A new study published by Proceedings of the National Academies of Science found an unlikely link between musical training and speech processing. Researchers found that specifically, six months of piano lessons were shown to better a child’s speech-sound processing. Children with piano training gained better word discrimination, and in comparison to a reading group, gained better consonant discrimination:

“Even compared to their peers in the extra reading group, children who took piano lessons were significantly better at distinguishing between spoken words that differed by only one consonant, [the researcher] explains. (Both the piano and reading groups performed better than the control group at differentiating between vowels.) This, he says, suggests that piano lessons affect a crucial and complex element of language processing.

Consonants, like ‘T’ and ‘D’, can sound so similar that the human brain has to make a snap decision about what it’s hearing. ‘Consonants require a bit more precision to tell one from another than do vowels,’ [the researcher] says. ‘The biggest benefit showed up where there’s the biggest challenge.’

While this small study was completed with Mandarin-Speaking children, the results certainly indicate the positive effects of musical training for young children.

Read more of the Time article here

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A new study published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics has found a significant increase in cases of reported anxiety in children aged 6 to 17. Researchers asked parents whether their child’s doctor has ever told them if their child has anxiety and/or depression. Researchers found that “Based on the parent report, lifetime diagnosis of anxiety or depression among children aged 6 to 17 years increased from 5.4% in 2003 to 8.4% in 2011–2012. Current anxiety or depression increased from 4.7% in 2007 to 5.3% in 2011–2012; current anxiety increased significantly, whereas current depression did not change. ”

Several factors may be playing into the increase in anxiety among our nation’s youth, including the increased role that social media plays in our children’s lives, or pressures from a competitive school environment. One provider interviewed for the Washington Post  article linked below stated “School is putting so much pressure on them with the competitiveness … I’ve seen eighth graders admitted as inpatients, saying they have to choose a career!”

Clink the links below to learn more about this study.

Read the Washington Post Article

Read the full Scientific Article

Taking care of mom’s mental health may be important to the overall development of their children, a new study finds. Wu et al (2018) researched the impact that a mother’s depression can have on a child’s emotional and intellectual development, finding that children with depressed mother’s had significantly lower verbal IQ scores than that of children whose mother was not depressed.

Cheryl Platzman Weinstock writes in Reuters “At age five, children with severely depressed mothers had an average verbal IQ score of 7.3 (on a scale of 1 to 19), compared to a higher score of 7.8 in children without depressed mothers. The discrepancy “might not seem like a big difference, but it is truly significant and important and highly meaningful for children’s learning skills,” [the researchers] told Reuters Health by phone. These children will have a smaller vocabulary and poorer comprehension skills…The study team also found that depressed moms didn’t interact as well with their children. Researchers had observed the mothers’ emotional and verbal communication with their children during spontaneous interactions in the home. They observed how often mothers praised their children, read to them, conveyed positive feelings and hugged their child, among other things. Highly depressed moms were less responsive, affectionate, loving and warm. They didn’t invest emotionally or provide learning materials to their child as much as mothers who were not depressed, the authors write in the journal Child Development.”

While we cannot be certain that mother’s depression is the source of these lower IQ scores, this study certainly highlights the need to focus our attention on the mother’s mental health in addition to children’s overall well-being. Mother’s who screen for depression should be provided with resources and support necessary to combat depressive symptoms, ensuring their child’s development is not impacted!

 

Read the Reuter’s Article here

Read the Full Article in Child Development

According to the University of Connecticut’s School of Medicine, by the age of 4, one in four children in the United States have experienced a traumatic event. For children who come from low-income households, this trauma risk doubles to one in two children. Dr. Julian Ford, a psychiatry professor and director of the Center for Trauma Recovery and Juvenile Justice at UConn Health. His specialty is focused on childhood trauma, its impact on brain development, and how to prevent the effects of trauma.

Dr. Ford defines trauma as “abuse whether verbal, emotional, physical or sexual, neglect, violence, witnessing violence, or being involved in an accident or natural disaster.” However, trauma does not have to involve something physically life threatening. Just verbal or emotional abuse can make a child feel unworthy of living. Dr. Ford wants to encourage more adults, parents, and teachers to become more “trauma informed” to prevent or even detect childhood trauma and serve as role models.

Read the whole study here

It is widely known that elementary school students can have a short attention span when it comes to doing school work. In order to keep them away from getting distracted, short breaks throughout their lessons can help them focus better. The short brain breaks and recess breaks are not just downtime for students. It is also a portion of time then students increase their productivity and provide them with opportunities to develop creativity and social skills.

In a 2016 study, psychologist Karrie Godwin, along with her fellow researchers measured how attentive elementary students were during class. They discovered that they spent about a quarter of the time distracted, unable to focus while the teacher was talking and while completing a current task. Teachers found that it was more effective to give more 10 minute lessons than fewer 30 minute lessons. There are other benefits to taking breaks during school hours. It was proven that it can decrease stress, increase productivity, boosts brain function, and provides opportunities for children to learn social skills.

To successfully incorporate breaks during school time, it is recommended to add a few minutes of exercise in the classroom to reset their attention. Also, use brain breaks to stimulate curiosity and boost students’ motivation and improve their mood. Lastly, set some time aside during class for creativity to help increase students imaginations.

