Learning begins early, really early

Can a two-month-old baby actually learn? Should we let it learn naturally or should we stimulate it? Reena Silva answers some basic questions

If you have a little baby of between one to three months it is important to understand the developmental changes that are taking place. Between books and websites there is an information overload about physical milestones and growth. However there is very little awareness about brain development.

In India the primary caregiver of the baby is usually the grandmother, with the mother usually being encouraged to rest, recover and regain her strength. The primary caregiver has a very important role to play beyond providing physical care for the newborn. Developmental milestones most often discussed are physical milestones. Doctors almost never touch base with mothers and caregivers on brain development. No one mentions language and communication, listening and understanding nor emotional bonding.

Babies not only grow physically but also mentally (cognitively). Developing bonds of interaction in the beginning months will reflect in establishing bonds of love and trust which in turn set the tone for all future interaction with family and the outside world. Maintaining the physical health of the newborn is crucial but as the weeks go by, babies are actually learning. They are learning about their environment, and every understanding they acquire is actually the creation of new connections and pathways between nerve cells in the brain.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/170724/learning-begins-early-really-early.html

Prioritizing Early Childhood Education: We Can't Afford to Wait

Susan Ochshorn

Children's brains grow at a dazzling pace in the first years of life. High-quality early care and education actually creates the architecture of the brain, building a child's capacity to learn and grow, and establishing a foundation for later academic achievement and life success.

A growing number of children in the United States are not ready for school. Studies show that at least half of the educational achievement gap between poor children and their more advantaged peers is evident in the kindergarten classroom.

Public investments in early childhood education pay off big-time, with every dollar spent yielding increased tax revenues and reduced spending on child welfare, special education and grade retention.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-ochshorn/prioritizing-early-childh_b_880959.html

The Urban Child Institute

Facts are often a scarce commodity and "conventional wisdom" is regularly based on anecdotes, opinions and emotion.

It's a fundamental principle of business -- and life -- that the best action is the one taken when it delivers the best result. That's not what we're doing when it comes to investing in educating the children of our community.

Every year, Memphis and Shelby County spend about $1.6 billion on public education. Virtually, none of it is spent during the first three years of children's lives, when their brains are wired to learn and are growing to 80 percent of their adult size.

In other words, at the time that we can have the greatest positive impact -- while 80 percent of the core brain structure is being formed by a child's third birthday -- we devote less than 2.5 percent of public educational funding on these young children. Research shows that children who enter school behind in their brain development have steep hills to climb, and most are unable to reach the top.

The smartest investment with the greatest economic impact is made in the earliest years. The research is unequivocal and is supported by Nobel Prize winner James Heckman's model, which demonstrates that high-quality early childhood programs produce a higher per-dollar return than K-12 schooling and later job training.

Early childhood programs reduce the need for special education and remediation.

The cost-benefit equation is clear: Children who attended state-funded prekindergarten classes in Tennessee gained an average of 82 percent more on early literacy and math skills than comparable children who did not attend. And yet in 2010, only about 500 of the 21,500 children 3 years and under in Shelby County eligible for Early Head Start services were served, because there isn't enough money to fully fund the program.

As Heckman said: "Early experiences can translate into school readiness, academic success, and lifetime well-being. Success builds upon success. When more children in a community are ready to learn, communitywide levels of human and social capital rise."

It's one time when science and conventional wisdom converge. We all know that the best investments are made when they have the highest return. For Memphis, those are investments in children younger than 3 years old.

Eugene K. Cashman Jr. is president and CEO of The Urban Child Institute.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/jun/19/guest-column-spend-early-and-often-in-first-3-of/

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): During early brain development, steroid hormone exposure differentiates male from female brain. Although there are numerous physiological and behavioral differences between men and women, perhaps the most profound sex differences are in neurological and psychiatric disorders. For example, women are more likely to exhibit signs of depression, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease. Men are more likely to exhibit signs of attention-deficit hyperactivity, autism, and dyslexia. As most sex differences in the brain are a result of early steroid hormone exposure, it is possible that sex differences in some disorders are partly influenced by abnormal steroid receptor action in developing brain. Therefore it is important to understand how steroid receptor activity is regulated in developing brain. Previously, it was assumed that steroid receptors were only activated by steroid hormones; however, recent data indicate that steroid receptors are also activated in the absence of steroid, referred to as ligand-independent activation. Although numerous investigators are currently studying ligand-independent activation of steroid receptors in cell culture assays and in adult female brain, few studies investigate the role of ligand-independent activation of steroid receptors in brain development. We plan to investigate the functional role ligand-independent activation of estrogen receptors (ER) in developing brain. Our recent data indicate that acute changes in dopamine transmission during the first few days of life can dramatically alter the developmental organization of social play behavior by activating ER in a ligand-independent manner. We believe that these data are not only exciting in that they suggest a potential steroid hormone independent mechanism for sexual differentiation of the brain, but they also investigate the developmental organization of social play behavior. As social play behavior is dramatically disrupted in children with Autism and Asperger's syndrome, and social play behavior in rodents has been used as a rodent model for the study of autism, it is possible that these data will further our understanding of how sexually dimorphic social disorders occur during brain development.

