“It was striking how consistently the responses to new foods related to the responses to new toys,” said Kameron Moding, the postdoctoral fellow who authored the paper published in Child Development
“Not only were they associated at 12 months, but those responses also predicted reactions to new objects, six months later. They also followed the same developmental pattern across the first year of life.”
A Penn State professor in human development says temperament affects almost every aspect of an individual’s life.
“Temperament is kind of like a pair of glasses that each person wears,” Cynthia Stifter said.
“It’s the unique way one sees the world. Everything one responds to is through the lens of who they are, meaning the biology-based individual differences that they’re born with.”
This study is one of the first to explore how temperamental approach relates to a child’s eating behaviour.
“From the time they’re very young, some infants are more ‘approaching’ and react positively to new things, whereas other infants are more ‘withdrawing’ and react negatively to the same stimuli,” Moding said. “But very few studies have examined whether infants show similar approach and withdrawal behaviours in response to new foods.”
At 12 months old, the babies who had reacted positively to the new toys also tended to react similarly to the new foods, the researchers found. Those who reacted negatively to the new toys were also hesitant to try the new foods.
The findings also indicated that the way babies approach new foods at 12 months old was also a good predictor of how they would continue to approach other new objects throughout their toddler years.
“The results suggest that infant and toddler responses to new foods are based on their temperament,” Moding said.
“Infants who show hesitation in response to new toys will likely show hesitation when trying new foods for the first time as well.”
Stifter said it was important to note that although temperament is something a person is born with, it doesn’t mean a person can’t change their behaviours.
Moding suggested parents should continue to encourage a varied diet.
“Keep trying! Research from other labs has consistently shown that infants and children can learn to accept new foods if their caregivers continue to offer them. It can take as many as 10 tries, but infants and children can learn to accept and eat even initially disliked foods.”
Watch below: Picky eating can derail supper plans and create mealtime mayhem. Registered dietitian Emily Mardell offers a few tips and tricks to combat the issue.
*EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally said the research was done in Colorado, however Kameron did the study while earning her PhD at Penn State.
Open letter signed by more than 100 advocates warns of dangers social media poses to under 13s and asks Mark Zuckerberg to halt app
More than 110 child-health advocates have called on Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to pull the firm’s Messenger Kids app aimed at under 13s, warning of the dangers of social media for children.
In an open letter led by the Boston-based Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood, signed by doctors, educators and child health experts including baroness Susan Greenfield, warn that “younger children are simply not ready to have social media accounts”.
The authors write: “At a time when there is mounting concern about how social media use affects adolescents’ wellbeing, it is particularly irresponsible to encourage children as young as pre-schoolers to start using a Facebook product.”
The standalone Messenger Kids app was launched in December targeting children under 13 with strict parent controls that include contact approvals, screened content and safety filters to prevent children sharing inappropriate material. It contains no ads and Facebook says data collected from it will not be used for advertising purposes.
But the launch of the app was attacked by commentators and British health secretary Jeremy Hunt, who said the firm should “stay away from my kids”.
The open letter authors said Messenger Kids was likely to increase the amount of time pre-school and elementary age children spend with their devices.
“In a landscape of ubiquitous technology that undermines children’s emotional growth, the last thing the youngest among them need is a powerful enticement to move their friendships online” said Dr Sherry Turkle, Abby Rockefeller Mauzé professor of the social studies of science and technology at MIT, and author of the book Reclaiming Conversation.
“It’s galling to see Facebook target young children at a time when evidence is mounting that excessive social media use negatively impacts kids and teens’ wellbeing,” said Josh Golin, executive director of the Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood.
Facebook said it developed Messenger Kids with the help of online safety experts including the National PTA and Blue Star Families. It is designed to connect children to relatives and friends through text, photos and video chat while making parents the gatekeepers. It is fully compliant with the US Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act, the social network said.
“As children spend more and more time on digital devices, they lose the healthy capacities to cultivate moments of quiet and solitude that are so crucial for developing empathy and healthy relationships,” said Turkle.
Jenny Radesky, MD, a developmental behaviour paediatrician and media researcher at the University of Michigan, said those under 13 years old find it hard to grasp concepts such as privacy and personal data. “They’re just starting to build awareness about their identity, their role in relationships, and morality,” she said. “Combine that immaturity with the problematic interactions that often happen on social media, and it could be really messy.”
US federal law prohibits companies from collecting personal information on those under 13 without parental consent. However, millions of children are already on Facebook, with or without their parents’ permission, said Stephen Balkam, chief executive of the nonprofit Family Online Safety Institute, who saw the launch of Messenger Kids as a pragmatic approach to the situation.
The open letter joins a chorus of discontent directed towards the impact of social media, and in particular Facebook, on society and the young.
Industry insiders including former Facebook president Sean Parker, SalesForce CEO Marc Benioff and Apple chief executive Tim Cook have all recently expressed concerns over the use of social media by children.
“Parents, health professionals, and even investors are standing up to tell tech giants that they’ve gone too far,” said Golin. “This is a pivotal moment, and Silicon Valley executives must decide if they care about the welfare of children, families and society, or only about hooking users and pursuing profits.”
A Facebook spokesperson said: “We worked to create Messenger Kids with an advisory committee of parenting and developmental experts, as well as with families themselves and in partnership with the PTA. We continue to be focused on making Messenger Kids be the best experience it can be for families. We have been very clear that there is no advertising in Messenger Kids.”
Kevin Loria
Jan. 21, 2018, 11:45 AM
Researchers have looked into how parents’ TV-watching habits affect their kids, but there’s not much research on how listening to a podcast or radio show influences childhood development.
It’s likely that playing a podcast in the background would not be as disruptive to kids as television.
But parents shouldn’t expect that young children are learning about the world by listening to informative podcasts, either.
Being a parent comes with millions of questions.
Many of the most anxiety-provoking ones fall into a simple category: “How is whatever I’m doing affecting my child?”
That question even applies to what parents do to relax.
Research suggests that even having a television on in the background can have lasting negative effects on kids’ language development — especially if it’s running for hours every day. The flashing light and varied noises from a TV are designed to draw attention, so they can interrupt children’s play, which is valuable learning time. Watching TV can also make parents less likely to interact with young children, which is crucial for development as well.
But what about the rapidly growing world of podcasts and audio storytelling? Is it equally disruptive for a parent to listen to a podcast while a child plays? Or might kids learn from what they hear?
There aren’t many studies that directly address how audible entertainment like podcasts or talk radio affects young children, according to Jenny Radesky, a pediatrician who specializes in child development.
Radesky is the lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Media and Young Minds policy, and said this lack of research may be a sign that there aren’t major concerns.
“I think scientists have been less worried about the disruptive aspects” of audio storytelling, she said.
Podcasts and parenting
Podcasts are often created to be seamless and pleasing to listen to, with less attention-grabbing features than TV. That suggests the programs are less likely to distract a child who is actively playing. But what about the effect of podcasts on parental attention?
“It’s possible that when a parent’s attention is really absorbed in a podcast, they’re trying to listen to a story or learn about science, it’s going to be hard for them to respond to children’s cues also,” Radesky said. “But on the other hand, I think it’s also really important for parents to feel enriched … so I don’t have as strong of an opinion as to whether they should listen to podcasts.”
As any parent knows, childcare often involves intense days that begin early and require hour after hour of focused interaction with someone who they adore but who is definitely not yet a good conversationalist. If listening to a podcast is a way to recharge while a child plays or does something else, there’s likely value in that.
“Parents seek [an audio show] out either for pleasure or for learning and parents deserve that,” Radesky said. “You can usually pause and attend to something that a child might need.”
Learning from listening
Along with an ever-growing list of great podcasts for adults, there’s been an explosion in child-focused audio shows lately, including Story Pirates and Tumble. But while older kids might learn from and enjoy the content, younger ones (up to two years old) probably won’t get any benefit.
Research indicates that recorded voices don’t mean much to very young children, since they process language best when it comes from a person who is reacting to cues the baby is giving, according to Radesky.
Studies have tested whether a child can better distinguish Chinese language tones if recorded Chinese voices were played to them when they were very young, but the results showed that recordings don’t offer the same benefits of hearing and seeing a real person speak.
A child will start to really process audio, like a book on tape, around the age of three or four. But even in case, Radesky said kids will still probably benefit most if an adult is there to explain the story and answer questions.
Choosing when, whether, and how to listen prince george
Although playing an occasional podcast may have little impact on young children, many of us play podcasts from our smartphones — and Radesky recommends that parents remain aware of how absorbed in a phone we become.
Radesky researches how mobile devices affect kids, and some of her work on the topic has revealed that children’s behavior changes when parents start staring at their phones. Some kids quiet down and stare into space, others begin to act up.
Other studies have shown that parents of kids with behavior problems are more likely to spend more time on their phones. It’s possible those kids act out more because they want parental attention, but it’s also possible that those parents are using their phones to take a break from their kids.
Like children, adults need to find balance when using technology. Choosing when to turn on a podcast should therefore be a conscious decision, Radesky said — it’s ok to listen as a way to stave off boredom or relieve stress, but we shouldn’t interrupt important bonding, and meals and joint play time should stay focused on real interaction.
“If we start to feel more self-awareness about what’s driving our media use behaviors it helps us be more reflective,” said Radesky. We can figure out “what parts of that [use] are good and fulfilling and which parts are starting to disrupt things.”
Twins Ryan and Nell Stimpert lie in their baby boxes at home in Cleveland. The cardboard boxes are safe and portable places for the babies to sleep.
Maddie McGarvey for NPR
For Jernica Quiñones, the reality of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, hit close to home this year when a friend woke up on New Year’s Day and discovered the lifeless body of her baby girl.
That’s why Quiñones’ 4-month-old son, Bless’n, has spent a lot of his life so far sleeping in a cardboard box.
The 33-year-old mother of five took part in a program in New Jersey that promotes safe sleep education through the distribution of “baby boxes” that double as bassinets.
“Some mothers can’t buy a Pack-n-Play or a crib,” Quiñones says. And that can lead to bed sharing, a risk factor for SIDS.
The program is a riff on Finland’s well-known baby box, or maternity package, which the government gives to expectant mothers who get a prenatal checkup: It’s the box, plus clothing, blankets and other supplies.
Now that Finnish model is making inroads in the U.S., but with a twist. Instead of being a prenatal incentive, it’s being used to deliver a postpartum safe sleep message.
This week, Alabama will join Ohio and New Jersey in making free baby boxes available to the families of all newborns in the state. Parents watch online videos about SIDS and safe sleep and complete a short quiz. They can pick up a box at a local distribution center or have it mailed to them. The sturdy, portable box comes with a firm foam mattress and tight-fitting sheet; also included are breastfeeding accessories, a onesie, diapers and wipes.
New Jersey plans to distribute 105,000 boxes; Ohio, 140,000; Alabama, 60,000. The boxes are provided by the California-based Baby Box Co., which also helps produce the educational videos, hosted on its Babybox University website and tailored to local communities.
“The whole premise is that people like free things,” says Dr. Kathryn McCans, chair of New Jersey’s Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board, which is partnering with the Baby Box Co. for the New Jersey program. “It’s about getting the information out there.”
“Through education and awareness, people can make better choices and hopefully we can see fewer children dying,” she says.
There are about 3,500 sudden unexpected infant deaths a year in the U.S. The rate dropped significantly after the launch of 1994’s Back to Sleep campaign, which urged parents to put their babies to sleep on their back. But after a plateau, the rate has seen a slight uptick in recent years.
By comparison, Finland began its baby box program 80 years ago, when nearly one out of every 10 children in the country died before age 1. To qualify, women must get a health check before the end of their fourth month of pregnancy. Now, the country has one of the world’s lowest infant mortality rates.
In the U.S., it’s impossible to require pregnant women to get a prenatal checkup. Instead, the New Jersey and Ohio programs rely on educating new moms through videos.
With a running time of 15 to 20 minutes, the videos reflect the American Academy of Pediatrics safe sleep guidelines, which includes advice to put babies to sleep alone on a firm mattress, with no toys or soft bedding in the crib.
Kyle Stimpert, a mother of twins in Cleveland, received some of the first baby boxes in the Ohio program, which launched this month. She says she would have been a lot less anxious if she’d had them when her son and daughter came home from the hospital in December. “You don’t have to research, you don’t have to text a friend, you just know it’s a safe place,” the 36-year-old says.
In most cases, a baby box can be used for the first six months of life. The risk of SIDS is greatest between two and four months.
The Baby Box Co. says on its website that their boxes “meet or exceed all applicable tenets” of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. But the CPSC does not have standards for baby boxes.
Dr. Rachel Moon, a SIDS researcher at the University of Virginia and chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ SIDS Task Force, cautions that cardboard boxes are not bassinets, which have firm frames with legs or other supports.
“The box companies want to do the right thing and want to make sure their products are safe,” Moon says “But we’re not quite there yet. There’s still more testing that needs to be done.”
It’s a cool box, and a great hook for safe sleep education. But how effective is this approach?
People certainly are attracted by the free baby box. And the program has reached more people in less time than some of the state’s other safe-sleep efforts, McCans says.
Since the New Jersey program began in January, approximately 17,000 boxes have been distributed; in Ohio, 6,000 boxes have been distributed since its program launched earlier this month.
Ultimately, McCans says she doesn’t care whether babies actually sleep in the boxes.
“I’m not wedded to the box itself. It’s about the education,” she says. And, she says, it’s about making the boxes available to everyone so no one feels stigmatized.
Dr. Kristi Watterberg, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on the fetus and newborn, applauds the effort but worries that the process — learning about the program, going online, watching the videos and taking a quiz — may be too overwhelming or complicated for the people who need the education the most.
“The people who can really benefit from this are those who don’t have any clue what you need when you take a baby home,” she says. “They don’t have the social structure to support them. These are the moms who most need what’s in that box and the box itself.”
Watterberg also doesn’t want to see videos take the place of prenatal care, which remains the most important factor for healthy babies.
A study underway at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, a city with one of the highest infant mortality rates in the U.S., may yield some answers.
In the study’s first phase, mothers who delivered at the hospital received standard postpartum talks about SIDS, shaken baby syndrome and other topics. The hospital followed up with a phone call that included questions about risk factors for SIDS, such as bed sharing.
The results: Within 72 hours of leaving the hospital, 6.3 percent of mothers self-reported co-sleeping with their babies — just after they were told not to.
Those findings are lower than the national rate, which is 11.2 percent of parents co-sleeping with infants 7 months and younger, according to the National Infant Sleep Position Study.
“We identified the lack of a place for the baby to sleep as a risk factor for bed sharing,” says Dr. Megan Heere, medical director of the well baby nursery at Temple University Hospital.
The study’s second phase, which ended in November, introduced the baby box and a revamped educational component. Every mother had a one-on-one discussion exclusively about safe sleep with a specially trained nurse. The sessions lasted up to 45 minutes.
At discharge, new moms were given a baby box and taught how to use it. They also got a review of safe-sleep practices and watched a three-minute video provided by the Baby Box Co. The results are expected in May.
Heere hopes the baby box helps promote the cause of safe sleep, but she’s skeptical about the videos.
“Videos can be on and nobody watches them,” she says.
About a month after Quiñones, the New Jersey mom, watched the BabyBox University videos, she can quickly recall what she learned: That breastfeeding reduces the risk of SIDS, that you shouldn’t use bumpers or put teddy bears in the crib. Though she’s not a first-time mom, Quiñones says those facts were all new to her.
And word of the baby boxes has spread: Her sister and a friend have gotten them, too.
“Everyone wants a baby box,” Quiñones says. But the best part of the program, she says, is that it’s raising awareness: “I’m excited even if it saves one child.”
‘She was really troubled by the fact there was nothing she could do because she doesn’t have much power as a child’
Chris Baynes Sunday 24 December 2017 16:19 GMT
While many children spend December wondering what Santa Claus will bring, six-year-old Amelia Campbell’s mind has been grappling with weightier thoughts.
The 15-minute walk to her central London primary school often takes her past homeless people sleeping rough or selling The Big Issue, prompting many difficult questions for her parents.
“Why don’t they have a home? Can they come home with us? Why can’t they go back to their mums and dads? Why can’t we give them more money? Normal children’s questions,” says her mother Jessie Campbell, 42.
“She was asking lots of questions and we answered them as best we could – sometimes it can be quite hard.”
Ms Campbell and her husband Andrew, 41, delicately explained to their daughter “that not everyone has a home to go to, and that we’re quite lucky that we do”.
“We said that some people may not have mums and dads who would be happy to have them back at home; some people may be far away from home, such as refugees, and that we can’t open our homes to everybody.”
In Westminster, the borough in which Amelia lives, 2,767 people were recorded as sleeping rough last year in statistics compiled by St Mungo’s homelessness charity.
Amelia was troubled with what she saw on her way to school, but watching her mother buy The Big Issue one day gave her an idea.
“We said the magazine is printed to raise money for the people selling them,” says her Ms Campbell. “She said, ‘But I don’t have any money. I don’t have anything I can give.’ So she thought if she wrote a story and sold it to her friends she could raise some money.
“She was really troubled by the fact there was nothing she could do because she doesn’t have much power as a child, so that’s where it came from.”
Her parents suspected she might not follow through with the idea, but their daughter was soon reaching for her paper and crayons to write an illustrated story about two dragons that went on holiday to the rainforest (a subject she chose, she says, because “in most books there’s no dragons”).
Admittedly, her seven-page booklet, titled The Two Dragons, contains more colourfully scrawled mythical beasts than the typical edition of The Big Issue. But Amelia was soon selling printed copies for 50p to everyone she knew – family, friends, children at her Beavers group.
“I wanted to help the homeless because they have nothing at all,” she told The Independent. “I wrote a story because I wanted to make more money than my pocket money.”
After her parents set up a crowdfunding page for further donations, Amelia has raised £1,200 so far. The family are to give half of the money to the housing charity Shelter.
The rest will go to The Passage, a local charity runs a hostel in Pimlico which offers shelter to some of London’s estimated 4,000 nightly rough sleepers. It also provides advice on housing, benefits, and health to around 100 people a day at its a resource centre in Victoria.
Nichola Wilson, relationship manager at the charity, says “everyone’s hearts melted in the office” when Amelia’s family contacted them with her story.
“It’s wonderful,” she adds. “It’s really heartwarming to see someone so young as Amelia has gone the extra mile, has been asking her parents questions, and wanted to do something.”
The Passage sends staff into schools to speak to pupils, and Ms Wilson said educating young people about rough sleeping can help to “remove any stigmas around the subject”.
Ms Campbell admits her daughter may be too young to understand the complexities of tackling homelessness.
But she adds: “It’s good for her because she feels like she’s made an impact. It’s a nice feeling when you’re small.”
The six-year-old is “anxious to give the money to the homeless before Christmas” but “pleased with herself and that it’s gone well”, says her mother.
She has also been an inspiration to her own parents, who volunteer at a local shelter.
“We haven’t pushed Amelia towards this,” stresses Ms Campbell. “Actually she has been quite inspiring to us. We’ve done more charity work because of her. I’m very proud of her.
“Now she’s determined to be a charity worker when she grows up.”
Then again, when you’re only six, perhaps it’s best to keep all career options open.
“She also said she wanted to be a fairy,” says Ms Campbell. “So who knows what she’ll grow up to be.”
By DAVID GELLESJAN. 8, 2018
A creator of the iPhone called the device “addictive.”
A Twitter founder said the “internet is broken.”
An early Facebook investor raised questions about the social network’s impact on children’s brains.
Now, two of the biggest investors on Wall Street have asked Apple to study the health effects of its products and to make it easier for parents to limit their children’s use of iPhones and iPads.
Once uncritically hailed for their innovation and economic success, Silicon Valley companies are under fire from all sides, facing calls to take more responsibility for their role in everything from election meddling and hate speech to physical health and internet addiction.
“Companies have a role to play in helping to address these issues,” said Barry Rosenstein, managing partner of Jana Partners, an investment firm that wrote an open letter to Apple this weekend pushing it to look at its products’ health effects, especially on children. “As more and more founders of the biggest tech companies are acknowledging today, the days of just throwing technology out there and washing your hands of the potential impact are over.”
The backlash against big tech has been growing for months. Facebook and Twitter are under scrutiny for their roles in enabling Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and for facilitating abusive behavior. Google was hit with a record antitrust fine in Europe for improperly exploiting its market power.
But until now, Apple had escaped largely unscathed, and concerns about the deleterious effects of excessive technology use have not been among the most pressing matters for Silicon Valley executives.
Jana, an activist hedge fund, wrote its letter with Calstrs, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which manages the pensions of California’s public-school teachers. When such investors pressure companies to change their behavior, it is typically with the goal of lifting a sagging stock price. In this case, Jana and Calstrs said they were trying to raise awareness about an issue they cared deeply about, adding that if Apple was proactive about making changes, it could help the business.
“We believe the long-term health of its youngest customers and the health of society, our economy and the company itself are inextricably linked,” the investors said in the letter. Jana, which is often vilified for its aggressive focus on short-term profits, also said it would be raising a fund this year that would engage in more such campaigns, an effort that could help soften its image.
Whatever the motivations, the two large investors are tapping into the growing anxiety among parents about their children’s preoccupation with devices, at the expense of activities like reading and sports.
“Over the past 10 years, there’s been a bottom-up backlash,” said Sherry Turkle, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author of “Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other.” “You see it in things like people not sending their kids to schools that use iPads, and kids telling their parents to put their phones down.”
For years, researchers have been sounding the alarm over the ubiquity of mobile phones and social media. A 2015 study by Common Sense Media, a research group that studies technology use, found that more than half of teenagers spent upward of four hours a day looking at screens, and that for a quarter of teenagers, the figure was more than eight hours. In another survey, in 2016, half the teenagers said they felt addicted to their mobile devices.
“These things can be incredibly addictive,” said Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive who helped create the iPod and iPhone. “It’s amazing, but there are a lot of unintended consequences.”
A growing roster of prominent technology executives have grown worried about the creations that brought them fame and fortune.
Sean Parker, an early investor in Facebook, reflected on the sprawling influence of the social network. “It literally changes your relationship with society, with each other,” he said in an interview with Axios in November. “It probably interferes with productivity in weird ways. God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.”
Evan Williams, one of the founders of Twitter, last year lamented the degree to which the messaging service had become a bastion for hateful speech. “The internet is broken,” he said.
Chamath Palihapitiya, an early Facebook executive and the chief executive of Social Capital, a venture capital firm, said in November that he felt “tremendous guilt” about his role in building the social network.
“The short term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works,” he said. “No civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth. And it’s not an American problem. This is not about Russian ads. This is a global problem.”
By going after Apple, Jana and Calstrs, which together own about $2 billion worth of the company’s stock, have selected the tech giant that is perhaps least dependent on its users’ time. Because Apple makes most of its money selling hardware, rather than through digital advertising, it theoretically could afford to encourage its users to spend less time with its products.
“Apple’s business model is not predicated on excessive use of your products,” Jana and Calstrs said in their letter to the company.
For this reason, said Ms. Turkle, the M.I.T. professor, “it turns out that Apple is the company best positioned to act.”
In a statement, Apple said that the parental controls already on its devices “lead the industry” and that “we think deeply about how our products are used and the impact they have on users and the people around them.”
“We take this responsibility very seriously,” the statement continued, “and we are committed to meeting and exceeding our customers’ expectations, especially when it comes to protecting kids.”
Fears about technology addiction are not new. The BlackBerry, an early smartphone, was nicknamed “CrackBerry.” Adam Alter, a social psychologist and the author of “Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked,” documents instances of internet addiction spanning the globe.
But some tech executives now acknowledge that far from being an accident, their products were designed to be addictive.
Mr. Parker said that when Facebook was getting started, the thought process was about “how do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?”
Mr. Palihapitiya said as Facebook was rapidly growing, “in the back, deep, deep recesses of our minds, we kind of knew something bad could happen.”
Mr. Fadell said that at the time Apple was designing the iPhone, “we had no idea this was going to happen.” But, he added, people today are simply spending too much time looking at their phones.
“Now it needs to be addressed,” he said. “It’s been 10 years in the making.”
Even Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook and usually a staunch defender of his company’s influence, has appeared more reflective in recent days.
“The world feels anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do — whether it’s protecting our community from abuse and hate, defending against interference by nation states, or making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent,” he said in a Facebook post last week. “My personal challenge for 2018 is to focus on fixing these important issues.”
Follow David Gelles on Twitter: @dgelles.
Date: December 21, 2017
Source: University of Pennsylvania
Summary: Regular fish consumption has been shown to improve cognition. It’s also been known to help with sleep. A new study connects all three for the first time. The team found that children who eat fish at least once a week sleep better and have higher IQs by an average of 4 points.
Children who eat fish at least once a week sleep better and have IQ scores that are 4 points higher, on average, than those who consume fish less frequently or not at all, according to new findings from the University of Pennsylvania published this week in Scientific Reports, a Nature journal.
Previous studies showed a relationship between omega-3s, the fatty acids in many types of fish, and improved intelligence, as well as omega-3s and better sleep. But they’ve never all been connected before. This work, conducted by Jianghong Liu, Jennifer Pinto-Martin and Alexandra Hanlon of the School of Nursing and Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor Adrian Raine, reveals sleep as a possible mediating pathway, the potential missing link between fish and intelligence.
“This area of research is not well-developed. It’s emerging,” said Liu, lead author on the paper and an associate professor of nursing and public health. “Here we look at omega-3s coming from our food instead of from supplements.”
For the work, a cohort of 541 9- to 11-year-olds in China, 54 percent boys and 46 percent girls, completed a questionnaire about how often they consumed fish in the past month, with options ranging from “never” to “at least once per week.” They also took the Chinese version of an IQ test called the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, which examines verbal and non-verbal skills such as vocabulary and coding.
Their parents then answered questions about sleep quality using the standardized Children Sleep Habits Questionnaire, which included topics such as sleep duration and frequency of night waking or daytime sleepiness. Finally, the researchers controlled for demographic information, including parental education, occupation and marital status and number of children in the home.
Analyzing these data points, the Penn team found that children who reported eating fish weekly scored 4.8 points higher on the IQ exams than those who said they “seldom” or “never” consumed fish. Those whose meals sometimes included fish scored 3.3 points higher. In addition, increased fish consumption was associated with fewer disturbances of sleep, which the researchers say indicates better overall sleep quality.
“Lack of sleep is associated with antisocial behavior; poor cognition is associated with antisocial behavior,” said Raine, who has appointments in the School of Arts and Sciences and Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. “We have found that omega-3 supplements reduce antisocial behavior, so it’s not too surprising that fish is behind this.”
Pinto-Martin, who is executive director of Penn’s Center for Public Health Initiatives, as well as the Viola MacInnes/Independence Professor of Nursing and a professor of epidemiology in Penn Medicine, sees strong potential for the implications of this research.
“It adds to the growing body of evidence showing that fish consumption has really positive health benefits and should be something more heavily advertised and promoted,” she said. “Children should be introduced to it early on.” That could be as young as 10 months, as long as the fish has no bones and has been finely chopped, but should start by around age 2.
“Introducing the taste early makes it more palatable,” Pinto-Martin said. “It really has to be a concerted effort, especially in a culture where fish is not as commonly served or smelled. Children are sensitive to smell. If they’re not used to it, they may shy away from it.”
Given the young age of this study group, Liu and colleagues chose not to analyze the details participants reported about the types of fish consumed, though they plan to do so for work on an older cohort in the future. The researchers also want to add to this current observational study to establish, through randomized controlled trials, that eating fish can lead to better sleep, better school performance and other real-life, practical outcomes.
For the moment, the researchers recommend incrementally incorporating additional fish into a diet; consumption even once a week moves a family into the “high” fish-eating group as defined in the study.
“Doing that could be a lot easier than nudging children about going to bed,” Raine said. “If the fish improves sleep, great. If it also improves cognitive performance — like we’ve seen here — even better. It’s a double hit.”
Pregnancy is associated with a surge of sex hormones akin to the heightened production of sex hormones during puberty. The researchers noted that gray matter also is pruned during adolescence, when a spectrum of emotional, cognitive and behavioral neural changes begin to fine tune the teenage brain.
Cordelia Fine, a psychologist at the University of Melbourne who had no part in this research, said that “this is a solid study,” despite the small sample size. Fine has written several books about gender and how male-female differences are often overstated in science. “The authors are appropriately careful not to conclude that the brain changes they observe are caused by hormones (or by hormones alone), since they don’t show this directly. However, this is certainly a plausible hypothesis.”
Fine cautions that the brain areas identified by the scientists are also responsible for other functions, not simply attachment. A more significant caveat, she said, is that while the authors of the study “speculate that the structural brain changes they see underlie maturation” of neural networks that “could facilitate attachment . . . it’s worth noting that the authors measured empathy before and after pregnancy, and found no change.”
According to the authors of the study, these brain changes may “serve an adaptive purpose for pending motherhood,” that is, the stronger the mother-child attachment, the greater chance the child survives.
By Jenna Gallegos
It’s back-to-school season. Parents mark their youngsters’ height on the wall and marvel at how much they’ve grown, but what’s going on just below the pencil line in that child’s brain?
We know brain development continues from infancy to adulthood, but many parents underestimate how much a child’s brain changes from year to year and how those changes can influence behavior.
Decades of scientific studies have shown even an immature brain is capable of extraordinary feats. Yet a fully developed brain is necessary for actions that adults take for granted, such as risk assessment and self-control. According to developmental psychologists, parents who better understand the stages along the way can help guide their child over the hurdles.
Babies are surprisingly good at communicating
Babies are looking, listening and imitating from the time they are born. Stick your tongue out at a baby, even one just hours old, and he or she may do the same back at you, said Sarah Lytle of the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington.
Yet many parents don’t realize how quickly infants begin to develop social and emotional awareness, said Ross Thompson, who is president of the child development organization Zero to Three and a cognitive psychologist at the University of California at Davis. “Parents underestimate how sensitive a child is to their own emotions,” he said. As early as 6 months of age, a child can be affected by a parent’s depression or anxiety and by marital squabbles.
Babies also look to their parents for guidance in uncertain situations. If you’re on a subway and start interacting with the little one next to you, the baby may turn to the parent to see how to respond to you. This process is called “social cognition” or “social referencing,” and it’s not very different from when adults at a party wait to respond to a joke when they’re unsure whether others will find it funny or offensive.
To help infants learn, parents should frequently look at what they’re talking about and change their gaze slowly, Lytle suggested. This important social cue helps with language development, she said — with babies who follow gazes closely having a more diverse vocabulary by the time they’re 2.
All languages sound the same initially to a newborn, and then a tuning process begins. By about 10 months, babies start to specialize in the language they’re used to hearing. It’s important to talk to your child during the first year, especially using “parentese,” Lytle said. This infant-directed speech is not “baby-talking,” despite its typical singsong tone and repetition, but uses real words in grammatically complete sentences.
While we typically underestimate babies’ ability to understand and communicate before they begin speaking, we tend to overestimate the brain power of walking, talking toddlers.
Toddlers are mentally incapable of sharing and self-control
In a survey conducted by Zero to Three in 2015, nearly half of parents believed their children could learn to share by the time they are 2. But according to the cognitive psychologists at Zero to Three, this skill does not typically develop until a child is 3 or 4. That may be because they haven’t yet developed what’s known as “theory of mind.”
Theory of mind is the ability to differentiate one’s own perspective and preferences from someone else’s. A classic experiment in theory of mind is known as the Sally-Anne test, in which a child is told Sally has a basket and Anne has a box. Sally puts an object in her basket, then leaves. While Sally is gone, Anne moves the object to the box.
The child is then asked where Sally will look for the object when she returns. Correctly answering that Sally will look in her basket signals the child understands they have a perspective that is different from Sally’s.
Theory of mind is important for developing empathy, making friends and even doing well academically, Lytle said. Parents can help their children develop perspective by talking them through scenarios like the Sally-Anne test or reading books that help them to build cognitive parallels, she said. For example, in a book where a character goes to a doctor, they can compare the situation to when the child went to the doctor and discuss how the experiences were similar or different.
According to that 2015 survey, the majority of parents also believed 2-year-olds can control their emotions and impulses. Yet children have very limited self-control abilities until they are about 4. When toddlers won’t stop throwing a fit, do something forbidden or refuse to share, “they’re not being willfully obstinate,” Thompson said. “Many parents overestimate a child’s capacity for self-control.”
Thompson recommends helping young children with self-control — for example, by distracting them with a favorite toy while passing candy in the grocery store checkout aisle. And when dealing with a tantrum, acknowledge a child’s feelings by putting them into words. “A lot of their frustration is the feeling of being misunderstood,” he noted.
He also suggests giving the child the impression that they have some control. In his own case, when his young son didn’t want to go to bed, Thompson would ask the boy whether he wanted to play for a few more minutes. Yes, a distinguished professor in psychology was on his knees, negotiating with a 3-year-old, but Thompson says parents who understand how their toddlers’ brains work (or don’t work) will find it fairly easy to outsmart them. It’s good to tell a child “no” because they’re learning language, he added, but you can’t expect them to change their behaviors.
Teenagers don’t think with the same parts of their brain as adults
For some parents, a seemingly erratic teenager can make those long-ago toddler days seem like a walk in the park. Frances Jensen, neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania and co-author of “The Teenage Brain,” suggests understanding how teens think can improve the experience for both sides.
Connections in our brain develop from the back to the front, and those important for higher-order thinking continue to form and strengthen into a person’s 20s. “Teenagers have good connectivity up to about their ears,” Jensen explained. And at this age, the midbrain, important for emotion, sexual function, learning and memory, is hyperactive.
As teens transition into adulthood, connections in the front of their brain are strengthened while those in the other regions are pruned. A fully developed frontal lobe is essential for planning, decision-making, impulse control and risk avoidance.
These stages of development showed up in a 2006 imaging experiment. Researchers discovered adults trying to identify fearful facial expressions used more of the front of their brain, while teens used the emotional centers in the midbrain — meaning teens literally think using different parts of their brain.
The finding might explain why some teen behaviors surprise adults. “Teenagers are actually more susceptible to stress,” Jensen said. If your teen comes home distraught because someone made fun of their hair, you might be tempted to say it’s no big deal. But the activity in their brain likely resembles an adult brain’s response to news of a major international incident.
The plasticity of teen brains — their ability to lose, form and strengthen connections — also makes adolescents especially susceptible to addiction to everything from video games to cocaine, Jensen said. Activities such as binge drinking and chronic marijuana use can be especially damaging at this age.
Jensen recommends giving teens a “frontal-lobe assist” by helping them to plan, prepare and even rehearse for situations that require higher judgment. Help them develop and learn phrases to use as excuses to avoid making a bad decision amid social pressure, for example. And if they do make a bad decision, she suggests using the situation as a teachable moment instead of lecturing or alienating them.
Throughout a child’s life, parents who understand some basics of brain development can adjust their expectations and better come up with strategies to prevent frustration for everyone. In other words, a little understanding goes a long way.
Children can develop tics and compulsions associated with OCD after contracting infections like strep throat, experts are warning.
A common and painful infection for young children, strep throat is typically treated using antibiotics.
However, for a small number of patients it can cause bizarre behavioural disorders such as severe tantrums, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and even tics.
So, what is strep throat?
Otherwise known as ‘streptococcal pharyngitis’, the infection affects the back of the throat causing pain, swollen glands and discomfort when swallowing, and can be spread in droplets in coughs and sneezes, the NHS says.
But, while most people with a minor strep infection go on to make a full recovery, there is a small risk that it could cause a rare complication that attacks the brain.
One family affected by the condition revealed that their son, Brandon, who was five and a half at the time, suddenly changed, going from a happy-go-lucky kid to having extreme tantrums and exhibiting signs of debilitating OCD.
“It was almost psychotic,” Brandon’s mother, Bonnie Markowitz, told CBS New York.
Doctors say that the shift in the young boy’s behaviour was the result of a complication called PANDAS, which stands for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections.
“What that basically means is a child gets an infection and the antibodies to that infection end up attacking the brain instead of the germs,” PANDAS expert Dr. Elizabeth Spaar told the news station.
Despite PANDAS being estimated to affect one in 200 children, the condition is often misdiagnosed and antibiotics are given as the standard form of treatment.
However, Spaar warns that for children who aren’t properly treated, “there can be lifelong effects from it.”
While many children have OCD, tantrums and tics, the tell-tale sign that they are suffering from PANDAS is the sudden and dramatic onset of symptoms in such a closely-related time frame to contracting strep.
“Patients with PANDAS have a very sudden onset or worsening of their symptoms, followed by a slow, gradual improvement.
If they get another strep infection, their symptoms suddenly worsen again,” according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
In most cases, children will get better with antibiotics but symptoms can take weeks to go away and many experience relapses.
If you are concerned or have persistent or severe symptoms of a strep A infection, the NHS suggest arranging an appointment to see your GP.
More than eight million children live in areas of the UK with illegal levels of air pollution, figures suggest.
Some 8.3 million under-18s live in local authority areas where levels of harmful pollutant nitrogen dioxide exceeded legal limits in 2015, according to analysis by the Labour Party of figures from the House of Commons Library.
Around three-fifths (61 percent) of youngsters were living in areas across the UK where pollution limits were breached in 2015, the estimates show.
The analysis suggests some 2.5 million under-fives were living in areas of the UK with illegally dirty air in 2015, which is 63 per cent of all children in the age group.
All children in London face illegal pollution levels, as the air quality limits were exceeded in all boroughs in the capital.
Outside London, Yorkshire and the Humber was the worst affected region, with an estimated 83 per cent of youngsters living in areas with illegal pollution, followed by the North East, North West and West Midlands.
Ministers unveiled court-mandated plans for meeting the European Union limits on nitrogen dioxide, much of which comes from road transport and particularly diesel vehicles, in July after a long-running battle with legal charity ClientEarth.
The Government was ordered to produce the latest air pollution plans after the courts ruled previous proposals were insufficient to meet EU pollution limits, which the UK has breached since the rules came into effect in 2010.
But official estimates suggest compliance for levels of nitrogen dioxide will not be met until 2026.
Air pollution causes an estimated 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK and is linked to health problems from childhood illnesses to heart disease and even dementia. It is also thought to affect children’s development.
