Temperaments and Self Regulation
As the infant becomes more regulated and more social, the amount of fussy crying and “colicky” discomfort diminishes.
Newborns tend to cry easily and to have a low threshold for distress; in normal infants by 3-4 months, however crying has become much less frequent because of improved self-regulation.
However, some infants remain fussier, harder to comfort and more irritable.
These babies have been describe popularly as suffering from colic, which involves frequent and prolonged crying, seemingly in response to pain, though in fact the etiology of colic has not been established.
Research has suggested that colicky babies have lower thresholds for arousal, more disturbed sleep and delays in establishing circadian rhythms.
The phenomenon of colic overlaps with the “difficult” temperarnent style.
While difficult temperament in infancy has not been found to be stable characteristics across childhood, it can persist if caregivers are unable to help clam and contain the baby or if their response actually reinforce the baby’s lack of regulation.
Fussy, irritable behavior that persists after the forts 2-3 months due to temperamental factors creates an adaptive hurdle for the infant and her parents.
Temperaments and Self Regulation
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Mental Ability
Mental Ability
Evidence that a child’s genes might matter more and more as the child develops comes from Wilson’s longitudinal study of the intelligence test scores of pairs of identical and fraternal twins.
Identical twins become highly similar in their intellectual performances the end of infancy and stay highly similar throughout childhood.
Meanwhile, fraternal twins are most similar in IQ at about age 3 and become less similar over the years, so that by age 15 the correlation between their IQ scores drops to 54, about the same as that for non twin siblings.
During childhood, identical twin’s IQ scores also continue to change in similar directions at similar times, in other words, their developmental paths are similar.
By contrast, members of fraternal twin pairs take their own distinct development paths, guided in part by their different genetic genetic make ups.
This not to say that environment has no impact, however. Wilson found the twins who experienced intellectually stimulating home environments had higher test scores that did twins whose homes were less stimulating.
Similarly, adoption studies indicate that the IQ scores of adopted children are correlated with measures of the intellectual abilities of both their biological parents and their adoptive parents.
Finally, even though intellectual differences among adopted children are related to the IQ of their biological parents, the level of the intellectual performances that these children reach can be increase if they are adopted into intellectually stimulating homes.
Mental Ability
Evidence that a child’s genes might matter more and more as the child develops comes from Wilson’s longitudinal study of the intelligence test scores of pairs of identical and fraternal twins.
Identical twins become highly similar in their intellectual performances the end of infancy and stay highly similar throughout childhood.
Meanwhile, fraternal twins are most similar in IQ at about age 3 and become less similar over the years, so that by age 15 the correlation between their IQ scores drops to 54, about the same as that for non twin siblings.
During childhood, identical twin’s IQ scores also continue to change in similar directions at similar times, in other words, their developmental paths are similar.
By contrast, members of fraternal twin pairs take their own distinct development paths, guided in part by their different genetic genetic make ups.
This not to say that environment has no impact, however. Wilson found the twins who experienced intellectually stimulating home environments had higher test scores that did twins whose homes were less stimulating.
Similarly, adoption studies indicate that the IQ scores of adopted children are correlated with measures of the intellectual abilities of both their biological parents and their adoptive parents.
Finally, even though intellectual differences among adopted children are related to the IQ of their biological parents, the level of the intellectual performances that these children reach can be increase if they are adopted into intellectually stimulating homes.
Mental Ability
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Basic Wiring in the the First Few Years of Life
Basic Wiring in the the First Few Years of Life
Anyone who spends a lot of time with the very young – parents, preschool and kindergarten teachers, child-care workers –can sense that this stage of life is truly amazing.
Many of us involved in education have long felt we ought to pay more attention to kids in these early years, though few of us could explain why.
As a result – and also because the medical community couldn’t see the brain that way it could see and measure other body parts through x-rays, ultrasounds, blood tests and the like – an emphasis on very early development remained a bit of an afterthought.
When your baby was born, most of his major organs were fully formed, although in miniature.
