Are We Over Stimulating Young Children?

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By on Dec 18th, 2012

Dr. Marilyn Price-Mitchell – Roots of Action

In 1970, the average age at which children watched television was four years old. Today, the average age is four months. The typical child before the age of five is watching 4 ½ hours of television per day, 40% of their waking hours! Recent studies have linked television to the over-stimulation of an infant’s brain, leading to the development of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in young children.

An excellent article that looks at both sides of the issue. Dr. Price -Mitchell provides an easily understandable explanation of the concerns of neurologists while also giving parents links to help parents use media and technology for positive developmental outcomes.

Healing the Trauma: How Parents, Caregivers, and Teachers Can Help

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By on Dec 17th, 2012

Trauma disrupts the normal course of brain development and the potential implications of trauma and abuse cannot be ignored. Exposure to neglect and abuse may result in reduced ability to seek rewarding relationships and a reduced commitment to societal and cultural values. Artificial and “quick” rewards become attractive. Unmet bonding needs increase allure to gangs, sects, and cults with violent and authoritarian values, which can create safety issues for abused and traumatized young people.  While therapy is required for the child to restore integrated brain functioning, parents and caregivers can also provide support and help to create new experiences that promote new ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

These strategies are good for anyone but can have a very powerful effect on abused young people by helping them cope with their stress and channel their energy in a productive way. The strategies are intended to be implemented in a natural way, on an “as needed” basis, and in conjunction with the therapist and the therapy process. The goal in each case is to provide experiences for the young person that are supportive, caring, and provide success. In every situation, expectations should be reasonable, clearly articulated, and consistently positively reinforced.

  • Eliminate threat by providing a safe and predictable environment. Uncertainty creates stress and for traumatized kids that increases hypervigilance and emotional arousal. Be sensitive to their feelings and accept that over-reactions to situations may occur. Talk about them when they happen and reinforce better strategies for dealing with stress and fear.
  • Encourage a return to normal activities like going to school or participating in community activities. Routines and daily/weekly rituals re-focus their thinking in a positive way instead of repeatedly processing memories of the abuse.  An awareness of the child’s needs for teachers and/or coaches allows them to provide the most positive situation possible and not inadvertently make the situation stressful or threatening.
  • Role model and encourage stress-reduction strategies. Physical activity, exercise, taking a “quiet minute”, deep-breathing, visualization, art, drama music, journaling, or goal-setting are all positive ways to reduce stress and deal with life’s “curve balls” in a positive way.
  • Provide a feeling of purpose through goal setting – both short and long term.  By checking in on the goals on a regular basis you can provide feedback and validate progress. This can powerful set in motion a powerful cycle of empowerment, motivation, and achievement.
  •  Encourage involvement in projects like community service or youth development organization membership. These can also help to create a feeling of purpose and empowerment. They learn they can channel their energy in either positive or negative directions and, over time, they come to realize that it is their own daily decisions that ultimately determine the course of their life (not the actions of another person).
  • Provide opportunities for enhancing personal control by teaching/implementing problem solving skills for daily issues and concerns they encounter. Most problem-solving approaches include the following steps: 1) defining the problem, 2) thinking about and identifying their feelings, 3) considering alternative solutions, 4) anticipating consequences, and 5) taking action based on the first 4 steps.

While these strategies can be helpful for those living and working with abused and traumatized young people, they are not a substitute for professional help.  Self-destructive or violent behaviors are often seen by traumatized children to be normal and “just what they do”.  Safety is the top priority and these behaviors require the help of trained mental health professionals.

In any case of suspected abuse or trauma, seek professional help. Professional help is important since abuse and trauma can have a lifelong impact on a child. Symptoms can lie dormant for decades and resurface many years later during exposure to a similar circumstance. It is only by recognition and treatment that trauma victims can hope to move past the impact of the trauma and lead healthy lives.

Referral to trained mental health professionals is critical.

 

The Many Faces of Trauma – Understanding Abused Children

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By on Nov 14th, 2012

Trauma can have many different faces. Trauma can be a single overwhelming event or it can be repeated victimizations either later in life or beginning in early childhood. It can be impersonal; natural disasters, fire, or war. It can be interpersonal: the deliberate threat or injury in the context of an interpersonal interaction (stranger rape, criminal assault, sexual harassment, combat). It can be relational; the deliberate threat or injury in the context of a relationship where the victim has some level of emotional involvement. Or it can be developmental, inflicted on infants and children unconsciously and most often without malicious intent by adult caregivers who are unaware of children’s social and emotional needs. [1] Regardless of the type of trauma, trauma is an experience. Ultimately it is the human brain that processes and internalizes traumatic experiences. Understanding the organization, function, and development of the human brain and brain-mediated responses to threat are the keys to understanding traumatized children and youth.