Sue Hayman, Shadow Environment Secretary, said: “With the majority of our young people now growing up in areas that breach air quality limits it’s clear the UK is in the middle of a dirty air emergency.
“Dirty air is a clear and present health hazard; it can take years off a person’s life.
“Cleaning up our air should be a national priority, unfortunately this Tory government – which once promised to be the ‘greenest ever’ – has allowed the situation to escalate into a public health emergency on their watch.
“We need to act, to protect the health of all our children and the wellbeing of the country. That’s why Labour has promised a new Clean Air Act to get a grip on pollution before it’s too late.”
Majority of UK’s air breaks pollution laws, new figures reveal
An Environment Department (Defra) spokesman said: “Air pollution has improved significantly since 2010, but we recognise there is more to do which is why we have put in place a £3.5 billion plan to improve air quality and reduce harmful emissions.
“We will also end the sale of conventional new diesel and petrol cars and vans by 2040, and next year we will publish a comprehensive clean air strategy which will set out further steps to tackle air pollution.”
Kim Nassoiy, UCF Forum columnist
I work in a field where play reigns supreme. I’m an early childhood educator.
I have studied the research and know how children learn best. Yet I watch curriculums and policies being written that stifle the learning of our youngest citizens in preschool. They are being asked to learn things beyond their capabilities. Teachers are being asked to teach things that are not developmentally appropriate. There seems to be no stopping the sometimes misguided “machine” that seeks to theoretically turn children into the best and the brightest.
Many would ask, “Why is this a problem?”
We want our children to be successful in school and life. Getting children on the right path to success is where the discrepancies begin. Many believe that preschools should be teaching children to read, write and perform basic math skills. Parents want to see handouts done during the day and even ask if there is homework for the children. These things have very little meaning to children.
Play is work to children. They want to use their senses to discover and explore. They want to figure out what something does or how it can be used. Think of it as “biology with a lab.” They don’t even want an adult’s help.
For those of you with children or who work with them, you know this to be true. Children are often saying to their adults “no” or “I can do it myself.”
Through play, children develop a love of learning. They are the facilitators of their own education. This is essential to becoming a lifelong learner.
In a perfect world, children and adults would have the opportunity to learn through exploration. Most knowledge, however, is still passed by lectures and rote memorization, which does not build critical thinking skills.
As the late Stanford Professor Paul Hurd said: “Too many facts, too little conceptualizing, too much memorizing, and too little thinking.”
A recent Psychology Today article, “The Emerging Crisis in Critical Thinking,” addressed the deficit in problem-solving skills in today’s college students. These students are the babies of the ’90s “baby genius” push. Educators used flashcards with infants and toddlers and spent more time on rote learning than letting them play.
Children spent little time discovering and failing at tasks, which teach persistence and resilience. The opportunities to fail and try again were missed, which are crucial to learning and brain development.
All the research supports what early childhood teachers know: It is time to get back to the basics. Let the children play.
Let them love learning and become the educators of tomorrow.
Kim Nassoiy is associate director of UCF’s Creative School for Children. She can be reached at Kimberly.Nassoiy@ucf.edu.
The pro-reading message is getting through to parents, who recognize that it’s an important habit. A summary report by Child Trends, for instance, suggests 55 percent of three- to five-year-old children were read to every day in 2007. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 83 percent of three- to five-year-old children were read to three or more times per week by a family member in 2012.
What this ever-present advice to read with infants doesn’t necessarily make clear, though, is that what’s on the pages may be just as important as the book-reading experience itself. Are all books created equal when it comes to early shared-book reading? Does it matter what you pick to read? And are the best books for babies different than the best books for toddlers?
In order to guide parents on how to create a high-quality book-reading experience for their infants, my psychology research lab has conducted a series of baby learning studies. One of our goals is to better understand the extent to which shared book reading is important for brain and behavioral development.
Shared book reading also likely enhances the quality of the parent-infant relationship by encouraging reciprocal interactions – the back-and-forth dance between parents and infants. Certainly not least of all, it gives infants and parents a consistent daily time to cuddle.
Recent research has found that both the quality and quantity of shared book reading in infancy predicted later childhood vocabulary, reading skills and name writing ability. In other words, the more books parents read, and the more time they’d spent reading, the greater the developmental benefits in their 4-year-old children.
This important finding is one of the first to measure the benefit of shared book reading starting early in infancy. But there’s still more to figure out about whether some books might naturally lead to higher-quality interactions and increased learning.
Babies and books in the lab
In our investigations, my colleagues and I followed infants across the second six months of life. We’ve found that when parents showed babies books with faces or objects that were individually named, they learn more, generalize what they learn to new situations and show more specialized brain responses. This is in contrast to books with no labels or books with the same generic label under each image in the book. Early learning in infancy was also associated with benefits four years later in childhood.
First, we brought six-month-old infants into our lab, where we could see how much attention they paid to story characters they’d never seen before. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure their brain responses. Infants wear a cap-like net of 128 sensors that let us record the electricity naturally emitted from the scalp as the brain works. We measured these neural responses while infants looked at and paid attention to pictures on a computer screen. These brain measurements can tell us about what infants know and whether they can tell the difference between the characters we show them.
We also tracked the infants’ gaze using eye-tracking technology to see what parts of the characters they focused on and how long they paid attention.
The data we collected at this first visit to our lab served as a baseline. We wanted to compare their initial measurements with future measurements we’d take, after we sent them home with storybooks featuring these same characters.
We divided up our volunteers into three groups. One group of parents read their infants storybooks that contained six individually named characters that they’d never seen before. Another group were given the same storybooks but instead of individually naming the characters, a generic and made-up label was used to refer to all the characters (such as “Hitchel”). Finally, we had a third comparison group of infants whose parents didn’t read them anything special for the study.
After three months passed, the families returned to our lab so we could again measure the infants’ attention to our storybook characters. It turned out that only those who received books with individually labeled characters showed enhanced attention compared to their earlier visit. And the brain activity of babies who learned individual labels also showed that they could distinguish between different individual characters. We didn’t see these effects for infants in the comparison group or for infants who received books with generic labels.
These findings suggest that very young infants are able to use labels to learn about the world around them and that shared book reading is an effective tool for supporting development in the first year of life.
Tailoring book picks for maximum effect
So what do our results from the lab mean for parents who want to maximize the benefits of storytime?
Not all books are created equal. The books that parents should read to six- and nine-month-olds will likely be different than those they read to two-year-olds, which will likely be different than those appropriate for four-year-olds who are getting ready to read on their own. In other words, to reap the benefits of shared book reading during infancy, we need to be reading our little ones the right books at the right time.
For infants, finding books that name different characters may lead to higher-quality shared book reading experiences and result in the learning and brain development benefits we find in our studies. All infants are unique, so parents should try to find books that interest their baby.
My own daughter loved the “Pat the Bunny” books, as well as stories about animals, like “Dear Zoo.” If names weren’t in the book, we simply made them up.
It’s possible that books that include named characters simply increase the amount of parent talking. We know that talking to babies is important for their development. So parents of infants: Add shared book reading to your daily routines and name the characters in the books you read. Talk to your babies early and often to guide them through their amazing new world – and let storytime help.
By Nikki Yeager
When I first dressed my son’s infant body in pink leggings, comments from friends and family would drift our way including “Boys don’t wear pink,” and “I wish you’d dress him like a little boy.” To which I found myself responding with confusion more often than not. This was a 10-month old baby. He couldn’t walk. He hadn’t yet learned how to identify color. But he was being indoctrinated into the masculine/feminine binary already. The message was clear: “Pink is not for boys.”
When the discussion of heteronormative culture is broached by the general public, it’s often done through the lens of adulthood. We defend the right to transition, the right for anyone to love another person regardless of sex, the rejection of forced masculine/feminine behavior and clothing.
It wasn’t until I became a mother that I realized the conversation needs to start much earlier. We shouldn’t just be talking about how to defend the existing injustices, but how to prevent them in the first place.
It was around that time that I decided to start a non-gendered children’s clothing company to help change the narrative. I thought it’d be a small side project. Instead, I found it to be an all consuming hole of information and disillusion. I started researching the history of children’s fashion, the data behind how we raise our boys and our girls differently, and how our brains develop based on the way we’re treated as children.
While working on a presentation related to non-gendered childhood for TransOhio, I attempted to quantify just how early this genderfication of children happens. I posted the following poll on Facebook, “What is the first thing you’d ask someone after finding out they were pregnant?” The options were: “When is the due date?” “Is it a boy or girl?” and “How are you feeling?”
Everyone in my writer’s group chose to ask about due date or how the woman was feeling, which didn’t line up with my personal experience as a previously pregnant person. When I announced my pregnancy, even my most progressive friends (even my trans friends!) immediately asked if it was a boy or girl. So I messaged a few of those same respondents to tell them I was pregnant (I’m not). Each person immediately asked “Do you know if it’s a boy or girl?” It turns out that even the most conscious individuals start using gender as a frame of reference shortly after conception, whether they believe in the binary or not.
Which makes me wonder why? Are those people already deciding what to purchase for a shower gift? Are they already deciding how to think of the soon-to-be baby? What they’ll look like? How they’ll act?
The need to gender identify children is even more pronounced once it’s time to dress them. With my designs finalized, I started to reach out to online boutiques and quickly found that even the stores whose owners wrote back emails full of praise and personal stories did not have a way to list clothing that was determinedly non-gendered. Websites tend to separate options into “boys” and “girls”, regardless of age, leaving no category for tutus designed for any toddler, or bodysuits made for all babies. A similar structure is present in physical boutiques. stereotypes. Stores like Targethave started to move to less gendered children’s clothing sections. There are changes being made, albeit slowly.
In the meantime, I started to wonder, what is this gendering doing to our children? I can try my best, but I can’t change the world for my child’s generation. He’s already a toddler, already absorbing it all. He’s been told by a family friend to “hang out with more boys” or “pick up a tool set” as he gleefully attacked a dust bunny with a broom. He was told “boys don’t wear headbands” during his first week of daycare and subsequently gave up the habit. He’s been dismissed for bad behavior on the playground as being nothing more than a boy “being a boy.”
Which makes me question what all this is doing to his brain. How is it changing the person he will become?
It turns out, quite a bit. Thanks to modern science, we now know about an interesting phenomenon called neuroplasticity, or the ability of our brains to change. Basically, the same reason we’re able to absorb language so efficiently when we’re young is the reason exposing children to heteronormative social norms can actually change (and, in my opinion, limit) who our children will someday be.
When we’re young our brains have the most plasticity. Every time we’re told to practice a behavior, skill, or thought, we build and strengthen the neural pathways related to that particular behavior/skill/thought.
So if a girl is dressed in pink and told to sit quietly for extended periods of time, her brain will actually strengthen in it’s ability to support activities that require patience. If a boy is dressed in trousers and encouraged to run/climb/jump when other kids are sitting quietly, he’s building up the part of his brain that encourages him to be physically active and impatient.
The girl wasn’t necessarily born to be quiet and patient. The boy wasn’t necessarily born to be physical. Through consistent training, practicing, and strengthening of those mental activities, their brains have actually formed differently from one another.
The danger is that our brains have less plasticity when we’re older. So when those same children grow up and are confronted with a girl who likes to climb, or a boy who would rather sit quietly and read a book, their brains will fight against that. They’ve been told that each gender acts a certain way, to the point that their brains have developed accordingly to support those cliches.
Even worse, if they are the ones that choose to step outside of gender stereotypes, they have to work against the very structure of their own brains. Which, I’m guessing, might help explain why the transgender community faces such an alarming risk of suicide.
So what can be done to change it? More advocacy for changes in children’s apparel, toys, and accessories is sorely needed. Instead of having a doll section and an action figure section, I suggest that stores move towards inclusive categories like “musical toys,” “figures/dolls,” “pretend play.” Each child can peruse the shelves and pick which item speaks to them, without having to cross gender lines.
On a personal level, providing a child with a range of clothing options from sparkly tutus, to blue overalls, to pink shirts gives them the OK to explore with colors they like, without learning to label clothing as “boy” or “girl” based on what they see in their own closet.
Most of all, it’s important that the conversation is had at all.
The Checkup
By PERRI KLASS, M.D.
I weigh my words (pun intended) every time I address the topic of a child’s obesity in the exam room. Yes, I know, you probably want to tell me that I shouldn’t use that word — “obese” — and I promise that I don’t. But in the child’s electronic medical record, that’s the official coding if the child’s body mass index is at or above the 95th percentile for age and gender. And medical providers, just like parents, may find themselves walking a difficult line as they try to discuss this fraught subject without increasing the distress that many children are already feeling.
“Guilt and blame don’t motivate change, they just make people feel bad, and when people feel bad, they don’t tend to be motivated toward healthy behavior,” said Dr. Stephen J. Pont, an assistant professor at the University of Texas Dell Medical School.
Dr. Pont is one of the lead authors of a new policy statement issued jointly by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Obesity Society titled “Stigma Experienced by Children and Adolescents With Obesity.” The statement, published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics, advises pediatricians to use neutral words like “weight” and “body mass index” rather than terms like “obese” and “fat.” The authors also suggest we use language that puts the person before the condition, as in, “a child with excess weight” rather than an overweight or obese child.
More broadly, the authors advise that medical practices need to look carefully at their procedures and their attitudes to make sure they aren’t building in biases against overweight children, and beyond that, they want us out there advocating against this kind of stigma in society. And they put this advice in the context of an extensive research literature on how very common it is for children to be teased and bullied because of their weight, and how very counterproductive that is.
For all the attention paid to weight and its health effects in medical settings, the social and emotional side is often neglected, said Rebecca Puhl, a clinical psychologist who is a professor in the department of human development and family studies at the University of Connecticut, and the other lead author on the policy statement. “Weight is now one of the most frequent reasons kids are teased or bullied,” she said. In addition to the well-documented effects on children’s mental health and self esteem, she said, research has shown very harmful effects on children’s eating behavior, and increased risk that they will stay sedentary and gain weight.
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hen3ry 4 hours ago
Bring back recess. Start chasing the kids outside to play. Let them walk to school where it’s appropriate. Don’t give them sports drinks,…
Carmela 8 hours ago
The whole definition of ‘obesity’ in kids based on BMI is highly arbitrary anyway. It used to be that kids at that level were called…
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This is great but schizophrenic. The first thing a pediatrician needs to admit is that we have nothing to offer. If you say it’s not your…
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In a study published earlier this year in the journal Preventive Medicine, Dr. Puhl and her colleagues looked at the longitudinal effects of teenagers being teased about their weight. The study involved over 1,800 people who had been followed for 15 years and are now in their mid 30s.
“Weight-based teasing in adolescence predicted obesity, and also eating food to cope with emotions,” Dr. Puhl said. “These teasing experiences have long-lasting implications for health and for health behavior.” For women especially, these adolescent experiences of teasing by peers or family members were associated with binge eating, poor body image, obesity, and a higher B.M.I. 15 years later, she said; for men there were some of the same associations, including obesity as adults, if they had been teased by their peers as adolescents.
Research shows that two-thirds of adolescents in weight-loss camps report being bullied or teased about their weight, over 90 percent of the time by their peers, Dr. Puhl said. A third report that they are also teased by family members. “Pediatric health professionals may be one of the few allies to offer support and try to prevent harm.”
My colleague Dr. Mary Jo Messito, the director of the pediatric obesity program at Bellevue Hospital, said, “the worst thing to do is go into the room with an 11-year-old girl and say, your child is obese, the child will start to cry.” She recently saw a boy whose mother kept bringing up, “‘You don’t want to be like uncle so and so, he had to have this operation, he almost died’ — the kid is now terrified.”
Katherine Bauer, an epidemiologist who is an assistant professor in the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, cited what she called “the prevalent belief that people don’t know they’re heavy, and if we just inform them they will magically be motivated for behavior change.” In fact, she said, weight stigma does exactly the opposite; criticizing and inducing shame only make people feel terrible about themselves, not motivated or capable of making changes.
We are all, including our children, living in a culture that is profoundly critical of excess weight and at the same time constantly offering opportunities and advertisements for overindulgence. “It’s important to focus on positive reinforcement and not jump to negative,” Dr. Pont said. What this means, for parents and for health providers, is to make sure we see the child, not just the number on the scale. “Recognize that a child is far more than what their weight is, praise them for all the positives, so when we get to some of the more challenging topics, they can still maintain their self-esteem,” Dr. Pont said.
And that time in the exam room has to include talking about nutrition and exercise, but “the focus should be on health or health behavior rather than looking thin, fitting into certain pants,” Dr. Puhl said. So it’s absolutely reasonable to talk about eating patterns, about family meal times, about what foods kids choose at home and at school, about screen time and exercise. Of course, excess screen time or too much junk food are problems even if you’re thin.
The most effective way for parents to help a child is to make healthy changes for the whole family, regardless of shape or size, Dr. Pont said. Try making small changes slowly, like adding one new green vegetable into the family diet, not keeping sugary drinks in the home or walking to school instead of driving.
And yes, to bring up the big turkey in the room, Thanksgiving is upon us; here come the relatives. If you have a child for whom this is a sensitive subject, try to make sure that no one spoils that child’s day. When it comes to a child’s weight or eating habits, “the Thanksgiving table is not an appropriate place to be commenting,” Dr. Puhl said.
“Public discussions at the table that are teasing or negative are not helpful,” Dr. Messito said, and some people will overeat in response to feeling stressed.
And all the experts recognize that one essential message to children is that however important healthy changes in their diet may be, they can still enjoy special days and special treats and special meals. “Enjoy the holiday; make the changes not on a holiday,” Dr. Pont said.
“Food is our way of connecting with people, especially around Thanksgiving, our way of bringing people together and showing thankfulness,” said Dr. Bauer. “Let’s have a shaming-free Thanksgiving where we just enjoy ourselves.”
Follow thousands of superbright kids for four and a half decades, and you learn a thing or two about how to raise a high-achiever.
One of the biggest takeaways: Even kids with genius-level IQs need teachers to help them reach their full potential.
Since it began in 1971, the “Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth,” or SMPY, has tracked 5,000 of the smartest children in America — the top 1%, 0.1%, and even 0.01% of all students. It is the longest-running study of gifted children in history.
Here’s what the study found.
The top 1%, 0.1%, and 0.01% of kids lead exceptional lives.
SMPY (pronounced “simpy”) initially tested kids’ intelligence using the SAT, university entrance exams, and other IQ tests. Researchers later began looking at additional factors like college enrollment and career paths later in life.
What they found was the most-gifted kids went on to earn doctorates and graduate degrees, and hold patents at rates far above less-gifted children. Most sit among the top 5% of income earners.
“Whether we like it or not, these people really do control our society,” Jonathan Wai, a psychologist at the Duke University Talent Identification Program, recently told Nature.
Genius kids don’t get enough attention.
The trouble is that genius kids often receive too little attention from their teachers, who may be inclined to write off bright students as having already met their potential.
When SMPY researchers looked at how much attention teachers gave to these gifted children, they found that the overwhelming majority of class time was spent helping low-achieving students get to the middle.
SMPY suggests that teachers should avoid teaching a one-size-fits-all curriculum and instead focus on doing the best they can to create individualized lesson plans for students.
Skipping a grade works.
To help kids reach their potential, teachers and parents should consider moving a gifted child up a grade, SMPY suggests.
When researchers compared a control group of gifted students who didn’t skip a grade with those who did, the grade-skippers were 60% more likely to earn patents and doctorates — and more than twice as likely to get a doctorate in a field related to science, technology, engineering, or math.
Intelligence is highly varied.
Being smart doesn’t just mean having an ability to memorize facts or recall names and dates. SMPY has repeatedly found, throughout multiple follow-up analyses, that some of the smartest kids possess a great capacity for spatial reasoning.
These kids have a talent for visualizing systems, such as the human circulatory system or the anatomy of a Honda. In 2013, follow-up surveys found a strong connection between spatial-reasoning skills and the number of patents filed and peer-reviewed papers published.
Standardized tests aren’t always a waste of time.
Standardized tests — the SAT among the famous of them — can’t measure everything teachers and parents need to know about a child.
But SMPY’s data suggests that the SAT and other standardized measures of intelligence do hold some predictive power — while still accounting for factors like socioeconomic status and level of practice.
Camilla Benbow, one of the researchers studying SMPY, said these tests were best used to figure out what kids are good at so that teachers can focus their attention on different areas.
Grit doesn’t overshadow early cognitive ability.
The psychologist Carol Dweck has found that successful people tend to keep what’s known as a “growth mindset” as opposed to a “fixed mindset.” They view themselves as fluid, changing beings that can adapt and grow — they are not static.
SMPY agrees with that assessment, but it also has found that the earliest signs of cognitive ability in kids can predict how well they’ll do later in life, ignoring all the practice that may or may not come in between.
With that kind of future on the line, it’s up to parents and teachers to recognize abilities early on and nurture them as much as possible.
Children only spend half their waking hours in school during the academic year.
This means that much of the rearing is still done at home.
In fact, research from North Carolina State University, Brigham Young University, and the University of California, Irvine finds that parental involvement is a more significant factor in a child’s academic success than the qualities of the school itself.
To find out just what parents can do at home to help their kids excel, we asked teachers everywhere to weigh in.
More than 40 teachers shared some great suggestions, and we included some of our favorites here:
Read together
“Read to them, read with them, and have them read to you.”
—Katie Westfield, a ninth- and 10th-grade history teacher in Boston
*Editor’s note: Encouraging good reading habits was the most popular response among the teachers we surveyed.
Have dinner together
“I think family meals are a time to catch up on each other’s lives. When kids and parents can converse about what happened during the day, the good and the bad, I think parents are able to get the best insight into their children’s lives. Constant communication is one of the many keys to success throughout life.”
—A second-grade teacher in New York City
Be a good role model
Picture: (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
“If you want them to read, be a reader first. If you want them to improve their writing skills, begin writing letters to your children. You want them to do well in math? Stop telling them you hate Math!”
—A fifth-grade teacher
Let kids experience life
“It’s not all about the books.”
—Anonymous
Have high expectations for your kids
Picture: (Getty Images)
“I know a lot of parents work hard, and I can’t ask them to spend more time with their kids because sometimes they can’t. I know some of them can’t sit down and help them with homework because either they don’t have the time or they don’t get it either.
“The best thing they can do is expect excellence from their child, because if they don’t get the A, chances are they’ll get close to it. If expectations are set at D, then they won’t try to get better than that. It’s all about setting those expectations so that your child is intrinsically motivated to do the best they can, even when you’re not around. And for some, the D is their best and that’s okay, too.”
—Jennifer, a fifth-grade teacher in North Brunswick, New Jersey
Force them to put the screens down
(Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
“I wish more parents read to their kids and encouraged them to read. I also think parents should encourage their children to go on walks, to stare at the clouds, and to play outside. Teenagers today spend almost 11+ hours in front of screens. It scares me. It’s like they don’t know how to be alone, and I worry about what it will do to independent thinking.”
—An English teacher at a private school in New York City
Don’t let them be lazy
A girl reading on her own at the Canterbury Centre (The Canterbury Centre)
“Make sure they did their homework!”
—A seventh-grade social studies teacher in New York City
Be involved
“Inevitably, the parents who come to conferences are the parents of the kids who are doing well. Some parents don’t even realize their kid is failing. They don’t respond to voicemails, they don’t check their email, they don’t come to conferences. Don’t just ask your kid how he’s doing in school, because he’ll say he’s fine and has no homework. Ask the teacher.”
—Rebecca Rosen, a ninth-grade English teacher in New York City
Work with teachers, not against them
Colombian priest Aida Soto helps her son with his homework in Bogota on March 5, 2015. Soto is one of four Latin American women priests, member of the Roman Catholic Women Priests Association (LUIS ACOSTA/Getty/AFP)
“Make sure your child knows that you and the teacher are on the same page in terms of discipline, academic success, and social and emotional health. The child shouldn’t think that the parents will save them from the teacher when they don’t make wise choices.”
—Amanda Brooks, an educational director at a New York City preschool
Encourage more diverse interaction
“Give your child exposure to different children so they learn how to play and collaborate appropriately with others. Less technology and more interaction.”
—Christina Canavan, a former fourth-grade special education teacher in Massachusetts
Trust their teacher and the education system
(Getty)
“Ask questions about what is confusing in the work instead of saying, “That’s the new way and I can’t help you.” Stay positive and be involved in the school.”
—A second-grade teacher in Middletown, New Jersey
Value education
“I wish parents modeled valuing education at home and took the onus as our partners in their child’s educational success. Many parents already do this, and their child is typically outperforming his or her peers as result.”
—Jenni Mayberry, a seventh-grade special education teacher in New York City
Have fun
“Spend time playing with them.”
—A secondary school instructor who teaches English abroad
Bring your child to school on time and pick them up on time
(PA)
“Things come up and being late once or twice is fine, but when you’re late to school four out of five days a week, or don’t pick your child up on time, your child and their peers notice. It’s awkward for them.”
—A fourth-grade teacher at a charter school
Let them fail
“… and lock up their video games and screens.”
—Anonymous
Feed and nourish their health
“Less sugar and fat, more exercise.”
—A primary-school teacher in London
See what your kids are learning about in class
(PA)
“Now with everything these days being electronic, it is so easy to see what your kids are doing in school. If you have questions on the class or assignments, email us! Come to the teachers directly before getting upset and going to administration. Administration may seem like they are in charge, but really, the teachers direct their classes and know what is going on in them. Teachers are your best source for answers about the class and your student.”
—Rachel Marquez, a sophomore English teacher in Escondido, California
Take a step back
“Let them ask me when they forget or lose something. Or help them problem solve before emailing me.”
—A fifth-grade teacher in Melrose, Massachusetts
Responses have been edited slightly for clarity.
Children with a second language are able to development more control over behaviour and attention span, study shows
Bilingual children have an advantage over others who speak only one language, a study has shown.
Children aged four and younger who speak two languages or are learning a second have more rapid improvements in inhibitory control, a study by the University of Oregon has said.
Inhibitory control is the ability to stop a hasty reflexive response in behaviour or decision-making and use higher control to react in a more adaptive way.
The study suggests that managing two languages allow for cognitive advantages extending beyond the languages themselves.
Researchers took a sample of 1,146 children who were first assessed for their inhibitory control aged four, then followed them over an 18-month period.
The children were divided into three groups: those who spoke solely English, those who spoke Spanish and English and those who spoke only Spanish at the start of the study but were fluent in both by the end.
“At the beginning of the study, the group that entered as already bilingual scored higher on a test of inhibitory control compared to the other two groups,” said the study’s lead author Jimena Santillán, a UO doctoral student in psychology at the time of the study.
Follow-up assessments came at six and 18 months with decision-making and behaviour assessed using a common pencil-tapping task, in which the participant is instructed to tap a pencil on a desk twice when the experimenter taps once, and vice-versa.
This requires the student to inhibit the impulse to imitate what the experimenter does and but do the opposite instead.
Both the bilingual group and the monolingual-to-bilingual transition group showed more rapid inhibitory control development than the group of English-only speakers.
“Inhibitory control and executive function are important skills for academic success and positive health outcomes and well-being later in life,” said Atika Khurana, the study’s co-author and a professor in the Department of Counselling Psychology and Human Services and scientist at the UO’s Prevention Science Institute.
“The development of inhibitory control occurs rapidly during the preschool years,” she said.
“Children with strong inhibitory control are better able to pay attention, follow instructions and take turns.
“This study shows one way in which environmental influences can impact the development of inhibitory control during younger years.”
Students in this study came from low socioeconomic status families, a group known to be at-risk for poorer outcomes, but also allowed the researchers to compare students from similar socioeconomic backgrounds.
Head Start may not boost school test scores, but researchers find long-term, multi-generational benefits in the program.
By The Hechinger Report, Contributor
It’s been hard to prove that attending preschool makes a difference for kids, academically. Many research studies have found that children who didn’t go to preschool catch up to those who did in just a few years. By third grade, there’s often no difference in math and reading scores between the preschooled and the non-preschooled child. Experts call it “fadeout.”
That hasn’t sat well with advocates of early childhood education. They point to other studies that have looked beyond elementary schools’ test scores, and have found that preschooled children are more likely to graduate from high school, be employed and raise families in stable marriages.
Now a pair of researchers has taken this line of research one generation further, and found that the offspring of preschooled children are living significantly better young-adult lives than the offspring of non-preschooled children. In that second generation, whose parents lived in a community that offered a free, federally funded Head Start preschool program in the 1960s, people were graduating from high school and attending college in much higher numbers, and were far less likely to be involved in crime or become a teen parent themselves.
“We wanted to ask the question of whether programs can disrupt the transmission of poverty from one generation to the other,” said Chloe Gibbs, an economist at the University of Notre Dame who presented the as-yet-unpublished paper “Breaking the Cycle? Intergenerational Effects of an Anti-Poverty Program in Early Childhood” to economists over the summer. “We think we have some strong proxies.”
The researchers said it’s too soon to conclude whether the second generation is no longer living in poverty and earning a good income. In the data examined, many of these young adults are in their twenties, still figuring out their future vocations. However, the difference in education and other outcomes associated with poverty is striking. For example, among children born to mothers without a high school diploma who lived in a Head Start community in the 1960s, 90 percent of their offspring graduated from high school and 69 percent went on to attend at least some college. By contrast, for children born to mothers without a high school diploma, but who didn’t live in a town that offered Head Start, 77 percent of their offspring graduated from high school and 52 percent went on to attend some college. That’s a 13 percentage-point difference in high school graduation and a 17 percentage-point difference in the college-going rate.
Teen parenting declined. Only 13.4 percent of the Head Start-associated second-generation became teen parents themselves, compared with 22 percent of the non-Head Start offspring. Criminal activity plummeted. Roughly 30 percent of the second generation from non-Head Start communities had been arrested, convicted or were on probation, compared with 14.4 percent from the Head Start communities.
Keep in mind that what’s driving these results is whether their parents lived in a Head Start community, not whether the second generation, themselves, attended preschool. Some did; some didn’t.
Gibbs and her co-author, Texas A&M economist Andrew Barr, conducted this study by looking at an existing Labor Department data set (NLSY79) that regularly surveyed a group of people from 1979 onward. The researchers focused on respondents born between 1960 and 1964 who were from low-income communities. Head Start was introduced in some of these communities when these people hit preschool age, and the researchers could compare outcomes of people who had the option to attend a Head Start program with those who didn’t. The demographic characteristics of the two groups are similar. The authors estimate that 50 to 80 percent of the people in their data sample actually attended a Head Start program if it was available in their community.
One question is whether the first counties to get Head Start also had other anti-poverty programs going on simultaneously that might be driving the results. But Gibbs said they had controlled for other social welfare efforts, such as community health programs, and the strong results for Head Start still persisted. Gibbs also compared sisters from the same family, some born before Head Start launched in their town and some born after, and again the multi-generational benefits of Head Start still held, she said.
Among studies that have found long-term life benefits from preschool, some studied children who went to very expensive programs, such as Perry Preschool or Abecedarian, which were difficult to replicate across the country. Head Start, by contrast, is much cheaper and was rolled out nationwide, showing that it’s possible for less intensive preschools to have lasting impacts.
Exactly what these Head Start kids learned in preschool that helped them and their children live better lives is a mystery, and requires more research.
This column was written by Jill Barshay and produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
10/04/2017
I’m seeing pregnant bellies everywhere.
It’s likely not statistically significant. Truth is, I’m navigating my first Fall without a child at home – and I’m missing them. My self-prescribed antidote is to smile broadly at pregnant women I pass on the street and happily greet stroller-bound children at coffee shops. When my enthusiasm began to straddle the line between uber-friendly and creepy, I knew I needed another remedy.
So I turned my attention to all the folks on the very-front-end of the parenting journey and how they must be feeling.
Twenty-three years ago, when the nurses told me I could bring my first son home from the hospital, I distinctly remember thinking they were nuts. Why would they send this helpless infant home with us? Where was the instruction booklet? I sat in the back and gripped the car seat as my husband drove well under the speed limit. I trembled most of the way home.
Mine remains a fairly common experience. Most new parents feel some measure of anxiety, overwhelm and bewilderment. And it’s not all self-induced. New parents are inundated with parenting information (often contradictory), well-meaning advice (always unsolicited) — and even public admonition (never welcomed).
The best way to stay parenting-steady no matter who’s offering “help” is to establish your own values to parent by. To do this, you and your partner will need to have a conversation – most likely a series of them — on the values that will govern how you raise your kids.
Here’s an analogy: If you were married within any kind of religious tradition, you likely had to meet with a spiritual advisor to be sure you and your partner were aligned on the core values that impact marriage. You likely covered topics like religion, sex, money, kids, personal ambitions and goals. After all, who wants to find out after you’re married that you and your spouse have radically opposing expectations you can’t possibly reconcile?
Aligning around parenting values takes a similar approach. By reflecting on and discussing your core parenting values in key areas, you’ll have a baseline for a crucial discussion and, eventually, a blueprint by which you can raise your family.
Of course, aligning your parenting values isn’t foolproof – nor will you and your co-parent be in lock-step on every issue. Parenting is a joint responsibility, and each parent has different tolerances. But when it comes to the big issues – as the buckets below suggest – you at least need to be walking within the same guardrails.
Principles of healthy parenting have long been studied by psychologists and academicians, and much sound advice can be found online and in books. Doing a little research and reading might be helpful. But remember – this is your family, and so it is your opinions that count.
Caution: As you and your co-parent navigate the values conversation, be aware of your experiences as children. The natural default is to want to parent exactly like or nothing like the way you were raised. Be mindful of what you want to bring forward – and the issues you’ll likely need support around.
Here are some key values buckets and thought-starter questions to jumpstart this critical conversation.
Pregnancy and birth plan
· What if you discover your child has special needs in utero?
· How do you envision the birth process? Do you have a birth plan?
· Whose decision reigns if the birth mother changes her mind about the birth plan during labor? And who will advocate for her?
Family
· In what ways will you prioritize the needs of your new family?
· Will in-laws have open-access to your home immediately after the birth and forever more?
· If you plan to use parents and relatives as babysitters, are there boundaries and rules they must agree to?
· Do your kids have to kiss or hug relatives if they aren’t comfortable?
· How will you respond to and support one another around family-of-origin triggers?
Communication
· What is your plan for handling divisive or intrusive complaints and/or recommendations by outsiders?
· Will you argue in front of the kids?
· How will you handle disagreements about parenting decisions?
· How will you decide on the division of household and childcare labor?
Discipline
· Is there a parenting style you can both align on?
· What are your respective views on spanking?
· Are there cultural considerations to discuss?
Health / Lifestyle
· Breastfeeding vs. bottle-feeding? How do you feel about formula?
· What are your positions on vaccinations?
· Will you feed your children only organic food?
· How much screen time is OK?
· What about digital safety and exposure? Will you freely post photos online?
· Do you have a position about gender-neutral clothing and toys?
Religion
· Does it matter to both of you? Neither of you?
· If only one parent cares to pass on a religious tradition, must the other parent be involved or at least outwardly supportive?
· Is religious education important?
Education
· Public or private?
· If private, what financial plans do you need to make to secure that?
· Is it important that your children interact with kids of diverse cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds?
It’s a lot to consider, I know. And clearly this is not an exhaustive list. Yet for thoughtful and intentional parents like you…these are questions worth talking about to begin the dialogue to coalesce the couple as parents. Parents who will be sharing the most important job they will ever have.
This conversation will be dynamic and ongoing. You can’t know how you will react to the challenges that lie ahead, but if you start working now on being intentional parents governed by agreed-upon values you will be better prepared!
By: JON HAMILTON
There’s new evidence that excessive screen time early in life can change the circuits in a growing brain.
Scientists disagree, though, about whether those changes are helpful, or just cause problems. Both views emerged during the Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego this week.
The debate centered on a study of young mice exposed to six hours daily of a sound and light show reminiscent of a video game. The mice showed “dramatic changes everywhere in the brain,” said Jan-Marino Ramirez, director of the Center for Integrative Brain Research at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
“Many of those changes suggest that you have a brain that is wired up at a much more baseline excited level,” Ramirez reported. “You need much more sensory stimulation to get [the brain’s] attention.”
So is that a problem?
On the plus side, it meant that these mice were able to stay calm in an environment that would have stressed out a typical mouse, Ramirez explained. But it also meant they acted like they had an attention deficit disorder, showed signs of learning problems, and were prone to risky behavior.
Overall, the results add to the evidence that parents should be very cautious about screen time for young children, Ramirez said. “I would minimize it.”
A more optimistic interpretation came from Leah Krubitzer, an evolutionary neurobiologist at the University of California, Davis. “The benefits may outweigh the negative sides to this,” Krubitzer said, adding that a less sensitive brain might thrive in a world where overstimulation is a common problem.
The debate came just weeks after the American Academy of Pediatrics relaxed its longstanding rule against any screen time for kids under two. And it reflected an evolution in our understanding of how sensory stimulation affects developing brains.
Researchers learned many decades ago that young brains need a lot of stimulation to develop normally. So, for a long time parents were encouraged to give kids as many sensory experiences as possible.
“The idea was, basically, the more you are exposed to sensory stimulation, the better you are cognitively,” Ramirez said.
Then studies began to suggest that children who spent too much time watching TV or playing video games were more likely to develop ADHD. So scientists began studying rats and mice to see whether intense audio-visual stimulation early in life really can change brain circuits.
Studies like the one Ramirez presented confirm that it can. The next question is what that means for children and screen time.
“The big question is, was our brain set up to be exposed to such a fast pace,” Ramirez said. “If you think about nature, you would run on the savanna and you would maybe once in your lifetime meet a lion.”
NEW YORK – A puzzling study of U.S. pregnancies found that women who had miscarriages between 2010 and 2012 were more likely to have had back-to-back annual flu shots that included protection against swine flu.
Vaccine experts think the results may reflect the older age and other miscarriage risks for the women, and not the flu shots. Health officials say there is no reason to change the government recommendation that all pregnant women be vaccinated against the flu. They say the flu itself is a much greater danger to women and their fetuses.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reached out to a doctor’s group, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, to warn them the study is coming out and help them prepare for a potential wave of worry from expectant moms, CDC officials said.
“I want the CDC and researchers to continue to investigate this,” said Dr. Laura Riley, a Boston-based obstetrician who leads a committee on maternal immunization. “But as an advocate for pregnant women, what I hope doesn’t happen is that people panic and stop getting vaccinated.”
