“Brain Development Research Brings Hope for Disorders“

In the last two decades, studies have been conducted by think-tanks at prominent schools such as Princeton, Stanford University, and the MIND Institute at the University of California at Davis.  These studies focus not only on what happens prenatally, but what happens in children’s environments as they grow up.  

Scientists have conducted research that suggests prenatal brain development may begin by responding to the rhythms of the mother’s heart.  The steady beat helps the neurons connect into logical patterns.  If all that electrical activity is interrupted by erratic fluctuations in the mother’s heart beat over a sustained period of time, parts of the baby’s brain may not develop properly.  After birth, the infant brain contains trillions of connections which gradually wither away over the next few years.  Researchers have concluded that connections which are not used disappear, so they now  focus on the interaction between genetics and environment..

There has also been a great deal of work done in how the growing human brain heals after trauma.  Growing brains are very different from adult brains and display remarkable abilities to regenerate or form new connections to replace the damaged ones.    

All of this research has been of great interest to teachers–people who deal every day in their classrooms with the epidemic increase in brain dysfunction, including ADD, hyperactivity, and autism.  The overwhelming consensus is that something must be happening in our society to compound problems which we used to consider rare.  Modern society has become increasingly complex and stressful; I don’t think anybody will argue that fact.  Once we all agree that a problem exists, and research clearly demonstrates one does, the next step is to find solutions.

At the beginning of the 20 th Century, scientists discovered the importance of nutrients such as vitamin C in preventing a host of scourges.  Those discoveries led to better nutrition and a greatly extended life span for the human race.  Now, we have access to remarkable findings that can inspire us to use the current research into how the human brain develops.

Parents of children with difficulties like hyperactivity and autism have a lot of hope and options.  The research into what causes these brain dysfunctions is pointing toward treatment and even cures.  For example, applied behavior analysis (ABA) has helped autistic children either “improve significantly” or “function normally”, according to a study from the Princeton Child Development Institute in New Jersey.

The ABA method is based on the work of Ivar Lovaas, a psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. Parent groups have sprung up all over the country; parents adapt exercises and strategies to fit their particular situation, then exchange ideas and support one another.