Neurons (the basic building blocks of the nervous system) form, and most migrate to their final location and then begin to differentiate in utero. Others complete their journey after birth. But all continue to differentiate until they are ready to perform their specific functions. The brain organizes and develops from the bottom up. As the brain develops from bottom to top, this process is influenced by a host of chemical signals (neurotransmitters, hormones and modulators). These signals help target cells to move, differentiate, and form synaptic connections. These crucial neural networks originate in the lower brain areas and spread up to all other parts of the developing brain [2]. These systems are then able to communicate across multiple regions of the brain simultaneously. This guides development later in life. Impairment in the organization and functioning of these systems can result in a cascade of dysfunction from the lower regions up to all the target areas higher in the brain. [3] Impairments during pregnancy, like maternal stress, drugs and alcohol, malnutrition, neglect, or abuse in early childhood, can all disrupt normal development.

The organization of higher parts of the brain depends upon information from the lower parts of the brain. Regulated, synchronous neural information from the lower regions of the brain allows the higher areas of the brain to organize in healthy ways. When the neural activity from the lower areas of the brain is dysregulated, asynchronous, and extreme, the higher areas will organize in an unhealthy or abnormal way [4].

Trauma at the hands of those closest to children and youth is viewed as being the most difficult to treat and the most impactful on the brain. Trauma between people is powerful and creates experiences that are imprinted on the brain for a lifetime. Details of the trauma may surface over a lifespan if left without proper support. The sensory system is very sensitive to bits and pieces of the world that may alert young people to the potential of a similar threat or experiences. Traumatic experiences can leave the brain in a hyper alert state and result in over-reactions to typical circumstances or the person disconnecting with the experiences in order to make them go away. In either case, the memories exist and will impact the lives of young people.

The most profound effect of early ongoing childhood trauma is the limited development of the right hemisphere of the brain [5]. Normally, the right hemisphere processes social and emotional information. The right frontal cortex modulates emotions and responds to social cues such as facial expressions. At the same time, aggression is modulated through a right hemisphere self-regulating system that operates on an unconscious level. These systems can develop only in a secure, nurturing environment.

Neglected or abused children experience unusually high levels of arousal and no opportunity for interactive repair. Early trauma not only leads to impaired development, it deprives the child of normal developmental experiences [6]. By the time these children enter adolescence and adulthood they exhibit hostile, aggressive personalities, struggle with conventional social cues, and have difficulty reading others facial expressions.  They also appear unconcerned about how their behavior affects others. Under threat or stress, they will often respond in an aggressive manner.

Depending on the type of trauma, a lack of cooperation between hemispheres can also create other symptoms [7]:

  • Somatization – unexplained physical symptoms that have no apparent cause
  • Intensification of normal fears
  • Depression or sadness
  • Aggressive behavior or temper tantrums
  • Irritability and exaggerated startle response
  • Pessimism
  • Magical thinking – a continuum of symptoms that range from daydreaming to Dissociative Identity Disorder
  • Problems regulating emotion and arousal
  • Alterations in consciousness and memory
  • Damage to self-concept and identity
  • Disruptions in cognitive capacities
  • Hyperactivity and attention problems
  • Relationship problems
  • Alterations in systems of belief

While all of this seems somewhat overwhelming, there is good news. New, healthier relationships with significant adults including therapists may be able to reverse and even undo many of the devastating effects of abuse. The advent of advanced neuroimaging technologies in the last 30 years has shown us that while natural developmental milestones and sensitive periods of enhanced neuroplasticity exist, new neurons continue to appear in parts of the brain related to new learning and that new neural networks appear and grow throughout life. Instead of our brains being the individual, isolated, self-organizing systems that neuroscientists assumed them to be, we now know that our brains are dependent on interactions with others and supportive environments for survival, growth, and well-being throughout our entire lifespan.

By being a part of their experiences, caring adults are able to activate and guide change within the brain, encouraging growth and development to facilitate new learning and better adaptation to the environment in which the child lives.

Next: Healing the Trauma: How Parents, Caregivers, and Teachers Can Help

 

[1 & 7] Stien, P. T. & Kendall, J. (2004). Psychological trauma and the developing brain: Neurologically based interventions for challenging children. New York: Routledge.

[2] Perry, B., Pollard, R. A., Blakely, T. L., Baker, W. L., & Vigilante, D. (1995). Childhood trauma, the neurobiology of adaptation, and “use-dependent” development of the brain: How “states” become “traits.” Infant Mental Health Journal, 16(4), 271-291.