Past studies have found flu vaccines are safe during pregnancy, though there’s been little research on impact of flu vaccinations given in the first three months of pregnancy.
This study focused only on miscarriages, which occur in the first 19 weeks of pregnancy and are common. As many as half of pregnancies end in miscarriage, according to a March of Dimes estimate that tries to include instances in which the miscarriage occurs before a women even realizes she was pregnant.
Flu and its complications kill thousands of Americans every year. The elderly, young children and pregnant women are especially at risk. When a new “swine flu” strain emerged in 2009, it killed 56 U.S. pregnant women that year, according to the CDC.
The study’s authors, two of whom are CDC researchers, saw a big difference when they looked at women who had miscarried within 28 days of getting a shot that included protection against swine flu, but it was only when the women also had had a flu shot the previous season.
They found 17 of 485 miscarriages they studied involved women whose vaccinations followed that pattern. Just four of a comparable 485 healthy pregnancies involved women who were vaccinated that way.
The first group also had more women who were at higher risk for miscarriage, like older moms and smokers and those with diabetes. The researchers tried to make statistical adjustments to level out some of those differences but some researchers don’t think they completely succeeded.
Other experts said they don’t believe a shot made from killed flu virus could trigger an immune system response severe enough to prompt a miscarriage. And the authors said they couldn’t rule out the possibility that exposure to swine flu itself was a factor in some miscarriages.
Two other medical journals rejected the article before a third, Vaccine, accepted it. Dr. Gregory Poland, Vaccine’s editor-in-chief, said it was a well-designed study that raised a question that shouldn’t be ignored. But he doesn’t believe flu shots caused the miscarriages. “Not at all,” said Poland, who also is director of vaccine research at the Mayo Clinic.
Though this study may cause worry and confusion, it is evidence “of just how rigorous and principled our vaccine safety monitoring system is,” said Jason Schwartz, a Yale University vaccine policy expert.
Some of the same researchers are working on a larger study looking at more recent data to see if a possible link between swine flu vaccine and miscarriage holds up, said James Donahue, a study author from the Wisconsin-based Marshfield Clinic Research Institute. The results aren’t expected until next year at the earliest, he said.
By Cassandra Szklarski The Canadian Press
TORONTO – Sarah Mulholland vividly remembers the first time her 13-month-old son called out “Mama.”
She was cooking about two months ago when little Conri began clamouring for her attention, clinging to her legs and whining until he suddenly uttered those two simple syllables that send mothers’ hearts fluttering.
“My husband was in the room and we both were like, ‘Oh my gosh, did he just say Mama?’” recalls Mulholland, adding that Conri seemed to be directing his call specifically at her.
“We both noticed it and were like, ‘Whoa!’”
But the apparent milestone evaporated as quickly as it appeared.
Conri has never said “Mama” again, even when babbling, sighs the 38-year-old Toronto resident. He now seems headed in a completely different direction.
“My husband walks in the door and he’s like, ‘Dadadadada!’,” she says.
It’s far from clear whether Conri understands what he’s saying, but that hasn’t stopped Mulholland’s husband from revelling in the attention as Mother’s Day approaches.
“I think he’s really enjoying the fact that (Conri) is probably going to say ‘Dada’ first. He’s like, ‘Oh, my time has come!’”
There’s little debate that mama and dada are often among baby’s first utterances — which usually start around the seven or eight-month mark.
But they can’t really be called words until there’s intent, and that doesn’t typically happen until after 12 months of age, says developmental psychologist Janet Werker of the University of British Columbia, who heads the school’s Infant Studies Centre.
UBC researcher Jenn Campbell cites a study conducted with kids in the United States and China that found their earliest words to be utterances for daddy, followed closely by mommy. The children were between eight and 16 months of age and came from English, Cantonese or Mandarin households.
Campbell’s own research found that babies as young as six months can understand labels for their mother and father —even though they might not utter those sounds for another month or two, or say them with intent for another six months or more.
Her study observed 40 six-month-olds who were shown video images of their parents and asked to link the words mommy and daddy — or whatever term is used in their household — to the correct parent.
From a phonetics standpoint, it’s much easier to say mama than dada, says Heather Goad, an associate professor in linguistics at Montreal’s McGill University.
Mama can be produced by doing little more than closing and opening the mouth, she explains. The D sound requires a more complicated tongue gesture.
“For P, B and M they involve both lips and you just vocalize,” says Goad, who studies language acquisition from age one onwards.
“But with T, D and N, you need to place your tongue behind the teeth or a little further back — you have to consciously make that gesture; you have to manipulate the tongue more.”
Monikers with two vowel sounds are also more complicated — mommy versus mama, or daddy versus dada, she adds.
It’s for these reasons that fathers eagerly awaiting baby’s first shout-out might want to consider going by papa instead of dada or daddy, she chuckles, noting it’s not that far off from mama.
But ease of production doesn’t necessarily mean a baby will say mama before dada.
Campbell believes they both appear with equal frequency, while Werker says there are lots of studies that suggest dada comes earlier as an actual word.
Mulholland wonders if Conri has latched on to the word dada because he might have heard it more — she spends more time with him than her husband, and encourages him to say Daddy when they see him return from work.
Another possibility is that a baby’s vocabulary is so limited they end up using dada in all sorts of inappropriate situations, says Werker.
“It certainly doesn’t mean they love Daddy more than Mommy. That’s unequivocal.”
By Rebecca Joseph National Online Journalist, Breaking News Global News
Are your child’s toys more violent than the ones you remember?
A new study from researchers in New Zealand suggests that LEGO toys have become more violent over the years.
The study, published online in the journal PLOS ONE, looked at all LEGO block sets sold since 1949, and found “significant exponential increases of violence over time.”
The inclusion of weapons started slow, they said. The first weapons included were a sword, axe and lance in a castle set in 1979.
But it spiked dramatically when the company began producing blasters to include with their Star Wars sets, introduced at around 2007.
“Creators and producers of games and movies strive to push the limits of what violent media is allowed to be released to prevent their audience from getting bored of similar content,” it reads.
“To catch the attention of their customers, toy manufacturers are similarly locked in a metaphorical arms race for exciting new products.”
While exposure to violent video games and media has been linked to an increase of aggressive behaviour and a decrease of empathy in children, the same has not been proven for an exposure to violent toys.
“In my experience as a psychiatrist, and as a parent, it really comes down to the context in which that weapon is being utilized and the guidance provided,” Dr. Shimi Kang, child psychiatrist and author of The Dolphin Parent, says.
“The parental guidance and the parental expectations are a key factor in terms of children and how they would translate weapons in their games to real life.”
But there’s another side of the issue she’s worried about. She says branded LEGO sets that include weapons, like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, are taking some of the imagination out of playtime.
“Instead of having a nameless, faceless character that can do whatever the child imagines it can do, it’s now Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader…
“Darth Vader is always going to be evil and mean. So that takes the imagination away, and it also encourages the violence… because the character is so set.”
Source: RAND Corporation
Summary: A large body of research has reported an association between the pet ownership and better health among children. But a new study that is the largest-ever to explore the issue contradicts the common thinking. Researchers did find that children from pet-owning families tended to have better general health, but those differences disappeared when factors such as family income and family housing were considered.
Contrary to popular belief, having a dog or cat in the home does not improve the mental or physical health of children, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
The findings are from the largest-ever study to explore the notion that pets can improve children’s health by increasing physical activity and improving young people’s empathy skills.
Unlike earlier smaller studies on the topic, the RAND work used advanced statistical tools to control for multiple factors that could contribute to a child’s wellbeing other than pet ownership, such as belonging to a family that has higher income or living in a more affluent setting. The results are published online by the journal Anthrozoos.
“We could not find evidence that children from families with dogs or cats are better off either in terms of their mental wellbeing or their physical health,” said Layla Parast, a co-author of the study and a statistician at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “Everyone on the research team was surprised — we all have or grew up with dogs and cats. We had essentially assumed from our own personal experiences that there was a connection.”
The study analyzed information from more than 2,200 children who lived in pet-owning households in California and compared them to about 3,000 households without a dog or cat. The information was collected as a part of the 2003 California Health Interview Survey, an annual survey that for one year also asked participants about whether they had pets, along with an array of other health questions.
Researchers did find that children from pet-owning families tended to have better general health, have slightly higher weight and were more likely to be physically active compared to children whose families did not have pets. In addition, children who had pets were more likely to have ADD/ADHD, were more likely to be obedient and were less likely to have parents concerned about their child’s feelings, mood, behavior and learning ability.
But when researchers adjusted the findings to account for other variables that might be associated with both the likelihood that a family has a pet and the child’s health, the association between pet ownership and better health disappeared. Overall, researchers considered more than 100 variables in adjusting their model of pet ownership and health, including family income, language skills, and type of family housing.
While many previous studies have suggested a link between pet ownership and better emotional and physical health, RAND researchers say their analysis has more credibility because it analyzed a larger sample than previous efforts.
Researchers say the future research could examine associations involving pet ownership over longer periods of time and in more experimental settings.
The ultimate test of the pet-health hypothesis would require a randomized trial where some people are given pets and others are not, with the groups being followed for 10 to 15 years to see if there are differences in their health outcomes.
“Such a study would likely be too costly and/or infeasible to implement, and I’m afraid it’s not likely to be funded by anybody,” Parast said.
Story Source:
Materials provided by RAND Corporation. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
University of Southern California Testosterone levels
Testosterone levels are key factors in a family’s health and happiness after a newborn arrives. Researchers have found that a drop can signal postpartum depression in dad, and a spike may be a sign of aggression.
Postpartum depression is often associated with mothers, but a new study shows that fathers face a higher risk of experiencing it themselves if their testosterone levels drop nine months after their children are born.
The same study revealed that a father’s low testosterone may also affect his partner — but in an unexpectedly positive way. Women whose partners had lower levels of testosterone postpartum reported fewer symptoms of depression themselves nine and 15 months after birth.
High testosterone levels had the opposite effect. Fathers whose levels spiked faced a greater risk of experiencing stress due to parenting and a greater risk of acting hostile- such as showing emotional, verbal or physical aggression — toward their partners.
The study was published in the journal Hormones and Behavior on Sept. 1. The findings support prior studies that show men have biological responses to fatherhood, said Darby Saxbe, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of psychology at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
“We often think of motherhood as biologically driven because many mothers have biological connections to their babies through breastfeeding and pregnancy,” Saxbe said. “We don’t usually think of fatherhood in the same biological terms. We are still figuring out the biology of what makes dads tick.
“We know that fathers contribute a lot to child-rearing and that on the whole, kids do better if they are raised in households with a father present,” she added. “So, it is important to figure out how to support fathers and what factors explain why some fathers are very involved in raising their children while some are absent.”
Saxbe worked with a team of researchers from USC, University of California at Los Angeles and Northwestern University.
A snapshot of paternal postpartum depression
For the study, the researchers examined data from 149 couples in the Community Child Health Research Network. The study by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development involves sites across the country, but the data for this study came from Lake County, Illinois, north of Chicago.
Mothers in the study were 18 to 40 years old; African-American, white or Latina; and low-income. They were recruited when they gave birth to their first, second or third child. Mothers could invite the baby’s father to participate in the study as well. Of the fathers who participated and provided testosterone data, 95 percent were living with the mothers.
Interviewers visited couples three times in the first two years after birth: around two months after the child was born, about nine months after birth and about 15 months after birth.
At the nine-month visit, researchers gave the fathers saliva sample kits. Dads took samples three times a day — morning, midday and evening — to monitor their testosterone levels.
Participants responded to questions about depressive symptoms based on a widely-used measure, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression. They also reported on their relationship satisfaction, parenting stress and whether they were experiencing any intimate partner aggression. Higher scores on those measures signaled greater depression, more stress, more dissatisfaction and greater aggression.
Relatively few participants — fathers and mothers — were identified as clinically depressed, which is typical of a community sample that reflects the general population. Instead of using clinical diagnoses, the researchers looked at the number of depressive symptoms endorsed by each participant.
Men’s testosterone levels were linked with both their own and their partners’ depressive symptoms — but in opposing directions for men and for women.
For example, lower testosterone was associated with more symptoms in dads, but fewer symptoms in moms. The link between their partners’ testosterone levels and their own depression was mediated by relationship satisfaction. If they were paired with lower-testosterone partners, women reported greater satisfaction with their relationship, which in turn helped reduce their depressive symptoms.
“It may be that the fathers with lower testosterone were spending more time caring for the baby or that they had hormone profiles that were more synced up with mothers,” she said. “For mothers, we know that social support buffers the risk of postpartum depression.”
Fathers with higher testosterone levels reported more parenting stress, and their partners reported more relationship aggression.
To measure parenting stress, parents were asked how strongly they related to a set of 36 items from the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form. They responded to statements such as “I feel trapped by my responsibilities as a parent” and “My child makes more demands on me than most children.” A high number of “yes” responses signaled stress.
Relationship satisfaction questions were based on another widely-used tool, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Parents responded to 32 items inquiring about their relationship satisfaction, including areas of disagreement or their degree of closeness and affection. Higher scores signaled greater dissatisfaction.
Mothers also answered questions from another scientific questionnaire, the HITS (Hurts, Insults, and Threats Scale), reporting whether they had experienced any physical hurt, insult, threats and screaming over the past year. They also were asked if their partners restricted activities such as spending money, visiting family or friends or going places that they needed to go.
“Those are risk factors that can contribute to depression over the long term,” Saxbe said.
Treating fathers with postpartum depression
Although doctors may try to address postpartum depression in fathers by providing testosterone supplements, Saxbe said that the study’s findings indicate a boost could worsen the family’s stress.
“One take-away from this study is that supplementing is not a good idea for treating fathers with postpartum depression,” she said. “Low testosterone during the postpartum period may be a normal and natural adaptation to parenthood.”
She said studies have shown that physical fitness and adequate sleep can improve both mood and help balance hormone levels.
In addition, both mothers and fathers should be aware of the signs of postpartum depression and be willing to seek support and care, Saxbe said. Talk therapy can help dads — or moms — gain insight into their emotions and find better strategies for managing their moods.
“We tend to think of postpartum depression as a mom thing,” Saxbe said. “It’s not. It’s a real condition that might be linked to hormones and biology.”
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Southern California. Original written by Emily Gersema. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Christina’s sister was 28 when she was formally diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, though Christina, who asked that we not use her last name to protect her family’s privacy, says there had been signs of the disorder for years.
Beginning in her teens, Christina’s sister, now 30, struggled with eating disorders, self-harm, addiction and suicide attempts, and her family often felt they had to “walk on eggshells” around her to avoid triggering a change in mood.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, BPD is a mental illness that causes mood and behavioral instability, which can lead to impulsive decision-making and unstable relationships. Episodes of anger, depression and anxiety are common, too, as well as the behaviors exhibited by Christina’s sister.
But Christina plays a vital role in her sister’s well-being, acting as her confidante and emergency contact, and offering her compassion where others might not.
“She doesn’t have a very large support network, since she tends to lose relationships or cut people off. She knows I am always there for her, whether we are on speaking terms or not,” Christina says.
“One of the toughest moments was when she sent me a goodbye email at 1 a.m., saying that she had taken a bottle of pills and was calling it quits. I had to call the ambulance and race over to her place just in time to help her. It’s an experience I wish upon no one and I never like when the thought ‘What if I hadn’t been awake when she sent that email?’ comes into my mind.”
Acting as that safety net often falls to siblings. A 2008 study of individuals with schizophrenia found that the vast majority were unmarried and therefore didn’t have partners to care for them. Since parental support can’t last forever, most schizophrenics in the study turned to their siblings for help; the same is true for people with other types of mental illnesses. Considering about 1 in 5 Americans will experience mental illness in any given year, plenty of siblings will be called on to provide support.
Rebecca Chamaa, a 51-year-old San Diego-based writer who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, says she receives support from her three brothers, and that is vital to her well-being. Doctors help to manage medications, their side effects, therapy and treatment for major episodes, but many conditions require a different kind of help: compassionate daily support.
Chamaa’s illness often manifests as paranoid thoughts about food, she explained. She may think it’s poisoned, spoiled or otherwise inedible. Because her brothers understand where she’s coming from, they are often able to convince her that her food is safe to eat, she explained.
Chamaa says being mentally ill can be scary and exhausting, and that you can suffer from a lack of motivation. So to siblings of those with mental illnesses who want to provide support but might be having a tough time, Chamaa recommends trying to understand or educate yourself about the symptoms of your sibling’s mental illness “so that you’re not frustrated.”
Christina says that she’s delved deep into BPD research, doing exactly what Chamaa describes, and it’s helped her support her sister. Experts agree that fully understanding a family member’s diagnosis can help those in a caretaking role to be more compassionate.
With that in mind, we spoke to a few experts to find out what it takes to support a sibling with a mental illness — and how to take care of yourself along the way:
1. Keep an open dialogue about mental health, and understand your sibling’s symptoms.
Chamaa says after she revealed her paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis to her extended family, they were kinder about certain behaviors of hers that seemed “odd,” like having to leave an event abruptly to lay down and sleep (a side effect of her medication). “I had more leeway to be myself,” she says. An open dialogue about her mental illness helped her family to provide her better support.
Florence Leighton, a psychiatric nurse practitioner based in New York, adds that understanding your sibling’s diagnosis and why certain behaviors occur is an important part of being compassionate.
“If an incident takes place, this does not mean a sibling is a bad person; they are merely struggling in the management of their condition,” she says. “By normalizing behaviors and separating the person from their actions, siblings can be incredibly understanding and decrease the guilt and shame a person feels after an incident.“
2. Check in on a sibling who is isolating.
As Chamaa describes above, people with mental illnesses can sometimes lack motivation, so things like getting out of bed, showering, changing clothes and leaving the house can feel impossible. That’s why Chicago-based psychotherapist Carolyn Cole recommends checking in on your sibling if they’ve begun to isolate themselves.
3. Try not to get frustrated or angry about mental health symptoms.
Behaviors associated with mental illness can become frustrating for caregivers, but it’s important to separate your sibling from their illness and remember that they’re not always in control of their behaviors. Cole says it’s critical to remember that mental illness is not someone’s fault, and that it’s much more than just “feeling sad.”
“I hear frustration often from clients who say family members will tell them to ‘Get over it,’ ‘Snap out of it’ or ‘Think happy thoughts,‘” she says. “Sometimes asking ‘How can I help?’ or ‘What do you need from me right now?’ [instead] can be really supportive.“
If your sibling has a crisis while you’re out together, though, Cole says it’s important to try to de-escalate the situation.
“Be aware of your tone with your sibling, too, as harsh tones can escalate things,” she notes. “If things ever get extremely out of control, especially where safety is a concern, 911 is always an option. You can ask for a CIT [crisis intervention team] officer who is trained to work with someone experiencing a psychiatric crisis.“
4. Let go of your expectations.
Part of the reason learning about your sibling’s illness is so helpful is that it allows you to let go of expectations around how your sibling “should” behave according to social standards. Kristen Bomas, a therapist, author and speaker based in South Florida, notes that holding onto expectations — and wanting your mentally ill sibling to comply — creates stress in your relationship and can exacerbate your sibling’s symptoms.
“Expectations are laden in external influences. External influences are laden with judgment,” she explains. “Therefore, the siblings cannot grow a compassionate relationship” when expectations are present.
5. Young children can be supportive, too.
Conditions such as ADHD, anxiety, depression and autism are often a part of childhood, too. If you’re a parent of both a mentally ill child and a child without mental illness, talk to the latter about their sibling’s condition using words that are simple and age-appropriate.
“Some ideas of things to say could include, ‘Your sister has an illness that means that her brain sometimes has trouble with certain things. It’s not something that you can catch, and it’s something that we are working on with her doctors to help her feel better,’“ suggests Eleanor Mackey, a psychologist at Children’s National Health System.
She adds that parents should make special time for their children without mental illness and provide them with resources, since they may be growing up in an intense or stressful environment.
Still, parents can foster a family culture of understanding by directing such children to express love or support for their mentally ill siblings in developmentally appropriate ways. Mackey recommends having a child write a letter or draw a picture for their sibling to let them know they care, or suggesting the child bring their mentally ill sibling a favorite toy, or playing music the sibling likes, to provide comfort.
She adds, “Empathy from a sibling and the whole family is a powerful force for a child with a mental illness.“
6. Take care of yourself.
Because of incidents related to her sister’s BPD, Christina suffers from her own symptoms of anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, and is in counseling to cope with the effects of having to keep her sister from taking her own life, among other things. She recommends others with mentally ill siblings seek out the same treatment.
“I’ve … recently identified, with the help of a counselor, that I experience feelings similar to that of mourning. I mourn the life I wish my sister could have if her mental illness weren’t so debilitating for her. I have a hard time feeling 100 percent good about the happiness in my personal life, knowing that she isn’t experiencing the same,” she says. “I definitely suggest finding support groups and doing personal counseling [or] therapy.“
7. Set boundaries.
Cole notes that while siblings may feel guilty at first about setting boundaries, it’s a necessary part of your caregiving role. Without boundaries, limits and self-care, you may become angry at or resentful of your siblings — and that’s helpful to no one.
“Define ‘crisis’ with your sibling (i.e. fire, locked out of apartment, feeling suicidal, etc.) so you both are clear on what a crisis means, how they will let you know it’s a crisis vs. just calling to talk, and who the sibling could call if they cannot get in touch with you at that time,” she recommends.
Leighton adds that seeking out community resources, such as case management, transportation and day programs for your sibling “can help alleviate some burden associated with managing a sibling with mental illness.”
Siblings can also seek out support through the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which offers support groups for family members of those with mental illnesses.
By: Carrie Madormo
I’m just going to put it out there. I absolutely adore our pediatrician. He is kind, patient, and always reminds me that I’m doing a better job at this parenting thing than I thought. But as much as I respect and appreciate him, he can’t do it all alone.
Our kids are amazing, complicated creatures, and our pediatricians simply cannot detect and manage every single change that comes up. For many conditions, pediatricians rely on the expertise of pediatric specialists or observations of parents to get the whole picture. Here are just a few of the areas where your pediatrician needs your eyes and ears to help take the best care of your child.
The best ways to support breastfeeding
Breastfeeding your baby sounds like one of the most natural things you could ever do. However, getting the hang of it can feel like anything but natural. Having a successful breastfeeding experience requires skilled support from those around you, and while your pediatrician can help determine if your baby is receiving enough milk, there are more specialized providers who can better support you.
“Generally speaking, pediatricians get little to no training in breastfeeding and even appropriate infant feeding for all babies,” private lactation consultant Leigh Anne O’Connor told me. “Many babies with feeding issues are literally tongue tied, and there is often denial about this condition in the medical world.” If you have questions about breastfeeding, talk with your pediatrician about connecting with a certified lactation consultant.
Screening for vision problems
According to the American Optometric Association (AOA), pediatric eye health is a significant public health concern these days. Far too many children are not being diagnosed with their vision problems, something we all need to be aware of. Pediatricians alone cannot be responsible, because these vision problems are more common than you’d think. One in five children in preschool has vision problems. One in four school-age children wear glasses or need some kind of corrective eye wear.
“If you can catch certain eye conditions and diseases early, in the course of their lives, you can really change children’s lives,” Diane Adamczyk, O.D. said in a press release, on the AOA’s site. “If a child isn’t functioning well visually, it can impact his or her performance in school. It can impact his or her behavior, future goals, and the kind of work he or she will do as an adult.”
The association recommends all children receive an annual in-person eye exam. “What becomes critically important in children is the impact eye care and vision health can have on how well they function in their lives,” Dr. Adamczyk, explained. “If this guideline heightens the awareness of getting children’s eyes checked, we’ve accomplished our purpose.” Be on the lookout for any vision problems in your child and always discuss any concerns with your pediatrician and optometrist.
If the sweating is normal
Have you ever noticed that little kids are always sweaty? They never stop moving, so it makes sense, but how can you tell if the sweating has surpassed normal kid excitement and crossed over into an actual chronic condition? Surprisingly, many children suffer from excessive sweating, and the diagnosis is often overlooked. About 2.1 percent of American children (over one million kids) experience excessive sweating or hyperhidrosis. That is no small number, so it’s crucial for us as parents to be on the lookout and report any unusual or new symptoms to our child’s pediatrician.
According to the International Hyperhidrosis Society (IHS), hyperhidrosis is the skin condition most likely to affect our quality of life. Because of this, treatment can significantly increase quality of life. “When hyperhidrosis is caught early,” Dr. David Pariser told the IHS, “The life of a young person can be literally changed.” The sooner you bring the issue to your doctor, the sooner your child can start feeling better.
If your picky eater is normal
As the parent to two little ones, I can attest to how frustrating picky eating is. Some days corn is okay, others, it’s not. No two foods can be touching each other. Oh, and of course green vegetables are unacceptable. However, I have trouble deciding if this pickiness is just a normal phase or something that needs to be addressed.
“Parents want to know exactly what they need to do, but often get only general information rather than do-able, practical tips,” pediatric speech language pathologist, feeding specialist, and co-author of Raising a Healthy Happy Eater, Melanie Potock, told me. “The common advice is ‘He’ll grow out of it!’ but studies show that’s not often the case. Research shows that at least one in four children will develop a feeding disorder (not an eating disorder) where their parents end up struggling and worried about their child’s nutritional health.”
If you are concerned, a referral to a feeding specialist could help. “Early intervention and parent education is key to ensure that kids don’t end up in the chicken nugget rut. In fact, CBS News just reported that a recent study found that American toddlers are more likely to eat French fries than green vegetables on any given day,” explained Potock. “In contrast, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends serving vegetables at every meal, but specifics on how to do that are rarely offered to parents from pediatricians.”
How to manage behavioral problems
If you’ve had concerns about your child’s behavior, your pediatrician is a great place to start. Pediatricians are trained in recognizing behavioral issues, but treating them is another story. Many pediatricians don’t feel that they have the time or expertise to manage the medications required for certain behavioral problems.
“Pediatricians need more education in managing the medications patients take for behavioral and attention issues,” Pediatrician S. Daniel Ganjian told me. “Often times, they will refer patients to a developmental pediatrician or psychiatrist.”
How to address obesity
Pediatric obesity is not a new concept, but it is still a challenge to treat. Just bringing up the subject to parents can be tricky. That is why pediatricians need a dedicated team to assist them. “I work with a lot of pediatricians, and I think they are lovely and so knowledgeable,” pediatric dietitian Pegah Jalali told me. “I do think that most doctors do not learn enough about nutrition in medical school. I believe strongly in interdisciplinary health care, and that you need physicians, dietitians, social workers, physical therapists, and nurses to work together.”
While your physician may be the one to recognize the problem, she will need the support of a team to develop a treatment plan. “I always think of the pediatricians as the captain of the ship, but if the pediatrician recognizes a problem which they are unable to treat, they can refer to a care provider,” said Jalali. “The American Academy of Pediatrics is fantastic and provides pediatricians with knowledge on how to identify nutrition issues such as [being] overweight, and obesity. Unfortunately though, due to limited appointment times, difficult to broach topics such as obesity, and a lack of resources, nutrition issues are often overlooked.”
Early signs of autism
Pediatricians are masters at detecting autism. When my husband casually mentioned to our pediatrician that our toddler hates the sound of our blender, it led to an in-depth conversation about sensory issues and what other signs to watch for. However, autism can sometimes be misdiagnosed, and that leads to a lack or delay in treatment.
A recent study found that many children with autism were being misdiagnosed as having ADHD, instead. For autistic children diagnosed with ADHD, it took an extra three years for them to reach an autism diagnosis. “It’s been shown the earlier that you implement these therapies for autism, the better children do in terms of outcomes,” Dr. Amir Miodovnik, a developmental pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital, told CBS News. “Three years is a significant amount of time for the kids to not be receiving therapy.” In fact, Dr. Miodovnik’s study found that the children who had been diagnosed with ADHD first, were 30 times more likely to not receive an autism diagnosis until after their 6th birthday.
Once a child has a diagnosis that fits most of his symptoms, it can be hard for practitioners to see past it. “There is a tendency that once a patient has a diagnosis, because they have a number of symptoms that fit that diagnosis, clinicians can develop a bit of tunnel vision where some other findings might be overlooked,” Dr. Miodovnik told the Child Mind Institute.
When to diagnose ADHD
In addition to autism, ADHD is another condition that pediatricians must be very familiar with. However, the diagnosis wires can get crossed here as well. Some children who are simply a tad immature for their age can wind up with an ADHD diagnosis. If your child has been having difficulty concentrating in school, be sure to talk with your pediatrician about the possibility of other factors.
Oftentimes it’s the youngest children in the daycare or school receiving the ADHD diagnoses. A study in the Journal of Pediatrics found that the younger children in class are significantly more likely to receive an ADHD diagnosis than the older ones. “If a child is behaving poorly, if he’s inattentive, if he can’t sit still, it may simply be because he’s 5 and the other kids are 6,” researcher Todd Elder told the Child Mind Institute. “Teachers and medical practitioners need to take that into account when evaluating whether children have ADHD.”
There may also be some situational factors at play. “Some children starting kindergarten might have a difficult time,” clinical psychologist, Matthew Rouse, also told the Child Mind Institute. “It might be the first time the child has been in a setting with so many other kids around, and the first time taking direction from people not his parents.” The more information you can give your pediatrician about what is going on at home and at school, the better equipped she is to make the right diagnosis.
If your child has experienced trauma
So to recap, autism can sometimes be mistaken for ADHD, and immaturity can also be diagnosed as ADHD. But here’s another condition masquerading as an attention problem. A child’s behavior after experiencing trauma can mimic ADHD signs and symptoms. Too often children who have suffered trauma are diagnosed with — and medicated for — an attention disorder.
Pediatrician Nicole Brown told the Atlantic that she noticed many children she was seeing were being diagnosed with ADHD, but it didn’t quite fit. “We need to think more carefully about screening for trauma and designing a more trauma-informed treatment plan,” she said.
The first issue is that it’s hard to detect and address trauma in such a short window. “In our 15-minute visits — maybe 30 minutes at the most — we don’t really have the time to go deeper,” Dr. Brown told the Atlantic. “You may have had this social history that you took in the beginning, but unless the parent opens up and shares more about what’s going on in the home, we often don’t have the opportunity or think to connect the two.”
Work with a team
You may have noticed a common theme when it comes to missing a pediatric diagnosis. Pediatricians are short on time these days. You can blame it on insurance reimbursement rates, overbooking patients, or a number of other factors, but the bottom line is that your pediatrician does not have a ton of time. For this reason, it may be beneficial to see another health discipline who has the freedom to spend more time with your child.
“Like physicians who specialize in this area, [physician assistants] in pediatrics understand that children are not just little adults. Infants, children, and adolescents present with different illnesses [than] adults,” certified physician assistant, Marisa Rodriguez, wrote in Psychiatric Times.
She says, “There are varying approaches and holding techniques, developmental issues, and vaccination schedules to know thoroughly. Equally important, pediatric PAs must know how to best relate with worried and curious parents and caregivers. We complement physicians and allow children to have greater access to quality medical care.” Ask your pediatrician if she works with physician assistants or nurse practitioners, to take advantage of an entire medical team focused on your child.
How parents can participate in care
Relying on our pediatrician to know everything about our children feels comforting, but is simply not possible. Pediatricians need us parents to step up and own our roles as important members of the medical team.
“The physician sometimes has a limited amount of time with a patient and therefore does not have enough time to determine everything that is affecting the child. Bring up any concerns with your pediatrician, especially about suboptimal behavior, eating issues, developmental concerns, anxiety, depression, and drug-use. In order to make an accurate diagnosis, the pediatrician often times will ask about eating habits, stressors in the family, bullying, and school performance,” Dr. Ganjian advised me.
He continued, “As your child gets older, don’t be surprised if your pediatrician asks you, the parent, to step outside in order to be able to have a more candid interview with your child. Often times, children reveal more things to the doctor than to their parents, because they know that the doctor won’t yell at them or punish them.”
By: Daniela Uslan
Bullies make easy villains. From Biff in Back to the Future to the Plastics in Mean Girls, everyone loves to hate them.
But bullies don’t start out that way. They turn to bullying because they lack self-esteem, feel powerless, and ache for attention. And, as much as the media focuses on the harm done to victims of bullying, the bullies themselves also face negative repercussions. In an interview, Jodi J. De Luca, Ph.D., licensed clinical psychologist at Erie Colorado Counseling, told me, “Bullying significantly impacts the emotional, psychological, and physical health of all those involved — including the bully. The consequences of being a bully are long-term. The academic, social, and overall well-being of bullies are negatively affected.”
The first step to stopping bullying behavior is facing and addressing the painful truth that your child might be a bully. If you notice some of these common signs, it may be time to step in and get help for your child and stop the behavior.
Your child makes fun of other children
Do you notice your child frequently making fun of other children? While making fun of others is often just a part of growing up, sometimes it points to a deeper issue. “Does the child focus on differences to pick on? Do they encourage others to join in their ridicule? Do they label or call other children names? It is important to notice if these behaviors are usual for this child; every child slips up now and then, but the bully is always trying to make himself look bigger, stronger, more popular by putting other kids down,” Marianne Clyde, the owner of the Marianne Clyde Center for Holistic Psychotherapy, told me in an interview.
If your child seems to spend a lot of time insulting others and tearing them down, it could be a sign that your child is a bully. In this case, it’s not the playful banter that many children engage in. It’s hurtful language that makes other kids feel bad and inferior.
Carole Lieberman, M.D., psychiatrist and bestselling author, agreed. She added, “If your child calls other kids names in order to order them around and get them to do things — such as to get them a cookie or give them their homework — these are signs of being a bully.”
Your child keeps getting into trouble at school
Children who act like bullies often have trouble following the rules at school. Do you find yourself dreading school pick up time as you brace yourself for yet another uncomfortable conversation with your child’s teacher? If you hear about your child getting into trouble on a regular basis, they might be bullying other children.
Bullies typically have difficulty listening to authority and struggle with building friendships, two reasons they are likely to get in trouble. Bruce Cameron, M.S., LPC-S, LSOTP PA, a licensed counselor and former federal prison therapist who works with bullies in his private practice, told me that a child may be a bully if “there is a failure to submit to authority and a failure to have several meaningful peer relationships.”
Mayra Mendez, Ph.D., LMFT, a licensed psychotherapist and program coordinator for intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental health services at Providence Saint John’s Child and Family Development Center in Santa Monica, Calif., suggested a few more reasons bullies have a hard time behaving in school. “The child has difficulty when they don’t get what they want, when they are not first or identified as the winner or the best. Behavioral challenges may also include impulsivity and thoughtless reactivity to perceived slights.”
Children must be able to hear the word “no” in order to do well in school and to act gracefully when they don’t come in first — something I know well as a former third-grade teacher. If you notice your child struggling to get through the day at school without getting in trouble, keep your eyes open for other bullying behaviors.
Your child hangs out with bullies
What do you think of your child’s friends? Are they nice kids? Do they seem to get along well together? If you think your child’s friends act like bullies, chances are your child is a bully as well.
Jennifer Freed, Ph.D., cofounder of AHA! (Attitude.Harmony.Acheivement.), a non-profit organization dedicated to combating bullying in schools, told me that bullies tend to “associate with other youth who seem quite belligerent, blaming, and negative. Conversations with friends are about who is bad, who is to blame, and their sense of social superiority. “
Cameron agreed, and added that if your child is a bully, “your kid’s friends are also aggressive and mean to others. Water seeks its own level. So true in the bully sphere.”
Your child excludes other children
Often, bullies target people who are different from them, using their differences to shame them or tear them down. Just as you pay attention to the children your child hangs out with, also notice the kids they avoid. Are they excluding specific kids?
Dr. Mendez suggested that often bullies don’t know how to deal with differences. “Such children may lack a foundation of acceptance of differences and engage in exclusionary behaviors, casting out others whom the child perceives as unworthy because of race, nationality, ability levels, or physical appearance,” she told me.
Clyde agreed, and asked, “Is your child being inclusive or exclusive? Are they actively inviting kids over but turning down a couple names that used to be included?” Make sure that you teach your child to include others. It’s likely that they are learning their behavior from you, so model the way you want them to treat others.
Clyde had this advice for parents who think their children might be bullies: “The best thing to do is to take the child aside, look him in the eye with compassion, and ask him what’s going on. Affirm that you understand that is not who he really is and it’s not his character to act that way. Offer him a safe place to talk about whatever is causing stress in his life and then teach him new coping skills that are more in line with his true character.”
Your child is obsessed with being popular
To be fair, many kids obsess about being popular, especially in middle school. I remember having long conversations with my best friends in which we dissected everything the “popular group” did. But bullies take their feelings of inadequacy and insecurity out on others in an attempt to bolster their own popularity.
“The child could be feeling insecure and is choosing to pick on someone who seems weaker in some way in order to make themselves feel important, popular, or in control,” Krystal Rogers-Nelson, parenting and child safety expert at A Secure Life, told me in an interview.
Even if your child isn’t the instigator, their desire to be popular may encourage them to join in when others are bullying their peers. Barron Whithead of Agora Cyber Charter School told me, “Children may be obsessed with trying to ‘fit in’ and being part of the popular crowd. They could follow their peers with bullying others in the cafeteria or online chat rooms by saying hurtful things to their classmates.”
Unfortunately, popularity can sometimes equate to cruelty. If you’ve ever seen Mean Girls, you know what I mean. Cameron described the behavior like this: “Your kid will do anything to be popular. They will try to attract other popular kids that may be brash in their delivery. They constantly talk down to other kids and spend time with each other bad mouthing other kids and putting them down.”
Your child acts aggressively toward others
Aggression is one of the most common traits found in bullies. Examples of aggression include fighting with you or other family members, refusing to take responsibility for themselves, lashing out, and destroying things.
Dr. Mendez gave me these examples of aggressive behavior: picking fights with peers, demonstrating cruel behaviors towards animals, intentionally destroying others’ property, and spreading gossip, whether cruel or fabricated, about others that results in emotional injury to others.”
Your child may not be aggressive physically, but pay attention to their language as well. Dr. Freed told me that bullies “act more aggressively at home and are not discussing their social life. They are using derogatory and disrespectful language. They talk back more and put other people down frequently.” Words can be just as painful as actions, so make sure to let your child know what language is and isn’t acceptable.
