Interesting new children's book on the brain!
http://bit.ly/i51IXV
Check it out!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Trustworthy Tip of the Week
Question: My child is a bit "slower" at catching onto reading than some of his friends, but his teacher insists we just need to be patient and with time he will do just fine. Can I rest assured in her advice?
Answer: This can be wise advice. Children have different time frames for developing their academic skills. They are also under increasing pressure to develop into good readers and writers at younger ages than ever before. Sometimes just waiting 6 months can make all the difference.
But parents are wise to also be cautious of this advice. Susan Hall, co-author of Straight Talk On Reading, offers some important insight to parents. Susan’s experience as the parent of a child who had difficulty learning to read, led her to take an active role in the field of reading. She writes,
"Beware of the developmental lag excuse for several reasons.First, I have listened to parent after parent tell me about feeling there was a problem early on, yet being persuaded to discount their intuition and wait to seek help for their child. Later, when they learned time is of the essence in developing reading skills, the parents regretted the lost months or years.
Second, research shows that the crucial window of opportunity to deliver help is during the first couple of years of school. So if your child is having trouble learning to read, the best approach is to take immediate action. Knowing how soon to act is easy if you know the conclusions of recent research.
Reading researchers say the ideal window of opportunity for addressing reading difficulties is during kindergarten and first grade. The National Institutes of Health state that 95 percent of poor readers can be brought up to grade level if they receive effective help early.
While it is still possible to help an older child with reading, those beyond third grade require much more intensive help.
The longer you wait to get help for a child with reading difficulties, the harder it will be for that child to catch up. If help is given in fourth grade (rather than in late kindergarten), it takes four times as long to improve the same skills by the same amount.”
Click here to read more of what else Susan Hall has to say about reading.Here
The Fat We Want!
Studies have shown that what we eat affects how we feel, how we think, and how much energy we have. Memory, thinking, and attention are strongly influenced by food.
According to neurologist David Perlmutter (author of The Better Brain Book), “The standard American diet is a nightmare.” He goes on to say, “If I were to design a diet for the sole purpose of creating an epidemic of poor brain function, accelerated brain aging, mood disorders, and other neurological problems, it would be the one that most Americans are already following.” ( Page 62)
Believe it or not, the most important nutrient for the brain is fat because the brain is actually made up of fat. The problem is, if we eat a lot of unhealthy fats, we end up with an unhealthy brain.
Fats that support brain health are monounsaturated fats (found in foods like olive oil, canola oil, nuts, and avocados), and some forms of polyunsaturated fats, including the Omega 3 essential fatty acids which are particularly important for brain function. Omega 3 fatty acids can be found in cold water fatty fish, deep green leafy vegetables, some grains, and pumpkin seeds. Many people find it helpful to supplement their intake of these essential Omega 3s by taking fish oil capsules.
The fats to stay away from are saturated fats and trans-fatty acids. Saturated fats are found in meat and full-fat dairy products. We need protein in our diet, much of which comes from these sources, but limiting the amount of saturated fat to about 10 percent of our daily caloric intake is wise as saturated fat makes the brain cells sluggish. According to Dr. Permutter, a diet high in saturated fats can result in memory problems and moods disorders for individuals of any age. It is not just seniors who are having “senior moments” these days.
Trans-fatty acids are probably the worst fats for our brains and should be on our diet black list. These are found in nearly all processed foods (partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil or partially-hydrogenated vegetable shortening) and fried foods.
Trans-fatty acids are used to increase the shelf life of food, but inhibit our learning and performance because they make our brain cells rigid, tough, and slow. They keep cells from being able to get nutrients, make energy, and communicate with other cells.
According to neurologist David Perlmutter (author of The Better Brain Book), “The standard American diet is a nightmare.” He goes on to say, “If I were to design a diet for the sole purpose of creating an epidemic of poor brain function, accelerated brain aging, mood disorders, and other neurological problems, it would be the one that most Americans are already following.” ( Page 62)
Believe it or not, the most important nutrient for the brain is fat because the brain is actually made up of fat. The problem is, if we eat a lot of unhealthy fats, we end up with an unhealthy brain.
Fats that support brain health are monounsaturated fats (found in foods like olive oil, canola oil, nuts, and avocados), and some forms of polyunsaturated fats, including the Omega 3 essential fatty acids which are particularly important for brain function. Omega 3 fatty acids can be found in cold water fatty fish, deep green leafy vegetables, some grains, and pumpkin seeds. Many people find it helpful to supplement their intake of these essential Omega 3s by taking fish oil capsules.
The fats to stay away from are saturated fats and trans-fatty acids. Saturated fats are found in meat and full-fat dairy products. We need protein in our diet, much of which comes from these sources, but limiting the amount of saturated fat to about 10 percent of our daily caloric intake is wise as saturated fat makes the brain cells sluggish. According to Dr. Permutter, a diet high in saturated fats can result in memory problems and moods disorders for individuals of any age. It is not just seniors who are having “senior moments” these days.
