Tagged With "Brain on Poverty"

Take a look at today's article from Nick Kristof in the New York Times on the importance of early learning and challenges faced by children in poverty. Building Children's Brains Nicolas Kristof First, a quiz: What’s the most common “vegetable” eaten by American toddlers? Answer: The French fry. The same study that unearthed that nutritional tragedy also found that on any given day, almost half of American toddlers drink soda or similar drinks, possibly putting the children on a trajectory...

Read more about the traumatized brain from NEA Today. For several years, John Snelgrove began his workweek with a lengthy fax from the local police, listing the home addresses where officers had answered domestic violence calls over the weekend. Snelgrove, head of guidance services for Brockton (Mass.) Public Schools, would check those addresses against the district’s student database. When a match came up, he’d alert the counselor at that child’s school, who, in turn, would take a red...

Developing Healthy Minds: It’s Never Too Early to Start! [Blog.SAMHSA.gov] | ACEs in Child Care | ACEsConnection The human mind is one of the most complex structures in the universe. Even in early infancy, it is capable of taking in a wide variety of inputs. Still, in our early years, we’ve only unlocked a small portion of its potential. Our brains actually continue to develop into our twenties . Accordingly, the U.S. Government embraces a definition of youth that continues until we turn 25.

Take a look at this article from the New York Times concerning the impact of trauma on the developing brain. The human brain begins as a neural tube that develops five weeks after conception. Years later, it is fully formed. On Tuesday, experts in neuroscience, genetics and social work met in Manhattan to talk about what can happen to it along the way, and what emerging research tells us about how children who seem broken can be made whole. Officially, the meeting was called Poverty, the...

This is a great read on play and its role in a child's brain development. "Did you know that more than just about any other activity, play is what promotes the healthy development of your child! The most important thing to remember about play is that it should be pleasurable. That means that if your child is having fun, then you are doing it right! Play can use the mind, body or even props. It engages the imagination and exercises the muscles, and it also allows our children to practice new...