Keep in mind that often, your child’s aggressive behavior and language may indicate that they don’t know how to act in a more respectful manner. Rogers-Nelson recommended taking action to help your child learn how to respond to negative emotions differently. “The child most likely has a pattern of defiant or aggressive behavior and will require assistance in learning how to manage strong emotions,” she told me. “They could also suffer from mental health issues or learning disabilities.”
Your child shows a lack of empathy
When a child is empathetic, they understand how other children and adults feel. But bullies often seem to enjoy seeing other people suffer. They may even inflict pain on others in an attempt to feel better about themselves.
This lack of empathy can show up even in young children. Dr. Lieberman told me, “If your child grabs toys away from other kids and doesn’t care whether this makes them cry, this is typical bully behavior. Though sometimes your child may do this because they want to play with this toy, many times it is just to show the other child who’s boss.”
Most of the time, your child will be able to learn how to empathize with others if you give them the right support. Rogers-Nelson told me, “If they have a hard time managing emotions, don’t understand how to resolve conflicts or they don’t understand why bullying is hurtful, a counselor or child therapist can help them understand where their feelings are coming from, how to develop empathy and teach them strategies to manage emotions and resolve conflicts in a positive way.”
Your child withdraws from you
Often, your child won’t want you to know about their bullying activities, and they will isolate themselves from you and other people in your family. If you notice that they’re spending even more time alone in their room than usual, find out what’s going on.
Dr. Freed told me that bullies will often avoid connecting with their parents, noting, “They are zoned out on devices and seem sullen, withdrawn, and irritable most of the time. When you try and have quality time with them they pull away and won’t let you know anything about them.”
When your child isolates themselves, it’s even more difficult to reach out and get them the help they need. Remember, they are withdrawing in order to nurse difficult emotions. If your child won’t open up and tell you what’s going on, you can investigate in other ways.
Dr. Freed suggested, “If you suspect your child is bullying others, do some fact finding and consult other adults and school folks to see if your intuition is correct. Children rarely admit to bullying so it is important to have the facts. Once you have the facts, it’s time to call in trained professionals to help you and your child unpack the reasons this behavior has started and to quash it as quickly as possible. Youth need support to understand the unprocessed pain that originated their bullying and learn functional ways to manage their feelings.”
Why do children bully?
Children who bully others aren’t bad people. They’re often reacting to feelings of insecurity, powerlessness, or frustration. Whithead told me, “Children may bully others because of low self-esteem or insecurities. They also may want to follow along with other classmates who are bullies so they feel like they are part of group. Sometimes when they feel powerless, it may cause them to act out aggressively.”
Children learn how to act by observing others. “They could have adults in their lives that are modeling bullying behavior. This could be a parent, teacher, coach, or other adult,” Rogers-Nelson told me.
Unfortunately, many children turn to bullying when they are bullied themselves. Dr. Lieberman added, “If they are being abused and feel helpless to stop the abuse, they then identify with the abuser and start bullying other kids to feel more powerful themselves. You need to check out whether their older siblings may be bullying them.”
What can you do if you think your child is a bully?
If you think your child might be a bully, first find out what’s going on. Then take action to help your child learn how to behave appropriately. This may begin with looking at your own behavior and intentionally modeling positive, compassionate action. Clyde put it this way: “If you suspect that your child is a bully, the worst thing a parent can do is try to bully or humiliate the child. If that is the first go-to technique of a parent, chances are that the parent needs to take a closer look at himself. Children learn what they live, and more is caught than taught.”
She gave me a number of suggestions for helping your child become more giving toward others. “Teach him ways to share or show compassion by visiting a food pantry with a donation, giving away good used toys to needy children; and finally, help him figure out a way to strengthen his own sense of value by helping him create something of value like a painting or a fort or writing a book, or having a lemonade stand or a vegetable stand where he can earn money to give a portion to others,” she said.
In addition to modeling positive behavior, also make sure your child knows that bullying is not okay and give consequences for their behavior. “Effective consequences could include: writing a story about the effects of bullying or benefits of teamwork, role-playing a scenario or making a presentation about the importance of respecting others to their class, writing an apology letter to the child who was bullied, or making posters about cyber-bullying for their school,” Rogers-Nelson suggested.If you think your child might be a bully, first find out what’s going on. Then take action to help your child learn how to behave appropriately.
Remember that children are loving at their core
Even if your child is acting like a bully right now, it doesn’t mean they will be a bully forever. You have the power as their parent to stop the behavior and teach them empathy. Clyde told me that bullies will change their behavior “if they have someone compassionate listening to them and understanding that that’s not who they are at their core. At their core, they’re loving and kind and creative and generous, and that’s when they’re most happy, and that’s what we have to tap into.”
by SHAMARD CHARLES, M.D.
Cheyenne Cameron knew something was wrong. It wasn’t just jitters before the start of her freshman year of high school. She felt dizzy, her heart was racing — she didn’t “feel right.”
“I felt like a car was sitting on my chest,” Cheyenne, 16, told NBC News. “Like a heavy chest pressure, and I was lightheaded. I felt horrible. I was helpless.”
The culprit? Hypertension, or high blood pressure — a condition more commonly associated with older folks.
Hypertension among teenagers and children appears to be on the rise. New guidelines released Monday encourage doctors to be on the lookout for signs of the condition in their young patients. The guidelines note that doctors miss the signs far too often — up to 75 percent of the time. (The guidelines were last updated in 2004.)
High Blood Pressure in at Least 2 Million American Children, Teens Play Facebook Twitter Embed
High Blood Pressure in at Least 2 Million American Children, Teens 1:21
“We have seen an increase in children’s blood pressure over the last decade or so,” said Dr. Joshua Samuels, a professor of pediatrics at the McGovern Medical School at UT Health in Houston, Texas. “That’s probably related to the obesity epidemic that we’re seeing in children, but that doesn’t completely explain the increase in blood pressure that we’re seeing.”
The new guidelines, published in the journal Pediatrics, estimate that 3.5 percent of young people have hypertension — an increase from past estimates of 1 to 2 percent. Hypertension now ranks in the top five chronic diseases for adolescents and children.
Related: Schools Rethink Lunch Policies That Humiliate Kids
The 20-person committee developed new guidelines after reviewing nearly 15,000 articles on the proper diagnosis, evaluation, and management of hypertension in kids and teenagers. The guidelines include a renewed focus on routine checks and tests so doctors can spot the potentially dangerous signs before hypertension takes hold.
The Silent Killer
Cheyenne, a perfectly healthy teen before she started experiencing hypertension, played softball and hoped to join the local fire department. She also struggled with maintaining a healthy weight. When she got sick, she worried she’d be sidelined.
Image: Cheyenne Cameron
Cheyenne Cameron, 16, from Damon, Texas thought she might never play softball ever again after suddenly being diagnosed with high blood pressure. Katie Cameron
“My illness took a toll on me emotionally and physically,” the Damon, Texas, native said. “I felt drained. I was always tired.”
She missed her freshman year — 180 days of class.
“It was hard to keep up,” she said. “I didn’t know what was wrong. I missed my friends and, like, not being able to do what my sister and brother would do.
“My sister was on the softball team, my brother was playing football and baseball, and I was just the bench warmer.”
Cheyenne’s mom, Katie Cameron, took her to the doctor.
Related: How Parents Can Keep Teens Eating Healthy After Leaving Home
“It did not occur to me that it could be high blood pressure bothering Cheyenne because I just didn’t think that could even be possible for a 15-year-old,” said Katie Cameron.
That belief is likely shared by many parents: Hypertension is less commonly associated with young kids and adolescents. It is often not accompanied by any visible symptoms.
Image: Cheyenne Cameron
Damon Texas native, Cheyenne Cameron, 16 feeling better after taking hold of her health following a scary bout with symptoms related to undiagnosed high blood pressure. Katie Cameron
“High blood pressure is a silent killer that takes its toll on the body over time,” said NBC News medical correspondent Dr. John Torres. “That means you can’t tell if someone has high blood pressure just by looking at them, you need to do an actual blood pressure measurement.”
Over time, Torres said, uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to serious issues in adulthood, including an increased risk of heart problems. “It is especially important to get it under control in children, even at a very young age,” he said.
At her heaviest, Cheyenne was 220 pounds. She has since lost 60 pounds by cutting fried foods out of her diet, substituting them with lean meats and vegetables.
“Her symptoms just went away,” Cheyenne’s mother told NBC News.
At the moment, Cheyenne is not on any medication. But many adolescents who suffer from hypertension might need to be placed on the same blood pressure medications normally used by adults.
Cheyenne is happy that she no longer needs to be on medication, but she recognizes that unhealthy habits might result in her having to take them in the future — so, in that sense, her journey has just begun.
“I feel great. I’m happier, I’m more self-confident,” Cheyenne said.
by Rita Brhel
Grab a mirror, open your mouth, and point your tongue toward the roof of your mouth. Do you see a stretch of tissue going from the bottom of your mouth to the underside of your tongue? Probably. It’s normal.
This stretch of tissue, technically known as the frenulum, gets a lot of scrutiny in breastfeeding babies. If the frenulum is too short and tight, the baby’s tongue can’t extend past the bottom lip for an effective latch. The result is sore nipples and a frustrated baby. This whole scenario is called “tongue-tie.”
There is another kind of tie that can happen. It’s when the frenulum that connects from the middle of the inside top lip to the top gum, right between where the two big front teeth will go. Find that mirror again, and lift up your top lip with your finger. You should see a stretch of tissue up there, unless yours had been clipped when you were younger, which has been claimed to help with some speech disorders.
Related: Exposing Infants to Music is Critical for Speech Development
Clipping is literally having the frenulum clipped by scissors. Sounds unpleasant, though for babies with very short, tight tongue ties, clipping can be just the ticket to a good latch. Ties should only be assessed by an international board-certified lactation consultant, medical doctor, or pediatric dentist. A pediatric dentist most often performs the treatment.
In some breastfeeding babies, with a history of poor latch, the lip frenulum is too short and tight, keeping the lip rolled under during latch, rather than flanged out, resulting in a poor seal on the breast. This scenario is called lip-tie.
We hear a lot about tongue-tie, and are starting to hear more about lip-tie. Ties are blamed often for a mother’s failed go at breastfeeding, especially when poor latch is involved. Some people claim that there is an epidemic of tongue and lip-tie among babies, perhaps due to nutritional deficits in their mothers during pregnancy.
Is There Really an Epidemic?
The incidence of true tongue or lip-tie is relatively low — between .2% to 2% of newborns are born with tongue-tie. But because having a frenulum is normal, and just how short and tight that frenulum has to be to cause a problem is subjective, and poor latch is a common breastfeeding hurdle with myriad causes, many mothers mistakenly believe that if their baby has a frenulum and they are having trouble with latch, that it must be due to tongue or lip-tie.
With more awareness, due to a higher breastfeeding initiation rate, tongue-tie is identified more nowadays than it was when breastfeeding initiation rates were lower. Basically, there isn’t so much an epidemic of tongue and lip-ties as there is simply more awareness. And because many moms still fly solo in dealing with their breastfeeding challenges, they are unfortunately more likely to attribute their challenges to causes that may not actually be, like tongue or lip-tie.
That said, there is some speculation that severe tongue or lip-ties may have an underlying cause. Most are genetic, meaning the baby’s mom or dad also have a very short, tight frenulum. All of my children, for example, had a naturally short, tight lip tie and one of them had a tongue-tie.
There is also the theory that tongue or lip-ties have their roots in a folic acid deficiency, possibly linked to the MTHFR gene mutation, represented by other midline birth defects like spina bifida and cleft palate.
Related: What is MTHFR and Why Does it Matter for Your Health?
Clipping is Not Always a Silver Bullet
Regardless of its cause, here’s another thing to consider about a tongue or lip-tie and breastfeeding success — not clipping a tie doesn’t necessarily mean baby can’t latch. Many babies, like mine, learn to latch regardless. The more severe cases are usually caught early, while mom and baby are in the hospital shortly after delivery, and the tie is clipped. Sometimes, if a baby’s tie is clipped later, it may still refuse to latch.
My advice would be to have your baby assessed by your local lactation consultant. If a tongue or lip tie is suspected to be contributing to your poor latch, it may definitely warrant consultation with a pediatric dentist for possible treatment. But remember that there a lot of degrees of tongue or lip-tie, and that having a frenulum of some sort is completely normal.
If your lactation consultant doesn’t feel there is enough of a tie to warrant clipping, take her other advice for improving your baby’s latch. Clipping doesn’t always solve a breastfeeding problem, but often patience and problem-solving do.
How can parents best help their children with their schooling without actually doing it for them? This article is part of our series on Parents’ Role in Education, focusing on how best to support learning from early childhood to Year 12.
The phrase “parent involvement” in children’s learning may conjure images of parents in the classroom eagerly helping children to make Easter baskets or complete their readers. These are typical examples of parent involvement in preschools. But how is involvement fostered in the primary school years?
Parental involvement in children’s learning is beneficial. Research showsit leads to better educational, social, and emotional outcomes for children. In addition, a report from the Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth (ARACY) has found parental involvement contributes to overall student positive attainment, behaviour and attendance at school.
However, as children grow up, the ways in which parents can be involved in their learning changes. While it is acknowledged that employment-related demands limit parents’ attendance during school times, the physical presence of parents in the classroom is no longer essential, or necessarily effective.
Changing parent engagement at primary level schooling
Regular face-to-face contact with teachers is more common in preschools than primary schools. As this changes, new ways of parent involvement can be created.
In primary school, contact is also more likely to be initiated by parents than teachers. Nonetheless, results from our research show parent involvement levels are lower at primary school level. Specifically, direct involvement in classroom activities, excursions and parent committees is rarer for parents in primary schools.
These changes occur for several reasons.
First, parents’ work schedules may restrict their availability throughout the day.
Second, although parents often need to physically come in to the classroom to drop children off at a preschool, this is less frequent in primary schools. Older children may take a bus or be dropped off at the school gate.
Third, parents’ direct involvement on school grounds wanes as children get older and most become more independent.
Above all, direct engagement isn’t necessarily effective as children pass through school.
Ageing and adjusting: re-imagining parental roles in learning
So how do parents transform their role of being “involved” as their children transition to primary school? It is important for teachers and parents to be aware that there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
A variety of opportunities should exist to allow families to support their children in meaningful ways. Some types of parent involvement will be less active and formal than others, and this is not a bad thing.
Evidence shows that when regular communication channels suit families’ needs and schedules, family-school partnerships are stronger. This in turn encourages children to learn outside of school.
This could mean that phone calls work best for some families, while emails, Skype sessions, text messages, or face-to-face meetings work better for others.
More schools are now using social media to create effective opportunities for indirect parent involvement. They often have Twitter feeds, and Facebook pages, and post images of students engaged in activities such as excursions, sporting events and shows. For parents who cannot attend such events, this sharing is inclusive and respectful.
A school website with a regularly updated photo gallery, and copies of the most recent newsletters and reminders, is also a useful resource for parents. This includes providing a space for feedback, comments and a variety of contact points that enable parent input.
Some schools are now using interactive technologies, such as parent-school wikis, blogs, and virtual chatrooms to engage parents. These allow parents to have regular contact and involvement with their children’s schooling.
These “virtual” strategies are the building blocks for parents to be aware of what is going on with their children’s education, while adjusting to the reduced need for their physical presence.
It is a crucial element of fostering better engagement with children in home learning environments, because it allows parents to ask nuanced questions about their children’s studies or school activities.
Practical tips for creating a positive home learning environment
Using these different ways of engaging in primary schooling, parents can then better encourage their children’s learning in the home environment. This is the most effective way that parents can be involved.
Research suggests that the quality of the home learning environment is linked to better cognitive outcomes in children.
Evidence also shows that parent engagement in children’s learning at home is more important than direct parent involvement in school. Considering a range of studies, ARACY states that the relative influence of the home environment on student achievement is 60%-80%, while the school environment accounts for 20%-40%.
Parent involvement in children’s home learning can be fostered in a variety of ways, including:
asking questions about what children are learning, encouraging and supporting children to complete homework;
helping to teach organisational and self-study skills, such as keeping notebooks organised, and creating time and space for learning activities;
showing an interest in children’s learning, listening to them talk about their day;
engaging with the information distributed by schools (via Facebook, email, website, etc); and
providing access to learning resources, such as trips to the library, access to internet, and materials to complete homework.
Most importantly, these strategies create a range of ways that connect the home and primary school environments. By being engaged and interested in their children’s activities outside the school, parents can be powerful supporters of their children’s learning.
t’s the first day of kindergarten for your child, and you’re not sure who’s more anxious. Excitement, trepidation, anticipation. Starting school can be a stressful time.
Use the summer weeks to prepare and this significant step in life can go smoothly. You can focus on more important matters like making sure you get a great photo of your child in front of the school on Day One! If you plan in advance and follow a few simple steps, the day can be memorable in all the right ways.
Helpful steps include helping your child practise new routines, introducing your child to the school staff and space and choosing a familiar object that will remind them of home when the time comes. These things can all help to ensure that everything goes smoothly on their first day of kindergarten.
I have a PhD in psychology and am a professor in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary, but my first degree was in elementary education. As a former kindergarten teacher, I took my responsibilities seriously when it came to ensuring a smooth transition to school for young children. After all, the success or failure of the first days and weeks could set the tone for their entire school career.
The good news is that there are are five easy steps you can take to exert your own leadership this summer, as a parent — to ensure that everything goes smoothly on day one. From practising new routines to finding a familiar “transition object,” these are all manageable steps that take only a few minutes and can be easily incorporated into the weeks ahead.
Why is kindergarten such a big deal?
First, it’s important to understand why the transition to kindergarten can provoke anxiety, and how normal this is. Young children are used to relying on their parents and primary caregivers as their source of security. This has long been established by early developmental researchers such as John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth.
Ainsworth discovered the attachment system, which we understand now is linked in part to the hormone oxytocin that is naturally released during parent-child interactions to increase bonding and reduce anxiety. Bowlby referred to parents as the child’s “secure base”. When we send children off to school, we are asking them to leave their secure base and head off into the great unknown, which can create anxiety.
Even if your child has been in full-day daycare, kindergarten offers a range of new challenges. These include the social demands of larger class sizes with fewer adults and more peer social interactions to navigate, as well as having to deal with older students in the hallways, bathrooms and on the playground. There is also a larger physical space and a bell system that divides the day into segments. There’s an increase in organized learning activities that require focus and attention. Taken together, the adjustment can be immense.
In the days of the one-room schoolhouse, the transition to school would likely have been easier, as older siblings, cousins and close neighbours would have been sitting together with the novice student. However, in larger cities we segregate children by age, and fewer students attend local schools because specialized magnet schools draw children from all corners of the city. The outcome is that everyone has to make new friends, which can make the adjustment more challenging.
Not to worry though. As a child’s secure base, a parent has great power to create a smooth transition for everyone.
Five steps to a smooth transition
1. Talk about the new routines
In the weeks before the start of school, you can begin to change routines like bedtime and breakfast. Predictable routines are important in early childhood and changes in routines have been linked to difficulties adjusting to kindergarten. It is wise to begin early and make changes gradually. Ask your child what they’re looking forward to at school and about any concerns they may have. Have them draw and talk about both positive and anxiety-provoking activities. Then ease their worries by acknowledging feelings and coming up with solutions.
Revisit these things frequently: “When you start school, you are going to make some great new friends!” or “Are you still worried about the washrooms at school?” Introduce your child to any new school clothes, their schoolbag and school supplies, and talk with them to decide what their snacks and lunch will consist of. The night before the big day, work with them to get everything ready for the next morning.
2. Prepare a cheat-sheet for the teacher
Prepare a one-page note with key information about your child. It should include your child’s picture, name and nickname, date of birth, medical conditions, allergies, family members, pets, interests, food likes and dislikes, favourite games and play activities, talents and interests. It might also include any worries they have about starting school.
3. Visit the classroom and locate the washroom
Go to the school the week before the start of classes so your child can meet the secretary and classroom teacher, tour their classroom, and locate the washroom. If possible, give them a chance to flush the toilet as some loud flushes can be frightening. Do not forget to tour the playground!
Some schools do offer an orientation in the spring but most young children will need to visit closer to the first day. Although some schools ban parents and children prior to the start of school, I always encourage parents to connect with their parent-school association and request this vital access. Research shows that active parental involvement in a child’s education offers many benefits.
When I was a teacher, I had an active parent council just for my kindergarten classroom. If your school doesn’t have one, you can ask your child’s teacher if they’d be open to having a parent council help them to plan events, organize field trips, fundraise or offer support in the classroom or library.
4. Choose a transitional object
Finally, you can provide your child with a “transitional object”. We are all familiar with the proverbial security blanket that some young children latch onto. It is an inborn mechanism wired into young children that allows them to attach to others and attach to soothing objects when significant adults are not available. It might be a stuffed animal, a favourite shirt or even a photograph. It could also be a small card with your photo and phone number stuck inside the outside pocket of their backpack. In the event that they need to call you for a check-in, you can be assured that your child has your contact information right at hand. Sometimes just looking at the picture will be enough.
5. Figure out the logistics ahead of time
Before school starts, make sure to find out about things like bell times, drop-off and parking procedures and unique code words if your child is being picked up by someone else. That information will make it less stressful for you as a parent.
When you do drop off your child, be sure to tell them that you’ll be there to pick them up as soon as school is finished, and remind them to have a great day.
If all goes well, you will both have memories that you can cherish for years to come.
Temperament determines which kids will resist new foods, study suggests
(HealthDay News) — For some parents, introducing new items to their baby’s diet seems like a losing battle. But the food itself might not be the problem. Personality may predict which infants will become picky eaters, a new study contends.
Being more inhibited increases the chances that an infant will resist new foods, researchers found.
“From the time they’re very young, some infants are more ‘approaching’ and react positively to new things, whereas other infants are more ‘withdrawing’ and react negatively to the same stimuli,” said study author Kameron Moding.
“But very few studies have examined whether infants show similar approach and withdrawal behaviors in response to new foods, so this is what we wanted to investigate,” added Moding. She is a postdoctoral fellow at University of Colorado, Denver.
For the study, the researchers observed how 136 infants responded to new foods and new toys during their first 18 months of life. The findings showed that those who were reserved about new toys tended to be less accepting of new foods.
That suggests a link between personality and attitudes about food, the study authors said.
“It was striking how consistently the responses to new foods related to the responses to new toys,” Moding said in a Penn State news release.
“Not only were they associated at 12 months, but those responses also predicted reactions to new objects six months later. They also followed the same developmental pattern across the first year of life,” she added.
Even if they experience setbacks, parents should not give up trying to get children to eat a varied diet, said Moding, who received her doctorate in human development and family studies from Penn State.
“Keep trying! Research from other labs has consistently shown that infants and children can learn to accept new foods if their caregivers continue to offer them,” Moding said. “It can take as many as eight to 10 tries, but infants and children can learn to accept and eat even initially disliked foods.”
The study was published Aug. 2 in the journal Child Development.
More information
The American Academy of Pediatrics has more on nutrition.
SOURCE: Penn State, news release, Aug. 2, 2017
These babies 2 to 3 times more apt to struggle with planning, memory, attention at age 4, study finds
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay News) — Low blood sugar affects about one in six newborns, and new research suggests it could lead to brain difficulties in childhood.
Babies who experience low blood sugar at or near birth are at least two to three times more likely to face problems with planning, memory, attention, problem-solving and visual-motor coordination by the age of 4.5, New Zealand researchers said.
The low blood sugar (glucose) did not affect general thinking function or IQ, but it did affect problem-solving and other skills known as “executive functioning,” and also eye-hand coordination, the findings showed. These are crucial for many tasks, said study leader Chris McKinlay. He is a neonatologist at the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland.
“We don’t know fully what this means for learning,” McKinlay said. “We think this may have an effect on educational achievement.”
Low blood sugar in newborns, known as “neonatal hypoglycemia,” is the most common preventable cause of brain damage in infancy. Those at risk of low blood sugar include babies born prematurely, those small or large for their gestational age, and those born to mothers with diabetes.
For these high-risk infants, it is common to do a blood glucose test, using a heel prick. If the level is too low, the child can be treated with a form of sugar to return it to normal levels.
In the study, McKinlay’s team followed 477 infants who were born between December 2006 and November 2010. About half of the babies were diagnosed with low blood sugar at birth and treated. Most of those in the study received continued monitoring of the blood sugars; some infants whose low blood sugar was not detected at birth turned out to have it later.
At a follow-up at the age of about 4.5 years, the researchers found that low blood sugar levels were linked with certain brain function difficulties. However, the study only found an association and couldn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
For the study, low blood sugar was defined as at least one episode of blood sugar concentration less than 47 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), a severe episode with blood sugar under 36 mg/dL, or recurrent (three or more) hypoglycemic episodes.
The important finding is that the effects of low blood sugar in newborns may show up later, said Dr. Saima Aftab, medical director of the Fetal Care Center at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. She reviewed the study findings but was not involved in the research.
McKinlay tells parents to be aware of the risk factors for low blood sugar, and be sure your newborn has blood glucose measured. If the values are low, he said, ask for that test to be confirmed. He recommends asking for it be confirmed by a lab glucose test rather than a bedside strip meter test.
Aftab tells parents to pay close attention if the pediatrician tells you that your newborn has low blood sugar. “As a parent, you know you have to work very closely with your pediatrician to make sure your child is reaching developmental milestones at the right time,” she said.
Blood glucose “is fuel for the brain,” she explained. It’s crucial to help the brain grow and develop, especially in the newborn periods, when numerous connections are being made.
The study was published online Aug. 7 in JAMA Pediatrics.
More information
Visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health for more on newborn low blood sugar.
SOURCES: Saima Aftab, M.D., chief, neonatal-perinatal services, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, Miami; Christopher J.D. McKinlay, Ph.D., neonatologist, Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland, New Zealand; Aug. 7, 2017, JAMA Pediatrics, online
Think of it as an early stealth strategy in the war against picky eating, researchers say
By Carole Tanzer Miller
HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay News) — Want your preschooler to eat veggies without a fuss? Try eating veggies while you’re breast-feeding.
That’s the message from a new study of lactating mothers and their breast-fed babies. The study found that those infants who took in veggie-flavored breast-milk were less likely to turn away from similar-tasting cereal when they graduated to more solid food.
“Every baby’s sensory experience is unique, but the flavor of their first food, beginning in utero, is dependent on what mom is eating,” said Julie Mennella. She is a biopsychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, and led the study.
“The way I see it is: Mother’s milk is the ultimate in precision medicine,” Mennella said.
When an expectant mother eats vegetables, they flavor her amniotic fluid — and later, her breast-milk — and those flavors get passed along to her baby. As a result, the researchers said, if the baby learns early how veggies taste, he or she will be less apt to squawk when offered that first spoonful.
That’s a boon for parents and for the nation’s health. One in four U.S. toddlers doesn’t eat even one vegetable a day, the study authors noted. Like many of their moms and other adults, kids are more likely to choose sweet and salty snacks and sugary drinks, which contribute to obesity and chronic disease.
“Everybody wants to get baby off to a good start,” Mennella said, adding the first weeks of life are prime time for babies and mothers alike to develop a taste for healthy food.
For her study, Mennella randomly assigned 97 breast-feeding mothers to one of five groups.
For a month, three groups drank a half-cup of carrot, celery, beet or vegetable juice before nursing. One group began when babies were two weeks old, another at 1-1/2 months of age and the third at 2-1/2 months.
A fourth group of moms drank juice for three months, starting when their babies were two weeks old. A fifth group — the “control” group — did not use juice.
As solid foods were added to the diet, moms were videotaped offering plain cereal, carrot-flavored or broccoli-flavored cereals to their babies. The researchers watched for signs of disgust from the babies — wrinkled noses, curled lips, frowns or more emphatic slaps at the spoon.
The takeaway: Babies who’d been exposed to vegetable flavors in breast-milk preferred carrot-flavored cereal over plain cereal or cereal with the unfamiliar taste of broccoli. Only 8 percent rejected all of the foods, the findings showed.
“They learn through repeated exposure,” said Mennella. “And the timing is important.”
Babies whose exposure began at 2 weeks of age ate more of the carrot-flavored cereal — and gobbled it up faster — than those whose moms started juicing later or who drank water instead. And it took only a month to get the infants used to the taste, the study authors noted.
Mennella said that might be because babies nurse more often during those first weeks, or there may be time periods when their tastes are more easily shaped.
And it’s never too late to train your palate. Though eight out of 10 mothers still weren’t eating recommended amounts of vegetables when the study ended, many had grown to like the new flavors, too.
That makes it more likely they’ll continue serving healthy foods as the child grows, Mennella said.
“Through these flavor changes, the mother is teaching the baby that these foods are safe, these foods are what I eat and these foods are available,” she said. “If you change the mother’s diet and she starts liking these foods, you change the whole family.”
Jennifer McDaniel, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, agreed.
Kids’ food preferences are strongly influenced by what their parents eat, she said. “If a mother’s diet has variety, it promotes kids to be more accepting and open to new flavors, because somewhere on the road, they’ve had exposure,” she explained.
Though McDaniel said other studies have shown breast-fed babies are less likely to become finicky about food, she said mothers who are unable to breast-feed or don’t choose to shouldn’t beat themselves up.
Just be sure you’re offering your family healthy — and varied — foods, she said. Let kids experience not just different flavors, but different textures.
And don’t give up, McDaniel advised. It might take 10 to 20 tries for a child to decide whether he or she likes a food.
“Our role as parents is to be that good role model,” McDaniel said. “Sometimes you just have to relax a little bit and keep doing what you need to be doing: offering lots of different foods and exposing it to them very frequently. In the end, you’ll most likely end up having children who are not so picky, who have healthy patterns.”
The study was published in the July issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
More information
The U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has tips on breast-feeding.
SOURCES: Julie Mennella, Ph.D., M.S., member, Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia; Jennifer McDaniel, B.S., owner/founder, McDaniel Nutrition Therapy, Clayton, Mo., and spokeswoman, American Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics; July 2017, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
It may affect dental health
(HealthDay News) — Thumbsucking is more than an unsightly habit that most toddlers easily outgrow. The practice can permanently damage their teeth.
The American Dental Association explains:
Children who suck their thumbs vigorously may have more dental problems than those who just hold the thumb in their mouths.
Thumbsucking affects the way permanent teeth align as they come in. Kids who suck thumbs aggressively can even damage baby teeth.
Most children stop sucking their thumbs before they are 4 years old, before the permanent teeth come in.
Speak with your dentist if you are concerned about your child’s thumbsucking and its effects on dental health.
Such screens are critical to early intervention efforts, CDC officials say
FRIDAY, Aug. 25, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Some newborns in the United States still aren’t getting screened for hearing loss or congenital heart disease, a new report shows.
“Newborn screening at birth is crucial to quickly identify infants at risk of hearing loss and congenital [inherited] heart disease so they can receive early intervention and follow-up care,” said Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Finding these conditions early can give infants the best chance to properly develop, and lead healthy lives,” Fitzgerald added in an agency news release.
Since the 1970s, newborns in the United States have been screened for numerous health conditions through dried bloodspots, the agency explained. An estimated 4 million babies undergo screening each year.
Now, national recommendations suggest that newborns be screened for hearing loss and critical congenital heart disease before they go home after birth.
While critical congenital heart disease is uncommon, affecting about one in 500 infants, it’s the birth defect that’s most likely to affect babies. It can be deadly and kills almost one-third of all babies who die from birth defects. Fortunately, screening can detect cases of the illness and allow physicians to intervene, the CDC added.
But an estimated 875 U.S. newborns go home each year with congenital heart disease because they didn’t undergo screening with a painless pulse oximetry test, the agency noted.
For every 200 babies born with congenital heart disease, the life of at least one infant could be saved if all newborns were screened at hospitals for the condition, the CDC said.
Researchers also estimate that almost two in every 1,000 babies have permanent hearing loss, putting them at risk for delayed development. Intervention before the age of 6 months is thought to be an important tool to help the infants develop language skills later in life.
The CDC pointed to federally funded Early Hearing Detection and Intervention programs that support “1-3-6” screening guidelines for infants: Test them for hearing loss before they’re 1 month old, diagnose them before the age of 3 months, and get them into an intervention before they’re 6 months old.
Dr. Stuart Shapira, associate director for science at CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, said the same approach must be applied to congenital heart disease screening “to help prevent infant deaths and offer children the greatest chance to thrive.”
The report was published in the Aug. 25 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
More information
For more about newborn screening, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
SOURCE: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, news release, Aug. 24, 2017
— Randy Dotinga
The goal of raising the next generation as race conscious and accepting human beings is one that I think needs to be placed firmly on our parental agendas. Sometimes we might get caught up with focusing on our kids’ happiness and success – and assume that issues of racism, antisemitism, chauvinism or conversely tolerance and equality – will just “come naturally” or just sort themselves out. The thing is that the most conscious ways of being in the world don’t come naturally. Or at least not in our heavily constructed culture and not to most of us. We usually need to actively, passionately and deliberately cultivate an alternative approach – or the old mantras and ideas will continue to play out, generation by generation.
“Cultural competence is an ongoing and dynamic process that asks us not only to acknowledge the cultures of those different from us but to celebrate them”. – Nicole A Cooke
As Mrs. Cooke teaches: It’s not enough to teach tolerance. Tolerance is the capacity to endure pain or hardship – as though coming together with members of other races than our own was some kind of difficult thing. A step above tolerance is awareness – being able to tolerate and even being aware of cultural differences. But as conscious parents, I believe our goal needs to go beyond that – to culture competence and consciousness.
“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” – Audre Lorde, in her book, Sister Outsider
So how do we raise race conscious kids? I don’t have “The Answer”. But I have some ideas, and I’d love to hear yours in the comments below (pssst, this is NOT a forum for heated or hateful speech so if that’s your thing, please don’t waste your time here).
1. Teach them world history, not only our own history – One of the things that widens our perspective like no other is being exposed to other people’s stories. And the more diverse, wide ranging and wordy they are the more our eyes are opened to other people’s narratives. What can easily feed seeds of hate – is fear – and what creates fear is a lack of familiarity with the “other”. A little tip I learned from the Charlotte Mason educational pedagogy is to focus on first-person “real live” books – i.e. historical fictions that tell realistic stories in the first person – these make identifying with the feelings, challenges and agendas of the story teller so much closer to home and accessible.
2. Expose them (actively) to others – When our social circles, churches, schools and neighbors all look uniform and homegenues – we get the underlying message that this is the “right” or even the “only” way to look, behave and feel. When we’re not coming into contact with people who look different than we do – they feel “alien” and even threatening to us. As parents we can counterbalance this by even our small day to day actions – taking longer to chat with the lady on the bus, being kind and friendly to a stranger in the supermarket. Or even take steps to actively find more inclusive, diverse groups.
3. Bring up equality and racism in conversation – When there’s something that we’re nervous to discuss, such as death, money, sex and race – it’s probably a key indicator that this topic should be brought up. We’re all petrified of our child making some embarrassing remark to someone they know: whether it’s the feat that your little girl asks your favorite Aunt why her behind is “sooo large?” (true story: I did this to my aunt when I was 4) or the fear that your white child will ask his black friend why their hair is “so springy”. The fact is that children are mostly uninhibited when it comes to questions about bodies… or anything personal…
4. Arm them with ways of protecting others – Whatever race you and your children are – it’s always important to arm children with active tools of nonviolent communication to step in and defend anyone they witness being mistreated. Children need to know that is what is expected of them and that should be taught and upheld by adults from the youngest of ages. We need real tools for this, discussing hypothetical scenarios and practicing what one can do (tend to the victim of bullying, stand up to the bully, call an adult for help etc).
5. Model “uncomfortable” conversations – Do not avoid asking people about their story. Many of us do because we’re afraid of stepping on toes or being perceived as insensitive or not minding our business. And I’m not suggesting getting nosy. But when we’re uncomfortable and we completely sidestep entire sides of a person – such as not asking where they are from – because we’re worried about the answers we might get – we can inadvertently create inhibition in them. As though they have something to hide. Our children need to see us taking interest in others, wanting to know more, being open to hearing other perspectives – curious, interested… and that leads me to…
6. Teach them open ended questions – One of the best “peace” tools I think exists, for couples, friends and even countries is open ended questions and active listening. It’s something most of us were never taught and never even experienced. When you feel you have never been truly heard you learn to shout louder, or to shut up completely. We can offer our children this experience by asking: “what’s that like for you?” “Can you tell me more?” “Can you tell me about that?” “how does that feel?” – open ended questions is all about listening to and absorbing someone else’s experience. When we feel listened to we’re more likely to have space to listen to and hold space for others.
7. Buy dolls and books that expose them to other narratives – Our market place is often a true reflection of white privilege acting itself out through the toys, books and TV shows on offer. Toys are overwhelmingly white – and this is painful for children of color to not be represented. It’s also damaging to all children because it portrays a skewed version of the world and reinforces the idea that one race – namely whites – are superior to others. We can put out money in toys and books that create a more diverse play room in our homes. As my friend, Maria, pointed out to me – we can take this even a notch further. Not only choosing toys themselves that represent diverse peoples, but also choosing to support toy companies of marginalized communities. For some ideas on where to start, check out the links below.
8. Protect Childhood Issues of racism or antisemitism can ignite within us a wild fire of terror and fear. Whilst I don’t think we should protect our children from these topics I think we should protect them from the intensity and violence that these topics sometimes come with. This means not going into too graphic a detail, not seeing scary videos or the news. As someone who myself experienced severe PTSD after over-exposure to terror attacks (and the news coverage that went with them) – I can safely recommend that this does not serve anyone. Further, our own anxiety and rage needs to be kept in check, as parents. We need to insulate ourselves to the degree necessary to compose ourselves from a place of love and tolerance, not of hatred and fear.
I think part of teaching kids consciousness around race, anti semitism or any other form of violent intolerance – is teaching them what the opposite looks like. Embracing those members in society who need it. Understanding history, having tough conversations, using open ended questions, being open to learn and to teach, taking active steps to expose ourselves and our children to other narratives and to other people – these are some of the ideas that come to mind for me when I think about raising race conscious children. The root of racism is a deep misunderstanding of the “other”, it’s a feeling of fear and distance from anyone who isn’t like us. My guess is that those fears and violent feelings are rooted in childhood and in a family and community who felt superior and violent as well. That is why we fight fear with love.