The heart, for example, already had the same parts and operating principles in place that it needed to beat more than two billions times in a lifetime.
The lungs the liver, the kidneys - all were up and running from the start, their essential circuitry having been formed before birth and then growing in steady pace along with the rest of the body.
Not so for the brain begins outside the womb remarkably unfinished – only about a quarter of its eventual adult size.
Yet before your child’s second birthday, it will have ramped up to three fourths of adult size and will be almost at its adult weight and volume (ninety percent) by age five.
This doesn’t mean that ninety percent of the information a person will ever know is learned in the first five years – far from it!
It means that in these earliest years the way information flows though the brain’s structures and gets processed is largely established.
These pathways and structures will be used and reused as learning continues though life.
Part of the tremendous growth in the first few years is due to the unfolding of one’s genes, but part of it is the result of early life experiences.
A baby’s surrounding begins to exert influences on the cells within his brain, right from the start.
Although most of the brain cells (neurons) were produced before birth they’re poorly connected.
The majority of the connections between neurons called synapses, must ne created after birth.
As the brain matures, each neuron sends out multiple branches to communicate with more neurons.
There are two kinds of these connecting “branch lines” – some send information out (axons) and some takes information in (dendrites).
Most of the brain growth in the first few years is thought to be due to the growth of dendrites the lines bringing information.
These synapses work something like phone lines between cells, allowing them to send messages to one another.
One’s individual pattern of connections from the basis of all movement, thought, memories and feelings.
The newborn brain is like a communication network to a city where the main lines in each neighborhood exist, but time and experiences are required to create specific connections from house to house.
Each brain begins to make its own unique associations with wires that literally grown themselves as needed.
Basic Wiring in the the First Few Years of Life
Anyone who spends a lot of time with the very young – parents, preschool and kindergarten teachers, child-care workers –can sense that this stage of life is truly amazing.
Many of us involved in education have long felt we ought to pay more attention to kids in these early years, though few of us could explain why.
As a result – and also because the medical community couldn’t see the brain that way it could see and measure other body parts through x-rays, ultrasounds, blood tests and the like – an emphasis on very early development remained a bit of an afterthought.
When your baby was born, most of his major organs were fully formed, although in miniature.
The heart, for example, already had the same parts and operating principles in place that it needed to beat more than two billions times in a lifetime.
The lungs the liver, the kidneys - all were up and running from the start, their essential circuitry having been formed before birth and then growing in steady pace along with the rest of the body.
Not so for the brain begins outside the womb remarkably unfinished – only about a quarter of its eventual adult size.
Yet before your child’s second birthday, it will have ramped up to three fourths of adult size and will be almost at its adult weight and volume (ninety percent) by age five.
This doesn’t mean that ninety percent of the information a person will ever know is learned in the first five years – far from it!
It means that in these earliest years the way information flows though the brain’s structures and gets processed is largely established.
These pathways and structures will be used and reused as learning continues though life.
Part of the tremendous growth in the first few years is due to the unfolding of one’s genes, but part of it is the result of early life experiences.
A baby’s surrounding begins to exert influences on the cells within his brain, right from the start.
Although most of the brain cells (neurons) were produced before birth they’re poorly connected.
The majority of the connections between neurons called synapses, must ne created after birth.
As the brain matures, each neuron sends out multiple branches to communicate with more neurons.
There are two kinds of these connecting “branch lines” – some send information out (axons) and some takes information in (dendrites).
Most of the brain growth in the first few years is thought to be due to the growth of dendrites the lines bringing information.
These synapses work something like phone lines between cells, allowing them to send messages to one another.
One’s individual pattern of connections from the basis of all movement, thought, memories and feelings.
The newborn brain is like a communication network to a city where the main lines in each neighborhood exist, but time and experiences are required to create specific connections from house to house.
Each brain begins to make its own unique associations with wires that literally grown themselves as needed.
Basic Wiring in the the First Few Years of Life
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