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Learning Steps
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Volume
2
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Schooling the
Kid
Step-16
The early developmental
aspects of a baby
Though most of us have
been closely associated with the process of development of the baby in his or
her early months, we take most things in a very casual manner or we think it is
a natural process. We don’t give the type of attention they deserve. It is
interesting to note that a lot of research has been done in this area world
over. Here is an extract from the writings of Dr. Ann Logsdon from her article (Developmental milestones – your baby’s
first six months)
“Baby's Physical
Development - Developmental Milestones in Growth: A
typical baby's physical development follows a predictable pattern beginning at
the head and moving downward. This is called cephalocaudal development. Typic
ally, the infant's brain and facial structures develop first, along with his
ability to control his head and facial movements. As he grows, that development
continues downward. A similar pattern of growth and development occurs from the
central part of his body and continues outward, toward his arms, hands, and
then fingers. This is referred to as proximodistal development.
Baby's Movement - Increasing Gross Motor Movement and
Control: Gross motor movement is the ability to move and control the larger
body muscles such as arms, legs, and trunk muscles. During this period, a baby
will turn his head from side to side and will begin loosely controlled kicking
and thrusting. As his upper body develops, he will learn to raise himself onto
his elbows while resting on his stomach. He will roll his body from one side to
the other. The baby's gross muscle control will continue to develop into
purposeful, directed movement. Soon he will reach for people and objects and
will turn away when he is disinterested or tired of play.
Baby's Fine Motor Development - Increasing Fine Motor
Movement and Control: Fine motor movements include the smaller muscles that allow him to
perform tasks with his hands and feet. Soon he will grasp objects and mouth
them. He will enjoy playing with his fingers and toes and will mouth them too!
He will spread his toes out in a fan-like shape. This movement is called the
Babinski reflex. He will use both hands to pick up and move objects and may
begin to show a hand preference. It is important to allow the child to develop
naturally. Attempting to switch handedness in your child is not recommended.
Baby's Sensory Development - Responding to Sounds and
Hearing: Within the first few weeks after birth, your baby will begin to
respond to sounds in his environment by tracking them with his eyes and turning
his head toward them. He will show recognition of familiar voices and will show
enjoyment when hearing favorite songs. He will show a startle reflex when
hearing unexpected, loud noises.
Baby's Early Speech Development - Increased Purposeful
Communication: Crying is a baby's first communication. His crying signals his
discomfort. As we respond to his crying, the baby learns that his crying brings
him what he needs. At a very basic level, he is learning that communication is
a two-way process. During this period, the baby will babble and begin making
delightful sing-song sounds. He is learning to control his voice and form
sounds with his facial muscle structures and tongue. Mouthing objects such as
teething toys helps develop muscle coordination and precision that will be
needed for later speech development.
Baby's Social and Emotional Development - Learning to
Interact: During this period, a baby is beginning to learn to communicate. As
he expresses his needs by crying and gesturing. For example, he may turn his
head and reach for people and objects. He may turn his head away from foods he
does not like. He is learning to express himself in basic ways. He will develop
clear signs of pleasure, as in happy babbling and smiles. He will show
discomfort and frustration through crying. He will begin to show preferences
for certain people and discomfort with others. Through these exchanges, the
infant will learn to trust caregivers who meet his needs and mistrust others.
Ways to Help Your Baby's Development with Learning
Activities: Provide bright toys specifically designed and approved for
infants. Toys that encourage development of hand-eye-coordination and have
interesting sounds and textures are a great way to encourage curiosity and
exploration. Play games with your baby and sing simple songs. Read colorful
children's books to your baby. Babies love and learn from repetition, so don't
worry about doing the same things over and over. Repetition, in fact, is the
best way for your baby to learn.
Nurture Your Baby's Social and Emotional Development: Always respond to your baby's
communication. Speak softly, sing to him, and gently touch and pat him for
comfort. To calm a baby, rock him gently, hold him, and speak calming words in
soft tones. Respect your baby's need to sleep and turn away from stimulation.
