Repost, link on language development,

Click this link for an article on language development.
wwwbabble.com/2013/06/05/the-science-of-talking-to-your-baby/.

The sensory system part one, Introduction.

Your child’s sensory motor system is a very important part of his development. In fact, almost all human activity is based in the sensory motor system. Basically, we take in information through our senses and then we react to it, usually with a motor response of some sort.  The system is very complex and there is coordination (it is a pre internet type of web) among all the senses and the motor systems of the body but I will try to keep it simple here. Something happens in the environment and the sense organs pick it up. The “sensation” is transmitted to the brain where it is processed (and coordinated with other information from other senses) interpreted and a response is formulated. This information goes to the motor cortex of the brain where instructions to your body are transmitted and you react. All this takes place in nanoseconds so your response may seem immediate, certainly much faster than it took to read about. Let’s use a hot iron as an example. Your finger touches the iron and the pain and thermal sensors in your finger recognize the sensation. It is sent to the brain which registers “HOT” and dangerous. The information is sent to the motor areas of the brain which determines that your muscles in your arm must activate to move your finger away from the danger. This information is sent to your finger and you pull your finger away from the iron. Most of us have had this experience so you know how fast this system works.

In looking at the sensory part of this system we need to understand what the senses are. Firstly, the system consists of three basic parts, the sensory receptor, the nerve transmitter and the part of the brain that processes the sensation. The receptors are the organs that come in contact with the sensation, the nerve endings throughout the body and especially around the head that receive the sensation.  The nerves are the transport system, much like telephone cables that transmit the sensation to the brain. All of the understanding of what was sensed takes place in the brain. Each sense is processed in its own part of the brain separately, although there are connections so that this information can be coordinated to form a whole picture. This interconnection also helps when there is an impairment in one of the senses, such as blindness, which allows information from other senses to help “cover” for the impaired sense in gaining a better picture of the environment.

Most of us have heard of the five senses. Many of us have heard the term the sixth sense used to refer to unexplained abilities.  Well, the truth is that we have more than 5 senses so that expression is going to have to change to the 10^th sense or something like that.

The first 4 senses are special senses, so called because they have a single sense organ and detect a single type of sensation.  These are sight, hearing, smell and taste.  Each of these has a specific sensory receptor located around the head.  For sight it is the eyes, for hearing it is the ears. Smell and taste are quite related and are often called the chemosenses. 

The remaining senses are called the somatosenses because they affect the body as a whole. These include touch, which is really several senses combined under one name, the proprioceptive sense and the vestibular sense. The first two have sense receptors spread throughout the body while the vestibular sense uses some of the same structures in the ears that are used for hearing.

In the next few articles, I will look at the development of each sense both in terms of the development of the structures and of the sense itself. Most of the sense organs develop in the absence of stimulation but processing continues to develop with experience and, in later years , many of the senses become weaker due to changes in the structures. After looking at each sense in depth I would like to discuss sensory processing and the area of sensory processing dysfunction, which is in the process of becoming a diagnosis as well as being a symptom in several other disorders, including autism.

What Mothers Do, A book review

WHAT MOTHERS DO-Especially when it looks like nothing

By: Naomi Stadlen

Piatkus Books, London, 2004

I first picked up the book, What Mothers Do, because I was intrigued by the title. I remembered a time when I was a stay at home mother to a preschooler and an infant and I attended a party of my husband’s colleagues. Someone came up to me and asked where I worked. I answered “Right now, I work at home and I have never worked harder in my life.” It was true but I could not point to any specific accomplishments. I was mothering and my work was still in progress. The enquirer walked away to talk to someone else and I felt that my work was not valued at this gathering.

This is the type of feeling that Naomi Stadlen is addressing in this book. She has worked with mother’s support groups and has based this book around the comments of the many mothers she has worked with over the years. Her basic point is that while mothering is a complex and, perhaps, the most important job one can do, it does not have the status that other careers get. There is no pay scale and no immediately visible “product”. This makes it easy to wonder what exactly you have been doing.  All mothers have a point where they wonder but it is worse when father or others also question what happens to your time.