This is not an easy topic to address – and I’m sure I’ve stepped on someone’s toes, or worse. But in the spirit of opening the conversation with curiosity and nonviolent communication, please extend me the benefit of the doubt. I’d love to hear your thoughts below.
Date:
August 9, 2017
Source:
University of Royal Holloway London
Summary:
A novel new experiment to test how aware babies are of their bodies’ internal signals has been developed by researchers. The ability to consciously sense signals from your body is called interoception, and some people are more aware of these signals than others. These differences between people can influence a wide range of psychological processes, including how strongly you feel emotions, your decision-making, and mental health.
Research published in eLife explains how researchers created a novel new experiment to test how aware babies are of their bodies’ internal signals. The ability to consciously sense signals from your body is called interoception, and some people are more aware of these signals than others. These differences between people can influence a wide range of psychological processes, including how strongly you feel emotions, your decision-making, and mental health.
“Understanding when we start to be aware of internal signals and how this ability differs among people is really important,” said Professor Manos Tsakiris from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway. “Despite the fact we know that this type of awareness plays a crucial role in cognition in adulthood, we know practically nothing about how its early developmental origins. How and when does this ability develop? And how does this influence who we are as adults?”
By creating a new test called iBEATS, the researchers could measure this ability for the first time, and found that babies as young as five months old are able to sense their own heartbeats.
“If you get butterflies before a speech, or feel your heart thumping in your chest when you’re scared, you’re using a skill called interoception.” explains Dr Lara Maister, also at Royal Holloway and the Warburg Institute, at the School of Advanced Study. “We created a new experiment to see if young children were using interoception so we could see when these skills develop.”
Historically, understanding how babies process internal signals has been difficult; until now, there has been no way to measure interoception in infants. The researchers measured whether infants can discriminate between an animated character moving in synchrony or out of synchrony with their own heartbeat. Infants preferred to watch the character that was moving out of synchrony, suggesting that even at this early age, infants are sensitive to their own interoceptive signals.
The test also showed that some babies were more sensitive than others. The researchers measured brain activity and infants who had shown a strong preference in the iBEATS task also showed a larger brain signal known as the Heart-Evoked Potential (or HEP) that reflects how our brains process signals from the heart. This special interoceptive brain signal got stronger when babies saw people making negative facial expressions like fear and anger. This suggests that the way babies experience emotions might be closely linked to their bodies’ responses.
It is now possible that by using this test and following babies as they get older will allow researchers to track how awareness to internal bodily signals changes as we age to support self-awareness, emotional and cognitive development, and how these processes impact on mental health as we grow up.
I was a little surprised when my five-year-old son asked me how he was born one day, but when you have kids you tend to expect that, sooner or later, this issue will come up.
It so happened that it came up one afternoon when we were at the park.
I had thought about how I might answer the question for some time before it was asked. Some of my friends had picture books for children to help facilitate the discussion. I thought those might be useful, but apparently, people have been explaining this process to children for dozens of years, and I figured, as a somewhat educated person, I would be able to answer it without damaging the child.
So. I asked my son to sit next to me on a bench under an oak tree, near a large tranquil pond. Waterfowl swam serenely across the surface. I thought myself fortunate that the setting for such a serious conversation presented itself. I also thought my son would remember this discussion for the rest of his life.
He sat next to me, and I turned toward him. His large innocent brown eyes anticipated the answer to his question.
I said, “Greg. Ask your mother.”
Then I asked him if he wanted some ice cream.
I know. I know.
This questionoriginally appeared on Quora – the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
Source: Washington University in St. Louis
Summary: Behind the chubby cheeks and bright eyes of babies as young as 8 months lies the smoothly whirring mind of a social statistician, logging our every move and making odds on what a person is most likely to do next, suggests new research.
Behind the chubby cheeks and bright eyes of babies as young as 8 months lies the smoothly whirring mind of a social statistician, logging our every move and making odds on what a person is most likely to do next, suggests new research in the journal Infancy.
“Even before they can talk, babies are keeping close track of what’s going on in front of them and looking for patterns of activity that may suggest preferences,” said study co-author Lori Markson, associate professor of psychological & brain sciences and director of the Cognition & Development Lab at Washington University in St. Louis. “Make the same choice three or four times in a row, and babies as young as 8 months come to view that consistent behavior as a preference.”
The findings demonstrated that infants look for consistent patterns of behavior and make judgements about people’s preferences based on simple probabilities calculated from observed events and actions.
Co-led by Yuyan Luo, an associate professor of psychological sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia, the study may shed light on how infants and young children learn about people’s preferences for a certain kind of food, toy or activity. It might also explain why kids always seem to want the toy that someone else is playing with.
“Consistency seems to be an important factor for infants in helping them sort out what’s happening in the world around them,” Markson said. “Our findings suggest that, if a person does something different even a single time, it undoes the notion of someone having a clear preference and changes an infant’s expectations for that individual’s behavior. In other words, if you break the routine, all bets are off in terms of what they expect from you.”
The findings confirmed that infants as young as 8 months are already developing the ability to see the world through someone else’s eyes, to sense what another person may or may not know, think or believe about a situation.
Because babies can’t tell us what they’re thinking, researchers had previously speculated that the ability to see life from someone else’s perspective did not develop until about 4 years of age. But more recent research over the past decade gets around this spoken-language barrier by relying on a proven premise — that babies spend much more time looking at events they consider to be new and unusual.
In this study, Markson and Luo conducted a series of experiments to track how infant “looking times” changed when an actor made an unexpected choice between one of two stuffed-animal toys displayed before the infant on a small puppet stage.
They corroborated these findings using a similar experiment that tracked whether infants, when asked to give a toy to the actor, would reach more often for the toy consistently chosen by the actor in previous trials, thus implying that the infant understood the actor’s preference.
The experiments were conducted on a sample of 60 healthy, full-term infants with an even split of males and females ranging in age from 7 to 9 months and an average age of 8 1/2 months.
Seated on a parent’s lap, the infants watched as a young woman reached out and grabbed one of two stuffed animals on the stage, either a white-and-brown dog or a yellow duck with orange beak and a purple bonnet.
During the “familiarization” phase of these experiments, the toy selection process was repeated four times under three separate conditions.
In the “consistent” condition, a woman in a blue or black shirt picked up the yellow duck four times in a row. In the “inconsistent” condition, the same woman picked up the duck three times and the dog once. And, in the “two actor” condition, the woman in the blue shirt selected the duck three times, while another woman in a white shirt selected the dog once.
After each four-trial familiarization phase, the researcher observed the babies’ reactions as the women reappeared on the stage and made a fifth selection, either going back to the previously targeted duck or making a new selection of the dog.
Two trained observers watched the babies’ reactions through concealed peepholes and independently coded the babies’ “looking time” responses based on seconds spent watching each toy-selection event. Video cameras captured both the babies’ reactions and the toy-selection process so that response time coding could be further analyzed and confirmed.
Findings confirmed that the babies spent about 50 percent more time looking at selections that represented a break from consistent patterns made in the familiarization trials.
“Infants who saw someone make the same choice three or four times in a row showed clear signs of being surprised when that person did not follow the same pattern in the future,” Markson said. “They obviously paid more attention to actions that did not fit their assumptions about what toys the women appeared to prefer most.”
In a second phase of the study, researchers reaffirmed their findings using a variation on the experiment in which the women who had chosen the stuffed animals during the trial phase asked the infant to choose between two toys by saying: “Can you give it to me? Can you give me the toy?”
In this variation, the infants also seemed to have made assumptions about the women’s toy preferences, reaching for the stuffed animal that had been consistently chosen by the woman during the trial phase.
“Our study is the first one to show how inconsistent choices affect infants’ understanding about others’ preferences,” Markson said. “Based on these findings, we hope to further explore how ratios of consistent/inconsistent choices matter to infants and eventually compare infants’ understanding to adults’ knowledge about others’ choices.”
Other co-authors include Laura Hennefield, a postdoctoral research associate at Washington University; and Yi Mou and Kristy van Marle of the University of Missouri-Columbia.
07/28/2017 10:20 pm ET | Updated 2 days ago
Your child is acting out, and you’re feeling at your wit’s end. You feel overwhelmed and frustrated, and don’t know what else to do.
If you’re a mom or a dad, you likely have –at one time or another – felt this way while parenting your child. While every situation is different, when a pattern of bad behavior emerges, there are a few elements that research has found to be consistent in fostering better behavior among children.
The six steps to help foster better child behavior include:
Bonding
Above and beyond anything, is bonding with your child. If your child is well-bonded, she feels secure and, therefore, may do better in all things. The secure child will be able to problem-solve better, stick to a task longer, and has better cognitive and social development. It is important while bonding with your child, not to burden her with your problems. This can create anxiety, and take her childhood away.
Communication
Active listening is the key to good communication between you and your child. In fact, active listening is the essential ingredient to family communication. It involves a safe environment in which confidences are kept. Trust based on experience is developed, eye contact is held, and full attention is given. Furthermore, it is important not to defend positions, and to maintain empathy for all family members, including parents.
Environment
A safe space should be created in which you and your child sit together while communicating. This environment should not be anyone’s power place such as an office, study, or bedroom, but rather a mutual place, such as the kitchen table, the heart of the house where alchemy happens. The empathic process should occur at least once a week at a set time – consistently.
The Empathic Process
My Empathic Process teaches empathy and mutuality by investing your child in family problem solving, such as conflict resolution. Such participation in family business empowers your child to feel that she has respect and responsibility, and therefore, a choice in what happens to her, which establishes a win-win outcome for all. When your child is invested in the process of creating the rewards and consequences for her behavior, she is more likely to behave. The empathic process has rules of engagement, which are flexible in relation to your particular family style. But in general, your child speaks for a prescribed amount of time, while you listen intently, making eye contact. Then you, the parent, speak, giving your opinion without defending your position for the same allotted time. Then the entire family participates in the brainstorming period, which allows your child to be invested in the options for conflict resolution. This is a successful problem solving strategy, with positive regard for all. This approach works well for the assignment of chores, as well as their rotation and allows us to keep connection with our children, checking in on how they are doing in their social, emotional, and academic lives.
Consistent Follow Through
Following through in all things is imperative. If your are reliable and your child discovers that she can count on you to advocate her – right or wrong – then she will value and trust herself. If your child values and trust herself, she will transfer that trust to the world at large. This is how we make self-actualized children who are secure and proactive rather than reactive.
Be What You Want To See
Your child takes her cue from your. You are your child’s first teacher; and as your child grows, she will look at you with a more critical eye. The best inoculation against behavioral problems with your child is to be a positive role model by having good nurturing skills, meeting her needs in a responsible way, and by being reliable. Then your child will behave appropriately and choose to be responsible, have empathy and reliability.
RACHEL HOSIE
@rachel_hosie
Thursday 8 June 2017 10:04 BST
Bringing up children is scary. Most parents feel a lot of pressure because they know they’re shaping the type of person their child will grow up to be.
Most of us resolve never to make what we see as the mistakes our parents made, but no parent is perfect.
And people are now sharing what they consider to be the things parents do that cause their children to have the most problems in later life.
One of the most common complaints is refusing to admit when they’re wrong – it can have a negative impact on children.
“I don’t understand why this is so hard for adults,” one person wrote in the Reddit discussion. “Your kids won’t think less of you for being wrong sometimes. They already know you’re wrong sometimes. They lose more respect for you if you refuse to admit it than they do if you make a mistake.”
Over-protectiveness was another trait mentioned by many:
“Of course there are always some things that need to be tightly watched around kids, but when you shield your child from every possible inconvenience they’ll end up either spoiled or overly dependent,” one person pointed out.
And another shared her own experience of being wrapped in cotton wool as a child and it then affecting her adult life: “I am not proud of this by any means, but I am currently 21 and I have no idea how to do just about anything because of my parents.
“They always had some ‘what if’ story made up for when I wanted to do things. Now that I am older I have no idea how to do anything and have to ask for help to learn the simplest things.”
Another person said that she’d developed anxiety because her mother was so anxious about her doing anything: “She has unintentionally made me afraid of everything and everyone as well. I’ve improved over the years but my anxiety is still present.”
Most people believe it’s about balance – you need to look after your child whilst also giving them freedom and independence.
“Giving a kid freedom as a teenager is key,” one person said. “However, giving a kid so much freedom that you essentially check out from any sort of parental role is bad parenting that ultimately leads to the kid trying to make life decisions without any real guidance and somewhat f***s up their life.
“Yes – it’s all about balance,” added another. “Enough rules and routine that the kids grow up feeling safe, building a good work ethic, but enough flexibility and freedom that kids learn how to go with the flow of things when plans suddenly change, and learns how to deal with ‘mistakes/failures’ and less than ideal outcomes.”
Other examples of bad parenting techniques that affect children as they grow up included belittling them and still treating them as a small child when they get older, trying to live vicariously through a child’s athletic activities, and giving in to the child whenever he or she threw a tantrum.
Parents often find themselves in tricky situations when their kids ask them scientific questions like, “Why is the sky blue?” or “What is a dream?”, so they sort of shrug them off.
But many people believe giving these “low-effort” answers can discourage a child from being interested in science.
“If you don’t know, that’s fine; teach the kid how to find out,” suggested one person.
Some parents use sarcasm and “smartass answers” with their children, but then get angry when they do it back, which sends the children confusing messages.
One parent shared a memorable moment of his child picking up such mannerisms: “The day my son, five, told me to ‘Stick that in your lunch box and eat it!’ is a day I will never forget.”
By Marie Jackson
BBC News
The summer holidays are under way, but for some children, the studying – and the homework – will continue.
It was a moment of pure joy: school was out for summer.
Your school bag was shoved in the back of a cupboard. School shoes went the same way. Ahead lay countless days of freedom, play and sunshine.
That used to be the case for most children – yet not all youngsters today enjoy the same.
There’s school work to catch up on; a year’s learning to consolidate. An 11-plus test in the autumn term, perhaps.
So – some parents argue – why not study over the holidays?
Vivienne Stiles tutors children aged between four and 16 throughout the summer.
They attend a class twice a week, and are given between 15 and 90 minutes of maths and English homework every day.
“Children’s brains need to be stimulated throughout the holidays,” she says.
“You can’t expect them to pick up in September where they left off.”
By doing work little and often, says Vivienne, children maintain the stamina and concentration built up during term-time.
Vivienne – who works for Kumon, a tutor company – says the children learn new skills, develop a strong work ethic and get into a good routine.
The proof?
She says her own daughter, now 19, went from a “good C-grade student” at the start of secondary school to getting a place at London’s Royal Veterinary College, thanks in part to extra tutoring.
Mother-of-two Tanith Carey was also a big believer in tutoring.
That was until her eldest daughter, Lily, did not want to accept a school prize for science at the age of seven, saying she hated the fuss.
It was then Tanith found out about the pressure her daughter was under.
So, the maths tutoring through the holidays stopped, and Lily had more time to spend making up little worlds and imaginary characters with her younger sister, Clio.
Tanith says that, like many parents, she had been swept along in a “tide of panic”.
“Competition between parents is contagious – because they fear if another child gets ahead, their child will feel left behind. So it spreads,” she says.
“I think it’s sad that the summer months are viewed as an extension of the academic year – a chance for kids to catch up or get ahead.”
In her book, Taming the Tiger Parent, Tanith writes about the concept of a child’s spark.
“It’s something that every child has and is the one thing they love doing and they lose themselves in and find easy,” she explains.
“Children can only find it if they are left to their own devices.”
Over the summer, 12-year-old Clio has decided she wants to take photographs and turn them into an album, and compile and bake some vegan recipes.
Her sister, Lily, now 15, is going abroad on a music course – despite having GCSEs coming up.
She will also enjoy the freedom of not having to get up for school, and reading whatever books she wants, Tanith adds.
Her own summer holidays playing in the garden, making huts, and playing Cowboys and Indians, formed some of the happiest memories of her childhood.
“I think in their panic and fear about the future, parents are forgetting that some of the best learning is done through play and getting to know the physical world outside in nature.
“They are forgetting that children used to have two educations. The one they had at school and the one they had from nature.”
Father-of-three and author of the Idle Parent, Tom Hodgkinson, spent his summer holidays roaming freely round parks and over rubbish dumps.
He may not prescribe rubbish dumps to children today, but does believe in giving them the space to make fire, climb trees and play with knives.
“It’s about responsible neglect,” he says. “Leave children alone – you’re nearby but let them get on with it.”
Life is overscheduled so the summer holidays should be a time to live in the moment, have fun and be creative without an authority figure lurking in the background, he says.
It teaches you self-sufficiency, the ability to entertain yourself and how to look after yourself.
“These skills may not be useful in corporate life or if you want to suck on the nipple of the state but they are if you want to be a responsible grown-up human being,” he argues.
However, this summer he won’t practise what he preaches. His eldest has A-levels next year so it will be Latin every morning.
“It’s a one-off,” he says. “You do have to work sometimes.”
Moms aren’t incredible employees despite being mothers; they’re great because they are mothers.
By: Zeynep Ilgaz
I think being a mom is the most rewarding job in the world, and I commend every woman who has decided to make it a full-time gig.
But what happens once a stay-at-home mom finds herself needing (or wanting) to rejoin the workforce? This can be a difficult and stressful situation to navigate, but it’s also a common one. In Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In,” she highlights the fact that 74 percent of women choose to return to the workforce in some capacity after having kids.
I’m one of them. After evaluating many factors, I chose to return to work soon after I had my two lovely sons. It seemed like the natural (and financially responsible) thing for me to do. I’ve been constantly working since I was a teenager, and I just couldn’t fathom what life would be like without a job. I’ve always enjoyed having a work-life balance — and without working, that balance wouldn’t exist.
With that in mind, my husband and I made the conscious decision to share both home and professional responsibilities. We also made sure our sons were aware of why we made that decision, which I believe sets a good example for them of how to balance life’s many responsibilities.
If you, too, make the decision to return to work after having children, congratulations! It may seem intimidating, but don’t be afraid. There are many business leaders — like myself — who will happily hire working moms because they’re great employees, especially in today’s fast-paced work environment. The moms at my company are among the best, most skilled, and most productive employees we have.
Here are a few tips that will help moms showcase their skills and have a successful reentry into the workforce:
Update your résumé.
Freshen up your résumé by highlighting the many skills you gained as a stay-at-home mom. We are living in a world that thrives on productivity, and many of the capabilities you developed during your time at home are ones that modern-day companies would love to have on staff. Even if you didn’t gain these skills in a professional setting, they should still be listed on your résumé.
For example, you could mention that you’ve spent the past several years managing and coordinating home, school, and family functions, which is no easy task. You also likely possess extraordinary multitasking, negotiation, and communication skills. Be sure to highlight those on your résumé, as well.
Play to your strengths.
During job interviews, don’t be shy about explaining your absence from the workforce. Proudly talk about the strengths and skills you developed during your time away.
The skills mentioned above — along with others like teamwork, leadership, and transparency — transfer incredibly well into the professional sphere. Your recruiter (especially if he or she is a parent) will recognize this. In fact, as a recent Fortune article points out, some tech companies are actually going out of their way to recruit women who left the workplace after becoming mothers.
Prioritize family-friendly companies.
While there’s no doubt the glass ceiling hasn’t been broken, times have certainly changed. Many workplaces are far friendlier to mothers than in the past. Companies are beginning to pride themselves on providing perks such as childcare and flexible scheduling, so be sure to look into what options are available when you’re applying.
Perhaps this could be linked to the fact that female entrepreneurship is on the rise. The number of startups with at least one woman founder jumped from 9.5 percent in 2009 to 18 percent in 2014. This trend only means good things for working mothers, as companies will continue to become more and more open to accommodating their unique skill sets.
The moms at my company aren’t incredible employees despite being mothers; they’re great because they are mothers. Their parenting roles have taught them invaluable skills that make them exemplary employees any company would be grateful to have.
Regardless of the role you choose when returning to work, have confidence in yourself and your abilities. I hope my journey — from motherhood to entrepreneurship — can inspire your personal journey.
Originally from Turkey, Zeynep Ilgaz and her husband co-founded Confirm Biosciences and TestCountry, where Ilgaz serves as president and CEO. Confirm Biosciences is a national provider of diagnostic products for human wellness, animal health, and environmental testing. Ms. Ilgaz received the Most Admired CEO Award in San Diego in 2016, and Confirm Biosciences was recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in 2014 and 2015. Most recently, Ms. Ilgaz has been honored as a finalist for EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 in San Diego.
Ellevate Network is a global women’s network: the essential resource for professional women who create, inspire and lead. Together, we #InvestInWomen.
It’s all about the six Cs
RACHEL HOSIE
@rachel_hosie
Wednesday 5 July 2017 07:48 BST
Parents receive a lot of mixed messages surrounding how best to bring up their children.
How strict should you be? Should you be more of a friend or guardian? How much independence should they be given?
And current parenting culture may not actually be setting kids up in the best way, according to two professors.
How to raise your child to become a billionaire
“We’re training kids to do what computers do, which is spit back facts. And computers are always going to be better than human beings at that,” says Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, developmental psychologist, professor at Temple University and co-author of Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children.
“But what they’re not going to be better at is being social, navigating relationships, being citizens in a community. So we need to change the whole definition of what success in school, and out of school, means.”
Hirsh-Pasek and her co-author Roberta Golinkoff from the University of Delaware believe children should be assessed in the six Cs: collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creative innovation and confidence. And they go in that order too.
Collaboration is crucial in the classroom and at home, and teaches children to get on with others.
Communication includes speaking, reading, writing and listening.
Content comes next because, as Hirsh-Pasek explained to NPR, “you can’t learn anything if you haven’t learned how to understand language, or to read.” Figuring out which content to select from a mass is a skill.
Critical thinking is then what you do with that content.
Creative innovation is the next step because: “You need to know something well enough to make something new,” Hirsh-Pasek explains.
Confidence is crucial in teaching children to take safe risks.
And it’s the roles of parents to encourage children in these six areas: “So, if you’re going to have a kid who engages in critical thinking, you’re not going to shut them down when they ask a question,” Golinkoff says.
“You’re not going to settle for ‘because.’ You’re going to encourage them to ask more. And you want them to understand how other people think.”
There are then levels to each of the six Cs, which reflect how strong you are in each skill, and Golinkoff and Hirsh-Pasek say parents can use the system to evaluate their own relationship with their children too.
The authors believe it’s crucial that parents supplement what children learn in school and they stress that social interaction – rather than gadgets – are crucial.
“What we do with little kids today will matter in 20 years,” says Hirsh-Pasek. “If you don’t get it right, you will have an unlivable environment. That’s the crisis I see.”
The agency says you should switch them off when they’re not being used
AATIF SULLEYMAN
The FBI has issued a warning about internet-connected children’s toys equipped with cameras and microphones.
The agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) division has told parents to be wary of them, and is advising consumers to carry out a series of checks before purchasing one.
It also says you should switch them off when they’re not being used.
Sensors inside the toys could put the privacy and safety of children at risk, according to the IC3, which specifically highlights exploitation risks.
As well as cameras and microphones, such toys could include GPS, data storage and speech recognition components.
“In some cases, toys with microphones could record and collect conversations within earshot of the device. Information such as the child’s name, school, likes and dislikes, and activities may be disclosed through normal conversation with the toy or in the surrounding environment,” it says.
The IC3 warning continues: “Personal information (e.g., name, date of birth, pictures, address) is typically provided when creating user accounts. In addition, companies collect large amounts of additional data, such as voice messages, conversation recordings, past and real-time physical locations, Internet use history, and Internet addresses/IPs.
“The exposure of such information could create opportunities for child identity fraud. Additionally, the potential misuse of sensitive data such as GPS location information, visual identifiers from pictures or videos, and known interests to garner trust from a child could present exploitation risks.”
The data collected from children’s interactions with such toys can be sent to the manufacturer and a third-party company responsible for the software.
“Voice recordings, toy Web application (parent app) passwords, home addresses, Wi-Fi information, or sensitive personal data could be exposed if the security of the data is not sufficiently protected with the proper use of digital certificates and encryption when it is being transmitted or stored,” says the IC3.
Earlier this year, an official German watchdog told parents to destroy an internet-connected doll because hackers can use it to spy on children.
My Friend Cayla was found to be equipped with an insecure Bluetooth device, which cybercriminals could hijack, in order to steal personal data and listen and talk to the child playing with it.
The IC3 has published a list of checks for people to perform before buying internet-connected toys, which includes staying up to date with software updates and switching toys off when they’re not being used. The full list can be found here.
With technology permeating almost every aspect of our lives, the demand for computer programmers can only increase. To train the workforce of the future, companies around the world are frantically developing computing languages to introduce children as young as seven to the mysterious world of programming both in and out of school.
The only drawback is that to learn or observe the results of their programming prowess, children have to be able to see. As a result, kids with limited or no vision are excluded from participating in this exciting trend. To change that, researchers at Microsoft’s Cambridge, UK Lab have developed a physical programming language that can be learned by all children.
Project Torino allows visually impaired kids aged 7 to 11 to create code that plays music, stories, or poetry by connecting physical pods together. Once done, an accompanying app converts the physical code into digital code. The smart system covers all the major concepts and is geared to adapt to the needs of each student and set challenges based on the individual’s skill. Most importantly, it provides instant feedback, enabling educators to assess his or her progress and provide assistance as needed.
The Microsoft team is currently tweaking the system based on the feedback received from a group of 20 visually impaired kids who have been testing Project Torino since last year. Among the changes is adding color to the previously all-white pods because it helps children with limited vision to learn better. The size of the pods is also being increased since kids working in pairs were more engaged when they could both physically hold the pods and touch hands.
The program will be expanded to 100 elementary school children in the UK this fall, and, once perfected, to kids across the world. While the system was created with visually impaired children in mind, Cecily Morrison, one of the researchers working on the project, hopes that it will appeal to everyone. “One of our key design principles was inclusion. We didn’t want to isolate these kids again,” she said. “The idea was to create something that a whole mainstream class could use, and they could use together.”
The team’s ultimate goal is to make Project Torino available to children with other challenges, such as dyslexiaand autism. They believe that if successful, it can be a win-win for both — technology companies seeking skilled labor, and visually, or otherwise, challenged people looking for a lucrative professional career!
Flora Carr
12 JULY 2017 • 1:21PM
Household income affects children’s cognitive abilities, and can impact their educational prospects, new research has found.
Children’s physical health and social and behavioural development are also impacted, with family income proving a crucial factor in children’s home environment.
The report, published by the London School of Economics and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, also found that household income affects mothers’ mental health, which is significant for child development.
“It’s very well established that children from lower income households do worse in many ways than children from households with more income,” said Kitty Stewart, Associate Professor at the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at LSE.
Reasons for this have previously been disputed, Stewart said. Parents from higher income households might be more educated, and take a closer interest in their children’s homework.
However, the new report suggests that financial security plays an important role in a child’s cognitive ability and attainment.
“We can now confidently say that money itself matters and needs to be taken into account if we want to improve children’s outcomes,” said Kerris Cooper, who co-authored the report with Stewart.
“We often focus on gaps at school – but what the evidence shows is that money doesn’t only make a difference to children’s cognitive outcomes, it also makes a difference to their physical health, to birth weight, and to social and behavioral development.”
The report, which reviewed 61 studies, estimates that closing the income gap between the households of children entitled to free school meals and other, average households could reduce the achievement gap by more than half.
Researchers also found that increasing a household income and investing in education both have similar impacts on children’s attainment at school.
This means that attempts to boost poorer children’s educational prospects might have little impact if household incomes continue to fall.
Breast-feeding at age 2 or older increases a child’s risk of severe dental caries by the time they’re 5, independently of how much sugar they get from foods, researchers say.
To investigate the effect of prolonged breastfeeding on children’s teeth, Karen Glazer Peres of the University of Adelaide in Australia and colleagues analyzed data on 1,129 children born in 2004 in Pelotas, Brazil, a community with a public fluoridated water supply.
Breastfeeding information was collected at birth and when children were 3 months, 1 year and 2 years old. Sugar consumption data was collected at ages 2, 4 and 5.
By age 5, nearly 24 percent of children had severe early childhood caries, which researchers defined as six or more decayed, missing or filled tooth surfaces, according to the report in the journal Pediatrics. Close to half of children had at least one tooth surface affected.
Children who had breast-fed for at least two years, which was close to one-quarter of the group, had a higher number of teeth that were decayed, missing or had a filling. Their risk of having severe early childhood caries was also 2.4 times higher compared with those who were only breastfed up to 1 year of age. Breast-feeding for 13 months to 23 months had no effect on dental caries.
To collect data on sugar consumption, the team used a list of food items or food groups consumed the day prior to a clinic visit. At age 2, groups were categorized as “low sugar consumption,” meaning zero or less than twice daily, and “high sugar consumption,” meaning two or more times daily.
But sugar consumption was only associated with a greater risk of having severe early childhood dental caries when children who consumed the highest amount were compared with children who consumed the least.
Subsequent analyses of prolonged breast-feeding, taking into account the pattern of sugar consumption throughout the child’s life course, showed that prolonged breastfeeding was an independent risk for severe caries and decayed, missing or filled teeth, the authors note.
“Breast-feeding is the unquestioned optimal source of infant nutrition. Dental care providers should encourage mothers to breastfeed and, likewise, advise them on the risk,” Glazer Peres told Reuters Health by email.
“General recommendations such as drinking fluoridated water as well as cleaning a child’s teeth with fluoridated toothpaste before going to bed may help to prevent dental caries,” she said. “These approaches are in line with most of the guidelines for practice and policy recommendations worldwide.”
“There is no question that babies who breast-feed for a longer time than recommended by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry or the American Academy of Pediatrics have an increased cavity rate,” noted Dr. Robert Morgan, chief of dentistry at Children’s Health in Dallas, Texas, who was not involved in the study.
“The issue is not entirely related to breast feeding. Babies who sleep with a bottle of milk or take a sippy cup of milk throughout the day or night also have an increased incidence of caries,” he said by email.
“The real correlation of breast-feeding is perhaps the number of exposures to food and drink that a child has during the day and night due to the ease of access to mom,” he explained.
“We know that after a baby eats or drinks there is a rise in bacteria and a rise in decay potential for approximately 20 minutes, (after which) bacterial growth and concurrent acid production decreases, as does the decay potential. Therefore, we recommend toddlers eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with perhaps a mid-morning snack and a mid-afternoon snack. If a parent brushes (the child’s teeth) after breakfast and dinner there are only three exposures to increased decay rate times,” Morgan said.
“In my practice, for the mothers who would like to breast-feed for a longer period, we advise them to follow the recommended feeding schedule regardless of the feeding methods, whether breast, bottle or cup – feed and drink a non-water drink no more than five times a day and never at night – and we encourage the brushing schedule (after breakfast and dinner feeding),” he said.
Like adults, kids eat for a variety of reasons, but hunger should be the primary driver.
Your child just ate dinner. Thirty minutes later he says he’s hungry. Is he really hungry? It seems unlikely, given the fact that he just ate a full meal. So, what’s going on?
If you’re a parent, you know that children aren’t always hungry when they say they are or when they ask for something to eat. Sometimes they’re bored. Sometimes they have a sweet tooth they want to satisfy. Sometimes they’re excited, or maybe they’re sad.
Eating in the Absence of Hunger
Like adults, kids eat for a variety of reasons. In children, a phenomenon called eating in the absence of hunger, or EAH, describes the eating that occurs when children aren’t hungry.
According to a 2015 review in the journal Appetite, EAH tends to develop between age 5 and 9, when there is greater awareness of food and the environmental triggers to eat become more prominent. Eating highly palatable foods, like sweets, when not hungry has been associated with childhood obesity in boys and girls under the age of 12.
Food availability, especially sweets and salty snacks, play a role in the development of EAH, but a parent’s feeding style and practices, a child’s genetic makeup and socioeconomic status can also influence the development of EAH. Although the reasons for EAH aren’t always clear, research provides some clues.
Here are six reasons kids eat when they’re not hungry – and what you can do about it:
A poor sense of appetite: A child may be out of touch with body signals that tell her to start eating and when to stop. The appetite cues of hunger and fullness form the basis for eating. Some children lose this sense of appetite regulation early in childhood when a parent’s feeding practices, like having a child finish the bottle or jar of baby food, override it.
Teach your child about physical hunger and how to recognize and honor her appetite cues. Use phrases such as “hungry belly” and “happy belly” to help young toddlers associate their physical sensation with hunger and fullness signs. Encourage older children to listen to their bodies and base eating on appetite cues. You can say, “What is your body telling you?”
[See: 6 Healthy Foods Worth Splurging On.]
High responsiveness to food: A child may light up when she’s around food. That is, she’s responsive to food. She may eat food because it looks good. She may remember eating a certain food and liking it, wanting to indulge again. If others are eating, she may be inclined to eat, too. If certain foods like sweets have been scarce or tightly regulated in the home, she may show more interest in those foods and less control over how much of them she eats.
Research suggests moderating the home environment by keeping palatable foods out of sight. You don’t want to restrict them, because this can contribute to an increased responsiveness to them. Rather, bring desserts and treats out at predictable, scheduled times and don’t make eating veggies a condition for indulging in them.
Impulsiveness around food: The child who can’t stop eating or who can’t resist the temptation to eat may have what is called low inhibitory control. A child with low inhibitory control may be more responsive to sweets and snack foods and may not be able to control his consumption of those foods in the moment.
Over time, low inhibitory control may lead to excess eating and weight gain. Restricting highly palatable foods complicates the scenario, making overindulgence more likely and lowering the resistance to the temptation.
Instead, neutralize all foods, allowing room for treats and sweets, so they don’t become the object of desire. Use a strategy for including sweets and other tasty foods, such as the 90/10 rule, where children may have one or two indulgent foods on average each day. Allow your child to choose which indulgent foods he will eat.
Emotional eating: A child who has learned to comfort himself with food may be an emotional eater. In other words, when he is sad, happy, frustrated, angry or has any uncomfortable emotions, he turns to food for solace. Emotional eating is learned early when a child’s uncomfortable feelings are placated with food.
Help your child identify uncomfortable emotions and welcome open communication about them. When your child is sad, disappointed, lonely or stressed, encourage him to talk about those feelings. Communication is a healthy way to deal with uncomfortable emotions. Turning to food to numb them is not.
[Read: Is Your Approach to Feeding Your Kids All Wrong?]
Boredom: Your child is eating because she can’t find anything else to do. Eating due to boredom can quickly turn into a habit of mindless eating, or eating without paying attention to one’s level of fullness and the quantities of food consumed. You want your child to pay attention to food when she’s eating so that she can fully enjoy it and be aware of her body’s responses to it.
Keep your child occupied with activities that don’t involve food, such as chores, playing outside or taking lessons in an art or playing a sport. A simple way to help your child regulate extra eating is to close the kitchen between meals and snacks. Closing the kitchen directs your child away from food and toward other activities. Avoid eating environments that encourage mindless eating, like eating in the car or in front of the TV.
Food restriction: Tightly controlling or restricting indulgent foods may sound like a good way to encourage healthy eating in kids, but it can backfire. Food restriction may increase the desire for those foods that are restricted, while making overeating them when they are available more likely. For instance, if sugar is tightly controlled or even avoided in your home, your child may demonstrate a strong desire for it and may overeat it when it’s available.
Set limits for indulgent foods, but don’t restrict them. Letting children know when they can expect their favorite foods can help calm their response to them. Regularly timed meals and snacks help satisfy your child’s appetite and give you a framework for offering treats and sweets, allowing you to moderate your child’s exposure to them.
Help Your Child Develop Self-Regulation Skills
Children eat because they are physically hungry, but they also eat because they think they are hungry, are triggered by food or have a history with eating that was negative. Sometimes, they eat out of boredom or habit.
Kids should eat because they are physically hungry most of the time. Of course, children will desire food that looks and tastes good (just like adults do), and there will be times when other reasons for eating, like the pleasure of enjoying dessert, take over. These shouldn’t be the primary drivers for eating, however.
[See: 12 Questions You Should Ask Your Kids at Dinner.]
Ultimately, you want your child to develop a healthy relationship with food. While providing nutritious food is important , you also want to help your child learn to self-regulate his appetite, food choices and eating.
byMAGGIE FOX
Babies under a year old don’t need fruit juice and older kids should take it easy on juice, the American Academy of Pediatrics said Monday.
Fruit juice is loaded with sugar and can cause tooth decay. And because it tastes so good and is easy to suck down from a bottle or sippy cup, it’s easy for little kids to get too much, the Academy said in new guidance.
“Fruit juice and fruit drinks are easily overconsumed by toddlers and young children because they taste good,” the AAP said in updated advice on fruit juice.
While kids and adults alike need plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, juice is not the best way to get that nutrition, the AAP said.
“Fruit juice offers no nutritional benefits for infants younger than 1 year,” it said. Juice is loaded with sugar and calories and doesn’t have the fiber that whole fruit has.
“One hundred percent fresh or reconstituted fruit juice can be a healthy part of the diet of children older than 1 year when consumed as part of a well-balanced diet. Fruit drinks, however, are not nutritionally equivalent to fruit juice.”
The new guidance:
Infants don’t need juice unless a doctor says so. Toddlers aged 1 to 3 should get no more than four ounces a day of juice and up to six ounces for kids up to age 6. Kids aged up to 18 need no more than eight ounces a day.
Don’t give toddlers juice in bottles or sippy cups or at bedtime.
Instead, encourage children to eat fruit.
The Checkup
By PERRI KLASS, M.D. JUNE 26, 2017
In pediatrics, attachment is the emotional connection that develops between a young child and a parent or other caregiver.
Attachment theory was developed in the mid-20th century by a British psychiatrist, John Bowlby, whose own upper-class British upbringing included the loss of a beloved nanny, and an early trip to boarding school. Mary Ainsworth, his student and later collaborator, devised what is known as the strange situation procedure, in which a 1-year-old is briefly separated from the parent or caregiver, and then reunited, and the behavior during reunions is closely observed.
These experiments, which stressed the child briefly, but then immediately ended the stress, were correlated with in-home observations of parent-child relationships, and researchers built a kind of taxonomy of attachment, reading children’s behavior in the strange situation as an index to the quality of the bond with the parent.
