Ten Important Child Development Findings in 2006

1
Ten Important Child Development Findings in 2006

• Ann Epstein, Ph.D.

2
10 Important Topics in 2006

• Brain Research infants, 2nd language, enhancers,
  teens
• Gender classroom biases
• TV Viewing detrimental positive effects
• Temperament inborn, goodness of fit
• Achievement and Culture expectations

3
10 Important Topics in 2006 (cont)

• 6. Bullying victim, aggressor, by-stander,
  cyber bullies
• 7. Emotional Intelligence validity
• 8. Families divorce, step families, sexual
  orientation, parenting styles
• 9. Poverty overwhelming effects
• 10. Exceptionalities dyslexia, ADHD, Aspergers
  Syndrome

4
Sources

• Primary References
• Frieberg, K. (2006) Annual Editions Human
  Development 06/07, 34th Edition. New York McGraw
  Hill.
• Junn, E. N. Boyatzid, C. J. (2005). Annual
  Editions Child Growth and Development 05/06,
  12th Edition. New York McGraw Hill.
• Klass, P. Costello, E. (2003). Quirky Kids. New
  York Ballantine Books.
• Santrock, J.W. (2004). Child Development, 10th
  Edition. New York McGraw Hill.
• (Specific citations available upon request.)

5
Brain Research and Young Children

• Blooming and Pruning of Synaptic Connections
• Nearly twice as many synaptic connections are
  produced during first year as will ever be used
• Synaptic density peaks in visual cortex (vision)
  at approximately 8 months
• .. in auditory cortex (hearing) and prefrontal
  cortex (reasoning and self regulation) between 3
  and 6 years
• Blooming and pruning continues until at least age
  10

6
Brain Research and Young Children

• Implications for blooming and pruning
• Brain is ready to learn!
• Provide rich sensory experiences
• Provide appropriate conceptual learning
  experiences inquiry based learning
• Recognize plasticity (changing nature) of young
  childs brain

7
Brain Research and Young Children

• Implications of Plasticity
• Repeated experiences wire the brain
  appropriate learning activities actually build
  strong brains
• Resiliency (recovery from early traumatic events)
  has biological foundation

8
Brain Functions

9
Brain Research and Mylenation

• Mylenation fatty covering of neurons that
  increases speed of information traveling through
  nervous system
• Finding children who watch excessive amounts of
  TV have less mylenation, thus not able to process
  information as quickly as children who have
  sensory rich experiences

10
Brain Development in Pregnancy

• Can I take my Prozac, drink my diet Coke, and/or
  have a glass of wine?
• Antidepressants OK
• Caffeine OK (3 c. coffee, 5 cola drinks/day)
• Wine OK (1 glass/day)
• Problem Substances
• Artificial Sweetners 10 servings/day
• Cigarette smoke, illegal drugs

11
Brain Development and 2nd Language Learning

• Bilingual children perform better than
  monolingual children on cognitive tasks including
  
• selective attention
• concept formation
• analytic reasoning
• Current statistics 6 of US children study a
  second language in grades 1 6 (no figures for
  preK/K)

12
Ethics vs Enhancers for your Brain

• Current Enhancers attention, mood, memory
• What really worries critics is that Prozac and
  Ritalin may be the pharmacological equivalent of
  bearskins and stone axes compared to the new
  drugs that are coming.