Read the article here

Read more about the 2016 study here

The United States currently faces high rates of childhood obesity. According to the Center for Disease Control, rates of obesity among children are around 17%. In order to improve children’s growing bodies, a supervised exercise program was created to get young children moving around for an hour before school starts. There were findings from a study involving two dozen elementary and middle schools concluded that the exercise programs made children happier and healthier. However, the benefits of the exercise were only shown if a child was actively participating in the program. According to national exercise guidelines in the United States, it is recommended that children and adolescents engage is at least an hour of exercise on a daily basis. But, estimates showed that only 20% of children are active.

A group of mothers in Massachusetts decided they were going to start a local program that would help their children become more active. In 2009, parents came together to organize a before-school exercise program in their local grade school, so that the amount of time children spent moving around in the day could be increased. Each one hour session included a warm-up, running, and creating group games, such as tag. All of these activities were led by parent volunteers. The program became very popular and eventually gained a formal curriculum with the name Build Our Kids’ Success (BOKS). Dr. Taveras, a pediatrician who examined the program, believes that these such programs “might help to re-instill some of our children’s instinctual pleasure in motion.”

Read the New York Times article here

Read about the study here

Learn more about the Build Our Kids’ Success curriculum here

 

In light of this week’s protests from students across the country, exploring the links between civic engagement in adolescence and positive outcomes in later life feels timely. Authors Parissa Ballard, Lindsay Hoyt, and Mark Pachucki published a research study on just that in January of this year. Their study found that adolescents and young adults who were engaged in such activities as volunteering, voting, and activism, were more likely to have higher income and education attainment later in life. Additionally, voting and volunteering were associated with better mental health outcomes.

Lisa Damour, an Ohio-based psychologist and author of “Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions Into Adulthood” wrote an article about this study for the New York Times. She notes, “Of course, correlation does not prove causation, but the study makes a case for the benefits of civic engagement. In light of the findings, Parissa Ballard, the study’s lead author… said that ‘having meaningful opportunities to volunteer or be involved in activism may change how young people think about themselves or their possibilities for the future.'”

Read the New York Times article here

Read the full article in Child Development

In the 21st century it is quite common to meet someone who is bilingual, a person who can speak two languages or more. Recent studies have shown that there are a few benefits of being bilingual, especially for brain development. In public schools, it has become a trend to have two-way immersion programs. This program focuses on assimilating students into English as soon as possible. NPR Ed was able to contact different researchers from around the world to figure out the benefits of bilingual education in middle school. Some benefits of becoming bilingual at a young age are better attention, better at reading social cues, better reading skills, better school performance, and more. With more and more public schools implementing a second language in their curriculum, children who grow up in a house speaking only one language have the opportunity to learn a new language at school, which can benefit them as they continue to grow.

Read more about the study

Read the full study of how bilingualism affects reading here

It has proven from multiple sources that engaging in physical activity is beneficial to the human body in many ways. However, how early in life should someone begin to engage in physical activity?  Dr. Jaci Van Heest,  an associate professor at the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education, created a program for elementary school students known as Physical Activity at a Lifetime Scale. Dr. Van Heist emphasizes through her program that physical activity is an important factor in a child’s life, which is exerted through playing.  She wanted young children to play intensely and with joy. She also made a miraculous connection between playing and the brain. An elementary school student in the program described to Dr. Van Heest that he aced a test because of his improved physical activity. That was the moment when Dr. Van Heest asked to herself is there a connection between physical activity and doing well in school. Through brain scans, it showed that the neurons in the prefrontal cortex were impacted from playing. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for complex behaviors,such as planning and contributes to personality development. In other brain scans, it was proven that there is much more brain activity while someone is walking than sitting, which can be beneficial to someone’s health. Dr. Van Heest concludes by saying that physical activity is not only a great tool for improving someone’s physical  health, but also their emotional activity. Dr. Van Heest will be hosting a Q & A session through Twitter on February 15th at 1pm to 2 pm.

Watch Dr. Van Heest’s whole video

As children grown into adolescents, they are stereotyped to become self-absorbed teenagers. Recent research from Brigham Young University and University of Missouri suggests the opposite may be true. Dr. Laura Padilla-Walker led a 10 year study to track the prosocial behavior of adolescents. Prosocial behavior can be thought of as voluntary acts that positively impact strangers, friends, or family. These behaviors are valuable to study because they have been linked to adolescents’ self-worth, moral identity, well-being, work ethic, and academic success. The experiment measured 500 adolescents’ initial levels of altruistic acts, and continued to do so throughout their transition into adulthood. The individuals ranked their feelings of parental warmth, friend connectedness, and empathy to comprehensively depict prosocial behavior. Results showed that selfless acts towards strangers and friends began at a younger age than towards family. Additionally,  prosocial behavior towards strangers increased across ages 12 to 17. These findings suggest that helping others out in early adolescence can lead to lasting positive outcomes in overall well-being. The benefits of prosocial behavior can be achieved at a young age by engaging in acts such as volunteering, assisting a friend, and displaying empathy. With the lack of long-term studies on this topic, getting involved in research is crucial for a fuller understanding of the positive effects of prosocial behavior.

Read more about the study

See the full study here