“The reason the strange situation is so important is because early research and repeated studies showed that what parents did at home or in various situations predicted how children behaved in the strange situation,” said Virginia M. Shiller, an assistant clinical professor at Yale University Child Study Center and author of the “The Attachment Bond: Affectional Ties Across the Lifespan.”
A child who has the general sense that the parent is likely to be responsive, she said, is going to ask for attention when the parent comes back in. The child may be upset, but calms down quickly, comforted by the parent, and thereby demonstrates what is called “secure attachment.”
Attachment, said Susan Berger, a developmental psychologist who is associate professor of pediatrics at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, is about “being sensitive to your child in times of stress so they know if they’re upset, hurt, bothered, somebody will come make them feel better so they can move away and be back in their world again.”
On the other hand, children who have not learned to expect comfort and reassurance when they are distressed will demonstrate what is considered insecure attachment.
“When mom or dad come back in they actually turn away, they might crawl away, they might barely look at mom or dad,” Dr. Shiller said. But that’s not because they’re calm. Studies have shown that these children are also feeling the stress of separation, with high heart rates and elevated levels of stress hormone. In other words, she said, “while one might say, ‘well, that’s just an independent child,’ we have other information that this child is stressed and saying, ‘I’m going to somehow manage this on my own.’”
That kind of stiff-upper-lip, manage-on-my-own behavior has been called insecure-avoidant, in attachment research, while a third group of children, difficult to calm, sometimes aggressively demanding comfort, sometimes angrily pushing the parent away, have been called insecure-resistant. And finally, especially among children who have experienced severe stress, institutional care, and even abuse, researchers identified a pattern they called “disorganized,” in which children seemed to have no consistent strategy for responding to separation and reunion.
Attachment in parenting and child development is not the same as “attachment parenting,” which often stresses the literal physical proximity of parent and child, and the importance of avoiding even minor stresses and separations.
“You don’t have to feel the need to be physically connected to your child every minute of the day and night in order for you to be securely attached to your child and for your child to learn that you’re available to them,” Dr. Berger said.
“It’s a misunderstanding that the more contact you have, the better, so you carry your child around all day, you sleep with them at night,” Dr. Shiller said. “The evidence is more that how you feel about them, how you respond to them is important.”
Why does attachment matter? “The strange situation is in many cases highly predictive of how children will develop their self-confidence, their problem-solving ability, their independence, their language competence, their ability to form social relationships,” Dr. Shiller said. But, she said, “a secure attachment at one year of age does not prevent children from becoming insecure if life events become more stressful.”
For many clinicians, looking at attachment patterns in young children is not to predict their long-term outcomes, but to help parents who may be stressed or struggling learn the kind of responsive, reassuring comforting which will strengthen the relationship.
Dr. Berger teaches residents about the emotional dynamics of children and families, and her research interest is the application of attachment theory in pediatric primary care. She encourages doctors to look at the 1-year-old checkup as a parallel to the strange situation, in which a young child will be predictably stressed, and the doctor can observe the child’s response, and the parent’s.
As doctors, we tend to think about how stressful the visit is for us — that is, how difficult the child is to examine. Dr. Berger developed an observation scale to help residents evaluate whether children are securely attached in the context of the exam room.
“You have a family where the child is running out of the room and the parent is not following them,” she said, “a particularly difficult ear exam and the kid doesn’t even look at the parent, and when you’re done the kid sort of moves away from the parent.” That doctor needs to talk about what happens at home, when the child gets hurt, and needs to help parents find new strategies to comfort and respond.
But looking at 1-year-olds is not to say that their futures are already set. “The research suggests that except for extreme environments, children’s minds are quite plastic, quite flexible,” Dr. Shiller said. In one large study, what mattered most for how socially competent and well-adjusted children looked in the third year of life, she said, was what happened in the second year.
As they grow up, children need to explore the world in a widening circle of strange situations, experiencing what is new and by definition somewhat stressful. They need to move gradually further and further away from their parents, but they need to know they can come back for reassurance and comfort.
“What attachment provides is a secure base for a child to move away from and explore the world,” Dr. Berger said, “and a haven of safety to move back to when the world is too stressful.”
When making the decision to get pregnant, all parents wish for a safe delivery with a happy, healthy baby at term. Unfortunately, this will not be the end result for everyone. Currently 1 out of 10 babies born in the U.S. is born premature. This means they are born at less than 37 weeks gestational age. Black women especially are at increased risk for preterm birth. While the overall preterm birth rate is 9.6 percent in the U.S., the rate of preterm birth in black women is 13.3 percent. This rate is significantly higher compared to women of other ethnic backgrounds. This disparity has been present for decades and there is still no concrete answer as to why.
While there is no way to prevent early delivery for every mom, there is something that can help improve a preemie’s transition to life outside the womb. Delayed cord clamping is one way to help give your preemie a jumpstart after birth.
So what is delayed cord clamping? This is when the umbilical cord is not clamped until 30 seconds or more after the baby is delivered. During pregnancy the umbilical cord is what connects the baby to the placenta inside the womb. At delivery, when the baby comes out, the umbilical cord is clamped and cut to separate baby from the placenta. Delayed cord clamping is not a new practice and was performed more regularly several decades ago.
Over time, it became common practice to clamp immediately after birth. However, research now shows that preemies benefit from the delay. Delayed cord clamping leads to increased blood volume, iron stores, birth weight and decreased need for blood transfusions. Research also shows that delayed cord clamping in preemies may lead to decreased intraventricular hemorrhage or bleeding in the brain as well as necrotizing enterocolitis which involves infection and injury to the baby’s intestines.
As a result, the American Academy of Pediatrics supports delayed umbilical cord clamping as recommended by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The Neonatal Resuscitation Program released an update in 2015 that recommends delaying cord clamping for at least 30-60 seconds for preemies and term infants.
Despite this, delayed cord clamping is not without risk.
There has been concern for increased jaundice or yellow coloring to the skin and eyes; polycythemia, where there are too many red cells in the blood; and hemorrhage or bleeding in mothers after delivery. Studies have shown only a minimal increased risk in jaundice, which was treated with phototherapy, and no greater risk of polycythemia. There was also no increased risk of postpartum hemorrhage. Therefore these potential risks do not outweigh the benefits of delayed cord clamping. It is also not guaranteed that every preemie will experience this benefit. In some instances where the baby is limp and not breathing or if there is concern for maternal bleeding then delayed cord clamping should not be performed.
05/31/2017 05:07 pm ET | Updated May 31, 2017
Children are extremely savvy when it comes to the use of electronic devices. At the youngest of ages, they appear to know how to maneuver the use of electronics better than some adults. In fact, watching a child who can barely talk turn on their favorite you tube channel can seem a tad bit scary at times. In today’s society it appears that children are exposed to technology though tablets and computerized learning toys from infancy. Smart phones and tablets have become the go to devices to keep infants and toddlers occupied to avoid public tantrums due to idol time. Therefore, it only becomes a matter of time before your child will want his or her own smart phone. As a parent how do you respond to the constant daily nagging for a cell phone? And more importantly, how do you really know when your child is ready for a smartphone?
Allowing your child to have a smart phone can be a great thing for you and your child. You can instantly contact your child when you are running late for pick up, you can be contacted immediately if there is a problem at school, and you can use it as your own personal tracking device to keep tabs on your child’s location. However, before allowing children to dive head first into the smart phone world, be sure to have a conversation with them about appropriate use and responsibility.
Follow these simple steps to make sure you and your children are ready for the responsibility that comes with having their own smartphone.
Set up rules and expectations
Have a conversation to inform children of the rules and expectations of cell phone use. Create a cell phone contract with clear expectations for use of the phone and, clear consequences if the contract is broken. It is extremely important that the contact is meaningful and enforceable at all times. If you treat it as just another piece of paper, children will respond to it as just an empty rule and wasted paper.
Set up time limits for phone use, and set a rule around data usage.
Make all rules clear! Do not assume that children “should have known” something.
Have your children turn in the phone to you at night to ensure they are getting proper sleep and not getting messaged by friends throughout the night.
Warn about inappropriate texts and pictures
You may not be prepared to have a conversation about sexual messages and pictures with your children, however if they are old enough to have a smart phone then you are trusting them enough to have a smart conversation about sexually inappropriate behaviors.
Sexting is real, it happens every day in the school environment.
Make sure your child knows what to do if they get a sexually inappropriate text or picture. Inform you child not to forward messages to friends, but to immediately tell you or a teacher.
Inform your children of the very real legal implications of sending nude pictures of themselves to someone, or forwarding a sexually suggestive picture that they may have received from a classmate.
Teach your child about cyberbullying and how NOT to be a cyberbully
A cell phone means 24/7 access to everyone. In a pre-cell phone and pre social media era, bullies stayed at school and, what happened at school most likely stayed at school. With 24/7 electronic access a bully is now hard to escape. Inform children on steps to take if they are bullied. Know your child passwords for their phone, Instagram, Facebook, twitter, Snapchat, Kik, and any other social media app they are using.
Know who is sending your children direct messages and the type of messages they are sending to others.
Social media platforms, games, and group chats make it easy for kids to be bullied. Talk to them about the signs of cyberbullying, and have open conversations with them on what you and the school will do about bullying when it is reported.
Use it as an opportunity to teach responsibility
When children have a smart phone, they now have a major responsibility. Smart phones are an expensive item. No matter if you child has the first version of an iPhone or the Samsung galaxy 8 plus, there are a costs associated with having a smart phone.
If you child earns an allowance have them contribute a small portion to the cost of their cell phone plan.
As a household, brainstorm ways that you can use having a cell phone as a teaching tool to increase personal responsibility.
Always remember it is YOUR phone
If you buy a phone for your child, then you are allowing your child to use your phone. No matter what your child tells you, the phone is your property, you own it.
You do have a right to take it back, you have a right to turn off the data, and even turn off the service if you feel your child can not be responsible for your phone. Since it is your phone, it is important that you make sure you know how to use it.
Children are smart and have amazing skills with using electronic devices, and this can be dangerous for them. Don’t let your child outsmart you.
When you give your child a cell phone make sure you know what apps they download and how to use them. Be aware of where they save pictures, texts, emails, and messages so when you conduct daily searches of the phone you know exactly what you are looking for. Always know passwords to unlock the phone. Be aware of the phones parental controls and safety measures.
Smartphones are your child’s lifeline to the world, as a parent you need to know what is going on in their world to protect them from themselves and everyone else.
Teach and model putting the phone down
Have a set time each day to for the family to unplug from electronic devices.
Unplugging is an important habit that we all need to practice daily.
For many of us electronic devices are ringing, buzzing, and pinging from the time we wake up in the morning, to the time we go to bed at night. Set family time that is phone free time. Create a phone box to put everyone’s phone in, then for at least 30 min to 1 hour each night try to make your home a cell phone free zone.
The use of electronic devices can quickly turn into an addictive behavior for some individuals, allow children the ability to unplug from the electronic world so they can feel re-energized and refreshed the next day.
Remember you know your child best. You are aware of child’s maturity level, their friends, and their daily habits. When handing them a device that requires a great level of responsibility be sure to trust your instinct. A smart phone allows quick, instant access to everything in the real world. As a parent do your best to monitor, protect, and prepare your children so they can use their smart phone in a manner that is both safe and responsible.
Kids take risks to have fun and get high, and some are life-threatening.
Posted Jun 18, 2017
We’ve been hearing for several years about how the immature adolescent brain can undermine judgment. When it comes to risk, kids lack an adequate braking system. Adolescence is a time of experimentation and exploration. Kids feel powerful and immune to negative consequences. Their bursts of development across the teen years makes them prone to impulsive behaviors. They’re also susceptible to peer influence.
Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, says that adolescents are vulnerable to mood disorders. Their decision-making brain does not mature until the early to mid-twenties. They need support and guidance. “There’s a real difference between the brains of teenagers and adults… They feel everything so much more intensely.”
Adolescents prefer high-excitement and low-effort activities. They’re receptive to dangerous games, risky acts, and social media contagions.
A game that has made the rounds online, for example, is the “salt and ice challenge.” Kids pour salt onto some part of their body before placing an ice cube over the salted area. The goal is to see who can stand the pain the longest, and they post photos of their burns. However, the salt lowers the temperature of the ice, producing numbness and risking third-degree burns and permanent frostbite. The skin thickens and becomes like leather, often losing sensation.
Why do they do it? It’s a dare, a challenge. Others are doing it. Some not only have to rise to the challenge but also be the best. Who sets themselves on fire for fun? You can see kids doing it on Youtube.
The “duct tape challenge” dares teens to get wrapped in duct tape and then proceed to get free. The problem is that the wrapping can be so tight that it causes injury, even brain damage. Some kids doing it alone, following instructions online, have died. Then there’s the “knockout game,” in which kids deliver a blow to the head of an unsuspecting person hard enough to knock them unconscious. They post their feats on Youtube.
Also risky are “the cutting challenge” and “the choking game.” The former involves various degrees of self-injury from scissors or knives, while the latter cuts off oxygen to the brain to achieve euphoria (the “good kid’s high”). Kids use a belt, leash, or noose, but in groups, it involves strangling each other with bare hands. Those kids who do it alone (the majority) are at greatest risk. They will push themselves to make a noose or belt tighter or keep it tight for longer periods. A CDC study examined 82 deaths related to the choking game and found the average age to be 13, with the youngest age 6. Most were male.
It’s not clear whether the reports about the Blue Whale game are fake, but supposedly some areas of social media offer this suicide challenge. It’s called the Blue Whale after the idea that some whales deliberately beach themselves. One article says that more than 100 kids in Russia have died, including two girls who jumped off a roof and another who ran in front of a train. Supposedly, other kids filmed these incidents. The game has reportedly spread to other countries.
It allegedly works like this: the game facilitator assigns daily tasks to group members for 50 days. At first, the tasks are fairly benign, requiring such things as watching a horror movie or staying up all night. Eventually, they progress to self-harm. On the 50th day, the facilitator instructs kids (mostly girls, apparently) to do something that will likely end in death, such as jumping from buildings.
One report even has at least two game administrators under arrest for mesmerizing young girls. With fake news sites everywhere, it’s hard to know what to believe, but police in some countries have warned school systems about the game. If it’s a hoax, why bother? Because once something spreads on social media as if it’s real, some kids take it seriously. It might be fake, but some will try it.
Let’s not forget Slenderman. Twelve-year-olds Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier stabbed Payton Leutner 19 times in 2014 to try to sacrifice her to a fictional Internet character. It was a creepy meme of a faceless man with tentacles and it had spread fast among kids, mostly as a scary story. But these two girls believed that Slenderman was real and that he wanted them to kill their friend.
Even when something is fake, it can pose a danger to impressionable kids, especially if they see YouTube videos showing other kids doing it and having fun.
In addition, there are adults who learn about such games and pose as game administrators to exploit teen interest. They use the games to groom future victims, pretending to be authority figures who hold tantalizing secrets. Kids looking for kicks become willing followers.
Some kids get their thrills from urging others to die. This week, Michelle Carter was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for her part in her boyfriend’s suicide. In 2014 she had sent a series of texts to Conrad Roy as he ran a generator in his truck until he died from carbon monoxide poisoning. He’d struggled with depression and had made prior attempts. Yet he’d shown signs of ambivalence, so Carter had encouraged him to proceed. “Hang yourself, jump off a building, stab yourself I don’t know there’s a lot of ways,” she’d texted.
At one point, Roy had left the truck, so Carter coldly texted: “You need to do it, Conrad” and “All you have to do is turn the generator on and you will be free and happy.” She’d assured him that it was “normal” to feel scared. Later she told a friend that she could have stopped him. But she didn’t. She also did not contact anyone who might have gotten Roy some help. She told another friend, “I heard him dying.”
Unfortunately, Carter’s conviction will likely have little impact on other kids, due in part to the feeling of invulnerability that comes with higher levels of risk-taking. The extensive publicity for this case could even inspire copycats.
Another kid was not only intrigued with an unstable girls’ suicide plan, he also wanted to film it. The sixteen-year-old girl decided to commit suicide in Utah, so her friend, Tyerell Przybycien, 18, purchased a rope and an aerosol spray for getting high. Because he was interested in watching someone die, he did nothing to stop her. Instead, he recorded her on his cellphone for ten minutes as she stood on a rock, inhaled from the can, and let the rope asphyxiate her. He even recorded himself checking her to ensure she was dead. When hunters who found the body called police, Przybycien freely told them what he had done.
Earlier, he’d asked a friend what he should do for someone contemplating suicide. When the friend said he should try to talk her out of it, Przybycien had texted: “The thing is i wanna help kill them. it be awesome. seriously im going to help her. Its like getting away with murder! Im so f–ed up. I’m seriously not joking. Its going down in about a week or two.”
Whether it’s planking, cutting, burning, or any other challenge, what kids might envision for getting thrills is limited only by their imagination. They look for novelty and are easily influenced by the latest trends and by their need to belong to the in-group. They use these dares to prove themselves and build their self-esteem. They often cannot correctly evaluate the consequences, for themselves or others. Although they’re still held responsible if they harm others in the process, they don’t think about such consequences.
Fortunately, there are signs for some of this behavior, such as bloodshot eyes, or odd bruises or burns. Parents can educate themselves before their kids go too far. A simple Google search for dangerous social media trends among teenagers will provide some guidance. Mental health experts for children offer lists of red flags. (Example: Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.)
New research highlights how psychological issues carry over through generations.
Posted Jun 14, 2017
What parent doesn’t wonder how their “issues” may affect their children’s well-being? It’s a source of anxiety, uncertainty and concern. Understanding risk factors for mental illness is important, because some of them may be modifiable, allowing for prevention of future problems if they are identified early enough. There is a sizeable body of research on the subject of how maternal issues associate with mental health problems in offspring. Notably, Stein et al. (2014) identified higher risk with younger mothers, less educated mothers, and mothers with mental illness.
The authors of a new study, Pearson et al. (2017), note that among risk factors, parental personality traits have not been well-studied. Personality is an important factor in child-rearing and would be expected to have a potentially strong impact on child development. Reviewing the prior literature, the authors report that prior cross-sectional studies find that maternal neuroticism is correlated with poor maternal competence and satisfaction, and furthermore, with behavioral problems among children.
Other studies they review look at the roles of personality traits connected with more emotionally distant parenting: suspiciousness, anger, and impulsivity. These traits are characteristic of some personality disorders, notably Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), which is marked by unstable relationships, emotion dysregulation, suspiciousness, novelty-seeking, self-destructive behaviors, and identity disturbance.
They note that children of mothers with BPD show difficulties with attachment, social withdrawal, and emotion dysregulation earlier in life, and later in development tend to have continuing difficulty with social behaviors and distortions in how they perceive interpersonal relationships. These characteristics may be related to a tendency for mothers with BPD to be less sensitive, more intrusive, more hostile, and more over-protective. They report on two small cross-sectional studies which suggest an association with maternal BPD and adolescent depression and suicidality.
It is worth noting as a relevant aside that, although the study authors do not address this issue in detail, BPD is viewed by many to be related to developmental trauma—and some believe it is at least partially a form of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (cPTSD), though this question is still being debated, and there appear to be genetic factors that contribute to the development of BPD. In analyzing different BPD symptoms to determine how much is heritable and how much environmental, Reichborn-Kjennerud et al. (2013) found that BPD broke down statistically into three domains: a general BPD susceptibility factor, 55% heritable and 45% environmental; an interpersonal factor (unstable relationships, fears of abandonment), 2.2% heritable and 97.8% environmental; and an emotional instability factor (feelings of emptiness, intense anger), 29.3% heritable and 70.7% environmental.
So, there are significant heritability factors. But much of how mothers with BPD treat their children is related to their own developmental experiences, suggesting strongly a component of transgeneration transmission of trauma—passing negative developmental experiences to offspring via social learning—and perhaps also via epigenetic factors, which researchers are finding are increasingly important in how trauma is passed from one generation to the next.
There is consensus that maternal personality is likely an important factor, but there are few if any prospective studies investigating the question about parental personality and the impact on the mental health of their children. Generally speaking, prospective longitudinal studies offer better statistical results than cross-sectional studies, because they look at people over long spans of time, checking hypotheses in a naturalistic setting rather than looking at one data set during a shorter time span. This allows researchers to draw more reliable and robust conclusions about causality rather than simply being able to identify associations.
The study authors set out to investigate the role of parental personality using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) data set. They tested the following hypotheses:
(1) At the level of the general population, dysfunctional maternal personality traits at child age 9 years will be associated with an increased risk of offspring mental health problems at age 18 years.
(2) Greater risk will be associated with the presence of greater numbers of dysfunctional maternal personality traits.
(3) Any associations will be independent of maternal depression.
Out of the sample of more than 14,000 pregnant mothers and their families, they had complete data on more than 8,000 mothers and children and nearly 2,000 fathers and children. They looked at parental personality measured when the children were 9 years old and characteristics of the children 9 years later, at age 18.
For the parents, they measured dysfunctional personality traits using the Karolinska Scales of Personality inventory, which looks at 15 personality traits related to somatic anxiety, psychic anxiety, muscular tension, psychasthenia, inhibition of aggression, irritability, guilt, socialization, social desirability, monotony, avoidance, impulsivity, verbal aggression, indirect aggression, suspicion and detachment—many of which overlap with neuroticism and depressive traits. They looked at five traits distinct from neurotic and depressive traits—novelty seeking (monotony avoidance), impulsivity, verbal anger, suspicion, and detachment—which are more connected with relationship difficulty and emotional dysregulation, in order to distinguish neuroticism, depression and other personality factors from one another.
The 18-year-olds completed the Clinical Interview Schedule – Revised. This is a broad tool which covers multiple symptom domains and uses a computer program to determine what psychiatric disorders are present, if any. Of particular interest were depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and self-harming behaviors.
Their findings are interesting. While in general, dysfunctional maternal personality traits were associated with increased risk for children’s mental illness, most traits were interrelated and not independently significant. Maternal suspicion had an independent effect, increasing the odds of all outcomes, and maternal impulsivity increased the likelihood of depression specifically. Additional analysis reinforced the finding that altogether, maternal personality dysfunction is correlated with mental health problems in children, increasing the likelihood of depression, anxiety disorders, and self-harm, independent of maternal neuroticism. The greater the extent of maternal personality dysfunction, the greater the risk of negative outcomes for the children.
Further research is needed to understand how maternal personality traits lead to adverse outcomes for children, and in particular the relationship between maternal impulsivity with depression in children independent of maternal depression. Because this effect of impulsivity is independent of depression (itself an independent non-personality related risk factor), it suggests that maternal impulsivity, independent of genetic risk factors for depression, has a negative effect on children. In general, though personality can be difficult to modify and many dysfunctional traits are stable over time, the research suggests that it may be possible to prevent or mitigate negative outcomes in offspring by modifying maternal behavior.
Coming back to the subject of the impact of trauma on personality, and intergenerational transmission of trauma, the example of Ububule springs to mind. Ububule is an organization started in 2000 in South Africa, based on attachment theory, to provide hands-on parenting training for predominantly mother-child pairs to prevent the transmission of trauma from one generation to the next. Using trained staff to foster more adaptive maternal behaviors, Ububele works to enable families to raise children to have a more secure attachment style, leading to improved outcomes. Similarly, Columbia-Presbyterian’s Parent-Infant Psychotherapy Program does hands-on work with families to effect positive changes by intervening early on to teach mothers (typically) to more accurately interpret infant behaviors (for example, responding with recognition and empathy rather than suspicion and hostility) and respond in ways that foster better developmental outcomes.
And what about fathers? Interestingly, and somewhat surprisingly, Pearson et al. found that paternal dysfunctional personality traits had no significant impact on the mental health of their children at age 18. On one hand, this seems like good news because it may put fathers more at ease, at least in terms of the impact of personality on how their kids turn out. (So, happy Father’s Day…?)
On the other hand, it raises many questions about what impact the father does have on child development—and whether fathers might be able to mitigate the effect of negative maternal personality on their children given greater awareness of the impact of negative maternal personality traits. It may also be that the father’s personality comes into play with mate selection.
Further research is required to understand the more complicated interactions among father, mother, and child that were not addressed in the current study. It may simply be that whoever spends more time with children has the greatest impact. Whoever the primary caregiver is, regardless of whether they’re the father the mother or somebody else, has a greater impact on development. As family structures change and evolve, no doubt future research will reveal more nuanced and generalizable findings.
For any parents reading this, and related folks feeling concerned—rather than blame or worry, consider working toward positive changes, because it is possible to improve many of these issues, and seek professional consultation if appropriate.
References
Stein A, Pearson RM, Goodman SH, Rapa E, Rahman A, Mccallum M, Howard LM, Pariante CM (2014). Effects of perinatal mental disorders on the fetus and child. Lancet 384, 1800–1819.
Reichborn-Kjennerud T, Ystrom E, Neale MC, et al. (2013). Structure of Genetic and Environmental Risk Factors for Symptoms of DSM-IV Borderline Personality Disorder. JAMA Psychiatry, 70(11):1206-1214.
Pearson RM, Campbell A, Howard LM, Bornstein MH, O’Mahen H, Mars B and Moran P. (2017). Impact of dysfunctional maternal personality traits on risk of offspring depression, anxiety and self-harm at age 18 years: a population-based longitudinal study. Psychological Medicine, 1- 11. April 7.
There are few words more misunderstood than the term “science”. If you relied on the subject categories in some media outlets, you’d be forgiven for taking home the message that “science” is gadgets and technology, or pretty pictures of flowers and insects, or the latest health advice.
But none of this stuff is really “science”. Science is a method for finding out how things work. In its simplest guise, a question is posed, a potential answer framed, and then an experiment designed and performed to see if the answer is right.
What scientists actually do is slightly more complicated. We include controls to make sure that the interpretation is sound. We remove elements that could lead to bias, and we also repeat experiments a number of times, with a lot of samples or subjects, to help rule out the possibility that our answer is a chance result. It takes years to learn how to set up meaningful experiments properly.
Of course I do understand why “science” is largely synonymous with the exciting fruits of its labour – Mars landers, cancer cures, Higgs bosons – as opposed to how you go about discovering those things in the first place. Science, as a subject, exerts a strong repulsion in a significant fraction of our society: it’s at best boring and complicated, and at worst, frightening.
In most short-form public accounts of science, there isn’t space – or assumed audience attention span – to go through the story behind a discovery. This is despite a good scientific story being as compelling as a murder mystery, given the right treatment.
Perhaps the need to entice people gently on-side is a good enough excuse for what typically gets trotted out as science. On TV or videos for children, science is often all about explosions, whizz-bang stuff that is heavy on shock and awe but somewhat light on the why.
Meanwhile, staples such as the vinegar and baking soda volcano might be fun, and might attract interest in science, but what is the underlying hypothesis? The answer usually is that there isn’t one. The exercise is a demonstration of a physical property, but this is not proper investigation.
When “science” isn’t about blowing things up, it’s often descriptive: collecting beetles or leaves, measuring atmospheric pressure, making a diorama of the solar system. This treatment can be fun, and can inspire – but again, there is usually no problem to solve.
The rudiments of the scientific method are indeed part of the UK primary school curriculum, starting from year 1 and escalating year on year. But based on what I’ve witnessed in undergraduate biology cohorts, these principles are not uniformly absorbed by all.
Similarly, given the wholesale credulity of people earnestly consuming pseudoscientific remedies these days, it’s not clear how much of the art of doing science or the proper ways of critically assessing scientific evidence is getting through in school.
Could it be that learning about hypotheses and the scientific method is too difficult and off-putting for children, such that it just doesn’t stick? And would it be helpful if the concepts were introduced as early as possible?
I started to ponder this when my son began to speak, a year or so back. As any parent can tell you, “why” quickly becomes the most common question you field. And it’s relentless. One explanation solicits further sub-whys until before you know it, in a piping, high-on-helium voice that allows no evasion, your child has grilled you to the limits of what you – or modern science as a whole – actually understand. Not bad for a two-foot-high creature who still lacks bladder-control skills and can’t run for more than ten metres without falling over.
If you look beyond the potential annoyance, something deep, even obvious, is apparent. Very small children seem hardwired to try to process the unknown in terms of questions: the first step of the scientific method. Later, this urge seems to ebb in most people. Why is this?
Perhaps the intense curiosity of a toddler is only a developmental phase. Or more worryingly, natural curiosity might be squelched by exasperated, sleep-deprived parental rejoinders such as “just because” – or by formalised learning of long lists of scientific facts. (One of my step-daughters once brought home a summary of her year 7 school science curriculum: the entire programme seemed to be based solely on weights and measures.)
Either way, if toddlers are naturally prone to being good scientists, are we as a society somehow missing a window of opportunity? I began to wonder how much of the rudiments of the scientific method are dealt with in the pre-school phase.
In the UK at least, learning and development from birth through to the age of five is governed by the of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. “Understanding The World” is a specific area in this framework, covering the stimulation of the five senses, and encouraging exploration. From my experience with my son’s nursery, this curriculum is usually expressed as arts and crafts: bubble play, painting with plants as brushes, making ice cubes with things trapped inside them. The children love it, but it’s not quite what I have in mind when I think of doing science.
I’m under no illusion that setting up a testable hypothesis and running a meaningful experiment in that age group is even remotely easy. But is it even possible? I am about to find out: my son’s nursery has asked me to come and “do some science” with the kids in a few weeks’ time. I am looking forward to making this experience my own personal experiment into how much scientific method a group of three-year-olds can handle.
Teaching young children is hard work. It’s also highly skilled work: Effective early childhood educators need both a deep understanding of the science of child development and practical skills to interact with children, assess and support learning, and engage diverse parents. Yet they often do this work with little training and low pay. In recent years, early childhood leaders and policymakers have sought to elevate the early education profession by increasing training requirements. Overall, researchsuggests that better prepared early childhood teachers are more likely to implement effective practices. And preschool programs that demonstrate lasting learning gains for children employ teachers with bachelor’s degrees and specialized early childhood training.
But earning higher education credentials also takes time, effort and money (both from students themselves and from public financial aid programs). Public policies that demand more training for early educators must also ensure that credentials lead to a competitive wage (which likely requires increased public funding for preschool programs and more help for parents with child care costs) and make them better teachers.
Unfortunately, we know very little about the quality or effectiveness of most existing early educator preparation programs. Most teachers in child care settings don’t have bachelor’s degrees, but over half complete some form of postsecondary education, often at community colleges. We know very little about the experience or outcomes for many of these students, however. Increasingly, publicly funded preschool programs require teachers to have either state teacher certification or a bachelor’s degree in early childhood or a related field. Yet training that leads to these credentials may not match the skills early childhood teachers need. Many early childhood bachelor’s programs, for example, weren’t designed to prepare students to work as classroom teachers, but in higher-paying roles in research or early intervention. As a result, they often provide little or no student teaching experience and don’t cover key pedagogical and classroom management skills teachers need. On the flip side, some state teacher certifications cover such a wide range of grades (such as Texas‘ pre-K to grade 6 teaching credential) that candidates don’t get enough specialized training to work with preschool-aged children.
Moreover, there’s very little data or research about the outcomes of different early childhood preparation programs or approaches. Few states track completion rates for early childhood preparation programs, the rate at which graduates enter and remain in the field, settings they work in or their effectiveness in the classroom. This means we don’t know if some community colleges or four-year colleges are doing a better job of preparing early childhood teachers than others. Without such knowledge, it’s hard to replicate effective practices or help programs get better.
To ensure that increased training for early educators leads to better results for kids, we need to be more intentional about quality and support increased innovation in the field. Simply extending down the existing K-12 teacher certification regime – which has its own problems – won’t achieve this. Seven years ago, Kevin Carey and I argued that states should create new systems of competency-based, stackable credentials for early childhood educators. Our point was not that early childhood educators shouldn’t get bachelor’s degrees (both of us appreciate the value of teachers with a Bachelor of Arts degree), but that existing higher education and credential structures are not well designed for this purpose, and we need new, better pathways.
By and large, that’s still the case today. Yet innovative models are emerging. EarlyEdU Alliance, a higher education collaboration for Head Start and early childhood training, offers one example. It developed a set of high-quality, competency based courses that focus on effective teaching practice, are based in research, and integrate coaching. Dozens of higher education institutions, as well as states and community stakeholders, have joined the Alliance to extend these courses to early educators seeking degrees.
School choice advocates are chomping at the bit for an expansion of educational options under Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and a Republican Congress. With Republican governors and legislative control in a majority of states, we’re likely to see an expansion of charter, voucher and tax credit choice programs at the state level.
But among the variety of educational choice proposals on the table, there’s one possibility that’s strikingly absent: For all the talk about giving parents greater choice of where their children go to school, there’s almost no discussion of when.
Let me explain. At each level of our education system, parents have a variety of choices: In early childhood, where most families pay for services out of pocket, families choose from a variety of options, including home-based care, for-profit, non-profit or faith-based child care centers, and nursery or preschools. For families who do receive public assistance, the bulk of child care funding is allocated to vouchers that families can use for a program of their choice (if they can afford it). Some, though not all, public pre-K programs also provide families with choices.
At the elementary and secondary level, choice has expanded dramatically in the past quarter century, through the growth of charter schools, magnet schools, district-operated choice programs and, in a growing number of states, voucher and tax credit programs. All told, 42.6 percent of K-12 students attend schools that their parents chose, either by moving, enrolling them in charter or other public school of choice, or attending a private or homeschool.
In postsecondary education, choice again rules the day, with Pell grants and federal student loans deliberately designed to allow students to use them at the program of their choice.
All of these different choice regimes have strengths and weaknesses, and none of these choice models is perfect. In fact, I have grave concerns with several of them. Yet one thing is common across all of them: While families may have choice among education providers within each level of education, we provide parents with very little opportunity to choose how public resources are allocated to their children across levels of schooling. Parents, for example, may choose among their neighborhood school, a district school of choice, and a charter for third grade. But they can’t choose to transfer resources that would have been spent on third grade to other years of their children’s learning.
Educational savings account plans in a few states do allow families to spend less than the state would otherwise spend on their education, and to put the difference in college savings accounts. But to use these programs, families must withdraw from the public school system entirely. And most programs are too new or have too little publicly reported data for us to know their impacts on child outcomes or the extent to which families actually use them to reallocate resources across time, rather than place, of children’s learning.
Moreover, because families can’t access educational savings accounts until their children reach the age of compulsory attendance, they don’t allow families to shift educational resources to the early years of children’s lives, where public policies currently spend the least.
Girls with high chemical exposure have lower levels of a certain thyroid hormone
The thyroid ensures brain development, with hormones ‘setting the schedule’
For unknown reasons, the impact was seen to a lesser extent in boys than girls
Chemicals are linked to asthma, and lower IQ and development in children
Parents should avoid chemical-laden shampoos, nail varnishes and vinyl floors
PUBLISHED: 10:37 EDT, 31 May 2017 | UPDATED: 10:37 EDT, 31 May 2017
Exposure to chemicals found in shampoos and toys during early childhood may seriously damage the mental development of youngsters, new research suggests.
Girls with high concentrations of certain chemicals, known as phthalates, in their blood have lower levels of a thyroid hormone, a study found.
Study author Pam Factor-Litvak of Columbia University, said: ‘The thyroid acts as the master controller of brain development.
‘Thyroid hormones set the schedule, and if the timing is out of synch, there may be later consequences in the brain.’
Previous research suggests up to 70 percent of the products we apply to our skin gets absorbed into our bloodstream, with our scalps having one of the highest absorption rates of anywhere on our bodies.
Phthalates are thought to mimic hormones, particularly estrogen, leading to hormonal-disruption driven disorders.
By Lauren Lowry
Clinical Staff Writer and Hanen SLP
When we think of children and nutrition, images of broccoli and carrots come to mind. But there is another type of nutrition children need in order to thrive – and that’s language nutrition.
What is language nutrition?
In a recent article, Head Zauche and her colleagues from Atlanta, Georgia set out to determine which factors had the biggest impact on children’s language development. They looked at 103 studies of children’s language outcomes to figure out the key ingredients of language nutrition.
Because children’s environments during their first three years shape their language learning, it’s important to understand which aspects of this environment are the key to more advanced language development.
They describe language nutrition as the talking, interacting, and book reading that parents engage in with their children.
Because children’s environments during their first three years shape their language learning, it’s important to understand which aspects of this environment are the key to more advanced language development [1].The studies in the researchers’ review included children who were developing typically, as well as children with language or other developmental delays.
Here’s what the researchers found to be the most important aspects of language nutrition for children’s language development:
The amount of speech directed towards children has a very important influence on their vocabulary – however, it’s not just about how many words children hear. The researchers also found that children need to hear words within motivating, back-and-forth conversations in order to learn.
Hearing a variety of different words from caregivers predicts children’s language development – this means that children should hear more than the names of objects and people. They need to hear words that describe things (big, soft), action words (jump, sleep), location words (in, there), greeting words (bye bye) and question words (where? what?), to name a few.
Parents who use a variety of grammatical sentences with their children tend to have children who have larger vocabularies, use longer sentences, and use more advanced grammar.
“Parentese” helps young children pick out words from sentences – parentese refers to the exaggerated speech caregivers tend to use with babies. It involves lots of repetition, animation in the voice, longer speech sounds, and a slower pace.
Parents who use more gestures when they speak tend to have children with stronger language skills – in particular, gestures that focus children’s attention on something, like pointing to objects that catch the child’s interest or showing what the word means (like raising arms for “up”), were found to be very helpful for language learning.The quantity and quality of parents’ speech makes a difference
Language is learned during responsive interactions
The researchers noticed a common theme in many of the studies: the importance of both language input from parents and social interaction. Language learning isn’t passive – it is learned through back-and-forth conversations with caregivers during motivating social interactions [1].
Responsive interactions with caregivers promote children’s vocabulary, grammar, and school readiness – being responsive involves paying attention to and talking about whatever it is that’s caught the child’s attention (and not changing the topic or testing the child’s knowledge). It also involves allowing him to start the interaction and send messages and then following his lead. Studies in the review showed that responsive interactions with caregivers predicted when children achieved certain language milestones (such as first words and two-word combinations).