[3 & 4] Perry, B. (2009). Examining maltreatment through a neurodevelopmental lens: Clinical applications of the neurosequential model of therapeutics. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 14, 240-255.

[5] Schore, A. N. (2000). Attachment and regulation of the right brain. Attachment and human development, 2, 23-47.

[6] Schore, A. N. (2003). Affect regulation and disorders of the self. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Attachment and the Brain

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By on Sep 9th, 2012

 An excerpt from my book  The Hopeful Brain: Relational Repair for Disconnected Children and Youth

Attachment theorists John Bowlby[1] and Mary Ainsworth (1978)[2] believed that every child needs a healthy attachment to caregivers who are empathetic and responsive to the child’s needs. When caretakers provide environments or ecologies where there is consistent sensitivity and attunement to the needs of their children, they are providing what Bowlby called a secure base. Children can count on those caregivers for comfort and attention when they are upset. This idea was taken a step further by Ainsworth when she proposed that they also need a safe haven, or an emotionally secure place, that they can return to after any new life experience. Unfortunately, the lack of well-attuned caretakers and children who do not form secure attachments means not all children are afforded these enriched experiences.

Although early childhood attachment experiences do have a large effect on growth and development, and despite earlier scientific consensus that the brain is fixed and unchangeable by adolescence, social neuroscientists now know that the brain is changeable, or “plastic.” Whenever we have an experience, neurons, the cells in our brain, fire. Every time neurons fire there is the potential to strengthen and/or create new pathways or synapses. When neurons fire, it is even possible to stimulate the growth of new neurons that can impact future experiences. Neuroscientists call this neurogenesis. When new neurons and new pathways are created in conjunction with experience, it is called neuroplasticity. We now know our brains have a lifelong ability to restructure their neural pathways based on experience and any meaningful relationship can reactivate neuroplastic processes and actually change the structure of the brain (Cozolino[3]).

Allan Schore[4], a leading researcher in the field of neuropsychology, believes that nurturing relationships with any significant adult can play a big role in the brain’s ability to change.Repeated early experiences certainly sculpt and strengthen our neural pathways, but nurturing and therapeutic relationships later in life can, to some extent, re-write and re-sculpt the pathways initially laid down. These therapeutic relationships and experiences can have a repairing effect and, in essence, can provide the secure emotional base and safe haven that is missing. As a surrogate caregiver, other significant adults in a child’s life can provide open, attuned, non-judgmental experiences in a safe and secure place and repair and re-route those early neural pathways.

 

[1]Ainsworth, M., Blehar, M., Waters, E., and Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

[2]Bowly, J. (1969/1982). Attachment and loss, vol 1: Attachment. New York: Basic Books.

[3]Cozolino, L. (2006). The neuroscience of human relationships. New York: WW Norton & Co, Inc.

[4]Schore, A. N. (2000). Attachment and regulation of the right brain. Attachment and human development, 2, 23-47.

 

 

 

 

 

I have trouble remembering when I study..

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By on Aug 24th, 2012

Question: I have trouble remembering when I study.. Do you have any tips?

 

I do!

What often happens is that you understood the gist of what you were studying, and felt comfortable with it as you read it or listened to it during a lesson, but you never properly challenged yourself to reproduce it on your own. Everything we learn requires practice and rehearsal, so simply reading something, even several times, is often not enough.

You need to find a way that works for you as we are all different but here are a list of things to try:

  • Reading out loud, discussing what you have learned with a study buddy, or answering practice questions aloud without looking at the notes.
  • As you read, picture the information in your mind. Draw diagrams or pictures of the key points, or make a word web or other graphic organizer to create a visual set. Flashcards may also help if it a fact based lesson.
  • Walk, pace, or ride a bike (something physical) while you rehearse what you have learned. Underline or highlight what you think is important. Physically run you fingers along the words as you read them.

As a personal example, when I get ready for trainings, I do it by presenting to my cats (captive audience!). I put the PowerPoint up on the wall and go through all the motions – as if I was actually presenting to my group. Many times I think I know what I am going to say, and it made sense in my notes or in my mind, but when I actually try and say it with the slide up there – I get stuck. That is my cue that I don’t know it as well as I thought I did. Once I talk it through aloud, I get it.

Finding a technique that works for you may take a bit of trial and error. When you read those points, which one made the most sense to you? Start there and try that – or try a combination of the three. It may feel a little odd at first but that passes quickly. Any form of active rehearsal will improve your retention. 

Dr. Meredith White-McMahon

  • About

    Meredith White-McMahon Ed.D is a veteran educator and author who specializes in working with troubled and troubling children and youth. She provides training and consultation services in crisis intervention and relational areas such as attachment, trauma, attention, depression, anxiety, and oppositional-defiance.