Nathan Wallis 29.07.2020
50% genes
50% interaction with your environment in the first 1000 days of your life.
This means by around age 2.5 - 3 your brain has decided what kind of brain it is going to need for the rest of its life.
70% of your genes are transcription genes they can change based on how you are raised in the first 1000 days of your life.
First 1000 days starts at conception, NOT birth.
Kanohi to kanohi interactions are the most complex thing your brain does.
The language in the first 1000 days need to also come with an emotionally tuned connection for the best possible outcomes.
In the first year it is only the 1-1 dyadic relationship that matters to the child. This is why the words heard from sibling don’t make up for the words heard from the 1 person who is the most important in their life.
For the words to count the baby needs to be emotionally in tune to be able to receive them.
In our country the younger you are the less tax payer money is spent on you. Most money is spent in 16-18 years olds and most of this is on punitive responses and resources.
After the age of 8 it is impossible to tell which child learnt the basics earlier than another.
Risk and Resilience
Risk is all the stuff that leads to negative outcomes, if you have enough risk factors you are more likely to end up on the negative side of things later in life; not speaking native language, being separated from extended family, etc.
The opposite of these are resilience factors which counteract these e.g having grandparents regularly involved etc
More people have anxiety and depression in this generation due to the way in which we have added extra risk factors by the way society now is. E.g more children are now in ECE than are at home with a family member, many more now do not have grandparents who don’t work and are also regularly engaged etc etc. Kids now are starting more in the middle when they begin so are less resilient and are more affected by the risk factors that occur.
The number one factor of how well a child performs in class is the relationship with the teacher, having a teacher for more than one year give a step towards resilience.
HOW CAN WE TRY TO EMBED AND VALUE PRACTISES WHICH WILL KEEP TEACHER STUDENT RELATIONSHIP FROM ONE YEAR TO ANOTHER WITHOUT KEEPING STUDENTS WITH THE SAME TEACHER.
- tuakana teina
- shared class experiences
- build language development
- music
The worst age to experience trauma is age 11. This a vulnerable age due to puberty and all the other changes that occurring.
Nuro sequential Model
We have 4 brains inside our head:
- largest in called brain 4
To know if a function occurs in the frontal cortex of the brain (brain4) ask can the dog do it?
Brains develop bottom to top. Brain number 4 is not fully developed until adulthood (mid-late 20s (average 27)). (Woman usually 18-24, Male usually 22-32).
This controls your emotions, empathy, consequences, reading, writing, school activities etc.
(Animals do have a smaller frontal cortex but nothing like in a human.)
#1 impact of how fast kids mature and hit milestone is gender (girls before boys)
2nd is birth order - first born or NOT first born.
The implication for this are that first born girl will usually be at the top of the bell curve while a not first born by will usually be at the bottom of the bel curve.
BOYS WHO ARE NOT THE FIRST BORN OFTEN HAVE DEVELOPMENTALLY INAPPROPRIATE EXPECTATIONS PLACED ON THEM ESPECIALLY WITHIN THE EDUCATION SETTING.
- how do we or can we consider this within the school setting.
Brain #1 is your brain stem = survival brain (flight, fright or freeze - includes anger and fear)
# 2 cerebellum = movement
Brain 1 & 2 = reptile.
3# emotional brain limbic system - mammals have this. (includes happiness, excitement etc.).
#4 is the thinking and learning brain.
4 develops LAST you have to build #s 1, 2 & 3 PROPERLY to be able to access brain #4.
First 6 months of life are about survival. (attachment)
Next year is mostly about movement.
18mths-2year emotional brain comes online (tantrums etc. with no self regulation as the frontal cortex is not yet online).
They NEED to be SHWON how to calm down (maybe 100times) is they are to learn it themselves, being shut in a room for time out is not helping them develop the ability to calm down.
In adolescence brain #4 is essentially shut down for renovations and they move backwards into brain #3.
To move to being an adult brain it doesn't mean the brain gets better it means the frontal cortex needs to move from being online 10% of the time to 90% of the time.
Adults are 90% - 10%
Teenagers are 10% - 90%
Emotive Brain (Limbic Brain)
Broken biscuit analogy with the 3 years olds demonstrates the feeling brain as opposed to the thinking brain.
This is the same brain as the teenager whose frontal cortex is 'closed for renovation'.
This brain is associated with dispositions NOT LEARNING.
Dispositions are your feelings and beliefs around a topic.
Ages 2-8 a child is developing their disposition around how they see themselves as a learner. How clever they FEEL.
TO predict the outcomes for the child you need to be able to understand how they feel about themselves as a learner.
Early literacy and numeracy do not lead to success POSITIVE DISPOSITIONS towards THEMSELVES AS A LEANER DO.
International research tell us that Resilience is developed between age 2 and 8 in a free play environment. The key things during this that is developed is CREATIVITY.
From an academic and neuroscience point of view creativity is the biggest sign on intelligence. Traditional learning creates black and white thinkers who think there is only one right answer.
Statistically, each time you interrupt a child from creative free play to 'teach' them something that they are not ready for you are setting them up to have anxiety and depression as a teenager. This is because the more free play they have under 7 the more creativity and problem solving they will do, this is then carried on to teenagers who are either resilient problems solvers who will keep trying or those who see things as black or white and give up.