Encourage Early Language Development: Talk to the baby often. Point out
familiar objects and tell him the names of the objects. Begin with single
words, and later add descriptive words such as color, texture, positions, and
possessive words. Read simple books with colorful pictures. Repetition of these
words and books will help build the baby's receptive language skills. Receptive
language skills are the basis for later speech and communication.”
Can we educate the young mothers on
the importance of early attention to the kids so that when they come to the
school they can be shaped into a holistic personality?
G.Balasubramanian
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Learning Steps
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Volume
2
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Schooling the
Kid
Step-17
The Ten
milestones – A gateway to early childhood
Here is wonderful article
displayed in a website Parenting.com under the title “Your baby – 10 milestones
for the first 2 years” and posted recently. The article has been authored by Maureen Connolly who is a former
Parenting health editor and a mom of three boys. It provides a deep insight
into the growth profile in the early childhood. I feel it is worth sharing with
all of you.
Every milestone -- from when your baby first holds up her
sweet little head to when she speaks her first word -- is thrilling. These
moments aren't just exciting and fun; they're also markers that can clue you in
to your baby's development. Most parents already know to look for the
much-lauded ones, like rolling over and walking. But of the multitude of
milestones cited by the American
Academy
1. Eye
contact
(between 6 and 8
weeks)
This is one of the first milestones you'll notice, and it's
a big deal not just because your baby is finally paying attention to you, and
following you with her eyes, but also because it indicates that her
neurological growth and ability to communicate are on track. She's
demonstrating that her brain is registering a familiar face. In a sense, she's
saying, "Hey, I know who you are."
Laura Weber was worried when, at 4 weeks, her infant,
Nicole, never met her gaze. "Whenever I tried to make eye contact with
her, she'd look over my shoulder instead," says the mom of three from Fredericksburg , Virginia San Diego ,
California
2.
Social smile
This isn't the spontaneous smile that happens when your
few-hours-old infant passes gas or your 3-week-old grins at the ceiling. A
social smile is reciprocal, meaning your baby smiles in response to someone
else's smile. It's a sign that several different parts of the brain are
maturing. It says he's able to see short distances, make sense of an object (in
this case a smiling face), and produce his own smile in return. A social smile
also boosts bonding, since it's one of the first forms of communication between
parent and child. If despite your encouraging grins you don't notice a social smile
by 3 months, bring it up with your pediatrician; rarely this can signal eye
problems or an attachment disorder. Again, being patient and looking for times
when your baby is well rested may be all it takes to see him smile.
3.
Cooing
During your baby's first several weeks, she communicates
mainly by crying. But around 8 weeks, there's a lot of activity that begins to
take place in the brain's front temporal lobe (the brain's speech center) that
lets your baby coo. "I often half jokingly say that if she has a social
smile, can follow movement with her eyes, and can coo, it means she has the
ability to go to college, since there's so much that has to be working right in
the brain for these things to occur," says Dr. Stein. When she coos, she's
using the back of her throat to create vowel sounds like ah-ah-ah and oh-oh-oh.
Try talking back, and she may respond with another ah-ah-ah. Don't expect your
infant to coo on cue though; she still needs time to master her coo
conversation. One of the best things you can do to promote this is to narrate
your life: "Mommy is putting on your shoes so we can go to the park. Do
you like the park?" Whatever you talk about, your baby just loves the
sound of your voice. If she doesn't spontaneously coo by 3 months, check with your
doctor, who'll most likely run hearing tests.
4.
Babbling
Eventually your baby will move on to babbling. This is
different from cooing because it requires using the tongue and the front of the
mouth (rather than the throat) to make sounds like nah-nah-nah and bah-bah-bah.
Different situations inspire babbling in different babies. For Erin England
Acosta's daughter, Samantha, a change of scenery seemed to be all it took.
"Samantha hardly made a peep until she started day care at 6 months, and
after the first week, she was babbling up a storm," says the Orange,
California, mom. Once your baby begins babbling, she'll probably want to try
out her newly acquired skill -- a lot. This practice will ultimately bring her
to the next significant milestone at 6 to 8 months: reciprocal babbling. This
shows that she's learned she can respond to another person's voice by using her
own -- a crucial first step in early language. If you don't hear babbling by
the time your baby is 6 months, talk with your pediatrician to discuss your
concerns.
