This study primarily focused on examining the role of caregivers in language development within both children with prenatal or perinatal brain injury (BI) and typically developing children (TD). Previous research has shown that lesion characteristic played an important role on the adaptability of linguistic development in children with BI. However like TD children, children with BI tend to have easy compliance towards language development. To make sure the experiment was controlled many variables had to be taken into account. Variables concerning the lesion such as its location. According to Eccles (2009) whether a lesion is located in the left hemisphere or the right can result in more marked language deficits (91). Each deficiency could also differ in characteristics (size, type of lesion) changing the overall linguistic ability of a BI child. The smaller the lesion, the more susceptible to early language growth, complicated vocabulary syntax and comprehension a child is, the larger a lesion the worse the condition for the child. There was also the question of whether or not the c...
The clip that was particularly memorable was the story of both Katie Worrick and Michael Rehbein’s hemispherectomy. From a neurological perspective, it was astounding to watch both these children survive and function without a part of their brain and if that wasn’t enough they were functioning remarkably well from a cognitive point of reference. I did wonder at first why Katie was still not speaking, but realized that her surgery was still recent when the documentary was made. Just like Michael, who took about 2 years after surgery to regain some of his speech after persistently working on it, Katie too could hope for the same. Having said that, I am also aware of Neuroscientist Dana Boatman’s conclusion that results and recovery times vary from child to child. I did try to find out more about the two children featured in this documentary to see how much life had improved, but could not find any documented information except for an answer to a blog about hemispherectomy by Katie’s mom that said, “My name is Janie Warrick and I live in Richmond, VA. My daughter, Katie who is now 17, had a left hemispherectomy Aug. 8, 2000 in Baltimore, Maryland at Johns Hopkins
Oflaz, M. (2011). The Effect of Right and Left Brain Dominance in Language Learning. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 15, 1507-1513. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.03.320
The mind of an infant and toddler is a sponge to language. Whether or not the child is able to speak, their brain is rehearsing and affirming the linguistic structures they hear, and the period of baby talk—called “babbling”—is a crucial time of experimentation with sound. During this time, the child will babble while in social situations in order to see which phonological structures receive positive responses from their parents—i.e. which combinations of sounds elicit responses. If a child cannot hear the sounds that their language offers, the child does not have the opportunity to babble. A child with significant hearing loss will still make sounds in infancy, but will quickly cease due to the lack of response and the fact that they cannot hear the sounds they are making and so cannot affirm them for themselves.
Talge, N. M., Neal, C., & Glover, V. (2007). Antenatal maternal stress and long-term effects on child neurodevelopment: how and why?. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48(3/4), 245-261.
Generally the left hemisphere of the brain is the site of language, motor activity on the right side of the body, and logical thought based on language. The right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for motor activity on the left side of the body, context perceptions, and holistic perception. The orbito-frontal cortex (the part of the brain directly behind the eyes) is responsible for integrating emotional responses generated in the limbic system with higher cognitive functions, such as planning and language, in the cerebral cortex's prefrontal lobes(Culp). The left orbito-frontal cortex is responsible for memory creation while the right orbito-frontal cortex is responsible for memory retrieval. Healthy functioning requires an integrated right and left hemisphere. A substantial number of synaptic connections among brain cells develop during the first year of life. An integrated brain requires connections between the hemispheres by the corpus callosum. Abused and neglected children have smaller corpus callosum than non-abused children. Abused and neglected children have poorly integrated cerebral hemispheres. This poor integration of hemispheres and underdevelopment of the orbitofrontal cortex is the basis for such symptoms as...
Goldin-Meadow, Susan (2006). How children Learn Language: A focus on Resilience. In K. McCartney & D. Phillips, The Blackwell Handbook of Early Childhood Development, 252-269. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Children who suffer from Traumatic Brain Injury might suffer from learning disabilities as a result of their injury.
From birth, our everyday experiences and interactions with the people around us help to grow and shape the brain. The child-caregiver relationship is a key element in healthy cognitive development, and has a lasting impact on the child’s life. Through this positive relationship the child learns and cultivates their understanding of people and the world around them. These experiences will help determine the level of motor skills, visual skills, and learning abilities that a child will possess in their future. A responsive caregiver provides the serve-and-return interactions a child needs to develop healthy brain circuitry. A healthy example of serve-and-return is when an infant babbles and gestures to an object, the caregiver responds accordingly by smiling and naming the object. This interaction lays the foundation for creating a link between the object and the word. As children age they learn about cause and effect, spatial relationships, problem solving, number sense, and classification. They learn these skills through the use of symbolic play and imitation.
Adamson, L., Bakerman, R., Deckner, D. & Romskey, M.(2008). Joint Engagement and the Emergence of Language in Children with Autism and Down Syndrome.
Brain Development in early childhood is dependent on many factors. As the brain develops, cognitive, social and language acquisition activities build up. During cognition development language will naturally emerge. There are many factors that give to the outcome of brain development. As stated in The Development of Children, 2013 early brain development increases at a rapid rate. The brain does slow down its growth after infancy until there is another spurt around adolescence. The brain reaches about eighty percent of its mature weight at the onset of early childhood. At about five years of age, the brain is closer to ninety percent of its mature weight. Many significant changes occur during this slower time of early brain stages. “As seen within the brain the growth allows for myelination to continue. Myelination is when the brain that increases the spread of neural impulses to various areas of the head. During early childhood myelination occurs in the frontal cortex section of the brain. This fosters more cognitive protocol for the child” (Lightfoot, Cole 2013).
“If you think about the brain and the brain development if we don’t stimulate the brain then of course there is going to be lack of development.” (“Unruh”). Development is sempiternal in life, it moves through many stages into life such as learning to grasp a fork properly to grasping the thought of death. General development stages begin at birth and last till about age of 18, but the most important development stages start from birth and last till about six years of age. These early stages will affect how one will behave, interpret, and learn throughout the duration of one’s life. While bodily changes are rapidly occurring and the beginning of thought, opinion, and reason are just forming. It is important to understand as future parents or caregivers how and when their child, even if premature, is developing socially, cognitively, or physically.
Cognitive Development and Language Skills Development “Cognitive development underpins all the other aspects of development as children start to explore and make sense of the world around them. It is closely linked to the development of language and communication skills as children interact with the people around them.” There are many theories written on the subjects of cognitive development and language and communication. These theories vary in several ways, but they all seem to make the link between the too subjects. Childcare settings put these theories into practise in a lot of ways, sometimes without even realising it, just through conversation.
Cooper, R. P., & Aslin, R. N. (1990). Preference for infant-directed speech in the first month after birth. Child Development , 61(5), 1584-1595.
By our first birthday, fifty percent of essential qualities needed to survive are developed. About twenty percent of all child development is completed, and this is not only physically but also intellectually, linguistically, emotionally, and socially. The infant is truly a remarkable creature. We, as adolescents, still struggle to learn new material, yet as a baby everything is new. We are open to it, though, at that age. To think, we were all infants at one point. Child development during the first twelve months is the most determining segment of a person’s life.
Studies about early childhood development indicate that the brain develops in response to experiences with caregivers, family and the community, and that its development is directly linked to the quality and quantity of those experiences. Meeting a child’s needs during these early stages creates emotional stability and security that is needed for healthy brain development. Repeated exposure to stressful events can affect the brain’s stress response, making it more reactive and less adaptive. With time a child may react as if danger is always present in their environment regardless of what the presenting situation actually