Overheard speech or language from media viewing does not promote children’s language skills – some studies looked at whether language learning was improved when children overhear speech (but are not interacting when they hear it) and when they hear language though various media (like watching TV or viewing something on a computer or iPad). Neither of these situations helped children learn language.
Children’s language and thinking skills benefit from interactions where the caregiver is positive and sensitive – interactions that were more negative in tone, intruding on what the child was doing or restricting what he could do (e.g. by telling him exactly what to do) were related to poorer language and cognitive outcomes.
The extent to which parents played with their child, engaged him in learning activities, and taught him about new things was associated with improved language and cognitive skills.
Book reading and literacy activities promote children’s development
Sharing books frequently with children encourages their vocabulary, language complexity, understanding, and thinking skills.
The way parents share books with their children makes a big difference – asking questions, encouraging the child to participate, and introducing a variety of new words and concepts promotes children’s understanding, vocabulary, grammar, and literacy skills. Therefore, it’s not just the quantity of book reading that makes a difference, but also the quality.
Story-telling, nursery rhymes, singing the alphabet, and activities which teach numbers and letters encourage both language and literacy development.
The bottom line…
By talking, interacting, and reading in responsive ways, parents can ensure their child’s language gets off to the best possible start.
The important adults in a child’s life can make a huge difference when it comes to promoting language development. By talking, interacting, and reading in responsive ways, parents can ensure their child’s language gets off to the best possible start.
The language nutrition ingredients identified by Head Zauche and her colleagues lie at the foundation of the Hanen approach:
Responsive interactions lie at the heart of the Hanen approach. Language learning takes place within fun, motivating, back-and-forth interactions with caregivers who respond to their child’s interests. By following their child’s lead during every day routines and while playing together, parents create opportunities for their child to communicate.
Parents learn strategies that ensure their language is geared towards their child’s level. By using short, grammatical sentences, emphasizing important words, and using lots of repetition and gestures, parents can help their child take the next step in his language learning.
Books are a wonderful activity to promote language learning. Parents learn strategies to turn book reading into a time for conversation, where they can expose their child to new words, build his understanding, and extend his thinking beyond the pages of the book.
We’ve been busy updating the It Takes Two to Talk® guidebook[2] so that children will get an even bigger boost of language nutrition. The new guidebook now includes information about:
social interaction goals for children, so they can learn to start more interactions and take more turns during interactions with their caregivers
parents’ use of short but grammatical sentences that build children’s understanding of words
providing lots of repetition so children have many opportunities to hear and learn new words
The 2017 edition of It Takes Two to Talk will be available in May.
References
Head Zauche, L., Thul, T. A., Darcy Mahoney, A. E., & Stapel-Wax, J. L. (2016). Influence of language nutrition on children’s language and cognitive development: An integrated review. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 36, 318-333.
Weitzman, E. (2017). It Takes Two to Talk: A Practical Guide for Parents of Children with Language Delays. The Hanen Centre: Toronto, ON.
Date: May 24, 2017
Source: University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine
Summary: Intranasal oxytocin can influence how individuals with autism perceive emotion in others, a recent study has demonstrated. This is an important first step for a potential pharmacological treatment of autism.
A recent study has demonstrated that intranasal oxytocin can influence how individuals with autism perceive emotion in others. This is an important first step for a potential pharmacological treatment of autism.
Autism is characterized by difficulties in social functioning. Individuals with autism are generally less sensitive to social information, which can influence their interactions with others as they may overlook social cues. Research has shown that the neuropeptide oxytocin, known to be involved in childbirth and mother-child bonding, also has the potential to improve social information processing in youth with autism.
In a recent study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, 17 adult men with autism were given a low dose of intranasal oxytocin, a higher dose of intranasal oxytocin, or a placebo over three separate visits. A novel nasal spray device developed by OptiNose AS, which is designed to improve nose-to-brain molecule delivery, was used to deliver the treatment. After each spray administration, the participants were asked about the emotional intensity of a series of facial images.
Consistent with past research in healthy adults, the researchers found evidence for social effects after the lower dose, and not the higher dose that is often used in treatment trials. Specifically, compared to placebo spray, study participants rated faces as happier after the low dose oxytocin spray.
“These results suggest that intranasal oxytocin can influence how individuals with autism perceive emotion in others,” says professor Ole A. Andreassen, senior author of the study and a professor at the Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research (NORMENT) at the University of Oslo.
“Current behavioral treatment options addressing social dysfunction in autism are extremely resource intensive, so this research is an important first step for a potential pharmacological treatment.”
First author Daniel S. Quintana explains: “Here we used a novel nasal spray device, and tested two doses of oxytocin. These results provide a better understanding of how to administer oxytocin efficiently, and which dose may be more effective. This will aid future clinical studies of this promising treatment for social dysfunction.”
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
D S Quintana, L T Westlye, S Hope, T Nærland, T Elvsåshagen, E Dørum, Ø Rustan, M Valstad, L Rezvaya, H Lishaugen, E Stensønes, S Yaqub, K T Smerud, R A Mahmoud, P G Djupesland, O A Andreassen. Dose-dependent social-cognitive effects of intranasal oxytocin delivered with novel Breath Powered device in adults with autism spectrum disorder: a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind crossover trial. Translational Psychiatry, 2017; 7 (5): e1136 DOI: 10.1038/tp.2017.103
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University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine. “Oxytocin administered to the nose increases emotion perception in autism.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 May 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170524140326.htm>.
Date: May 9, 2017
Source: Association for Psychological Science
Summary: Childhood bullying may lead to long-lasting health consequences, impacting psychosocial risk factors for cardiovascular health well into adulthood, according to a new study. The unique study tracked a diverse group of over 300 American men from first grade through their early thirties and the findings indicate that being a victim of bullying and being a bully were both linked to negative outcomes in adulthood.
Childhood bullying may lead to long-lasting health consequences, impacting psychosocial risk factors for cardiovascular health well into adulthood, according to a study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The unique study tracked a diverse group of over 300 American men from first grade through their early thirties and the findings indicate that being a victim of bullying and being a bully were both linked to negative outcomes in adulthood.
The study, led by psychology researcher Karen A. Matthews of the University of Pittsburgh, showed that men who were bullies during childhood were more likely to smoke cigarettes and use marijuana, to experience stressful circumstances, and to be aggressive and hostile at follow-up more than 20 years later. Men who were bullied as children, on the other hand, tended to have more financial difficulties, felt more unfairly treated by others, and were less optimistic about their future two decades later.
These outcomes are especially critical, the researchers note, because they put the men at higher risk for poor health, including serious cardiovascular issues, later in life.
“The long term effects of bullying involvement are important to establish,” says Matthews. “Most research on bullying is based on addressing mental health outcomes, but we wished to examine the potential impact of involvement in bullying on physical health and psychosocial risk factors for poor physical health.”
Previous research has linked psychosocial risk factors like stress, anger, and hostility to increased risk of health problems such as heart attacks, stroke, and high blood pressure. Because bullying leads to stressful interpersonal interactions for both the perpetrators and targets, Matthews and colleagues hypothesized that both bullies and bullying victims might be at higher risk of negative health outcomes related to stress.
The research team recruited participants from the Pittsburgh Youth Study, a longitudinal study of 500 boys enrolled in Pittsburgh public schools in 1987 and 1988, when the boys were in the first grade. More than half of the boys in the original study were Black and nearly 60% of the boys’ families received public financial assistance such as food stamps.
Along with regular assessments on psychosocial, behavioral, and biological risk factors for poor health, researchers collected data from children, parents, and teachers on bullying behavior when the participants were 10 to 12 years old.
Matthews and colleagues successfully recruited over 300 of the original study participants to complete questionnaires on psychosocial health factors such as stress levels, health history, diet and exercise, and socioeconomic status. Around 260 of the men came into the lab for blood draws, cardiovascular and inflammation assessments, and height and weight measurements.
Unexpectedly, neither bullying nor being bullied in childhood was related to inflammation or metabolic syndrome in adulthood. However, both childhood bullies and bullying victims had increased psychosocial risk factors for poor physical health.
The boys who engaged in more bullying in childhood tended to be more aggressive and were more likely to smoke in adulthood, risk factors for cardiovascular disease and other life-threatening diseases.
The boys with higher scores for being bullied tended to have lower incomes, more financial difficulties, and more stressful life experiences. They also perceived more unfair treatment relative to their peers. These outcomes are also related to risk for cardiovascular disease.
“The childhood bullies were still aggressive as adults and victims of bullies were still feeling like they were treated unfairly as adults,” Matthews explained. “Both groups had a lot of stress in their adult lives — so the impact of childhood bullying lasts a long time!”
The effects of bullying were fairly similar for both Black and White men, as well as those participants who came from low socioeconomic status families.
Matthews and colleagues anticipate that both bullies and their victims may be at greater risk for poor physical health, including cardiovascular-disease events, over the long term. But they caution that many participants in the original study could not participate in this follow-up study because they were either deceased or incarcerated, which may have affected the results in unknown ways.
The findings suggest that identifying children who are at risk for involvement in bullying and intervening early on may yield long-term psychosocial and even physical health benefits that last into adulthood.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Association for Psychological Science. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Karen A. Matthews, J. Richard Jennings, Laisze Lee, Dustin A. Pardini. Bullying and Being Bullied in Childhood Are Associated With Different Psychosocial Risk Factors for Poor Physical Health in Men. Psychological Science, 2017; 095679761769770 DOI: 10.1177/0956797617697700
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Association for Psychological Science. “Childhood bullying linked to health risks in adulthood.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 May 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170509093625.htm>.
Date:
May 17, 2017
Source:
University of Exeter
Summary:
A simple brain-training game could help children choose healthy snacks instead of chocolate and sweets, according to a new study.
A simple brain-training game could help children choose healthy snacks instead of chocolate and sweets, according to a new study.
Children who played a seven-minute game devised by University of Exeter psychologists made healthier choices when asked to pick foods afterwards.
The game involves reacting to images of healthy food by pressing a button, and doing nothing if unhealthy foods are shown.
“The sight of foods like chocolate can activate reward centres in the brain at the same time as reducing activity in self-control areas,” said Lucy Porter, the lead researcher on the project.
“Our training encourages people to make a new association — when they see unhealthy food, they stop.
“Many health promotion schemes rely on education and willpower and require a lot of time, staff and money, but our game potentially sidesteps these issues by creating a free, easy tool for families to use at home.
“The research is at an early stage and we need to investigate whether our game can shift dietary habits in the long-term, but we think it could make a useful contribution.”
The researchers ran two experiments, and in total more than 200 schoolchildren aged 4-11 were shown images of healthy and unhealthy foods.
Alongside each image was a cartoon face — happy for healthy food, sad for unhealthy food.
Children had to hit the spacebar when they saw a happy face, and do nothing if they saw a sad face — they were not told that the game had anything to do with healthy or unhealthy food.
Afterwards, they played a shopping game where they had to choose a limited number of food items in one minute.
“We didn’t see a total turnaround in favour of choosing healthy options, but these increased from about 30% of foods chosen to over 50% in children who did the brain training,” said Porter.
“Age did not affect whether the game worked or not, meaning that children as young as four can benefit from playing.
Meanwhile children in control groups — who were shown happy and sad faces mixed evenly between healthy and unhealthy foods, or images which were not food-related at all — showed no change in food choices.
Similar research by the study’s senior author, Dr Natalia Lawrence, has already led to the creation of an app which helps adults avoid unhealthy foods and lose weight.
“It’s encouraging to see that this simple computer game has the potential to improve food choices in young children as well as in adults” she said.
“As we all know, it’s incredibly important to encourage healthy eating habits from a young age; children in the UK eat on average three times too much sugar and not enough fruit and vegetables.
“This game is one simple and relatively fun way of trying to redress the balance.”
Porter added: “This easy game does all the hard work for you. It’s not about learning anything consciously, it’s about working with automatic responses.
She acknowledges that some people might feel uneasy about this, but she explains: “Playing this game is optional — unlike the constant stream of advertising designed to brainwash children.
“This game won’t eliminate the effect of junk food advertising or price promotions, but it might give people a little bit of control back.”
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Exeter. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
L. Porter, C. Bailey-Jones, G. Priudokaite, S. Allen, K. Wood, K. Stiles, O. Parvin, M. Javaid, F. Verbruggen, N.S. Lawrence. From cookies to carrots; the effect of inhibitory control training on children’s snack selections. Appetite, 2017; DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2017.05.010
But the majority of tests are unaffected, U.S. officials say
WEDNESDAY, May 17, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Lead tests made by Magellan Diagnostics may yield inaccurate results for some children and adults, U.S. health officials warned Wednesday.
Parents of children younger than 6 years old, pregnant women and nursing mothers who have been tested for lead exposure using these tests should consult a health care provider about whether they should be retested, the officials said.
Data indicate that when all four of Magellan’s lead testing systems — LeadCare; LeadCare II; LeadCare Plus; and LeadCare Ultra — are performed on blood drawn from a vein, they may give results that are lower than the actual level of lead in the blood.
However, lead testing using blood taken from a vein is not widespread. Most testing is done with finger pricks and heel pricks, the officials said.
“The FDA is concerned that Magellan lead tests that use blood drawn from a vein may provide results that are lower than the actual level of lead in the blood. There is little evidence that Magellan tests using blood from a finger or heel stick are affected,” Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said during a morning media briefing.
Finger pricks are used on most children. Since 2014, about 8 million tests have been performed, with the vast majority based on blood from finger or heel samples. In Flint, Mich., for example, less than 1 percent of children tested for lead had blood samples taken from a vein, the officials said.
Still, Shuren said the FDA is “deeply concerned by this situation and is warning laboratories and health care professionals that they should not use any Magellan Diagnostics’ lead tests with blood drawn from a vein.”
Shuren added that “the agency is aggressively investigating this complicated issue to determine the cause of the inaccurate results and working with the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and other public health partners to address the problem as quickly as possible.”
Patrick Breysse, director of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, said, “We understand that parents of children and others affected by this problem will be concerned about what this means for their health.
“While most children likely received an accurate test result, it is important to identify those whose exposure was missed, or underestimated, so that they can receive proper care. For this reason, because every child’s health is important, the CDC recommends that those at greatest risk be retested,” Breysse said.
Lead exposure can lead to serious health problems, and is particularly dangerous to infants and young children. Recommendations for lead screening differ from state to state, but all states require children to be screened for lead exposure.
Some adults are also at risk for lead exposure, including those who work with products or materials that contain lead, the FDA said.
It’s safe to use all LeadCare systems that rely on blood from a finger or heel stick, including the LeadCare II system, which is found in many doctors’ offices and clinics, the officials said.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on lead.
SOURCES: May 17, 2017, media briefing, U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; U.S. Food and Drug Administration, news release, May 17, 2017
New research suggests that growing up alone changes the structure of the brain
A study has found that children who grow up without siblings are likely to have a different brain structure than those who do.
Only children are often branded as selfish and spoiled compared to their peers who have brothers and sisters.
How many siblings you have may affect your career
But, a new study by the Southwest University in Chongqing, China, has revealed that this could be down to more than just behaviour.
While previous studies have focused on the difference in conduct, cognitive function and personality traits between those with and without siblings this one wanted to find out if the difference had a neural basis. And it did.
Studying 250 university students, of which around half were only children, researchers scanned their brains while also testing their personality, creativity and intelligence.
Verifying previous findings, the tests showed that only children outperformed those with siblings on creativity but consistently scored lower on ‘agreeable’ personality traits.
The scans also demonstrated that the parts of the brain associated with the development of these were indeed structurally different in the two.
The only children who performed higher on creativity actually showed a higher volume of gray matter in the parietal lobe – a part of the brain associated with mental flexibility and imagination.
Meanwhile, the scans of those only children who showed less agreeable traits showed less gray matter in the medial prefrontal cortex – a part of the brain known to be involved in thinking about the self in relation to others.
Youngest siblings think they are the funnies
This shows that different family environments – growing up with or without siblings – does affect children’s structural brain development, researchers claim.
They also point out that while previous studies have already shown that only children tend to exhibit higher intelligence, the sole attention of parents and grandparents can result in what they call ‘undesirable’ personality traits like dependency, selfishness and social ineptitude.
Sunday is Mother’s Day, the day when more phone calls are placed than any other day of the year. Mother’s Day is the day our children make sure to tell us we’re doing well, the day they reaffirm that we are good-enough mothers. That is, unless our children do not, cannot for whatever reason, offer us their critical validation. How can we then validate ourselves?
A friend, a teacher in her professional life and mother to a daughter who is both autistic and mildly cognitively impaired in her personal life, drove the point home. “I know I’m a good teacher,” she asserted. “My students tell me so, and I see all the progress they are making. But with my daughter, I just never know. I never feel like I’m doing it very well.”
In 1953 the pediatrician and psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott coined the term “the good-enough mother.” For him, the good-enough mother
starts off with an almost complete adaptation to her infant’s needs, and as time proceeds she adapts less and less completely, gradually, according to the infant’s growing ability to deal with her failure. Her failure to adapt to every need of the child helps them adapt to external realities.
In other words, a mother responds immediately to her infant’s cries and smiles. Over time, however, she gives the child more space to explore and fail, beginning as early as the child’s efforts to roll over independently. Instinctively, the mother is supporting the child’s growing sense of competence to create an independent life.
Even though this description of the process may suggest that parenting requires constant deliberation and mindfulness, Winnicott was actually trying to reassure mothers. Almost all of us help our children to grow in a safe and secure environment without making a conscious decision to do so. With the exception of mothers who were raised themselves in an impaired environment, every mother is good enough.
On a practical level, most mothers know if they were good enough only after their children are grown. If the adult child can establish meaningful relationships, hold a job, and find contentment with some aspect of life, we assume we were good enough.
Until our children are grown, we look for other kinds of evidence that we are doing well:
“Summer Knees”/Jessica Lucia/CC BY-NC_ND 2.0
Source: “Summer Knees”/Jessica Lucia/CC BY-NC_ND 2.0
knee scrapes which reflect a willingness to explore; acts of generosity toward friends; parent-teacher conferences that begin with, “I love having your child in my class!”; reminders to clear the kitchen table that, one shocking day, lead to a child clearing the table without prompting; the ear to ear grin when a child pedals for the first time down the sidewalk without training wheels; hugs and “I love you’s.” At these moments, we know we’re good enough. Not perfect, for sure, but good enough.
Some of our kids, however, cannot provide us with these acts of reassurance. Their scraped knees may reflect an underdeveloped vestibular system or a dangerous degree of recklessness due to impulsivity. And some of our children will not master the bicycle or recognize that we need a hug when we’ve had a bad day. Most of the parents with whom I spend time, both socially and in my work as an advocate, dread parent-teacher conferences. Instead of hearing our children’s praises sung, we settle in for, at worst, a litany of criticism, and, at best, the tortured optimism of comments such as, “I’m pleased that your daughter only had to leave class twice this week,” or “He only has five missing assignments right now. Quite an improvement over this time last quarter!” Regardless, the conferences feel like an indictment. Some of our children will not spread their wings and achieve the adulthood we imagined during pregnancy.
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I think it is inevitable that we wonder if we could have done something more or different. Quit work? Work harder to pay for more interventions? Move to a different school district? Perhaps try vitamin supplements, or play therapy, or biofeedback, or intensive speech intervention at an early age when we should have realized some missed developmental milestone indicated. . . something. We will probably never know. It’s easy to respond that all parents commit missteps, but the fact is that ours seem more consequential. Is being good, good enough?
The truth is that none of our children have “reached their potential.” No human being has ever realized that maximum potential of uninterrupted focus, drive and dedication. Moreover, no parent has ever “done the best that I could.” Every day we let our kids eat too many cookies (some might argue that one is too many!) or stare vacantly at a screen instead of practicing an academic, athletic or social skill that could use work, we are not doing the best we could. “Reached their potential”” and done the best we could” are both standards that ensure failure. Winnicott understood as much. Good enough is helping our children to feel secure and valued, and good enough propels us forward.
The challenge for mothers of children with special needs (one of the many challenges) is that we cannot utilize standard criteria to validate our competence. We have to rely on our support networks and on our faith that our mothering instincts are as good as those of the other mothers on the playground. Our instincts are good enough. Our children do grow, and they do have moments of joy and competence. To all of the mothers reading this, those moments are our proof. We are good enough.
The importance of writing by hand for learning
Posted May 14, 2017
In today’s world, students who have trouble printing or writing are allowed—if not encouraged or even forced—to use computers instead, but research and clinical experience suggest that adopting this practice too early may cause additional setbacks.
Sensory integration specialists and child development experts assert that children who can’t hand print well don’t learn to read easily because they don’t have as strong a visual-motor “imprint” for letter recognition. In contrast, practicing and becoming proficient in printing makes both printing and reading more fluid and automatic, freeing up mental energy to work on other subjects like math and spelling.1
More generally, printing and cursive writing stimulate the brain and mind in unique and encompassing ways that typing does not, including hand-eye coordination, self-discipline, attention to detail, style, and global engagement of thinking, language, and working memory areas.2 Yet increasingly, schools bypass this critical skill and rush to let a child use a keyboard at the first sign of struggle. And cursive? Teaching cursive is no longer a requirement of the national Common Core standards.
What’s more, studies show that laptop note-taking produces a more shallow understanding of the material compared to taking notes by hand, and that laptops are distracting both for users and for their neighbors, even when they’re being used in an appropriate manner.3 Other research has shown that students using laptops to take notes don’t perform as well on exams compared to longhand note-takers.4
In a compelling 2007 report advocating the banning of laptops in the classroom, professor Kevin Yamamoto of the South Texas College of Law presents a litany of research supporting his case, including that the use of laptops in law classrooms is linked to a lower pass-rate of the bar exam. In a study on his own classroom, he found that laptop use reduced student-teacher eye contact, created an over-reliance on looking up material instead of internalizing concepts, hindered critical thinking, and erected a mental and physical barrier between himself and the students.5 He also found that students were frequently not following along, making discussions maddeningly inefficient. In contrast, after banning laptops, Professor Yamamoto noted there were more questions from students, more in-depth discussions, and higher exam scores as well as overwhelmingly positive feedback from students: nearly 90 percent felt positive or neutral about the ban.
Interestingly, Yamamoto noted that the ban made the administration very nervous, and he was discouraged from making such a bold move; they figured the ban would cause an uproar. It did not, but even if it had, why are we all so afraid of removing screen-based technology from certain environments, even in an experimental manner? Was the administration projecting their own psychological dependence on devices, and reacting out of anxiety? Or was it due to resistance they’d seen in their own children when screens were removed? Did they assume the students could not adapt?
Whatever the case, when it comes to learning, development, and health, many times the simplest and most natural way is what resonates with the brain and body. We have to create environments that are conducive to learning, even if it goes against the cultural grain, and at the same time give young people more credit when it comes to adaptability. As boring as it may seem, “back to the basics” often works best.
Sources:
1. Cris Rowan, “Ten Reasons to NOT Use Technology in Schools for Children under the Age of 12 Years,” Moving to Learn, May 28, 2014, http://movingtolearn.ca/2014/ten-reasons-to-not-use-technology-in-school….
2. William Klemm, “Biological and Psychology Benefits of Learning Cursive | Psychology Today,” Psychology Today, Memory Medic, (August 5, 2013), http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/memory-medic/201308/biological-and-p….
3. Carrie B. Fried, “In-Class Laptop Use and Its Effects on Student Learning,” Computers & Education 50, no. 3 (April 2008): 906–14, doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2006.09.006.
4. Pam A. Mueller and Daniel M. Oppenheimer, “The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking,” Psychological Science, April 23, 2014, doi:10.1177/0956797614524581.
5. Kevin Yamamoto, “Banning Laptops in the Classroom: Is It Worth the Hassles,” J. Legal Educ. 57 (2007): 477.
May 4, 2017
Many grandparents raising their grandchildren practice outdated health and parenting myths that could potentially pose serious risks to young children, according to illuminating new research by a Northwell Health pediatrician.
The study, one of a trio led by senior investigator Andrew Adesman, MD, is scheduled for presentation at the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting being held in San Francisco from May 6-9. Dr. Adesman, Chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, focused his research on the particular difficulties facing grandparents solely raising their offspring’s children.
“When grandparents step up to the plate, it can be wonderful for grandchildren but can also pose challenges in terms of lifestyle, finances and mental and physical health to a somewhat older or elderly cohort,” said Dr. Adesman. “In their questionnaires, a fairly large sample size of grandparents felt they were doing a good job but acknowledged they didn’t have the support they often needed and that their role could be alienating in terms of their own peer group.”
More than 7 million grandchildren in the United States were being raised solely by their 2.7 million grandparents in 2012, according to the US Census Bureau. Factors contributing to this growing phenomenon include the opioid epidemic, parental incarceration or problems with parents’ physical or mental health, Dr. Adesman said.
In the decades since grandparents raised their own children, certain parenting practices and health beliefs have evolved – catching some grandparents unaware and potentially threatening their grandchildren’s safety. For example, in one of Dr. Adesman’s studies, “Potential Health Risks to Children When Grandparents Raising Their Grandchildren Subscribe to Out-Dated Health Beliefs,” 44 percent of the 636 grandparents who completed a detailed questionnaire mistakenly believed that “ice baths are a good way to bring down a very high fever.” In fact, ice baths pose a hypothermia risk.
Perhaps more notably, nearly one-quarter of these grandparents did not know that “infants should be put to sleep on their back, not on their stomach or side” – a major risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Pediatricians can help grandparents raising their grandchildren by updating them on current health care beliefs and parenting methods, Dr. Adesman said. “It’s important that pediatricians not make the mistake of taking for granted that because these grandparents have raised children already, they have the wisdom of the ages,” he added.
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In his two other related studies, Dr. Adesman and his team surveyed 774 grandparents who identify as the primary caregiver of one or more grandchildren. One questionnaire aimed to characterize these grandparents’ sources of support and evaluate their impact, as well as identify unmet needs for support.
The study, “Adequacy of Psychosocial Supports for Grandparents Raising Their Own Grandchildren,” showed that one in 10 grandparents reported they didn’t have any support systems at the time they answered the survey, while an additional 12 percent said their support system didn’t meet their most important needs. In addition, 71 percent reported that their parenting responsibilities had limited their ability to socialize with friends, and nearly one-third indicated that raising their grandchild had affected their spouse or relationship unfavorably.
Many respondents expressed interest in receiving counseling (43 percent) or participating in a support group (61 percent), and those who lacked an adequate support system were less likely to report feeling generally happy (54 percent vs. 86 percent).
“One major takeaway from this study is that for grandparents who are raising grandchildren, their parenting can often take a toll in terms of their own physical and emotional health, and support groups can make a difference,” said Dr. Adesman, noting that grandparenting support groups can be found in most major cities.
Dr. Adesman’s remaining study, “Parenting Experiences and Self-Perceived Parenting Abilities of Grandparents Raising Their Own Grandchildren” covered parenting experiences, self-perceptions, challenges and other factors affecting these grandparents. Research showed that nearly one-third reported having a medical problem that interfered with their ability to care for their grandchild. Additionally, many said that choosing to parent their grandchild had negatively affected their own emotional (40.3 percent) or physical (32.4 percent) health.
“I think pediatricians need to also evaluate not just the health and well-being of the child, but really ask about the physical and social health of the grandparent that has assumed responsibility for raising that child as well,” Dr. Adesman suggested. “Because although the grandparents often elected to take on this role, it’s not something they planned for and it can represent a challenge in many domains. Many grandparents are up to the challenge, but it may come with certain costs.”
Source:
May 9, 2017
Fathers who interact more with their children in their first few months of life could have a positive impact on their baby’s cognitive development.
In a study, published in the Infant Mental Health Journal, researchers from Imperial College London, King’s College London and Oxford University looked at how fathers interacted with their babies at three months of age and measured the infants’ cognitive development more than a year later.
They found that babies whose fathers were more engaged and active when playing with them in their initial months performed better in cognitive tests at two years of age. The researchers say that while a number of factors are critical in a child’s development, the relatively unexplored link between quality father-infant interactions at a young age may be an important one.
Professor Paul Ramchandani, from the Department of Medicine at Imperial and who led the research, said: “Even as early as three months, these father-child interactions can positively predict cognitive development almost two years later, so there’s something probably quite meaningful for later development, and that really hasn’t been shown much before.”
In the study, researchers recorded video of parents interacting with their children, with mothers and fathers playing with their babies without toys, at three months, and then during a book-reading session at two years of age. The videos were then observed independently by trained researchers, with different researchers at three months and 24 months grading the fathers on their interactions.
At two years of age, they scored the baby’s cognitive development using the standardized Bayley mental development index (MDI) – which involved tasks such as recognizing colors and shapes.
After analyzing data for 128 fathers, and accounting for factors such as their income and age, they found a positive correlation between the degree to which dads engaged with their babies and how the children scored on the tests. Dads with more positive outlooks were also more likely to have babies who performed better on the MDI scales.
What’s more, the positive link between involved dads and higher infant MDI scores were seen equally whether the child was a boy or a girl, countering the idea that play time with dad is more important for boys than girls, at an early age.
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Dr Vaheshta Sethna from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, said: “We also found that children interacting with sensitive, calm and less anxious fathers during a book session at the age of two showed better cognitive development, including attention, problem-solving, language and social skills. This suggests that reading activities and educational references may support cognitive and learning development in these children.”
Dr Sethna added: “Our findings highlight the importance of supporting fathers to interact more positively with their children in early infancy. Specifically, considering interventions which encourage increased father-infant engagement with shared positive emotions, and book sharing sessions supportive of cognitive development.”
While the study provides a window into the effects of dad’s involvement with baby, there were a number of limitations. Parents recruited to the study were drawn from a relatively well-educated population. In addition, the measure of interactions were taken from relatively short videos, so may not represent how they interact in other situations.
The researchers are now working on a trial based on helping parents with their interactions with their children and then giving them positive feedback to help them deal with challenging behavior.
Professor Ramchandani concluded: “For those fathers who are more engaged it may be that there is a lot more positive stuff going on in their lives generally. That might be the reason for the link, but we can’t be sure of that. All we can say is that there is a signal here, and it seems to be an important one.
“The clear message for new fathers here is to get stuck in and play with your baby. Even when they’re really young playing and interacting with them can have a positive effect.
The Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians has become the first tribe to win a federal Promise Neighborhood grant, which aims to transform distressed communities.
—It began with everyone in the Corning-Paskenta Tribal Community doing their parts.
There were home visits to new parents, a deep look at how to boost early-reading skills,and programs to help middle-schoolers avoid substance abuse and violence.
There were four years of surveys and research on what worked and what didn’t. And there were dozens of meetings that reached out to many groups normally left out of policy discussions, such as teen parents and migrant workers.
The goal was to fundamentally change the trajectory of a tribe where per capita income is only about half the California average and less than 25 percent of children in grades K-8 have the language, writing, and math skills needed to reach state standards.
Now, the effort is getting some help. The Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians has become the first tribe to win a federal Promise Neighborhood grant, which aims to transform distressed communities by funding “great schools and strong systems of family and community support,” according to the website.
In the process, northern California’s Corning-Paskenta community has pointed the path for other native communities, showing how local tribes can bring momentum to solutions-oriented thinking.
“The tribe has been the glue that has brought together the partners to make some sustained efforts toward addressing some of these systemic problems,” says Matthew Russell, director of the local implementation of the grant and a longtime resident of the area, though not a member of the tribe.
How the money can help
The United States Department of Education recently awarded $2.7 million to the Paskenta Band – one of six groups to win this round of Promise Neighborhood funding. The group has also raised $1.4 million in local matching funds.
The tribe itself is small, but the grant will benefit Corning and the surrounding area, with its 10,000 residents and two public school districts that serve many Latino immigrants.
The money will go toward addressing entrenched challenges. The tribe owns a casino that is one of the key employers in the area, but unemployment is high. Crime is almost double the state average, and the community has struggled with the effects of methamphetamine production, opioid addiction, and gang activity.
More than a third of high school freshmen in the area don’t end up with a diploma.
The response taking shape has been community-wide.
“We really define what a community is all about,” says Andrew Alejandre, chairman of the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians. “Education is so important, and we really want to give back to our community.”
It includes:
More teacher training and intensive reading instruction for young children.
A case-management system to address everything from mental health to substance abuse to domestic violence.
School supports “to make sure the youth have somewhere to go and something to do” when they are not in school, Mr. Alejandre says. “A lot of parents work, and a lot of children are left at home… It’s not that any of them are bad kids, but sometimes they make bad choices, because no one is there to supervise them.”
Therapy for children affected by trauma and a promise from schools to address behavior problems in a supportive way before they lead to discipline issues.
Extensive after-school and summer English-language programs. Community analysis found that about 8 of 10 dropouts have very low English-language skills.
Signs of success
First launched in 2010, Promise Neighborhood grants are inspired by the Harlem Children’s Zone, which offers holistic support to students ranging from anti-poverty programs to health care.
In Indianola, Miss., 82 percent of third-graders served by a 2012 Promise Neighborhood grant passed a state literacy test this year, up a few points from the year before. And 59 percent of students who couldn’t pass the test last fall were able to do so by the spring. Between 2013 and 2015, the percentage of children fully prepared for kindergarten doubled, to 52 percent, the Urban Institute reports. Indianola just won another grant to continue the work.
Other recent grantees are receiving one year of funding now, but the hope is for them to receive funding for up to four more years so they can build long-term change.
Applications for Promise grants have risen from 45 in 2011 to 72 this time around, says Elson Nash, team leader for Promise Neighborhoods and Full Service Community Schools at the Department of Education.
“The school environment is critically important, but if we can help the home and neighborhood environment with population-level change, it moves the whole community to some sustainable results,” Mr. Nash says.
Senior National Online Journalist, Health Global News
Yet another study is suggesting that feeding your baby peanuts could be a good way to prevent nut allergies later on.
The latest findings found that babies who were fed peanuts regularly significantly cut their risk of developing allergies compared to their peers who were not exposed before age five.
Over the past few years, scientists have warned that recommendations that call for no peanuts until kids are about three years old are outdated. Pediatricians began to go against the grain, doling out new advice to expose babies to peanuts to lessen allergy risks.
British doctors out of King’s College London worked with 550 kids who were categorized as high risk for developing a peanut allergy because of family history, they had a pre-existing egg allergy or they were dealing with eczema.
(The scientists worked with these kids in a 2015 study in which babies were fed peanuts as early as four months old.)
This time around, they wanted to know if regular exposure to peanuts as a baby and toddler helped in the long term if kids stopped eating peanuts.
This time around, they wanted to know if regular exposure to peanuts as a baby and toddler helped in the long term if kids stopped eating peanuts.
To figure this out, half of the group regularly ate peanuts as babies while the others didn’t try them at all. Both groups then avoided peanuts for an entire year. The scientists had parents fill out questionnaires and they collected dust samples from kids’ beds to test for peanut proteins to make sure the participants were adhering to the rules.
Allergy tests were also taken at the end of the study.
After the year was complete, only 4.8 per cent of the babies who tried peanuts earlier on developed allergies to the food. But 18.6 per cent of babies who weren’t exposed to peanuts at all developed an allergy, marking a “highly significant difference,” the researchers say.
“This study offers reassurance that eating peanut-containing foods as part of a normal diet – with occasional periods of time without peanut – will be a safe practice for most children following successful tolerance therapy,” Dr. Gerald Nepom, director of the Immune Tolerance Network, said in a statement.
“The immune system appears to remember and sustain its tolerant state, even without continuous regular exposure to peanuts,” he said.
Nepom and his team say it’s unclear if allergies could set in if kids avoid peanuts for longer than a year but that he’s planning to conduct longer-term studies.
But based on their findings, they say that early and continued consumption of foods with peanuts is safe and linked to decreasing the odds of developing an allergy.
Keep in mind, peanut allergies have been steadily on the rise in recent decades. The number of allergies has more than doubled in the past 10 years across North America. Up to three per cent of kids are affected.
Peanut allergies start early in life. Kids rarely outgrow them and there is no cure.
The Canadian Paediatric Society’s own guidelines, that were reaffirmed last month, say that babies who are at high risk of developing a food allergy can be exposed to potential allergens as early as six months old.
“All of that [previous] information is really based on the consensus of experts,” Dr. Carl Cummings explained to Global News. He’s a Montreal-based pediatrician, professor at the Montreal Children’s Hospital and co-author of the CPS position statement.
“[The old advice] was based on the consensus of opinion rather than actual evidence. The bottom line is it’s believed that the unnecessary delay probably contributed to some of the increase of food allergies that we see,” Cummings told Global News.
If you’re worried about a choking hazard, don’t feed your kids peanuts until they’re able to chew or stick to feeding them a safe amount of peanut butter, doctors say. If your child’s had a food reaction before, talk to your pediatrician before testing peanuts as a safety precaution.
Hives, swelling, vomiting and trouble breathing are signs and symptoms of a food allergy.
Nutrition is one of the single most important factors when it comes to a child’s development. Proper nutrition is essential for children to succeed in school. By feeding your children a proper diet, you are helping them to be able to function properly in school in addition to fostering their growing mind and bodies.
A proper diet is especially important for growing children. At this level, the children’s minds are still developing and their bodies are growing fast. Without proper nutrition, a child will lack the vitamins and minerals necessary to facilitate a normal growth.
It is important to feed your children a variety of healthy meals and snacks. Avoid feeding children junk food which will only contribute to obesity and malnutrition. The occasional treat will not hurt your child, but it is not healthy to make it a regular habit.
One way to ensure that your child eats healthy at school is to make a bag lunch for your child each day. Include healthy snacks such as fruits and vegetables or a variety of nuts. Each of these snacks is high in vitamins and low in fat. They also provide your child with energy to keep their attention on school matters rather than drifting off to sleep.
Also pack a nutritious meal along with a juice box or milk box. Nutritious meals can include sandwiches along with soups. Be sure to pack your children’s meals in small portions as children tend to snack on several items at once. While there is no way to ensure that your child is not trading away their food, you are preventing them from buying school lunches which consist of mostly processed food.
Getting involved with the school can be beneficial. PTA meetings are held regularly for parents to voice their concerns with issues. This would be a good venue for bringing up the subject of healthier school lunches. More than likely, you are not the only parent who has concerns about the food being served in the cafeteria.
