The early years offer the greatest opportunity we have

Twelve months in a 1-year-old's life is their whole life; 12 months in a 4-year-old's life is a quarter of their life. Brain development research is clear in showing that investments in the early years offer the greatest opportunity we have to narrow the achievement gap and reduce dropout rates, remedial programs and prison populations.

Granted, it may be 18 years before a baby born in 2011 contributes to Oregon's economy by paying taxes, but I would argue that ignoring this child could result in far greater expenses to Oregon's Education and Human Services budgets long before he or she reaches 18.

Julie Young
Northwest Portland
http://blog.oregonlive.com/myoregon/2011/01/early_child_education_belongs.html

Building language connections with infants

PITTSBURG — The Morning Sun

Language development begins from the very start of life. Some development experts say even before birth. Research shows that even from day one an infant may recognize the comfort of their mother’s voice.

The language connection is important in all areas of development now and will carry over to later learning in life.

http://www.morningsun.net/lifestyles/columns/x870421086/Building-language-connections-with-infants

Healthy Brain Development May Be a Matter of Timing

FRIDAY, Jan. 7, 2011 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have found that brain cells need to create links early in their existence, when they are physically close together, in order to ensure successful brain-wide connections throughout life.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/648578.html

It has long been understood that the first connections in the brain created in the early days of development can be formed over long distances using guidance signals to direct nerve fibres to their correct positions – known as axonal guidance. Subsequently, other connections can follow those pioneer fibres to a target location creating connections between distant parts of the brain. Through these long-distance connections different kinds of information, such as sound and vision, can be integrated.

An early mechanism opens up the possibility that changes in long-distance brain connectivity, that are observed in children and young adults with brain disorders, arise earlier during brain development than previously thought.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-01/nu-ie010511.php

This new mechanism differs from the previous model for long-distance connectivity. An axon is a fibre that is extended from one nerve cell and, after travelling through the tissue, can contact several other nerve cells. Normally, axons would grow in a straight line. For several targets, however, the axon has to travel around obstacles, as a straight connection is not possible. In such cases, cells along the way can release guidance cues that either attract or repulse the travelling axon. One example of bended fibres is the visual pathway that at several points takes a sharp 90-degree turn to arrive at the correct target position.

http://sciencetechnologyblog.com/technology/timing-is-everything-in-ensuring-healthy-brain-development/

Dr. B Calls Out "Your Baby Can Read" as an Inappropriate Party Trick

Attempting to teach an infant to read prior to being cognitively ready is essentially the same as teaching your child a trick as opposed to a complex skill. That is, you may be able to get your child to say “cat” on command in response to the visual word cat but this would not be considered reading. I believe teaching your baby to read is not only unnecessary but it could potentially have a negative impact on long-term learning and development.

When you spend time training a child in a structured and repetitive way to read words before the process is meaningful to them, you are essentially taking time away from teaching more developmentally appropriate skills necessary for pre-literacy such as language acquisition.

http://www.mommyshorts.com/2010/10/dr-b-calls-out-your-baby-can-read-as-an-inappropriate-party-trick.html#tp

Nobel Laureate: Invest in comprehensive early childhood development and education, from birth to age 5

Nobel-Prize-winning economist James Heckman wrote a letter to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Reform. His question: What's the best way to develop human capital to increase workforce capability, enhance productivity and social cohesion, and assure America's economic competitiveness in the global economy? His answer: Invest in comprehensive early childhood development and education, from birth to age 5, especially for our most vulnerable children and families.

Researchers have long documented the positive outcomes of high-quality early childhood education, including readiness for school, greater academic achievement, higher rates of high school and college completion, lower rates of incarceration, and higher incomes. And labor economists point to the substantial economic benefits for investing in early childhood education.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-ochshorn/where-the-achievement-gap_b_798701.html

Crucial early years lays the foundation for the future

More than half of five-year-old boys are struggling in the basics after a year at primary school, official figures show.

Some 53.1% of boys this age are struggling with skills such as reading and writing, and emotional and social development.

In comparison, 34.9% of girls are failing to reach this target - a gender gap of 18.2 percentage points.

The findings are based on teachers' observations of pupils.

"Too many children starting school without the solid foundation they need to succeed. In particular, we're concerned that boys continue to lag behind girls even before they start school, especially in writing."

"Every child, regardless of gender, background or social status, should get the right help and support in the crucial early years of their lives so they can thrive at school." A spokesman for the Department for Education in UK said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12009209

Language comprehension in autism

It has long been recognised that many people with autism have difficulty in processing semantic information. Indeed, impairments of semantic processing lie at the heart of Uta Frith’s influential ‘weak central coherence’ account of autism (Frith, 1989), which states that autism is characterised by “the inability to draw together information so as to derive coherent and meaningful ideas”. Weak central coherence remains, however, a somewhat nebulous concept and the precise nature of any semantic impairment is still unspecified. Moreover, recent studies have indicated that semantic processing difficulties may be related to an individual’s level of general language ability rather than being a generic feature of autism.

http://crackingtheenigma.blogspot.com/2010/12/language-comprehension-in-autism.html