Nurturing Moms May Help Their Child's Brain Develop

MONDAY, Jan. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Preschool children whose moms are loving and nurturing have a larger hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in learning, memory and stress response, when they reach school age, a new study finds.

"It is to our knowledge the first study that links early maternal nurturance to the structural development of a key brain region," said study author Dr. Joan Luby, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "It provides very powerful evidence of the importance of early nurturing for healthy brain development and has tremendous public health implications."

Mothers who offered reassurance and support that helped their child regulate their emotions and control their impulses were rated as being nurturing. Mothers who either ignored the child or harshly scolded the child were rated otherwise.

http://www.philly.com/philly/health/topics/138359599.html

Early Nurturing Aids in Brain Development

January 31, 2012

Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis determined school-age children whose mothers nurtured them early in life have brains with a larger hippocampus. The hippocampus is a key structure important to learning, memory and response to stress.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/01/31/early-nurturing-aids-in-brain-development/34288.html

Closing the gap in early learning

Jan. 28, 2012

The science and the data are too compelling to ignore: 90 percent of the brain is fully formed by the time kids enter kindergarten. If we’re trying to improve outcomes for children, we have to become much more serious about their first years of life.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120128/EDIT03/301280075/Closing-the-gap-in-early-learning

Struggling pupils don't catch up

26 January 2012

The government data published as part of secondary school league tables suggests the majority of schools are failing struggling pupils.
As expected, those from disadvantaged backgrounds (classed as those on free school meals or in local authority care) do less well.

Only a third (34%) of these children achieve the government's benchmark of five GCSEs - or equivalent qualifications - graded A* to C, including English and maths.

In 909 schools, not one low-attaining pupil (those who did not reach Level 4 at the end of primary school) reached this threshold.

At the other end of the spectrum, 95% of pupils who started school "ahead" for their age (achieving Level 5 at the end of primary school) got five good GCSEs, including English and maths.

[When you can afford it, build a good foundation for your child right from the start. Sam]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16721884

Language Acquisition Resource Center

Dr. Gail Robinson, (Ph.D., Stanford) is an internationally known expert in crosscultural understanding. She founded LARC at San Diego State University as one of the first three National Language Centers funded by Congress through the U.S. Dept of Education, bringing innovative research to language and culture learning with particular attention to media use.

http://larc.sdsu.edu/drgailrobinson/

Early Brain Changes May Indicate Dyslexia

Jan 23, 2012
MRI images show brain activity of children with and without family history of dyslexia.

A group of researchers say they may be close to finding a way to resolve what’s known as the “dyslexia paradox”: the fact that the earlier a child is diagnosed with dyslexia, the easier it is to treat, but because the disorder is characterized by difficulty in reading and speaking, it is not typically diagnosed until a child reaches third grade, which many experts consider to be late.

Many children diagnosed with dyslexia exhibit insufficient brain activities in the rear left side of the brain, which is responsible for the development of language skills, according Nadine Gaab, associate professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital in Boston and co-author of the study. Children with a family history of the condition are at higher risk to develop dyslexia.

The children were followed until they reached third grade, and those with a family history of the condition showed less brain activity in the back left side of the brain compared to those with no family history of dyslexia.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/01/23/children-brain-changes-may-detect-dyslexia/

Shaping a child’s future

Early childhood is a critical phase of an individual’s life. It is during this period that the brain undergoes intensive development that affects the cognitive, social and emotional growth.

The experiences during these early years will influence or shape one’s attitude towards learning and set the foundation for his or her entire life’s course.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defined early childhood as the period from prenatal development to eight years of age.

During early childhood, children undergo rapid growth that is highly influenced by their environment. The more stimulating the early environment, the more a child develops and learns.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/uaeedufocus.asp?xfile=/data/education/2012/January/education_January18.xml§ion=education