Thanks Janet! Hope that you don't mind, but I sent this to some
  parents that needed to read this today. I know that I needed to
  read it.<smile> Linda Forrest's Mom

janet paterson wrote:
>
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> Children Do Not Have Learning "Window"
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>
> NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Some brain research may mislead parents into thinking
> they have only a narrow window of opportunity to stimulate an appreciation
> of language, math or music in their child, according to a Missouri researcher.
>
> However, the evidence to support these contentions are weak at best,
> according to Dr. John Bruer, president of the McDonnell Foundation, a St.
> Louis-based program that awards grants for biomedical and educational
> research.
>
> "The claim that children are capable of learning more at a very early age,
> when they have excess synapses and peak brain activity is one of the most
> common ones made in neuroscience and education literature," reported Bruer
> in a paper scheduled to be published in the journal Educational Researcher.
>
> "Other articles urge that children begin the study of languages, advanced
> mathematics, logic and music as early as possible, possibly as early as age
> 3 or 4," he wrote.
>
> So why the rush? Well studies -- mainly conducted in monkeys -- show that
> at birth, infants have fewer synapses -- connections between neurons -- per
> unit of brain tissue than adults.
>
> However, the infant brain soon begins to form large numbers of such
> synapses, which connect brain cells into circuits, in a process known as
> synaptogenesis.
>
> At this point, there is an elimination process, where synapses are "pruned"
> over a number of years and the number of synapses falls to the adult level,
> usually around the age of sexual maturity for most species, Bruer notes.
>
> This finding has led some to claim there is a "critical period" of learning
> from birth to age 3.
>
> However, this theory assumes that the human brain develops in much the same
> ways as the brain of rhesus monkeys, according to Bruer.
>
> "Unlike the monkey, where synaptogenesis appears to occur simultaneously
> across all regions of the brain, the limited human data suggest that
> changes in synaptic density in our species may vary among brain areas," he
> wrote.
>
> Instead, research suggests that the human mind is more "plastic" than
> previously thought, able to adapt and change throughout a life-span.
>
> "Stories stressing that children's experiences during their early years of
> life will ultimately determine their scholastic ability, their future
> career paths, and their ability to form loving relationships have little
> basis in neuroscience," Bruer wrote.
>
> 1997, Reuters Health eLine
> <http://www.medscape.com/reuters/mon/t110710f.html>
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>
> janet [log in to unmask]