Children’s language development: Talk and listen to them from birth.

Children’s language development: Talk and listen to them from birth.: Why? The question ate at Suskind, who co-founded the hospital’s cochlear implant unit in 2006. She believes she discovered her answer in research by child psychologists Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley. Their landmark study in the 1990s found that a child born into poverty hears 30 million fewer words by age 3 than a child born to well-off parents, creating a gap in literacy preparation that has implications for a lifetime.

I Wouldn’t Have Known: Parenting a Special Needs Child | NRL News Today

I Wouldn’t Have Known: Parenting a Special Needs Child | NRL News Today: You don’t know what you’re capable of until it stares you in the face. And the last 12 years of loving my son, serving my son, have been rich. I wouldn’t have known that. I would have said I couldn’t handle it, the medical stuff, the fear, the recurring sadness of having a brain-damaged child. I would have been so wrong.

Defending the Faith: Sociologist explains how religion benefits even atheists | Deseret News

Defending the Faith: Sociologist explains how religion benefits even atheists | Deseret News: Regardless of their age, he says, religious people are much less likely to commit crimes. Accordingly, the higher a city’s church membership rate, the lower its rates of burglary, larceny, robbery, assault, rape, sexually transmitted disease and homicide. In a cleverly designed test at Pepperdine University, a disappointing 45 percent of weekly church attenders turned out to be honest, but that was still more than three times the 13 percent rating of non-attenders.

LDS Church News - Children need positive feedback, encouragement in academics

LDS Church News - Children need positive feedback, encouragement in academics: Parents also need to be examples of learning and behavior. "Don't belike the teacher who said, `I am yelling at my students to be nice,' " shesaid. "If we want our children to be happy, capable and thoughtful, wehave to be that way ourselves."

Acupuncture and Depression: Acupuncture Has the Same Effect as Counseling, Study Finds : News : Headlines & Global News

Acupuncture and Depression: Acupuncture Has the Same Effect as Counseling, Study Finds : News : Headlines & Global News: After the 12-week testing period, the researchers reevaluated the depression levels of each group. Those who underwent acupuncture treatment scored 9 in average, falling on the “mild depression” category. Those who went through counseling scored 11 while those who had the usual care scored 13 in an average, both fall under the “moderate depression” category.

BBC NEWS | Health | Music training boosts the brain

BBC NEWS | Health | Music training boosts the brain: Music lessons can improve memory and learning ability in young children by encouraging different patterns of brain development, research shows.

Caffeine intake results in delayed brain development

Caffeine intake results in delayed brain development: Humans and other mammals show particularly intensive sleeping patterns during puberty. The brain also matures fastest in this period. But when pubescent rats are administered caffeine, the maturing processes in their brains are delayed. This is the result of a study supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Children's and young adults' average caffeine consumption has increased by more than 70 per cent over the past 30 years, and an end to this rise is not in sight: the drinks industry is posting its fastest-growing sales in the segment of caffeine-laden energy drinks. Not everybody is pleased about this development. Some people are worried about possible health risks caused in young consumers by the pick-me-up.

Losing weight for baby: Mom's obesity linked to extreme preemies - NBC News.com

Losing weight for baby: Mom's obesity linked to extreme preemies - NBC News.com: Women with a body-mass index between 30 and 35 were 58 percent more likely than those at a healthy weight to deliver an extremely premature baby, a team of U.S. and Swedish researchers found after examining the medical and delivery records of 1,599, 551 Swedish moms.

Napping may boost preschoolers' memory skills - CBS News

Napping may boost preschoolers' memory skills - CBS News: "Until now, there was nothing to support teachers who feel that naps can really help young children. There had been no concrete science behind that," Dr. Rebecca Spencer, an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said in a press release. "We hope these results will be by policy makers and center directors to make educated decisions regarding the nap opportunities in the classrooms. Children should not only be given the opportunity, they should be encouraged to sleep by creating an environment which supports sleep."

Nutritious snacks help keep kids healthy and alert | Appleton Post-Crescent | postcrescent.com

Nutritious snacks help keep kids healthy and alert | Appleton Post-Crescent | postcrescent.com: “There is a difference between mindless and purposeful snacking,” said Angela Lemond, a Dallas dietitian and childhood-nutrition spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. “What a child eats and how much they eat for snacks has a huge impact on their overall nutrition.”

Music matters: Studies show it's important for brain development

Music matters: Studies show it's important for brain development: With fall fast approaching, extracurricular activities are on the minds of many children and adults alike.