5.
Reaching and grabbing
"When a child begins to reach and grab, it says she can
act intentionally on the world," says Claire Lerner, director of parenting
resources for Zero to Three, a national nonprofit organization devoted to promoting
healthy development for infants and toddlers. "It shows desire, interest,
and curiosity, which are all critical for learning." To encourage reaching
and grabbing, get down on the floor with your baby and place a favorite toy
just out of reach. The more opportunities you create, the more you engage her
senses and entice her to touch, smell, look, and learn about objects.
6.
Pulling up to a stand
(9 to 10 months)
One of the first signs that your baby is getting ready to
walk is that he begins to pull himself up to a standing position. "This is
one of the most important gross motor [large muscle] milestones because it
shows the stability and strength of the legs and trunk, which are both
necessary for walking," says Dr. Stein. It also shows that your child has
the motivation to reach a goal -- to get to that red block sitting on the
coffee table, for instance. To help your child learn to pull himself up, it's a
good idea to give him lots of time to be unencumbered -- to limit the time he
spends in the car seat, stroller, and such. At age 1, Mary Hoskins-Clark's
oldest daughter, Katie, now 5, wasn't making any attempts to pull herself up to
a stand. "In fact, she wasn't even crawling," says the Westfield , New
Jersey
7. Pincer
grasp
There's the crude pincer grasp that occurs around 7 or 8
months, when babies use all of their fingers and their thumb to pick up a spoon
or toy. Then, a few months later, they refine the skill and, with either hand,
very neatly take their thumb and forefinger to pick up one Cheerio or one piece
of a puzzle. "Getting the pincer grasp is one of the biggest keys to
independence," says Lerner. "Eventually, a child will use this grasp
to do essential things like feed and dress herself and brush her teeth."
Encouraging this skill is as simple as letting your child hang out in her high
chair with a few Cheerios or crackers. What if she isn't catching on? Give it
time. Only if your child isn't using the pincer grasp by 12 months should you
get an evaluation to assess her fine motor skills.
8.
Gesturing
When your child has eaten all his peas and motions with
wide-open hands "all gone," or points to his favorite book on the
bookshelf, this is a preverbal form of language. Developmental experts say that
gesturing is a clear sign that your child knows what he's thinking, and he's
aware that he can communicate that to you as well. If you consistently gesture
to your child, he'll probably imitate you eventually by doing it back. As with
all of the milestones, give him time to get the hang of it before presuming
that he's not on track.
9.
First word
The past months of cooing, babbling, pointing, and gesturing
have all been steppingstones to the formation of speech. When your daughter
sees a ball and pronounces "ba" or "ball," her brain is
making the connection between that sound and the object. "This also
signals she's beginning to understand that a sound or a word is a symbol for an
object," says Lerner. On average, children begin talking around 12 months.
By 15 to 18 months, some kids may say between 20 and 50 words, while others may
say only 5 to 10. At this age, a child should also understand some words, such
as when you ask her to "show me your nose." The best way to promote
speech? Spend time talking or singing to your child. Daily reading is another
excellent way. If there are no words by 18 months, raise your concerns with
your pediatrician, who'll want to rule out hearing problems or screen for
developmental delays.
10.
Pretend play
If you're looking for a little insight into your own habits,
look at your toddler, who will often begin pretend play by imitating you. At 21
months, Carina Kilroy would jump at the chance to "catch up with
friends" via the family's cordless phone. "Even though she could
speak in sentences, when she picked up our phone she just babbled in
nonsensical language, but with inflection. You could tell she was trying to
sound just like me," says her Reno ,
Nevada
I have personally learnt many new
inputs from this article. What about you?