http://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?projectnumber=5R01MH072956-05

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The first two years of life is the most dynamic and perhaps the most critical phase of postnatal brain development. Concurrent with the rapid pace of structural brain growth is an equally rapid development of a wide range of cognitive and motor functions. In spite of its importance for understanding normal development and the early origins of neurodevelopment disorders such as schizophrenia and autism, our knowledge of human brain development in this crucial time period is minimal. While there has been growing interest in the study of normal brain development with MRI, most studies to date have not included the first few years of life because image acquisition and image analysis of children at this age is very challenging. We have addressed these challenges and have developed a rare prospective cohort of children who have already had neonatal MRIs.* In addition, we have developed novel and cutting edge, state-of-the-art image analysis techniques that provide powerful tools to study brain development in the first two years of life.

http://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?projectnumber=5R01HD053000-04

Parenting Debate: Do Tiger Moms Produce Better Results?

The East/West parenting divide was debated at the annual literary and arts festival in Hay-on-Wye this year, with publication of two books that highlight the differences. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is an often hair-raising account by Chinese American Amy Chua of how she drilled her two daughters to musical success.

Liz Swatton did not believe in putting pressure on the children Admitting how "in retrospect, these coaching suggestions seem a bit extreme", she recounts how her daughters were denied play dates and sleepovers. The book, written with plenty of humour and irony, caused outrage when it was published in the US.

The second book, Mumsnet Rules, from the UK website's founders, describes itself as offering a "broad spectrum of good enough ways to parent." It includes the deeply reassuring advice: "Don't buy a guinea pig for your child."

Click into the video on an interesting interview with the two authors.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/9507295.stm

Sam: In Le Beaumont, we develop a third way in child rearing. Infants and toddlers develop their attention span, language skills and problem solving skills, as well as self-discipline, through games and activities they enjoy. They develop a love for languages, a love for learning and in meeting people from the success and enjoyment in their early years. Send your child to Le Beaumont as early as possible, not later than the 3rd month after birth. Find out more in the Parenting Seminar held on Saturday mornings in Admiralty and in TST.

Language Acquisition across Linguistic and Cognitive Systems

The last twenty years have witnessed the development of promising methodologies and innovative paradigms that have brought substantial findings concerning language acquisition that previously could not have been expected or that were discussed as entirely speculative ideas. Theoretical perspectives have also entirely renewed old questions or defined new routes to explore bilingualism or language disorders. Finally, recent developments in modelling have played the same role for psycholinguistics as mathematics have done for physics. Language studies are now able to address simultaneously lively debates by associating pathology, including disorders that can be experimentally and temporarily provoked by TMS, experimental on-line studies concerning adults and children, research using brain-imaging techniques, and simulations that make it possible to symbolically manipulate pseudo-lesions in the brain or systematic modifications of basic parameters, such as processing speed or the efficiency of inhibitory mechanisms.

Such a scientific context creates unprecedented opportunities towards the understanding of the complexity underlying the mechanisms of language acquisition. Motivated questions can now be precisely formulated on the basis of enriched empirical grounds and intriguing findings will require further methodological
and theoretical advances.

http://languages4-u.softarchive.net/language_acquisition_across_linguistic_and_cognitive_systems.718255.html

ADHD and hyper activity related to brain development

Researchers analyzed high resolution MRI brain images in 26 preschoolers, 13 presenting with ADHD symptoms and 13 without, and found differences in the caudate nucleus.The caudate nucleus is a small structure in the subcortical region of the brain and is associated with cognitive and motor control. Results showed that children with ADHD symptoms had significantly reduced caudate volumes compared to the children who did not present with ADHD symptoms. Additionally, these caudate volumes were significantly correlated with parent ratings of hyperactive/impulsive symptoms.

http://www.kennedykrieger.org/kki_news.jsp?pid=9709

Early education

The picture just keeps getting bleaker for low-income families with young children. Research confirms that children who attend high-quality (early education)have better developmental outcomes.