13
Brain Research and Middle Childhood

• 6 puberty most brain growth is in temporal and
  parietal lobes
• Implication critical time for development of
  language (literacy) and spatial skills

14
Brain Research and Adolescence

• Adolescent brains have more activity in amygdale
• This is primary area for processing emotions
• Implication academic learning occurs in on-going
  context of emotional processing

15
Adolescent Brains

• Changing until at least age 25
• Second major pruning occurs around age 11 (girls)
  12 (boys)
• Last area to develop is prefrontal cortex
  planning, setting priorities, organizing
  thoughts, suppressing impulses, weighing
  consequences of actions
• Hormones affect mood and excitability

16
Brain Based Gender Differences

• Portions of the corpus callosum (band of tissue
  through which the brains two hemispheres
  communicate) larger in females
• One part of hypothalamus responsible for sexual
  behavior larger in males
• Area of parietal lobe involved in spatial tasks
  larger in males
• Areas involved in emotional expression show more
  metabolic activity in females

17
Gender

• Current Classroom Biases Against Boys
• Compliance, following rules, being neat and
  orderly are valued (boys wired differently)
• 2. Most teachers are female (lack of role
  models)
• 3. Boys more likely to be identified with
  learning disabilities (dont fit todays
  educational process)

18
Gender Current Classroom Biases Against Boys
(continued)

• Boys more likely to be criticized
• Boys academic struggles (especially in literacy)
  more likely to be overlooked
• School personnel stereotype boys rough and
  tumble behavior as problematic
• Competitive
• Risk taking
• Pursuing danger

19
Gender

• Current Classroom Biases Against Girls
• Tendency toward compliance, diminished
  assertiveness
• Seek harmony, avoid discord
• Strive to maintain order, safety
• Teachers give more attention to boys
• By middle school, girls have lower self-esteem
• Girls see fewer career options

20
TV Taking our Kids Down the Tube

• Average young child watches 4 hours/day
• Thousands of commercials for high-fat,
  high-sugar, high-salt foods
• Violence, alcohol use, inappropriate sexual
  activity
• 60 of children 8 to 16 have TVs in bedrooms

21
Effects of Excessive TV Viewing

• 15 of US children are seriously overweight (5
  in 1964)
• Children who watch 10 or more hours per week have
  lower reading scores
• The more TV between ages 1 and 3, greater the
  risk for attention problems at age 7
• Exposure to TV violence definitely linked to
  aggressive behavior
• Advertising affects childrens goals, aspirations
• Corporate sponsorship of very young athletes

22
Role Models and the Media

• In TV and film, male figures appear more
  frequently
• Male characters continue stereo-typed roles more
  leaders, bossier, more intelligent than females
• Role models
  
• Parents (34)
• Entertainers (20)
• Friends (14)
• Athletes (11)
  
• Acquaintances (8)
• Authors (1),
• Historical figures (1)

23
The Demise of Creative Play

• Increased TV viewing, video playing results in
  less creative play
• Children who play imaginatively
• Have more sophisticated vocabularies
• Laugh and smile more often
• Show less aggression
• Solve problems more easily

24
Guilt Free TV

• Ages 2 5 Dora the Explorer, Clifford the Big
  Red Dog (slow moving, repetitive)
• Ages 5 8 Sagwa, the Chinese Cat (good vs bad)
• Ages 9 11 Doug, Lizzie McGuire, The Wild
  Thornberrys (inner lives, complex motives)
• Young Adolescents and Tweens Gilmore Girls, Nick
  News (rationale not provided)

25
Temperament

• Traits are primarily genetic with some
  environmental influence
• Three Types
• Easy or Flexible 40
• Slow to warm up or Fearful 15
• Difficult or Feisty 10
• 35 of children exhibit combination of traits

26
Goodness of Fit

• Match between childs temperament and
  environmental demands
• Difficult children need calm response,
  redirection, options for high energy
• Fearful children need gradual introductions to
  new experiences

27
Gender, Culture and Temperament

• Cultures value temperament traits differently
• Example Chinese value quiet babies, Canadians
  value active babies Canadian mothers of
  inhibited 2 year-olds were less accepting of
  their infants temperament while Chinese mothers
  were more accepting

28
Achievement and Culture

• American/Japanese Example
• Hours teaching math
• Japan 25 of time in first grade
• US 10 of time in first grade
• Hours in school
• Japan 240 days
• US 178 days
• Beliefs
• US parents Math achievement is due to ability
• Japanese parents Math achievement is due to
  effort