The book defines the complex intricacies of holding your baby and helping him or her to grow up to be a happy productive adult from the day he or she is born. The author has a long chapter discussing what “Mother Love” involves. She also touches on the reactions of mothers to significant others in their lives during this time, including baby fathers, mother’s mothers and in-laws. This book is written from the mother’s perspective so does not cover what these others are thinking. 

The author does not comment on mothering choices, such as breast or bottle or stay at home or go to work,  as that is not the point of the book. As she rightly points out, those choices are between you, your baby and your partner in this venture. Whatever choices you make, the concern that you are doing the best you can is always there.

I know that as a parent of a newborn or young child the last thing you think you have time for is to read a book, but if these concerns are bothering you, this book may give you some peace of mind. Each chapter can be read separately and out of order if that works for you. There isn’t a lot of advice in the book but there is a lot of support to help you regain your or confidence after the major life change that becoming a mother brings.

Habits to Help Develop Imagination

http://kindergartenbasics.blogspot.gr/2013/02/how-to-nurture-childs-imagination.html
 This link and photo come from a blog article which gives several easy suggestions for helping children develop their imagination. Creativity is often discouraged, unwittingly, by the routines of the day, the need of adults to answer all questions with facts and the desire for order and neatness in the house. These suggestions are not activities that parents need to set up but habits that can be developed when approaching any task. Note that the article particularly talks about toys and the fact that the more elaborate the toy, the less there is for the child to do with it. Infants and Toddlers haven't yet been caught up in the culture of "needing" the latest toy being promoted by TV or the movies. They can spend hours exploring simple objects and will use them creatively. Some suggestions are in the pages of this blog but the point is that it is not necessary to take the box away and expect the baby to play with the toy. Let them play with the box if they want to. Most of the habits in this article can be started from early infancy and can develop with the child.

Happy Birthday to my daughter and me.

Today is my oldest child's birthday. It is as important to me as it is to her, after all, I was there. I don't know about you, but every year on my children's birthdays, I sort of relive the day they were born. I remember all the details, more or less, and every time I look at the clock, I say to myself, "At this time, (those many years ago) I was at this stage" or "I was doing this". Until and through the moment of their birth. I can't help it, it just happens. I have instituted a custom to look through the particular child's baby, childhood and current photos at some point on their birthday, which also provides me with many happy memories of the years they were growing up. My children are now adults and no longer live at home so I am not there at their birthday party, except in spirit. One cannot have a birthday without having their mother's spirit present, can one? And I still eat a piece of cake in their honor, after all, the day belongs to me as much as to them. So Happy Birthday to my daughter and here is wishing us both many more. Love, Mom

Women's Heart Health Awareness Day

February  1st,  the first Friday in February, is Women’s Heart Health Awareness Day. People are asked to wear something red on that day as a visual reminder to think about heart health, especially for women. There is a mistaken idea that heart disease is a men’s disease.  It is true that men may have more heart attacks than women but women’s heart attacks are more likely to be fatal and, in the end, about equal numbers of men and women die each year of heart disease. 

This may be because heart disease is thought to be a man’s disease and is not the first thought when a woman presents with symptoms. A woman’s symptoms may be different from a man’s as well. The pain may resemble the pain of indigestion more than heart pain. It is a good idea to learn the symptoms, especially if you are in a risk category.

Heart disease in women is on the increase as our lives change. More women are struggling to manage the stressful world of work, while continuing to have the major role in managing the home and children, and now, in many cases, caring for the elderly of the family. In addition to the added stress, these activities take so much time that diet and exercise are often left behind. Today’s fast world does not support heart health so we need to make conscious choices to foster it.

In addition, estrogen may provide some protection and heart disease is more common in post menopausal women. It is not unheard of in younger women but heart attacks do occur in older people more often than in younger ones. However, heart disease does not develop in a day. Heart disease is the result of a lifetime of bad habits. 

So you may say, “I’m only 24, I don’t have to think about that.” And you would be wrong.  In your 20’s and 30’s is the time that you should look at heart healthy habits and begin to build them so you don’t have to think as much about heart disease when you are older , because you will be less likely to have it. Developing heart healthy habits when you are young will have the added benefit of being habits for your children. 