CAROL EMIG
Washington, May 30, 2011
President of Child Trends
a nonprofit research center that studies children at all stages of development.

CAROL EMIG
Washington, May 30, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/opinion/l03kindergarten.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Language and Literacy are Missions of the Game

Thursday, 02 June 2011 09:52 Written by Nathalie Caron

Using video games in education is an increasingly popular means of engaging students. While science and math lend themselves particularly well to this medium, literacy and language education is also benefiting games and related research.

Whether through the games themselves or by using video games as a segue to improving literacy skills, educators are finding ways to make language acquisition an integral mission of gaming. Read More...

One such example comes from the Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, CT, where teacher Kevin Ballestrini is using a game-based course developed in collaboration with University of Connecticut associate professor Roger Travis, to teach students about Latin and the Roman culture as part of a recent introductory program.

Presented in an online-forum format, the missions or episodes of Operation LAPIS are structured to use some of the game-based mechanics found in role-playing games, such as “grinding” to level-up your character. This revolves around expanding the number of Latin words collected through missions or in texts read, allowing players to increase their vocabulary to better solve further missions.

Students work in teams to respond to daily posts, where a new chapter in a narrative and accompanying prompts appear. After reading the narrative, written in both Latin and English, students must do some background research within a codex—the texto-spatio-temporal-transmitter or TSTT, which essentially outlines all the information needed for a given mission—and decide what actions their game character should take.

A similar game-based course is also being offered for a program on Greek philosophical writings at the University of Connecticut, under the name Operation ARETE. This course also includes Twitter assignments.

Grouped under the “Project ARKHAIA” banner, this game-based course series also includes Operation MENIS (an introductory Greek course), Operation KTEMA (Greek historiography), Operation KLEOS (homeric epic and video games), and Operation FABULA AMORIS (Horace and Ovid on love in Augustan Rome). The Pericles Group, which brings together Ballestrini and Travis, as well as other literacy experts, will soon be developing Operation MYTHOS (a classical mythology survey course), while two other banner projects, “Project SCIENTIA” and “Project TECHNOLOGIA,” are being developed to address STEM education and educational technology.

http://gamefwd.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=408:fwd-news-language-and-literacy-are-missions-of-the-game&catid=56:educational-games&Itemid=20

The Bilingual Advantage

The New York Times is now running an article "The Bilingual Advantage".
Here is an excerpt.

A cognitive neuroscientist, Ellen Bialystok has spent almost 40 years learning about how bilingualism sharpens the mind. Her good news: Among other benefits, the regular use of two languages appears to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms. Dr. Bialystok, 62, a distinguished research professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, was awarded a $100,000 Killam Prize last year for her contributions to social science. We spoke for two hours in a Washington hotel room in February and again, more recently, by telephone. An edited version of the two conversations follows.

Q. So what exactly did you find on this unexpected road?

A. As we did our research, you could see there was a big difference in the way monolingual and bilingual children processed language. We found that if you gave 5- and 6-year-olds language problems to solve, monolingual and bilingual children knew, pretty much, the same amount of language.

But on one question, there was a difference. We asked all the children if a certain illogical sentence was grammatically correct: “Apples grow on noses.” The monolingual children couldn’t answer. They’d say, “That’s silly” and they’d stall. But the bilingual children would say, in their own words, “It’s silly, but it’s grammatically correct.” The bilinguals, we found, manifested a cognitive system with the ability to attend to important information and ignore the less important.

Q. Has the development of new neuroimaging technologies changed your work?

A. Tremendously. It used to be that we could only see what parts of the brain lit up when our subjects performed different tasks. Now, with the new technologies, we can see how all the brain structures work in accord with each other.

In terms of monolinguals and bilinguals, the big thing that we have found is that the connections are different. So we have monolinguals solving a problem, and they use X systems, but when bilinguals solve the same problem, they use others. One of the things we’ve seen is that on certain kinds of even nonverbal tests, bilingual people are faster. Why? Well, when we look in their brains through neuroimaging, it appears like they’re using a different kind of a network that might include language centers to solve a completely nonverbal problem. Their whole brain appears to rewire because of bilingualism.