29
High Income Families Achievement

• Comparison of inner city (middle to low income)
  and suburban (high income) 10th graders
• More substance abuse, anxiety, depression in high
  income group
• Causes isolation from parents, pressure to
  achieve

30
Bullying

• Who? nearly 1 in 3 6th through 10th graders
  (either victim or perpetrator)
• Begins in Kindergarten
• Boys and younger middle school students (both
  genders) most likely

31
Bullying

• Tough Boys physical hit, slapped, pushed
• Mean Girls verbal rumors, sexual comments,
  gestures
• Belittled about speech, looks, race, religion,
  dress (begins in elementary school)

32
Cyber Bullying

• Harassment through websites, text messages,
  emails
• Begins in upper elementary, peeks in middle
  school
• Girls Rule in cyberspace more rumor spreading,
  name calling
• Starts on home computers, fall out occurs at
  school
• Prime example 10 worst kids list

33
Bullying

• Victims miss school, develop physical problems
  and/or depression
• Bystanders need training, encouragement and
  reinforcement
• Perpetrators poor grades, other behavior
  problems, smoke, drink alcohol, substance abuse,
  early sexual activity
• Parents and teachers hesitate to become involved,
  children do not report incidences

34
Bullying

• Possible Solutions
• Family involvement monitor computer use
• Train ALL staff (cafeteria, bus, volunteers)
• School-wide climate of acceptance
• Consistent responses consequences
• Assist children in developing social skills
• Address as top priority
• Learning decreases as bullying increases
• Continuing consequences for victim, aggressor,
  and bystander

35
OK or Not OK? What should parents worry about
in the bullying behavior crackdown?

• Shooting another child a dirty look
• Being in a clique
• Being a tomboy
• Your child only has a handful of friends
• Gossiping
• Psychiatrists Henry J. Gault in Deerfield, IL and
  James C. MacIntyre of Albany Medical College, New
  York

36
Emotional Intelligence

• Daniel Goleman, 1995 Emotional intelligence
  tells us more about a persons competence than
  traditional intelligence tests.
• Understand causes of ones feelings, manage
  emotions
• Be aware of others feelings
• Be able to separate feelings from actions

37
Emotional Intelligence

• Reevaluated in 2000
• EQ can be measured and taught
• Emphasize caring school climate, cooperation
• Recognize individuals with high EQ
• Important in reducing incidences of bullying
• Altruism present in inner city youths
• Not motivated by adult authority (innate ability)

38
Implications for Schools

• Give less emphasis to behavioral objectives
• Give more emphasis to emotional reasoning
• Teach emotional knowledge and emotional reasoning

39
Families Divorce

• 50 of US marriages end in divorce, 40 of
  children experience divorce
• 75 of children from divorced families do not
  have academic or behavioral problems
• Overall, children from divorced families are more
  likely to have problems
• Boys experience more distress than girls

40
Families Step Parents

• Most children no academic or behavioral problems
• 25 of children from step families showed
  adjustment problems compared to 10 in intact,
  never-divorced families
• Early adolescence most difficult time to adjust,
  especially boys

41
Families Gay and Lesbian

• 20 of lesbians, 10 of gays are parents
• Most have children before acknowledging sexual
  orientation
• Children are just as popular with peers
• No differences in adjustment and mental health of
  children living in gay or lesbian families
• Overwhelming majority heterosexual orientation

42
Families Parenting Style

• Authoritative (democratic) provides most
  effective guidance
• Provide flexibility within limits
• Communicate often
• Maternal Employment no detrimental effects
  EXCEPT
• Infants whose mothers worked during the first
  year of life experienced negative effects

43
Families Parenting Style

• Spanking has negative short and long term effects
• Maltreatment most common abuser is overwhelmed
  single mother in poverty