G.Balasubramanian
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Learning Steps
- A Learning community
Volume
2
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Schooling the
Kid
Step-18
Mobility in early childhood
Here
is yet another article from the website babycenter India
“How it develops
For his first few weeks of life,
when you hold your baby upright under the arms, he'll dangle his legs down and
push against a hard surface with his feet, almost appearing to walk. But this
is just a reflex -- his legs aren't nearly strong enough to hold him up -- and
will disappear after two months.
By the time your baby's about five months old, if you let him balance his feet
on your thighs, he'll bounce up and down. Bouncing will be a favourite activity
over the next couple of months, in fact, as your baby's leg muscles continue to
develop while he masters rolling over, sitting, and crawling.
At about eight months your baby will probably start trying to pull himself up
to a stand while holding onto furniture. If you prop him up next to the sofa,
he'll hang on for dear life. As he gets better at this skill over the next few
weeks, he'll start to cruise -- moving around upright while holding onto
furniture -- and may be able to let go and stand without support. Once he can
do that, he may be able to take steps when held in a walking position and may
attempt to pick up a toy from a standing position.
At nine or ten months your baby will begin to work out how to bend his knees
and how to sit after standing (which is harder than you might think!).
By 11 months your baby will probably have mastered standing solo, stooping, and
squatting. He may even walk while gripping your hand, though he probably won't
take his first steps alone for at least a few more weeks. Most children make
those early strides on tiptoe with their feet turned outward.
At 13 months, three quarters of toddlers are walking on their own -- albeit
unsteadily. If yours still hasn't stopped cruising, it just means walking on
his own is going to take a little longer. Some children don't walk until 16 or
17 months or even later.
What's next
After those first magical steps towards independence,
children begin to master the finer points of mobility: • At 14 months, your toddler should be able to stand alone, can probably stoop down and then stand back up again, and might even be working on walking backward.
• By 15 months the average child is pretty good at walking and likes to push and pull toys while he toddles.
• At about 16 months, your child will begin to take an interest in going up and down stairs -- though he probably won't navigate them solo for a few more months.
• Most 18-month-olds are proficient walkers. Many can motor up stairs with help (though they'll still need help getting back down for a few more months) and like to climb all over the furniture. Your toddler may try to kick a ball, though he won't always be successful, and he probably likes to dance if you play music.
• At 25 or 26 months, your child's steps will be more even and he'll have the hang of the smooth heel-to-toe motion adults use. At this age he'll also be getting better at jumping.
• By the time your child's third birthday rolls around, many of his basic movements will have become second nature. He'll no longer need to focus energy on walking, standing, running, or jumping, though some actions, such as standing on tiptoes or on one foot, might still require concentration and effort.
Your role
As your baby learns to stand, he may need some help
working out how to get back down again. If he gets stuck and cries for you,
don't just pick him up and plop him down. Instead, show him how to bend his
knees so he can sit down without toppling over, and let him give it a try
himself. You can encourage your baby to walk by standing or kneeling in front of him and holding out your hands, by holding both his hands and walking him towards you, or by buying a toddle truck or a similar contraption he can hold onto and push (look for toddle toys that are stable and have a wide base of support). Because baby walkers make it too easy to get around and thus can prevent a child's upper leg muscles from developing correctly, some experts strongly discourage using them. You can also hold off on introducing shoes until your baby is walking around outside or on rough or cold surfaces regularly; going barefoot helps him improve his balance and coordination.
As always, make sure your baby has a soft, safe environment in which to hone his new skills
When to be
concerned
As mentioned above, some perfectly normal children don't
walk until they're 16 or 17 months old. The important thing is the progression
of skills; if your baby was a little late learning to roll over and crawl,
chances are he'll need a few extra weeks or months for walking as well -- as
long as he keeps learning new things, you don't have to be too concerned.
Babies develop skills differently, some more quickly than others, but if yours
seems to be lagging behind significantly, bring it up with your doctor. Keep in
mind that premature babies may reach this and other milestones later than their
peers.”
A
friend of mine, on reading this article said: “I wish I had known all these
things much earlier.” I feel it is never too late to learn. We can at least
pass on this information to several hundreds with whom we come in contact.