Q. Bilingualism used to be considered a negative thing — at least in the United States. Is it still?

A. Until about the 1960s, the conventional wisdom was that bilingualism was a disadvantage[Sam:confuses the brain]. Some of this was xenophobia. Thanks to science, we now know that the opposite is true.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/science/31conversation.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

The crucial early years

Historically, we have emphasized a K-12 system of education, but we cannot afford to overlook the crucial early years that build the foundation for lifelong learning.

At birth, the majority of our internal structures perform as they will when we are adults. Our hearts beat and our lungs breathe. The brain, however, is remarkably unfinished. Science has shown that 80 percent of our critical brain development happens by age 3; 90 percent by age 5. New learning depends on prior learning. Any discussion of improving student learning must start in the earliest years. We can close the achievement gap before students reach the kindergarten door.

As a volunteer regional council member and early-childhood educator for 30 years, I support First Things First, which partners with parents and early-care providers to ensure all children start kindergarten ready to succeed. By providing access to quality early education, we avoid expensive remediation in later years. - Deborah J. Pischke, Ed.D.,Peoria

[Sam: Investment in early years is not a luxury but a necessity for your baby.]

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2011/05/31/20110531tuelets317.html

The stronger the brain, the stronger the student

So why do some students excel while others struggle? The answer comes down to one primary item — the brain. The stronger the brain, the stronger the student. And therein lies the problem.

The brain’s greatest development occurs between birth and age 4 but schools don’t see children until age 5. Some parents develop their children’s brains well. They talk to their infants and toddlers. They read them books, tell them stories, play games with them and assemble puzzles. Others don’t.

We learned in an earlier column of the correlation between socioeconomic status and academic achievement. But why does this occur?

Unfortunately, some parents, more than others, engage in behaviors which develop their infants’ and toddlers’ brains. They ensure their children participate in experiences which stimulate the thinking areas of the brain.

But why can’t all parents engage in brain developing behavior with their children? They can. They simply need two things — the knowledge of how to do so and the value to get it done.

The greatest failure of America’s educational institution has not been in the classroom. Rather, it has been in the homes of future students. America’s educational system has failed to instruct and help parents develop the brains of their preschool children.

Those districts which help parents of newborns, toddlers and preschoolers will, in a decade, or two, witness huge advances in the intellectual capabilities and achievements of their students.

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/opinions/x556415264/COLUMN-Teaching-in-America-Early-childhood-education

[Sam: Le Beaumont is leading the world by developing a special program for infants and toddlers to stimulate their brain development, attention span, logical thinking and multilingual skills. Parents who do not have the time, knowledge or expertise can leverage on the cutting-edged service of Le Beaumont to develop the full potential of their child.]

The Bilingual Advantage

The Bilingual Advantage
By CLAUDIA DREIFUS
Published: May 30, 2011

Bilingualism used to be considered a negative thing — at least in the United States. Is it still? [Sam: American psychologists believed in the 1950s that exposure to a foreign language early in life would confuse the child. This outdated belief still dominates the main stream education in HK.]

Until about the 1960s, the conventional wisdom was that bilingualism was a disadvantage. Some of this was xenophobia. Thanks to science, we now know that the opposite is true.

We asked all the children if a certain illogical sentence was grammatically correct: “Apples grow on noses.” The monolingual children couldn’t answer. They’d say, “That’s silly” and they’d stall. But the bilingual children would say, in their own words, “It’s silly, but it’s grammatically correct.” The bilinguals, we found, manifested a cognitive system with the ability to attend to important information and ignore the less important.

We did two kinds of studies. In the first, published in 2004, we found that normally aging bilinguals had better cognitive functioning than normally aging monolinguals. Bilingual older adults performed better than monolingual older adults on executive control tasks. That was very impressive because it didn’t have to be that way. It could have turned out that everybody just lost function equally as they got older.

That evidence made us look at people who didn’t have normal cognitive function. In our next studies , we looked at the medical records of 400 Alzheimer’s patients. On average, the bilinguals showed Alzheimer’s symptoms five or six years later than those who spoke only one language. This didn’t mean that the bilinguals didn’t have Alzheimer’s. It meant that as the disease took root in their brains, they were able to continue functioning at a higher level. They could cope with the disease for longer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/science/31conversation.html?_r=1

"People who are bilingual early on in life have a certain advantage in other domains outside of language," Lebedeva said.

I-LABS research has shown that multilingual people, including children, are more flexible thinkers and therefore better at problem-solving.

[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014798386_apwafostercarestudy1stldwritethru.html ]