As children get older and graduate to junior high and high school, more unhealthy options are available in the lunch room such as ice cream machines and soda machines. Gather a bunch of nutrition-minded parents and create a plan to implement new options into the school cafeterias. While you may not see immediate results, if you keep up your campaigning and your research, eventually someone else’s kids will benefit from your hard work.
There are several ways to implement a healthy, nutritious diet in school-age children. Children need lots of minerals and vitamins in order to develop the tools necessary to facilitate healthy growth in both body and mind. Packing a bag lunch for your children is a great way to monitor what your child eats while at school. Another great solution is to get involved with the PTA and campaign for healthier school lunches. Results may not be immediate, but they will be beneficial.
Parents dread having to deal with meltdowns. However, parents of children with ADHD may face more meltdowns than other parents.
Children with ADHD are more prone to meltdowns for a number of reasons. Often their brain circuitry for emotional regulation is dysfunctional in which it takes less to trigger an anger episode that lasts for a longer periods of time than other children. This is the result of faulty wiring. Working with them on relaxation techniques like taking deep breaths or counting to ten at the first sign of being upset can help. It is important for them to practice these when they are calm.
These kids often aren’t fully tuned in to what is going on around them and miss important information that causes them to misinterpret a situation and then react to what they think is going on rather than what really happened. If you are having a discussion with your child, pause frequently to make sure they are getting your point. Ask questions to make sure they understand and encourage them to ask you questions as well.
Some ADHD kids lack the ability to be flexible causing them to go into meltdown mode when there is a change in routine or an expected event does not happen. For instance a boy may be having a great time “rough housing” with his dad but does not want to stop when dad feels it has gone on long enough. This can become ugly and lead to fewer such play situations. Agreeing to use a timer and stop when the timer says to stop rather than dad might help avoid this.
Here are some tips for coping with a meltdown:
1. Don’t Loose Your Cool
Take a few deep breaths. This triggers the relaxation response and will lower your own anxiety/anger level and make it possible for you to think clearly and model appropriate behavior for your child. Remember the preflight instruction, “When the mask comes down, please cover your own nose and mouth first before you assist your child.”
2. Don’t React – Respond
If you and your child have already agreed on how meltdowns will be handled with a behavior plan, make sure the plan is being followed. As an example, you might have agreed on an incentive program where your child can earn rewards for following the behavior plan. Incentives might be earning points every time he/she is able to calm down before having a meltdown. Points earned can be cashed in at the end of the day for a desired activity such as television time or a special treat.
If you do not have a plan in place then you can respond by saying “WE have a problem here. Let’s see how we can solve the problem TOGETHER.” Find out what the child’s concern is. See if there is a way to address it. It is not giving in if you modify a situation in a way that is more accepting to the child while still meeting your needs as well. Good leaders listen to the people they are leading and incorporate the feedback they receive.
3. Don’t Dictate – Discuss
Ask, “What is making you upset?” Listen carefully and respond empathetically such as “I see you (want or don’t want), what’s up?” Find out what the child is concerned about. For instance if the problem is not wanting to go to bed, you might say, “I understand you do not want to go to bed right now even though 9:00 is your usual bedtime. What is bothering you about this?” Perhaps the child says, “I need to finish my video game so I can get to the next level.” You then can say, “So here is the problem we have. I want you to go to bed because it is your bedtime and you need your sleep to feel good and do well at school and baseball tomorrow and you want to stay up later to finish your game. I am not saying you don’t have to go to be now but do you have any ideas on how we can solve this?”
For discussion let’s say it is only for a few minutes and you decide for tonight to let him finish the game to avoid an hour or more of meltdown versus a few more minutes. You might say, “Ok for tonight you can finish the game. Tomorrow we can talk about this and come up with a solution so that from now on you will be able to finish what you are doing and go to bed on time.”
It is ok for us to listen to our children’s perspective on difficult situations. If this is an isolated incidence then, problem solving could avoid a major meltdown. However, we need to follow up the next day with a detailed discussion on how this can be avoided in the future.
If this is an ongoing problem, then simply stick to the program/plan you have already set in place. If you have been working on anger management techniques such a taking deep breaths, then remind the child to practice it.
4. Don’t Demand – Encourage
If you have a prearranged plan to follow or you have come to an agreement for this crisis situation then you can say, “I know you are upset right now but I also know you can do a good job of calming down now,” or “You know what our agreement is and I bet you will do your part now just like the great job you did yesterday. I love how you are getting better at this each time.”
5. Don’t Give Up – Stay Committed
Raising a child with any type of special need, be it developmental, psychological or medical, requires a tremendous amount of patience and strength to endure and continue to handle tough situations when they come up. Make sure you have a good support system. Be sure to have a break from time to time to do something fun and relaxing. Also, try to view the whole situation from the 30,000 foot level to see the progress you have made so far and that meltdowns now and then can just be little bumps in the road to helping your child learn to cope with the day to day events they encounter.
If you have truly committed to following a behavioral approach under the guidance of a mental health provider and are not seeing progress, please don’t hesitate to discuss this with your child’s physician. A referral to a psychologist for a comprehensive evaluation may uncover other conditions that may need to be addressed. Sometimes ADHD may be misdiagnosed or a child can have more than one disorder which needs to be addressed.
When talking to a professional, you should be able to tell them when and where these episodes happen and what took place just before the meltdown; these are valuable clues that a well trained clinician can use to modify your approach or discover an underlying skill deficit that can be improved or addressed.
Sometimes, when behavioral approaches have been in place for some time and have been tweaked all they can, medication may need to be considered. Parents should be cautious about having their child placed on medication prematurely, but when symptoms are severe and interfering with a child’s ability to function in several environments then medication should be considered and can be extremely helpful.
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Cochlear implants have been a godsend for parents of children born profoundly deaf.
While the devices can restore some level of hearing, many of these children can still fall behind in language skills.
As CBS2’s Dr. Max Gomez explained, ‘eye trackers’ help researchers understand how children learn language.
Logan Hodge’s parents were elated when a cochlear implant allowed their son to hear for the first time at 10-months-old.
There were still challenges ahead to help Logan communicate on the same level as children with normal hearing.
“We had never experienced communicating with a deaf person at all before our son was born, so it was interesting for us to learn how to communicate, and how to teach Logan how to communicate with us,” Logan’s mother Sarah said.
Researcher Derek Houston said it’s a common struggle for parents of deaf children.
To better understand how children with cochlear implants absorb information and learn new words, he designed a study at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, which observes parent and child interactions from six different camera angles.
Parents present toys with different names to their children, and every detail of the child’s reaction is recorded.
“To give even more detail about that. They’re also wearing eye-tracking devices,” Dr. Houston said.
The devices help researchers understand what catches a child’s attention during conversation and how parents might be able to use that information to better communicate.
“The timing of when a parent says a label and what the child is doing, when the label is said, predicts whether or not the child will learn a word,” Dr. Houston said.
Logan’s parents use what they’re learning from the study to constantly reinforce language by doing things like narrating everyday activities.
Their hard work is paying off.
“Honestly, there are many times throughout the day that I forget that he’s deaf at all, which is just incredible,” Sarah said.
Researchers hope that this method of parent-child observation can be extended to learn more about the best ways to teach language skills to any child.
With some modifications it could help with speech development for specific groups such as children with ADHD or autism.
CBS2’s Dr. Gomez said that the sooner a deaf child receives a cochlear implant, the more likely he or she will be able to develop normal speech.
My first job as a preschool teacher was at a local drop-in day care where I live in San Diego, California, that also ran a small preschool class. The school was one large, chaotic room with one smaller room for the “preschool” cordoned off by large, primary-colored plastic blocks. I taught for the first time in that tiny room, surrounded by the screaming, happy kids of the drop-in facility. Surely my kids didn’t learn anything in that din, but I loved them, and they were well cared for.
When my son turned 5 and entered kindergarten, I got a job at a typical preschool. The parents at this preschool were mostly lower middle class. I worked six hours a day, and when my son was out of school for holidays, I was able to bring him with me to work. I worked hard at my job and felt awe, at times fear, at the amount of influence I had over the children’s lives, their day-to-day emotional and mental health.
This preschool was typical of the preschools I taught at over the next 15 years, bad and good. Bad: high ratio of children to adult, very low pay for teachers, terrible teachers not getting fired or replaced. Good: joyful recess time outside, lots of story time and creative play, childhood friendships forming, and, often, friendships between good teachers and warm parents.
My time as a preschool teacher has taught me this: Parents cannot rely on preschools themselves, or the state and local laws that regulate the schools, to ensure their children are being treated well. Even at well-run preschools, I’ve seen teachers behave in subtly persistent or outright cruel and, at times, physically harmful ways. The strongest advocates for children are their parents.
Preschool teachers are hard to recruit and retain — and hard to fire, even if they’re terrible
A teacher at one of the schools where I worked early on was known as Scary Mary. This is what the 4-year-olds called her as they clustered in the corners of the playground. She was short, with a black bob, and she smiled ear to ear at the parents. Like a Disney villain, as soon as she was alone in her classroom with the kids, her voice changed from a high chirp to a bark. She maintained a glossy red manicure, and she’d snap her fingers while yelling at the kids. She often reacted to misbehavior with pointed, cruel remarks. An assistant teacher who worked with Scary Mary seemed completely terrified of her; she barely spoke.
Once, I walked by Scary Mary’s open door and saw her pull a child out of his seat. A blond boy who was prone to nose picking and daydreaming had once again let his lunch sit, uneaten, while he talked and giggled. Scary Mary yanked him out of his seat — hard enough that his knees hit the underside of the table — and wagged her finger in his face. “You are a bad boy!” she said. “Do you want your mom and dad to cry because you don’t eat? You want to be skinny and small like a girl?”
I went on my lunch break and made a complaint with the director. She nodded seriously and assured me she would talk to Mary.
A few weeks later, I saw Scary Mary grab another child by the belt loop. He cried as she leaned over him. All I could see was the small hump of her bent back and the rounded curve of his dimpled elbow sticking out.
I cried in the hallway bathroom. I knew that Scary Mary was damaging the children she taught. I also knew that our director was going to try everything in her power to make Mary work out before she would even consider firing her. Firing an employee makes tongues wag; parents talk to each other, and it can make the school look unstable to have turnover. In addition, finding a reliable teacher with enough early childhood development units to teach a class, one who would work the hours needed and who interviewed even fairly well, was very difficult.
At the next preschool I taught at, I observed the director, over a period of a month, interview candidates for the position of the 2-year-old class. This preschool was full of mostly upper-middle-class families, with both parents working high-stress jobs. Most of the interviews took place during working hours, and often the director would walk the possible teacher through the classes, showing her (usually a woman) the classes, introducing the rest of us teachers. One prospective teacher looked at a baby I was holding and joked that he was an “ugly little thing,” and shared how sad it was that not all babies are cute or lovable. “I don’t really like babies anyway,” she said. “Hopefully I’ll get the 4-year-olds.”
I heard many upsetting comments like this from prospective and working teachers. Many teachers feel that other teachers are confidants: They tell us things that would never get said to the parents or the director. After a month, the director finally hired someone. She eventually fired her, after parents repeatedly complained about the chaos and lack of learning in her class. She spent a lot of time texting while the children did worksheets.
The Census Bureau states that 4.8 million children attend organized preschool or day care yearly. The degree to which child care facilities are regulated, and the quality of the care, varies wildly around the United States. It’s impossible to give an authoritative assumption on whether my experiences over 15 years of teaching preschoolers are average. I do know that many other preschool teachers I have spoken to have shared in many of my observations. Steven Barnett, the director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, said in an interview with the Atlantic, “Access to real quality is pretty darn low.”
Barnett went on to say that the odds of a parent without a high school diploma getting her preschooler into a high-quality program is one in 10.
Preschools have tight budgets, and kids don’t always get the one-on-one attention they need
Preschools don’t make very much money. Preschool teachers make even less. The Bureau of Labor Services notes that preschool teachers make an average of $21,490 a year. Directors of preschools can make a livable wage, but their job is extremely taxing. Every preschool director I knew worked more than 40 hours a week, put in hours a week talking with angry or frustrated parents, filled in for absent teachers, planned the holiday programs, balanced the budget, hired and fired employees when necessary, and very often was called to help manage a particularly unruly child. I myself worked 40 hours a week, and even with my husband’s additional full-time income we barely squeaked by.
Every preschool I taught at worked under a very tight budget. This meant that when extra help was needed, it could rarely be afforded. Every person working for the school was expected to move into whatever role was needed to make the preschool ratios work. Every state has a law about how many children of a certain age can be in the care of one adult. The ratios for preschools in San Diego are one teacher to 12 students — children 30 months and under have ratios of one teacher to six students.
When you have a child who is particularly difficult, whether repeatedly hitting, screaming, refusing to stay seated, or simply crying, homesick, or with separation anxiety, the teacher has to figure out how to work the class around that child. How do you do circle time with 10 2-year-olds as, day after day, one of the children walks around the room sobbing, clutching his blanket, and knocking on the door?
Child development, compassion, and basic sense tell you that a child like this needs one-on-one attention. The child needs an adult who can kindly and patiently work with her until either the phase has passed or a possible problem has been identified, such as ADD, autism, or severe separation anxiety.
In reality, the daily one-on-one care for a struggling child can rarely occur. Even if a teacher starts out the day holding the hand of a child, pulling the child into her lap during circle time, this can’t hold for the entire day. Teachers go on lunch breaks and 10-minute breaks; they have to set up for nap time; they have to set up and clean up art; they have to help other children too; and often, they have to deal with either diaper changes or potty time.
This is why the director is often called in to assist with a child. I worked for five different preschool directors, and each one of them was fairly good to very good at their jobs, but none of them were particularly great with children. Administrators were good with creating scholastic plans that best benefited each age range of children, good at organizing the minutiae of a school — the paperwork, the state laws to follow, the hiring, the schedule management — but exhibited the long-acknowledged difference between being brilliant in comprehension and brilliant in action. It is the fighter pilot in simulation and the fighter pilot thousands of feet in the air in free fall. It is one thing to learn about calmly helping a child having a tantrum and another to sit, the child’s snot and desperation inches from your face, and do it.
Some administrators might be brilliant with their own children, or have been wonderful caregivers in the past, but the addition of the grind of administrative duties and pleasing teachers and parents seems to be the limit, the litmus point where the constant reservoir of patience and connection one needs to be a good preschool teacher runs dry.
One director would handle a relentlessly crying child by sitting her down on a stool and saying sternly, “You are going to stop this nonsense now.” The child would continue to cry (children don’t believe in stopping nonsense — they also don’t believe their emotions are nonsense), and the director would tap away on her computer. One little girl I remember in particular because she was absolutely unmoved by both the director’s stern voice and the hours in the office. She’d cry for so long she’d fall asleep, sitting straight up, mouth open.
Another director would hold the offending child by the hand and announce to anyone she came into contact with that the child was “deciding to be a terrible listener today, making their teacher very unhappy, and so they have to walk around with me instead of playing with toys.” The shame on the child’s face was depressing as hell. I would give an encouraging smile to the child and tell them they could do a better job, and it was okay to be sad but not okay to throw toys, and the director would shoot me an annoyed look for not following script.
Young children don’t always know how to tell their parents something is wrong
What I knew about these and other practices was this: None of this was discussed with the parents, and certainly not in any kind of realistic detail. And none of the children were old enough to think to say, “Mom, Dad, is it okay that I spend two hours a day sitting on a stool and crying?”
Whatever happens to children at this age, I observed time and time again that they accept it. It is not that they like it — they can (and do) scream and cry and mope and mutter — but that they do not have anything else to compare life to. During these years, they have this: home and school. Sometimes a child particularly unhappy at school will make it well known that they don’t want to go to school, because the other option they know is home. They don’t typically recall or express details, such as “I don’t like the way my teacher grabs my arms hard,” or “I don’t like when the teacher says I’m a bad boy.” Some children do, and they are wonderful advocates for themselves. The rest depend on the persistent inquiries and attention of those who love them best.
The director listened, and promised that teacher wouldn’t be in charge of my son anymore. She was not in the same room with him again. I did a few unexpected drop-ins here and there over the next month, and all was well.
The unexpected drop-in is probably a preschool parent’s most potent tool for information on what is happening during their child’s day. Some schools don’t allow this; I would not leave my child at those schools.
Unexpected drop-ins are tremendously underused. The observations made during one can change your child’s preschool experience. One foster mother dropped in on her son and found that his teacher, in the room next to mine, had left him standing in the bathroom with no underwear on, alone, as punishment for pooping in his pants. The mother filed a written complaint and pulled him out of the school. I was grateful, because it had been obvious to me that this teacher had taken a great dislike to this little person, but there wasn’t anything concrete to point to until the mom dropped in.
If there are problems that you don’t know about, the drop-in might be the only way to spot them. Dropping in can reveal discipline measures you weren’t aware of, or a fear of your child’s you didn’t know he was carrying (the little toilets!), or her habit of barely eating lunch and then throwing the rest away.
It can be difficult to find time for a drop-in. I struggled with it, as I worked and attended school and my husband worked full time as well. I found a couple of ways around this: I used my rare day off work, when my child still attended preschool, to drop in; I had both my husband and my mother take a turn to unexpectedly drop in for an early pickup; I made acquaintance with other parents in my child’s class and asked them if they could let me know how my son was doing when they picked up their child — a virtual drop-in.
Another construct to connect parents to their children in preschool or day care is the webcam, installed directly into classrooms. Some child care centers offer this device, which has mixed reactions. Some parents love the cameras for the connection it gives them with their child and the feeling of security that comes from knowing there is a “watchful eye” on their child’s classroom situation. However, bathrooms and changing tables are almost always off limits to the camera, as sometimes are outside play areas. In addition, there are privacy and security concerns about the ability of hackers, as well as less devious situations, such as a parent who logs in at a library and leaves before logging out. Plus, these cameras do not include sound, so the context of what a parent is viewing can be lost.
The power of a parent’s unexpected drop-in
All I saw and heard over the 15 years I taught preschool impressed on me deeply that an involved parent is enormously powerful. Some parents fear that being too involved will make the teachers treat their child less kindly out of annoyance, but the opposite is true. The directors and teachers need the parents to be happy. They need the children to stay enrolled at the school.
Parents who make it politely clear that they are listening and watching closely as a caring parent, and then who actually do so, can be guaranteed that all those looking after their child will be — consciously or not — more attentive to the experience of that child.
I was able to care for my son, and then a daughter, and then another daughter, in their little years because I was a preschool teacher. Being a mother made me a better preschool teacher, and being a preschool teacher made me a better mother. My teen daughter knows: I still believe in the power of an unexpected drop-in.
Maggie May Ethridge is the author of Atmospheric Disturbances: Scenes From a Marriage (Shebooks, 2015) Her work appears in Rolling Stone, the Guardian, Guernica, the Week, Cosmopolitan, and more. Her novel, Agitate My Heart, is in edits.
One of the most controversial questions in education has been whether preschool — and specifically Head Start — helps kids succeed as they move through elementary school.
Critics have long noted, and research has supported, that the benefits of Head Start fade in a few years. It’s an important question for an $8 billion federal program that provides support for nearly a million low-income children and their families.
This year brought several new studies, however, that found that — when done right — Head Start and other programs can give low-income students lasting benefits. It’s not only through elementary school: At least one study we wrote about found the benefits of preschool paying off for individuals, and society, into adult life.
All this research, however, was no blanket endorsement. Some of this year’s findings reinforced earlier studies showing the uneven quality of Head Start programs around the country.
And so the lessons from 2016 seem to reinforce the emphasis — by President Obama and others — on quality.
One of the most closely watched attempts in the country to provide universal, high-quality preschool has been in Oklahoma. In 1998, the state became one of only two states to offer universal preschool.
Today, the vast majority of Oklahoma’s programs are in public schools. The rest are run by child care centers or Head Start.
Deborah Phillips, a professor of psychology at Georgetown University, has spent more than a decade studying and tracking children in these programs. Her most recent findings were published in the journal Developmental Psychology.
Her study focused on Tulsa’s biggest Head Start program, which is run by CAP Tulsa, a nonprofit group that serves 3- to 4-year-olds. It looked at how the students in the program were faring years later.
And it found clear benefits for children who had gone through the program. In August, I talked with Phillips and asked her to summarize her findings.
Your research team wanted to know whether Head Start produced significant, long-term academic success for the 1,774 children in your sample. What did you find?
Children who attended Head Start had higher test scores on state math tests [by eighth grade]. They were less likely to be retained and less likely to display chronic absenteeism. These are highly consequential outcomes that we know are predictive of high school graduation, college enrollment, even earnings.
Low-income children who come out of [Tulsa’s CAP Head Start program] defy teachers’ and principals’ expectations of them based on their background.
We’ve been able to demonstrate that the Head Start model, with its strong family support component and comprehensive services for children, can give children a strong pathway through school and hopefully out of poverty in their adult lives.
Still, some of your findings are pretty worrisome. African-American boys in your study, for example, did not benefit very much at all from Head Start. Why?
We don’t have the answer to that, but it’s extremely troubling. We are digging very deeply into our data we collected in third grade and now, of course, we have eighth-grade data. So we’re going to look over time and see what’s going on.
In middle school, you tested kids in things like algebraic reasoning and geometry. Then you examined their vocabulary and reading comprehension. In math they did pretty well, but in reading the results were not good. Do you know why?
We can only guess why we’re not seeing the same impact on reading test scores. Maybe because children’s early home environment has a bigger impact on reading skills than on math skills. Although it is a little perplexing because we found very large, immediate impacts on children’s reading assessments. So that’s a puzzle.
On the bright side, you found that Latinos, including those who did not speak English at home, benefited significantly from Head Start by the time they got to middle school. And you say that’s important because Latinos are the fastest-growing group in Tulsa’s public schools.
But don’t English-language learners, or ELLs, face more difficulties in the elementary grades, especially in reading?
They shouldn’t as long as children are getting linguistic input, whether it’s in Spanish or English at home. English-language learners … in homes with very poorly educated parents benefited more than any other subgroup.
Why is middle school an important marker in terms of these kids’ progress?
The middle school years are a fascinating developmental stage. It’s when children are really beginning to solidify attitudes about school and its role in their future. In most studies that have followed children into early adulthood, it’s in the middle school years that you see major fade-out. So we wanted to look at middle school as an extreme test of the impact that Head Start has.
Fade-out of course is the single biggest criticism of preschool programs, including Head Start. Doesn’t the research show that the benefits don’t last beyond first grade?
There is some evidence that part of what happens when you see fade-out is that children come out of pre-K eager and ready to learn with strong initial skills. They arrive in elementary school and those skills are not advanced. Kids get the same lessons they got in preschool. So of course you’re going to see fade-out under those circumstances.
But as your own study acknowledges, the findings from Tulsa are not truly representative of most Head Start programs nationally.
There is tremendous variation in what children experience in Head Start. In Tulsa we have a very high quality Head Start program.
When we compared the quality of teacher-child interaction in the classroom [in Tulsa] to national data collected from 11 different states at the same time, we found that Tulsa’s Head Start teachers had [better] instructional support and spent more time on academic content compared to the other 11 states.
[Tulsa] pays its Head Start teachers the public school wage, so there’s no incentive for a teacher to jump ship to earn a higher wage. So Head Start is able to attract and retain talent.
Still, I would not describe the Head Start program in Tulsa as “exceptional,” because the national Head Start program has been moving over this decade in the direction that Tulsa has arrived, namely, requiring higher teacher qualifications.
Every teacher in Head Start nationally is now supposed to have a B.A. degree and be early-childhood certified. Performance standards have been substantially revised to ensure that these programs foster academic learning and social emotional development.
Do you worry about the skeptics who will question your findings and look for flaws in your methodology?
Many of us who’ve been studying preschool education are feeling that it’s time to turn the question away from, “Does pre-K work?” to “What is going on [when kids] transition from pre-K to the early elementary grades?”
I think our nation has arrived at a watershed moment when it comes to early education. We now have not only scientists, developmental psychologists, economists, neuroscientists but also police officers, business people, many politicians and parents believing in the power of preschool. And that kind of coalition will drive this agenda home.
So why is it so hard to replicate the success you’ve documented in Tulsa?
That’s the million-dollar question. You could say it boils down to money but it actually boils down to commitment. Money flows from commitment. We spend money on the things we care most about and I’m hopeful that these very encouraging results will reassure people that high-quality preschool is the first step in fulfilling the promise of America’s education system.
A version of this story was published on NPR Ed in August 2016.
EAST PALO ALTO — Toothaches or asthma can cloud the minds of children who are eager to learn, but a new private school started by Dr. Priscilla Chan and her husband, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, might be just what the doctor ordered.
In East Palo Alto, a city with minorities and families living in poverty near the wealthy enclaves of Silicon Valley, The Primary School opened its doors this year to 51 low-income preschool students. It boasts an innovative curriculum that addresses children’s health needs as part of their educational experience.
“There are so many ways a school can really help a child be in their optimal frame of mind to be successful in the classroom that are way more common than what we traditionally define as special needs,” said Chan, a pediatrician and CEO of the school, in an exclusive interview.
The Primary School’s current students are 4 or 5 years old, but it continues to recruit more students and teachers. It will add more grades every year until it’s fully built out to serve 700 families in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park’s Belle Haven neighborhood. By that time, it will have 450 students from preschool to eighth grade and 250 kids from birth to 2 years old.
The school provides a free education for its students, who are selected through a lottery.
Across the nation, a growing number ofschools such as the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York and publicly funded “community schools” also bring in health and social services, education experts say. And while some of these schools have seen success, the cost per child typically is expensive. Not all low-income communities have the resources to make it work.
“We have a very fragmented system with different organizations and government offices that are responsible for different parts of the child, which means that the same child often slips through the cracks because no one thinks to check that the reason why they’re not doing well in school is they can’t see the blackboard,” said Deborah Stipek, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education.
While the Primary School hasn’t disclosed how much it costs to run, some of its executives noted they’re leveraging help from community organizations and health care providers. The school said it isn’t ready to let a reporter visit a classroom or talk to parents and teachers, but its leaders shared some of the work they’ve been doing in its first school year.
Partnering with the Ravenswood Family Health Center, the Primary School’s teachers received training on how to spot and manage a child with asthma, one of the leading causes of school absenteeism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At least one-fifth of the kids at The Primary School have a significant asthma condition, said Meredith Liu, the school’s president and chief operating officer.
“Our goal is to equip parents and teachers and people who work with kids every day to manage the health rather than building an expensive system on top of it,” Liu said.
Ravenswood dentists also stopped by to clean some students’ teeth as part of a project called “Virtual Dental Home.”
Parents of students at the school work with coaches and teachers to help write growth plans to measure and track a child’s health, education and social-emotional progress, such as having a healthy relationship with adults or knowing how to ask for assistance.
“We had some kids who were barely making eye contact when they came in and now they’re speaking,” Liu said. “And just the ability to have a friend seems like small things for us, but makes all the difference for these kids.”
Inside the classroom, kids learned about healthy eating and even pretended they were doctors in a clinic taking care of imaginary babies. Students start off the day in a community circle, and then split into smaller groups to discuss different topics, Chan said.
In one group, children discussed who lived in their community. One classroom decided insects lived in their community, so they drew pictures of bugs and studied them.
“It’s really an immersive experience led by the child’s interest,” said Chan, a former teacher.
The Ravenswood City School District, another one of The Primary School’s partners, is looking for what it can learn from the program to bring into its own public-school classrooms. Gloria Hernandez-Goff, the district’s superintendent, said she’s interested in working with the school to improve the professional development of the district’s teachers and provide students with more social-emotional support.
Research shows that investments in early childhood education, especially for low-income kids, pay off. A recent study co-authored by Nobel laureate James Heckman, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and the director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development, found that high-quality birth-to-five programs for disadvantaged children deliver a 13 percent return on investment each year. That’s because when they grow into adults, they’re healthier, better educated and less likely to be incarcerated.
The Primary School is one of Chan’s and Zuckerberg’s most hands-on educational investments in the Bay Area. The couple in 2014 pledged to contribute $120 million to schools in low-income Bay Area communities.
In 2010, Zuckerberg and Chan donated $100 million to turn around public schools in Newark, New Jersey. But a book titled “The Prize,” by Dale Russakoff, characterized the work as a failure because large chunks of the money went to labor and contract costs, charter schools and consultants.
Citing concerns about student privacy, The Primary School declined to disclose its exact location, but noted it sits near the Ravenswood Family Health Center.
Creating a culture where parents, teachers and doctors communicate better with each other about a child’s needs doesn’t necessarily need to cost more, Chan said.
It’s one area that Dr. Ryan Padrez is focusing on as the school’s medical director.
A challenge for pediatricians is that they see families only when they reach out to them and make an appointment. But parents and teachers see a student every day, he said.
“Even in these first few months, we’re still really just uncovering what can be possible in regards to developing a new innovative model to really go beyond what can be achieved in the pediatric office.”
After 14 years of school, many low-income kids turn to government-issued Pell grants and need-based scholarships to secure the promise of higher education and a brighter future.
This is a noble goal.
The trouble, at least according to a decade of mounting research into academic achievement, is that the bulk of federal aid arrives 14 years too late. As important as it is to give 18-year-olds scholarships, 4-year-olds may benefit even more from getting extra money for education.
The value of investing early
Research has found the per-dollar expenditures on early educationbenefit kids more in the long run than investments like Pell grants and scholarships. This is despite the fact the federal government spends three times as much to help college-bound teens than kids entering school for the first time.
“Later-life programs are very complex,” says Jorge Luis García, an economist at the University of Chicago’s Center for the Economics of Human Development. “Given the returns we’ve seen from these early childhood programs, they’re a sounder investment, definitely.”
This insight was evident as far back as 2006, when economist and Nobel laureate James Heckman published a report in Science magazine arguing in favor of early-childhood investments.
According to some research, preschool is the smartest investment for long-term success. In this chart, it is the only stage above the opportunity costs.MIT Press
“At current levels of resources,” he wrote, “society overinvests in remedial skill investments at later ages and underinvests in the early years.”
To Heckman and García (who have co-authored several studies on the topic), the evidence clearly showed that societies would be better off if they spent more money on services designed to help kids start school on a level playing field.
In the decade since his report, that insight has led to loads of follow-up research that tries to answer a crucial question: Where exactly should the money go?
Early efforts to improve early education
The most popular idea for leveling the playing field began in the 1960s with Head Start, a set of community programs that helps young kids prepare for school. The second-most popular is universal preschool, a policy widely beloved by politicians for its all-encompassing, seemingly fair solution.
Both have helped kids see substantial improvements, but they also have their short-comings.
Last July, the US Department of Education released a review of 90 studies into Head Start’s effectiveness as a tool for improving kids’ behavior and academic achievement. Among 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds, it found the program yielded “potentially positive effects” on reading and “no discernible effects” on math and social-emotional development. What’s more, many programs differed in when they started and how they were operated.
As great as it sounds — standardized school for all, no matter your background — universal preschool doesn’t give kids many lasting advantages. A recent study from Vanderbilt University found pre-K kids equaled their peers in kindergarten but had fallen behind by the third grade.
REUTERS/Paulo Santos
So where should the money go?
Russ Whitehurst, a senior fellow in economics studies at the Brookings Institution, has found a smarter alternative to Head Start and universal preschool: Simply give poor families extra money.
Earlier this April, Whitehurst found direct cash transfers to poor families led to the greatest per-dollar return on investment, based on follow-up test scores, than any system involving preschool. Other studies have shown that more money early on translates to better test scores, higher college entry rates, and even higher incomes as adults.
If governments don’t feel comfortable putting money directly in poor families’ pockets, Whitehurst tells Business Insider, they can also structure the payments as vouchers to be used toward daycare or earned income tax credits, which essentially function as big tax refunds to encourage employment.
You could think of it like giving kids scholarships earlier on in life to start school on the right foot.
Despite their potential, policymakers still tend to see these as fringe ideas, Whitehurst says. And since they’re targeted solutions, people running for office may gravitate more toward broader policies like universal preschool, even if they don’t work as well, in order to win more votes.
“This is a policy of frontier,” Whitehurt says. “And gosh, I wish that government, including the federal government, were experimenting around ways to do this.”
Kids don’t recover from lead poisoning, a long-term study shows.
By Erin Schumaker
Damage from childhood lead exposure lasts well into adulthood, according to a four-decade study that found that kids who were exposed to high levels of leaded gasoline in the 1970s had worse cognitive functioning and lower socioeconomic statuses at age 38 than their peers.
“It actually wasn’t until the 1990s that the connection between lead and compromised cognitive functioning became an accepted and evidence-based ‘fact,’” Avshalom Caspi, co-author of the study and professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, told The Huffington Post.
“It’s important to remember that what we think we ‘know’ about lead today is actually pretty new knowledge,” Caspi added.
The study, which examined 500 primarily white children who were born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between 1972 and 1973, was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on March 28.
Study participants who had blood lead levels greater than 10 micrograms per deciliter at age 11 had IQs that were 4.25 points lower than their peers by the time they reached age 38.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends public health intervention for kids with 5 micrograms per deciliter of lead in their blood or more, noting there is no safe blood lead level for children. Lead exposure is far more damaging for children because their brains are still developing.
Exposure to high levels of lead in childhood can cause neurological damage, a shortened attention span, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, hypertension and reproductive organ damage, according the World Health Organization.
Among those with elevated lead levels, the trend was the opposite. The occupations they held at age 38 tended to be slightly less well-paid or prestigious than their parents had.Avshalom Caspi, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University
Few sizable studies have examined the long-term health effects of high lead exposure in kids. (To the study authors’ knowledge, the longest-term cognitive follow-up study only had 43 participants, which is too small a cohort to draw definitive conclusions from.)
“The difficulty with many previous studies of lead exposure and cognitive development is that lead exposure is often confined to very poor and very disadvantaged neighborhoods and homes,” Caspi said. “This makes it difficult to disentangle the association between high lead and low IQ from that between poverty and low IQ.”
In the U.S., poorer people were more likely to live near expressways and lead-related industries, since those neighborhoods were generally considered less desirable ― and as a result, they were more likely to be exposed to leaded gasoline. In this particular part of New Zealand, however, there were no major roadways (the area’s topography and proximity to the ocean may have kept air pollution in), meaning kids of varying backgrounds had similar exposure.
“In essence, there was equality in lead exposure,” Caspi said. “This made it possible for us to more clearly estimate the association between high lead and low IQ.”
The resulting research suggests that higher childhood blood lead levels are associated with lower IQs and with downward social mobility, regardless of a child’s socioeconomic status.
“The normal trend for this generation is for sons and daughters to achieve better occupations than their parents,” Caspi said. “Among those with elevated lead levels, the trend was opposite. The occupations they held at age 38 tended to be slightly less well-paid or prestigious than their parents had.”
During the study period, New Zealand had one of the highest lead gasoline levels in the world, the study authors noted. And although lead was phased out of gasoline in New Zealand and the United States, soil surrounding major roadways is still a hazard.
There are a few things that politicians and public health experts in the United States can learn from the new study ― particularly in Flint, Michigan, where children were poisoned by lead-tainted water starting in 2014. Caspi said he didn’t know the magnitude or the duration of Flint citizens’ lead exposure, but offered a few takeaways.
“With those routine exposures, we find that there are long-term implications for a child’s life trajectory, regardless of where they start out in life,” he said.
“To us, this suggests, at the very least, that public responses to lead exposure events, like those that we saw in Flint, should take a long-term perspective.”
While lead poisoning is essentially irreversible, proper nutrition and early intervention by doctors can improve children’s long-term cognitive outcomes, according to Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the director of the pediatric residency program at the Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Michigan. Parents’ primary concern, however, should be eliminating their children’s exposure to the lead source.
Pool photo by Chip Somodevilla via European Pressphoto Agency
One of President Trump’s economic advisers, a co-author of his tax plan, is urging the administration to delay efforts to make child care more affordable. The advice comes days after Trump failed to persuade the Republican-dominated Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare, a core campaign promise.
Steven Moore, a policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the White House can nab an early win with tax reform — by perhaps opting for a politically safer package.
“Trump needs a victory,” Moore said. “Individual tax reform is really hard to do. It’s politically risky, even though it’s the right thing to do.”
Trump could focus instead on corporate tax reform this year, he said, and tackle the individual system in 2018. Such an approach could more quickly slash business expenses nationwide, but working parents would have to wait longer for tax-deductible day care, another campaign pledge.
“Obviously,” Moore said, “child care wouldn’t have a place in that.”
During the campaign, Trump said he would streamline the tax system, a feat last accomplished under the Reagan administration. His proposal, unveiled in September, would reduce the number of brackets from seven to three, with rates of 12 percent, 25 percent and 33 percent.
The blueprint also expanded relief for families who face staggering day-care bills. Trump wanted to allow households to deduct the average cost of child care from their income taxes. He did not reveal how, exactly, the new deductions would work, but credited his older daughter, Ivanka Trump, for coming up with the idea.
“For many families, child care is now the single largest expense, even more so than housing,” he said in a September speech.
In the United States, the average cost of child care ranges from about $5,400 annually in Alabama to roughly $22,000 in Washington, D.C., according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a think tank in the District.
The Trump campaign claimed that middle-class parents would benefit the most from the child-care plan.
“A married couple earning $50,000 per year with two children and $8,000 in child care expenses will save 35 percent from their current tax bill,” the Trump campaign told The Washington Post. “Married couples earning $5 million per year with two children and $12,000 in child care expenses will get only a 3 percent reduction in their tax bill.”
The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan group, estimated that Trump’s tax plan would slash federal revenue by $4.4 trillion over a decade — or by $2.6 trillion, factoring in the estimated economic growth it would produce.
Larry Kudlow, an informal Trump adviser, would not comment on whether the administration would change course on tax reform. But, he added, “there’s been some debate in the White House.”
Kudlow, who helped Trump with his tax plan, said he thinks starting with business reform is a wiser idea. “You might get some bipartisan support,” he said, “and more business-investment impact, rapidly, which is what we need right now.”
Marc Goldwein, senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan research organization, said lawmakers for years have debated the best approach to tax reform. “We keep going in a policy circle on this,” he said.
Economists have long debated if and how tax tweaks could lift the economy. The political landscape is easier to read.
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“There’s some left-right agreement that the corporate rate should be lower,” Goldwein said, “but there’s not even an agreement on the direction of the individual rate.”