44
Povertys Effects

• Greatest risk for developmental weaknesses is
  from growing up in families with persistent
  socioeconomic disadvantages
• Cognitive
• Physical
• Socio-emotional

45
Povertys Effects

• US Statistics
• 16 of US children live below poverty line
• 9 of Canadian children
• 2 of Swedish children
• Poor children in America
• 50 African-American
• 40 Latino

46
Povertys Effects

• Characteristics of poor families
• Vulnerable little warning before being laid off,
  no resources to fall back on
• Powerless rules are handed down, rarely make
  decisions at work
• Restricted alternatives not able to make wise
  decisions due to poor education

47
Povertys Effects

• Family characteristics (continued)
• Feminization of poverty single parent Moms have
  low pay, little alimony
• Distressed parents feel less effective in
  disciplining, are less affectionate
• What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up
  like a raisin in the sun? (Langston Hughes, 20th
  century American Poet and Author

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Each Day in America (Childrens Defense Fund)

• 4 children are killed by abuse or neglect.5
  children or teens commit suicide.181 children
  are arrested for violent crimes.380 children are
  arrested for drug abuse.1,154 babies are born to
  teen mothers.1,701 babies are born without
  health insurance.1,900 public school students
  are corporally punished.2,252 babies are born
  to mothers who are not high school
  graduates.2,447 babies are born into
  poverty.2,482 children are confirmed as abused
  or neglected.3,879 babies are born to unmarried
  mothers.4,356 children are arrested.

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Dyslexia

• Neurological base
• Difficulty associating sounds with letters
• MANY VARIETIES
• Three areas in left side of brain
• Phoneme producer
• Word analyzer
• Automatic detector

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Dyslexia Interventions

• Core Elements
• Practice manipulating phonemes
• Build vocabulary
• Increase comprehension
• Improve fluency

51
Red Flags for Dyslexia

• At Kindergarten
• Difficulty rhyming
• Memorizes words and sentences rather than
  sounding out
• Family history

52
Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder Myths
and Truths

• Behavioral therapies work better than medication
• ADHD occurs more often in white boys
• Families and teachers are not willing to change
  educational approaches and home routines to deal
  better with children with ADHD
• ADHD medications are stimulants
• ADHD medications are addictive

53
Pervasive Developmental Disorder

• Includes autism, Aspergers disorder, pervasive
  developmental disorder not otherwise specified,
  Retts syndrome, and childhood disintegrative
  disorder. (Diagnostisic and Statistical Manual of
  Mental Disorders IV)
• Autism delayed language and social skills,
  usually development is normal during infancy but
  regression occurs before age two repetitive
  behaviors, very resistant to change

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Aspergers Disorder

• Signs
• Language typical form with atypical content
  (talk at length about favorite subject,
  repetitive)
• Social Interaction do not understand rules
• Motor often clumsy, uncoordinated, poor at
  sports
• Intelligence usually above average, often highly
  intelligent

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Aspergers Disorder

• Interventions
• Decrease sensory over-stimulation
• Teach social skills, including body language,
  facial cues, gestures
• Summarize key information (directions, ground
  rules)
• Prepare for transitions, assist during changes
• Prepare carefully for changes in routine

56
Children Our Hope and Future

• In every child who is born, under no matter what
  circumstances, and of no matter what parents, the
  potentiality of the human race is born again
• James Agee, American writer, 20th century

57
If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again

• If I had my child to raise all over again, Id
  finger paint more, and point the finger less.
• Id do less correcting, and more connecting.
• Id take my eyes off my watch,
• and watch with my eyes.
• I would care to know less,
• and know to care more.
• Id take more hikes and fly more kites.

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(If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again, continued)

• Id stop playing serious, and seriously play.
• I would run through more fields,
• and gaze at more stars.
• Id to more hugging and less tugging.
• I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
• Id build self-esteem first, and the house later.
  
• Id teach less about the love of power,
• And more about the power of love.
• Diane Loomans