Brain and Learning - The Reading Rockets website

One of my first careers out of technical college was working as a licensed practical nurse in and Intensive Care Unit at nights. I understood the physiological effects brain injuries from accidents, and exposure to environmental contaminants on the human body especially children. After graduating college with a degree in Biology and minor in Chemistry I spent 22 years as a health inspector for the Wisconsin Department of Health. During that time I inspected well over 200 homes for exposure of environmental contaminants in homes and schools to children. I understand how the contaminants I find in homes could have an adverse impact on a child's and even fetus's brain development. My job was to identify the results of my findings to the families so that they could share it with their pediatrician or family doctor and incorporate it into the care plan for that child's development.

That is why I found Melissa Neely's site she recommended very interesting. Melissa recommended the Reading Rockets website on children with learning possible disabilities located at  http://www.readingrockets.org/atoz/brain_and_learning/. The sites covers many of the aspects that most all parents know to include how nutritional and prenatal care an important aspect of any fetuses development in the womb. Also it references how parents who read aloud while pregnant helps the child recognize it's mothers voice when born (Curran, 2010). At the website there is a video that talks about a husband and wife researcher team, the Molfeses, who are trying to determine if a one day old baby can distinguish the differences in the sound between the letter "B" and the letter "P" (Fischer, 1994). In 1977 they tracked 32 children and presented their findings to the National Institutes of Health. NIH awarded them a 1 million dollar grant to continue their research and since 1986 they have been following over 400 infants including their own son. I found the information fascinated from the standpoint that as an adult we wouldn't normally think that a child at such an early age could distinguish such sounds. Yet the video shows tools that the researchers use to determine the child's ability to distinguish sounds. On a side note, my brother-in-law works as an audiologist and has similar equipment to what the researchers were using. He has also done test on children at very early ages to help family practice doctors diagnose patients with possible hearing defects that cause speech problems.

Melissa’s recommendation of the Reading Rocket website is a good reminder of the research that is being done to help parents identify any potential impediments a child might have to learning. With this new found knowledge parents are then able to find the resources they need to help their child learn and develop,

References:

CURRAN, P. (2010, Dec 17). Newborns recognize their mothers' voices; section of the brain that governs learning of language is switched on. The Gazette. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/818658539?accountid=14872

FISHER, F. (1994, Sep 25). Infants' brain waves may indicate potential learning disorder, psychologist says intelligence: Computer tests of newborns may detect disability before it's too late to remedy problem. Los Angeles Times (Pre-1997 Fulltext). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/293000961?accountid=14872