Trans-fatty acids are probably the worst fats for our brains and should be on our diet black list. These are found in nearly all processed foods (partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil or partially-hydrogenated vegetable shortening) and fried foods.
Trans-fatty acids are used to increase the shelf life of food, but inhibit our learning and performance because they make our brain cells rigid, tough, and slow. They keep cells from being able to get nutrients, make energy, and communicate with other cells.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
All You Need is Love
All you need is love…and a little bit more.
It is the hardest thing for a child with a learning disability to go to school every day not understanding why they struggle so much. John Lennon did not know he was dyslexic until much later in life, but he always knew he was different than all the others. He described his feelings about it to Jann Wenner in his famous 1971 Rolling Stone interview.
People like me are aware of their so-called genius at ten, eight, nine… I always wondered, “why has nobody discovered me?” In school, didn’t they see that I’m cleverer than anybody in this school? That the teachers are stupid, too? That all they had was information that I didn’t need.
I got…lost in being at high school. I used to say to me auntie “You throw my…poetry out, and you’ll regret it when I’m famous,” and she threw the…stuff out.
I never forgave her for not treating me like a…genius or whatever I was, when I was a child.
It was obvious to me. Why didn’t they put me in art school? Why didn’t they train me? Why would they keep forcing me to be a…cowboy like the rest of them? I was different, I was always different. Why didn’t anybody notice me?
A couple of teachers would notice me, encourage me to be something or other, to draw or to paint— express myself. But most of the time they were trying to beat me into being a…dentist or a teacher.”
“The guitar’s all very well, John, but you’ll never make a living out of it”, his aunt Mimi famously said. Yet despite her and most other people’s doubts, John Lennon remained the leader of his band and a leader of his generation throughout the rest of his years. Like many gifted people, whether they are social, political or business leaders, it has been BECAUSE of his dyslexia and not DESPITE it that John Lennon is the legend that he is today. Imagine that!
Can you imagine what your child, nephew, niece, brother, sister or friend with learning problems can become if only given the opportunity to shine by playing to his or her strengths? Can you imagine a world without the contributions of Lennon, Da Vinci, Einstein, Picasso, Ansel Adams, Henry Ford, Churchill, Patton, Eisenhower, Edison, Mohammad Ali or Hans Christian Andersen? Can you imagine a world in which children don’t have to feel stupid when they go to school because they can’t read like the rest of their friends? You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. Like many other professionals around the world I work with dyslexic children every day, and I know that it is possible to fix their learning problems. All they need is love…and a dedicated professional to work with them.
It is the hardest thing for a child with a learning disability to go to school every day not understanding why they struggle so much. John Lennon did not know he was dyslexic until much later in life, but he always knew he was different than all the others. He described his feelings about it to Jann Wenner in his famous 1971 Rolling Stone interview.
People like me are aware of their so-called genius at ten, eight, nine… I always wondered, “why has nobody discovered me?” In school, didn’t they see that I’m cleverer than anybody in this school? That the teachers are stupid, too? That all they had was information that I didn’t need.
I got…lost in being at high school. I used to say to me auntie “You throw my…poetry out, and you’ll regret it when I’m famous,” and she threw the…stuff out.
I never forgave her for not treating me like a…genius or whatever I was, when I was a child.
It was obvious to me. Why didn’t they put me in art school? Why didn’t they train me? Why would they keep forcing me to be a…cowboy like the rest of them? I was different, I was always different. Why didn’t anybody notice me?
A couple of teachers would notice me, encourage me to be something or other, to draw or to paint— express myself. But most of the time they were trying to beat me into being a…dentist or a teacher.”
“The guitar’s all very well, John, but you’ll never make a living out of it”, his aunt Mimi famously said. Yet despite her and most other people’s doubts, John Lennon remained the leader of his band and a leader of his generation throughout the rest of his years. Like many gifted people, whether they are social, political or business leaders, it has been BECAUSE of his dyslexia and not DESPITE it that John Lennon is the legend that he is today. Imagine that!
Can you imagine what your child, nephew, niece, brother, sister or friend with learning problems can become if only given the opportunity to shine by playing to his or her strengths? Can you imagine a world without the contributions of Lennon, Da Vinci, Einstein, Picasso, Ansel Adams, Henry Ford, Churchill, Patton, Eisenhower, Edison, Mohammad Ali or Hans Christian Andersen? Can you imagine a world in which children don’t have to feel stupid when they go to school because they can’t read like the rest of their friends? You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. Like many other professionals around the world I work with dyslexic children every day, and I know that it is possible to fix their learning problems. All they need is love…and a dedicated professional to work with them.
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