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THE EYES TELL A STORY IN AUTISM
MIND Institute researchers have discovered an important clue to why children with autism spectrum disorders have trouble imitating others: They spend less time looking at the faces of people who are modeling new skills.
The researchers conducted their study using eye-tracking headgear and software to measure with precision the point at which a child is looking when learning a task. An actor demonstrated the task, and test subjects watched on a computer.
"We found that the children with autism focused on the demonstrator's action and looked at the demonstrator's face much less often than did typically developing children," said Giacomo Vivanti, a postdoctoral researcher and the study's lead author.
"The typically developing children may be looking at the demonstrator's face to check for information on what to do or how to respond appropriately, information that the children with autism are less inclined to seek.
"This is an important finding, because children with autism have difficulty learning from others. This might be one key to why that is so."
Imitation plays an important role in how children learn, as well as in how people interact socially, said MIND Institute researcher and senior study author Sally J. Rogers, who has been studying imitation impairment and autism for more than 20 years. "This is a trait we see as early as we can diagnose autism, and it's one of the traits that is present even in mildly impaired adults," she said.
Impaired imitation leads to additional impairments in sharing emotions, pretend play, pragmatic communication and understanding the emotional states of others. For years, scientists thought that children with autism and related disorders had trouble with learning through imitation because they had poor motor skills or because they did not pay attention to the action being performed. The new study rules out these hypotheses.
"We now understand more about how this imitation deficit might be working and, after more study, we may actually be able to address it in a way that helps children with autism develop a more natural set of behaviors," said Rogers, a UC Davis professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
The study appeared online in June and is scheduled to appear in print in November in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.
Phyllis Brown is a senior public information officer for the UC Davis Health System.
Dateline UCDavis. October 17, 2008.
http://www.dateline.ucdavis.edu/dldetail.lasso?id=10771&fu=101708
EARLY BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
Over the past decade numerous advances have been made in the research regarding brain development. We now know there is far more that takes place to shape a child's development in the first five years than was previously thought. In fact this is a critical time in shaping a child's positive growth and brain development.
While it takes 15-20 years for the brain to fully develop, most of the critical connections are made during a child's early years of life. What parents and caregivers do with children, positive or negative, will affect how a child's brain develops. It is these early interactions that are key in influencing how the brain circuits are wired.
By the time a child is three years old, the brain will form over 1,000 trillion connections. This is twice the amount of connections in adult brains. The connections neurons make with each other are called synapses. The peak period for synapses development is from birth to age ten.
The capacity to learn is a combination of nature (genetics) and nurture (environment). Nature provides a complex system of brain circuitry, but how it is wired depends upon a child's environment (surroundings, stimulation, nutrition, etc).
Karen DeBord, Ph.D., Child Development Specialist from North Carolina Cooperative Extension gives the following suggestions to caregivers for nurturing positive brain development:
- Give consistent loving care. If a child is in a loving setting, they will learn to love. Children who are ignored or not nurtured will not fully develop all areas of their brains.
- Touch infants. In research with infants, it was shown that gently massaging premature infants three times per day for 15 minutes helped them gain weight, be more alert, and cry less. These infants were released from the hospital sooner than infants who were not massaged.
- Pay attention to language and hearing. Repetition forms connections. Talk to the baby so they will begin babbling. Name what you are doing, name items, point and show expression on your face. It is easier for children to learn two languages than it is for adults. For example, children whose parents speak Spanish and English create two maps and strengthen their use of both languages when both these areas of the brain are used in childhood. Ear infections can slow down language development because babies cannot hear the words spoken to them very well.
- Watch babies notice the world at 2 to 4 months. Notice the health of the eyes to assure babies are taking in the colors, faces, and shapes around them. Each neuron is attaching to 15,000 other neurons during the first months. The development of a baby's vision peaks at eight months.
- Look for teachable moments. The things you do every day offer windows of learning for children. For example, when you are having a meal or snack, name the foods, their colors, and count them. When you can, name things that are the same, different, bigger, smaller, hot, cold, etc.
- Use music because it relates to math skills. By exposing children to complex musical sounds such as Mozart, children will develop the same areas of the brain required for math and spatial reasoning. Playing rhythmic games and singing songs will also trigger new connections in the brain.
- Know that emotional connections can be stressful or relaxed. Vivid memories are often tied to emotional reactions to particular situations. The more vivid the memory, the stronger the print in the brain. The limbic system regulates emotional impulses and helps us make decisions about what to do... run, cry, react, whine, turn away. If the goal in childhood is survival and coping skills around survival are taught, this will become permanent. If trust is nurtured, then this will become part of the child's nature.
- Be gently physical. Children need opportunities to move and develop their small and large body parts. Expose children to a safe variety of physical activities as they grow. This will also help to build strength and coordination. During the child's preschool years, think of all areas - climbing, splashing, slow and fast movement, hard and soft areas, different textures like clay and paint.