I will refer you to your family doctor or the your local heart association to find out what habits you should lose and what habits you should adopt but take this very seriously. I do because I lost my husband suddenly and unexpectedly to heart disease when he was only 56 years old. It is an experience that I would rather none of you would need to go through.

The R Word and other reasons to watch your mouth

This last week, I saw two posts on facebook using the "R" word (“retard”) in a slangy insulting way. One was a poster which said something like “if you believe this than you are a “R” who should not…” and the other (from a woman who should know better as she works in the field of special education) “am I the only “R” who did not know this”. Well, I was offended at the use, even once and feel compelled to address this issue. I do not object to the use of the word “retard” in its official meaning as in “The use of cold water retards the growth of yeast”. That is one of the word’s meanings. But to use it as short for mentally retarded to insult someone is offensive to the addressee and even more so to a whole class of people that do not warrant the comparison with these users.

"Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is an expression often thrown at verbal bullies to somehow lesson the pain. We all know that it is not true. While sticks and stones may break a bone, which will heal in 6-8 weeks, words cut to the heart and create deep wounds that hurt much more and take much longer to heal, if they ever do.

Sometimes, this use of words is intentional, direct and meant to be hurtful. Many an overweight child can tell you that being called names, such as “fatty” or hearing jokes about their size from bullies or family members (the unkindest cut of all) is a hurt that does not go away even when they have grown up into their weight and especially, when they are continually struggling with their weight. Think of Monica from Friends, who, as a waif-like adult still saw herself as the large teenager she had been and remained  insecure in every relationship she had. 

Other times, there is no specific target, but uncontrollable flaws are made fun of in a general sense. Comedians often exploit speech defects, such as stutters and lisps, in their routines to get a laugh, and people laugh. Can you imagine being someone who stutters, who struggles to communicate and then hears one of these routines.  It hurts. Even if you laugh along, somewhere in your heart, you feel less confident, less human than others. You are less likely to try to speak, because, after all, your speech is a joke. 

In the case above, a word that has a legitimate diagnostic use, is turned into an insult, which indicates that less is thought of the people for whom the word has been designed. The word “spastic” describes a specific neuromotor condition wherein the muscles are do not relax and remain contracted. Movement is difficult without control of the muscles. To take the term, and its variant “spaz”, to describe someone who has done some clumsy thing, such as spilling something ( or even worse, something intentionally clumsy such as bumping you) indicates that it is bad to be spastic, that spastic people do clumsy things on purpose. Being spastic is not intentional and it is insulting to insinuate that it is the same thing.

 Words describing race, gender, sexual orientation and physical or mental challenges have been used with derogatory meanings. Then, we seek new words to replace the old, and the same process happens again. Did you know that the words “idiot” and “imbecile” were designed to describe levels of mental delay, in order to provide appropriate programming. They became so insulting that they had to be abandoned and later replaced with educable and trainable mental retardation.  Now the same has happened to the “R” word. 

People who are mentally challenged are people. They are unique, full people with feelings and understanding.  They go through life with many of the same challenges that everyone has and a few more. They do not need extra pressure from people who do not know them.  They and their families do not need the extra insult that has been given to these words by their careless use. 

Some people suggest that we do not use labels at all to distinguish one person from another. That is unrealistic. First of all, we are not all the same and would always describe our differences. But we need to learn that these differences are not better or worse, just different. Secondly, we need some descriptive information to provide the most appropriate help to people. This includes diagnostic categories which are needed for justifying funding for special programs.  We need these words to be descriptive and not emotionally loaded.

I bring this up because it is well known that children learn how to communicate by what they hear. If you do not respect the value of words, your children will not learn to respect them. If children hear adults saying these things, then they will too. Young children do not understand all the implications of words. That is what they are learning. Adults should understand what they are doing, although, when they casually use offensive words (and we include the “n” word and the “f” word along with the “r” word here), I am fairly sure they are not thinking. Remember that nobody is perfect and there is probably something about you that could be turned into an insult to others. Think about how you would feel. Train yourself to speak respectfully, so your children can learn to speak respectfully, please.

 These two posters have been widely circulated on the internet but they illustrate the point I am trying to make. Thank you to the creators.