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.

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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.

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It seems intuitive that reading to a child will improve their literacy skills, but can engaging in math activities also impact vocabulary learning? The connections between home literacy activities, such as storybook reading, and language skills are well studied; however, relationships between cross-domain skills, such as numeracy and literacy skills, are not as understood. In a recent study at Purdue University, Human Development and Family Studies researcher, Dr. David Purpura, more closely examined home numeracy environment and child outcomes. 114 children were tested for literacy and numeracy skills in the fall and spring of their preschool year, and their parents were surveyed on how often they engaged in numeracy activities with their child. The various parent-child math exercises included counting objects, identifying written numbers, and using the terms ‘‘more” and ‘‘less.” Researchers found numeracy activities not only aided in the development of math skills, but also positively impacted vocabulary skills. This finding shows the ability of the home setting to prepare children for more formal learning in the future. The link could be due to the conversation that takes place when children are first exposed to math concepts. By incorporating more numbers and quantities in everyday interactions with children, crucial development can take place across math and literacy domains.

 

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Can an infant pick up on your level of effort while you complete a task? It turns out that 15-month-olds are not only able to recognize persistence, but their behavior can also be influenced by observing persistence. In a recent study, researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology had infants watch adults either quickly complete a task, such as removing a toy from a container, or struggle to complete this task. The infants then where given a toy that seemed like it could be turned on with a button, but  was actually disabled by the researchers. The study found that the group of infants whom had previously witnessed an adult have difficulty with a task pressed the button more times in effort to turn on the toy.  Just by seeing an adult work hard, infants can emulate that same grit in their own behavior. Researcher, Julia Leonard, suggests that instead of parents being pressured to make everything look easy in front of their children, showing hard work may positively impact children. The ways in which we model perseverance around infants and children is especially significant because persistence, even over IQ, is a strong predicting factor of future academic success.

 

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A major proportion of children’s media star human-like animal characters, but is this the most effective methodology for relaying moral lessons to children? A recent study by researchers at the University of Toronto focused on reading books with human characters, and books with anthropomorphic characters to examine different effects on learning. Both categories of books taught children ages four to six about sharing with others. The researchers evaluated altruistic behaviors before and after the book was read. The study showed that children were more likely to share after reading the book featuring humans when compared to the book with animal characters. Children seem to more easily pick up on concepts that realistically mirror their own life. This study shows the significance of learning techniques in the early cognitive development of children, especially with lessons of morality.

 

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In the first months of life, infants are able to grasp relations between objects and co-occurring words. During this rich period of learning, does sleep help to strengthen object-word relationships? A recent study from researchers in Germany investigated this relationship in infants aged 6 to 8 months. They exposed infants to new object-word pairings and then measured their brain activity after the infants had taken a nap. The study found that sleep was indeed associated with semantic encoding of words in long-term memory. This was especially true during longer periods of stage 2 sleep, indicating length of a nap can play a significant role in infant learning. Researchers additionally found brain patterns known to occur in children and adults that improve memory during sleep, also occur in infants. An infant’s sleep provides the brain an opportunity to categorize and filter what they have been exposed to, enabling further development.

 

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By pinpointing predictive characteristics observed in early elementary education, educators could positively influence children’s development into adolescence and adulthood. A large-scale 2015 study from researchers at Pennsylvania State University examined connections between social competence in kindergarten, and wellness in young adulthood. They measured qualities in children known as noncognitive skills, which include: interpersonal interaction, emotional regulation, motivation, and attention. Researchers have found that these characteristics serve as predictors for success in adulthood such as well-being, education, employment, crime, substance use, and mental health. These findings can beneficially impact school programs in providing early intervention for noncognitive skills in childhood, and to ultimately have lasting effects in adulthood. The study emphasizes the significance of social-emotional functioning, a subject that UConn KIDS researchers are also investigating.

 

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“Dr. Ian Paul, a professor of pediatrics and public health sciences at Penn State College of Medicine, is one of the leaders of the Insight Study, an intervention which started in 2011 to look at the effects of helping parents learn “responsive parenting” strategies that help them read their babies’ signals…In the intervention, he said, parents learn to recognize what is actually hunger, since hungry babies, of course, need to be fed, and they also learn alternative strategies for soothing babies who are crying for other reasons. A baby who is distressed but not particularly hungry will calm down if given a sweet liquid, which Dr. Paul said could lead to problems later on.”

Read more about the study via The New York Times

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It seems that it is becoming a common occurrence for parents to have to discuss violent events of the world with their children. Even though, as a parent, you may try to shield children from learning about these events,  most children have some understanding of what has happened – children overhear as the details of en event are broadcast on our nightly news programs, pick up clues from adults in conversation, or by simply seeing images in magazines/newspapers.  In light of the most recent violent event in Manchester, England, we have decided to draw your attention to some resources to help in talking with your children about these events, as well as helping them to cope with grief, should an event impact you personally:

“Talking with kids about the scary news”

“How children grieve and how parents and other adults can support them”

American Academy of Pediatrics resource page on helping children cope

Do you think you or your child may benefit from therapy or other services in light of a recent event? CT 211