G.Balasubramanian
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Learning Steps - A Learning community
Volume 2
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Schooling the Kid
Step-19
The frontal lobes and emotions
While we have
seen in the past few issues some critical inputs required for the holistic
development of the child, it is quite important for us to understand certain
other physical structures of the brain so that our understanding about learning
is meaningful. In making certain statements in these issues, I have largely
borrowed the ideas from a wide variety of books, research papers of
universities and medical institutions as well as hundreds of websites which
deal with all relevant issues. While I intend to be coherent in my presentations
to develop the concept in a linear manner to provide a continuity of thought,
please do bear with if you feel at any point certain amount of deviation. (
again please remember that those are consequences of varying perceptions)
In trying to
make us understand the functions of the brain in a simple manner, Dr V S
Ramachandra explains in his book:
“ … and so I begin with a brief survey of the
anatomy of the brain, which, for our purposes here, begins at the top of the
spinal cord. This region, called the medulla oblongata, connects the spinal
cord to the brain and contains clusters of cells or nuclei that control
critical functions like blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. The medulla
connects to the pons ( a kind of bulge), which sends fibres into the
cerebellum, a fist sized structure at the back of the brain that helps you
carry out coordinated movements. Atop these are the two enormous cerebral
hemispheres- the famous walnut-shaped halves of the brain. Each half is divided
into four lobes –frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital.”
The frontal
lobes have a significant role to play. Let us see some of its vital functions.
"The frontal lobes are considered our
emotional control center and home to our personality. There is no other part of
the brain where lesions can cause such a wide variety of symptoms (Kolb &
Wishaw, 1990). The frontal lobes are involved in:
· Motor function
· Problem solving,
· Spontaneity,
· Memory,
· Language,
· Initiation,
· Judgment,
· Impulse control…
· Social and sexual behavior.
The frontal lobes are extremely vulnerable to
injury due to their location at the front of the cranium, proximity to the
sphenoid wing and their large size. MRI studies have shown that the frontal
area is the most common region of injury following mild to moderate traumatic
brain injury (Levin et al., 1987).
"The frontal lobe, which continues to develop in humans until
the age of about 20, also has an important role to play in keeping an
individual's behaviour in check. Whenever you use self-control to refrain from
lashing out or doing something you should not, the frontal lobe is hard at
work. Children often do things they shouldn't because their frontal lobes are
underdeveloped. The more work done to thicken the fibres connecting the neurons
in this part of the brain, the better the child's ability will be to control
their behaviour. The more this area is stimulated, the more these fibres will
thicken."
As parents and
teachers, we need to understand certain fundamental functions and activities of
the brain so that we are able to assess our kids properly and help them to
become holistic human beings in later years. I think certain basics of human
physiology have to be the core of any learning process.
We will study
more about this as we step into the arena of management of emotional
intelligences at a later stage. Presently our objective is to understand the
complexity of the neural network that controls all the core activities of our
life.
G.Balasubramanian
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Learning Steps - A Learning community
Volume 2
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Schooling the Kid
Step-20
Glial Cells and
the genius
A couple of years before when I visited a school for a
school function, the principal of the school introduced to me a student of
class III along with his father and the principal observed: “ Sir, this child
is a prodigy”. He continued and said “He is in class III and drives a Maruti
Car so nicely”. I had the shock of my life! I have heard of musical prodigies,
mathematical prodigies but not a Maruti Prodigy! I wonder sometimes how parents
as well as schools lend themselves to an undeserved eulogy and feel
gratification in tall claims. It has become a fancy to use the word prodigy
without even knowing the basic traits of a prodigy. We need more good human
beings than prodigies and that is the objective of education.
Well, this leads me to refer to you an important passage
from the book “Phantoms of the brain” by Dr. V.S. Ramachandra where he talks
about some people with extraordinary brilliance. Here is the passage:
“There are some
questions about the brain that are so mysterious, so deeply enigmatic, that
most serious scientists simply shy away from them, as if to say, “ This would
be too premature to study” and “I ‘d
would be a fool if I embarked on such a quest.”