- Mirror behaviors you want in children. Children will pick up many behaviors of the adults around them. If adult voices are loud, children may be loud; if adults use soft warm touches, children will learn the same. If children see patience in adults looking for solutions to problems, they will see that learning is a process with many steps.
Additional suggestions for promoting positive brain development in children include:
- Touch, feel, smell, hear, and see. All kinds of sensory activities benefit brain development. New connections are created when children explore their environment through their senses. About 95% of all information is received through seeing, touching, and hearing.
- Establish routines. Create routines around meal times, nap time, and other important parts of the day. Being predictable in your routines helps children feel secure.
- Cuddle, hug, and hold. Caring physical contact also makes children feel secure. They are able to form caring relationships with others and continue their healthy development.
- Provide proper nutrition. Serve a variety of foods that are nutritious and follow the recommended number of servings and serving sizes according to the MyPyramid.
- Read, read, read. One of the most important things that can be done to enhance brain development is to read aloud every day with the children.
Remember that brain development is not a step by step process, but rather a spiral with waves that lasts a lifetime.
Karen DeBord's information is reprinted with permission from the NCSU Dept. of Family and Consumer Sciences. DeBord, K. (1997). *Brain development* [Extension Publication].
Reading is for All People, All Times, and All Places
By: Bernice E. Cullinan
Excerpt From: Read to Me, Raising Kids Who Love to Read
Eighty-two percent of prison inmates are school drop-outs and 60 percent are illiterate. Barbara's job was to teach the women inmates of Cell Block 14 how to read. She had started out trying to conduct a basic adult literacy class, but nobody seemed interested. She tried to make the classes more relevant and practical by bringing in job application forms, resume outlines, and fashion magazines. Nobody cared. Finally, Barbara coaxed it out of one woman that she would like to learn to read in order to read stories to her young daughter.
Next day, Barbara brought in an armload of children's books to her prison classroom -- books with easy patterned language and vivid illustrations, books with nursery rhymes, jump-rope rhymes, and simple poems, books with photographs of objects and a single word on a page. Suddenly, the women inmates, many of whom had children, were intrigued. The thought of learning to read for the sake of their kids overcame any embarrassment they may have felt and Barbara's class became popular and the students enthusiastic. Barbara started each class by reading aloud from one of the books and the women worked hard to have something new to read each time their children came to see them; they worked to stay one step ahead of the next visit. Reading aloud is one of the most useful secrets you'll ever find for being an effective parent: It soothes a sick child, calms a fearful one, and eases a fretful one into sleep.
Tommy, the son of one of my friends, had to have tubes put in his ears as the result of repeated ear infections. Fear of the unknown made Tommy especially tense and uncooperative. After reading a story several times about Coco Bear who had tubes put in his ears, Tommy faced the simple procedure bravely. Dorothy Butler, a bookstore owner in New Zealand, tells about her grandchild, Cushla, who was a multihandicapped, chronically ill baby. Even though doctors said Cushla would have problems in school, her parents read books aloud to her while away long hours in hospitals and doctors' offices. Despite her severe problems, at age six and a half Cushla was reading alone at a level far above her actual age. Her parents had made books and language a vital part of her life, and Cushla had fooled the doctors and learned to read, despite dire predictions that she would not.
Books can help you as a parent in many family situations. When a new baby is coming along, books that deal with that situation head-on help a child express deep innner fears of being replaced or unloved when the newcomer arrives. Books can ease concerns about losing a tooth, having an operation, serving as a flower girl in a wedding, or facing parents' divorce. A child can learn how a character in a book deals with peer pressures. There is a backward and forward flow between books and what happens in real life. Children use real-life experiences to help them understand books and books help them to understand real life.
We never know exactly what is going to appeal to a child so don't be too selective in choosing books. If your child loves toy trucks, try to find books about trucks. If he is interested in the stars, find some books on astronomy or sky watching. If she wants to be an astronaut, get her books about astronauts and space travel.
Telling stories to children is important, too. After all, it is the stories in books that make them so appealing to a child. We have an instant audience when we say, "Let me tell you about when I was a little girl." My son once said, "Mommy, tell me about the olden days when they had covered wagons and pioneers when you were a little girl." The time frame may have been a little off, but I appreciated his interst. Stories about the good old days give children a sense of their family heritage. Do you remember some of the stories your parents or relatives told you? Isn't it fun to hear the one about how Aunt Emily nibbled like a mouse to eat chunks of icing off the pineapple upside-down cake while the rest of the family was out in the barn milking the cows? Do you remember stories that you loved hearing as a child? Tell them to your children. You can edit out parts they might not understand -- or parts you don't want them to understand! I told many stories about my little sister in which I took liberties to add to her misbehavior; Aunt Doty stories were the ones my children asked for repeatedly. The stories you tell become part of your child's storehouse of experience; they keep the past alive so that the memories can be passed down from generation to generation.
Whatever your background, your reading level, or your occupation, there are books for you and your children. If you speak Italian, read to them in Italian. If you speak Spanish, read to them in Spanish. Books representing different cultures reinforce a child's heritage and help build self-esteem. But no matter what the language, we must read to our children.