While sports often make the shortlist of choices, music lessons can sometimes be over-looked as an important extra-curricular choice. But many recent studies are giving good reason to move music to the top of one's to-do list.

Are you stressing out your child? | Inquirer Lifestyle

Are you stressing out your child? | Inquirer Lifestyle: Though stress isn’t the sole cause of the seeming rising incidence in child disorder today, it is still something parents must be concerned about.
Even if your child caps your really bad day, take a step back and examine exactly how your own behavior affects the behavior, development and personality of your child.
David Code, in his book “Kids Pick Up On Everything: How Parental Stress Is Toxic To Kids,” concludes that a parent’s level of stress can severely affect a child’s development. Not only is the effect of chronic stress felt as early as when the baby is in his mother’s tummy, this is also where stress could be especially harmful.

Tackle child obesity with diet, exercise: Your Say

Tackle child obesity with diet, exercise: Your Say: About 4% to 6% of children in the United States are severely obese, but there are few effective options to help them reach a healthy weight, according to the American Heart Association. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

Parenting in 2013: Going on Your Kid's Job Interview, Killing Bedtime Stories - Alexander Abad-Santos - The Atlantic Wire

Parenting in 2013: Going on Your Kid's Job Interview, Killing Bedtime Stories - Alexander Abad-Santos - The Atlantic Wire: Today's parents aren't like the men and women who raised them. Case in point: a disturbing survey out today says that there are parents who are now accompanying their adult children on job interviews. Another poll, equally frightening, provides proof that parents have begun to abandon the cherished bedtime story.

"A 2012 survey of more than 500 college graduates by Adecco, a human-resources organization, found that 8% of them had a parent accompany them to a job interview, and 3% had the parent sit in on the interview," reads the key line from a highly distrubing Wall Street Journal trend piece today.

So that's 15 kids out of 500, three out of every one hundred adults (who are generally old enough to be considered legal adults) if extrapolated, that thought it okay to have a parent sit in on an interview. And those parents (generally grown-up adults) thought that accompanying their adult children to their big-boy and big-girl job interviews was okay too.

Mom's sensitivity helps language development in children with hearing loss

Mom's sensitivity helps language development in children with hearing loss: Mar. 8, 2013 — University of Miami (UM) Psychologist Alexandra L. Quittner leads one of the largest, most nationally representative studies of the effects of parenting on very young, deaf children who have received cochlear implants. The findings indicate that mothers who are most sensitive in their interactions with their children receiving cochlear implants have kids that develop language faster, almost "catching up" to their hearing peers.

Fighting childhood obesity; it can be prevented

Fighting childhood obesity; it can be prevented: What is the good news? Childhood obesity can be prevented. For children, experts recommend at least one hour of physical activity per day and a balanced diet focused on vegetables, fruit, healthy fats and lean meats with limits on refined grains and sugars. If you’re concerned about your child’s health, there’s no time like the present to start you and your child down the path to a healthy life.

Parents' Yelling Is as Harmful as Hitting, Study Finds - WSJ.com

Parents' Yelling Is as Harmful as Hitting, Study Finds - WSJ.com: Parents who yell at their adolescent children for misbehaving can cause some of the same problems as hitting them would, including increased risk of depression and aggressive behavior, according to a new study.

Throwing Out To Rule Book On Parenting - Science News - redOrbit

Throwing Out To Rule Book On Parenting - Science News - redOrbit: The research team found that children’s genetically-influenced characteristics do affect parental behavior across 32 studies involving twins. They estimated that a child’s genetics influenced 23 percent of genetic differences in parenting. Children evoke different responses from their environment through genotype-related differences. An antisocial child, for example, is more likely to elicit harsh discipline than a more social child.

Learning a new language alters brain development

Learning a new language alters brain development: The study concludes that the pattern of brain development is similar if you learn one or two language from birth. However, learning a second language later on in childhood after gaining proficiency in the first (native) language does in fact modify the brain's structure, specifically the brain's inferior frontal cortex. The left inferior frontal cortex became thicker and the right inferior frontal cortex became thinner. The cortex is a multi-layered mass of neurons that plays a major role in cognitive functions such as thought, language, consciousness and memory.

Language development at age 2 | Washington Times Communities

Language development at age 2 | Washington Times Communities: However, all the growth that seemed to be stunning can be quickly eclipsed once the second birthday hits and children begin developing their language skills in earnest. By this point children should understand most of what is being said to them.