The author continues “What
allowed Mozart to compose an entire symphony in his head or mathematicians like
Fermat or Ramanujam to “discover” flawless conjectures and theorems without
ever going through step-by-step formal proofs? And what goes on in the brain of
a person like Dylan Thomas that allowed him to write such evocative poetry? Is
the creative spark simply an expression of the divine spark that exists in all
of us?”
How does the human brain acquire such
competencies to see things beyond? How has the evolution of the brain adopted
itself to a series of continuous changes over thousands of years? Why do we say
that our children are more intelligent than the present generation?
The author quotes Alfred Russel Wallace, a
contemporary of Darwin
“According to Wallace, as the human brain evolved, it
encountered a new and equally powerful force called culture. Once culture,
language and writing emerged, he argued, human evolution became La Marckian-
that is, you could pass on the accumulated wisdom of a life-time to your
offspring. The progeny will be much wiser than the offspring of illiterates not
because your genes have changed, but simply because knowledge – in the form of
culture – has been transferred from your brain to your child’s brain. In this
way, the brain is symbiotic with culture; the two are interdependent as the
naked hermit crab and its shell or the nucleated cell and its mitochondria.”
Continues
Wallace:
“Most organisms evolve to become more and more
specialized as they take up new environment niches, be it a longer neck for the
giraffe or sonar for the bat. Humans, on the other hand, have evolved an organ,
a brain, that gives us the capacity to evade specialization. We can colonize
the Arctic without evolving a fur coat over
millions of years like the polar bear because we can go kill one, take its coat
and drape it on ourselves. And then we can give it to our children and grand
children.
Well, Sometime
scientists believed that the genius of an individual was linked to his glial
cells in the brain. The Glial cells also known as interneurons, are at least
ten times more concentrated in the brain than their counterparts. Ben Jessen
says “A number this large is difficult
to conceive, but it means that at birth we have as many as one thousand billion
glial cells.. that is, one hundred times the number of stars known in the Milky
Way.” Vow! Is that the power of our
brain? It is claimed that an autopsy of Einstein’s brain revealed that he had a
greater than average number of glial cells!
Here are a few observations on Einstein’s brain:
These scientists counted the number of neurons (nerve cells)
and glial cells
in four areas of Einstein’s brain: area 9 of the cerebral cortex on the right
and left hemisphere and area 39 of the cerebral cortex on the right and left
hemisphere. Area 9 is located in the frontal lobe (prefrontal cortex) and is
thought to be important for planning behavior, attention and memory. Area 39 is
located in the parietal lobe and is part of the "association cortex."
Area 39 is thought to be involved with language and several other complex functions.
The ratios of neurons to glial cells in Einstein’s brain were compared to those
from the brains of 11 men who died at the average age of 64.
A second Research paper states
as follows:
A second paper (Neuroscience Letters, 1996) describing Einstein's
brain was published in 1996. Einstein's brain weighed only 1,230 grams, which
is less than the average adult male brain (about 1,400 grams). The authors also
reported that the thickness of Einstein's cerebral cortex (area 9) was thinner than that of five control brains. However, the
DENSITY of neurons in Einstein's brain was greater. In other words, Einstein
was able to pack more neurons in a given area of cortex. (adopted from the
website-(Neuroscience for kids)
It is also
important to note that there are many criticisms to the above propositions.
Science being what it is – there is always an attempt to prove or disprove
things. There is a serious debate among the neuro-psychologists on what makes a
genius.In the process of this intellectual drama, we gain to learn many things
about the behaviour of the universe and the process of evolution. They only
provoke our curiosity to explore!
So how do we
define a prodigy? How do we define a genius? Is there a mechanism that we can
peep into the brain and count the cells? Certainly Not. It is a complex
question to answer. However, we will certainly try to understand the different
points of view on this question from eminent neuro-psychologists.
Meanwhile, let
us advice ourselves not to call a crawling baby as a genius in the offing and
overstress the child to become what he or she would never have dreamt or
fancied!
G.Balasubramanian
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