Brain 1 and 4 operate like they on a balance scale as one increases, the other declines. To really be using your cortex your brain needs to be calm.
Scared children CANNOT LEARN ANYTHING.
At present we come to the mat for roll call and circle time. Do we put roll call and circle time to 9:45 and just let them play through until then as a way to further calm and engage the students into the day?
Go to mindfulness activities at ANY time of the day when it may be needed to help students move out of their brainstem and into the cortex.
Neuroplasticity is reduced by.....
Caffeine
Alcohol
Tobacco
Sugar
Nature vs Nurture is not an accurate statement.
It's not Nature interact with nurture which is the key as to if things are positive or negative.
Humans have receptors for things that humans have been having for thousands and thousands of years.
Humans have receptors for alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, marijuana.
They DO NOT have receptors for refined sugar as we have only been having this for around 300 years.
Sugar documentary talks about how it affects the brain.
Marijuana and Alcohol - effects on the teenage brain.
Correlation does not mean causation.
This means that just because 2 things happen at the same time or are evident in the same research this does NOT mean one of these things causes the other.
2 solid things we know from a research point of view that marijuana negatively affects the brain and this only happens under 18 years of age (no damage after 18 years of age (maturation of front cortex in this instance does not apply, it is 18 years of age for everyone)
- can trigger schizophrenia due to the THC when the brain is under construction.
- on auberge people who smoke marijuana under that age of 18 lose an average of 8 IQ points it depends on your genomes how much THC your body can take so it could be triggered after one exposure or may require more.
P seems to leave holes in the frontal cortex which do not seems to be able to be repaired. The study's however have not been going on long enough yet to know for sure.
Alcohol damage occurs 18-21 years (depending on the individual).
- can reduce your hippocampus (working memory) stops it growing to full capacity and this is stunted from the first time you have alcohol. (Needs to be more than 1 unit per hour).
- Frontal cortex is compromised by taking on alcohol under the age of 18-21.
Self-Control
An individual’s ability to be able to use Self-control is the number one thing which measures how successful your child will be.
Marshmallow experiment.
Don't confuse self-regulation and self-control
Self-regulation is the way you regulate or calm yourself to be able to show self-control.
E.g in the marshmallow experiment kids covered their eyes or turned their chairs (self-regulation) in order to not eat the marshmallow (self-control).
With teenager you want to try and get them to use their frontal cortex so rather than the 'brick-wall' shut up and do as your told approach get them involved in the decision making and negotiation.
Appropriate levels of choice e.g it's cold outside green jersey or blue jersey (2 years)
Curfew negotiation (teenagers) help to build their self control and regulation.
They need to be able to practice this will support from good parenting.
Statistics tell us that Brick Wall parenting causes the most problems for children later in life.
What do you need to calm (and heal) the brain in order of importance according to the literature and research:
(think I have missed something here)
1. Dyadic Relationship
2. Water and Kai
3. Autonomy
4. Predictability (karaka)
5. Sensory Pathways
6. Touch
7. Kaumatua
8. Karakia
Vabel tone - the amount of time it will take an individual to calm down after being in the brain stem.
This depends on your experiences as a 0-2 year old and how fast your caregiver came and helped or settled you between the ages of 0-2.
Yoga has been proven as the one way to improve the vabel tone - to increase how quickly your can calm back down. Yoga has been proven to be more effective in developing calming than anger management courses.
Teenager and kids need back bone parenting. Firm boundaries with negotiation within this.
General parenting styles - its normal to go through all three.
Jellyfish style -----------------------------back bone style --------------------------Brick wall style
Your brain is experience expectant of things happening to trigger 'normal' brain development. A dyadic relationship is something your brain is expecting, if this doesn't happen the brain doesn't develop 'normally.'
A child with autism doesn't make eye contact as eye contact for them is like someone holding direct eye contact for WAAAYYY too long which triggers the amigdala system in the brain. (Very uncomfortable).
Brain number 1 = dyad. A dyad is required to calm brain #1.
Brain number 2 = movement.
Rhythmic patterning is required to calm brain #2. Most kids get this developed as babies being rocked.
Hammock / cocoon swing on deck?
If kids arrive at school with A rhythmic pattern e.g from an abusive home etc, a waiata to start the day can be enough to re-set their rhythmic pattern, this will last for around 45 mins then they will need another reset.
Brain # 4 to engage neuroplasticity you need to b able to engage executive functions, these are improvable.
4 main executive Function to improve overall intelligence:
- Working Memory - this is like mentally juggling balls in the air, how many things can you
keep in your memory at one time. e.g remember these numbers
add Kim's Game and Memory to Purposeful Play
- Self Control
-Metacognition - thinking about thinking
- Cognitive flexibility - the ability to go between left and right brain activities or multi
tasking.
Humans in general mainly work in and use the left side of their brain.
Kai meets the needs of all 4 brains.
To learn we need:
1. safety
2. Rhythm (rituals, welcome, waiata, make connections etc.)
3. Emotional Validation (establish relationship)
4. Learning
Autism
There is no definitive answer about autism.
We know that it had something to do with all the following things....
1. testosterone - it appears the more testosterone the higher the chance of autism, this can
be the parents testosterone not just how much testosterone the child has.
2. the pruning of the brain which often occurs at age 3 as the brain starts to speciaise
doesn't happen so there are too many neural pathways going on, too much complexity
stays in the brain. This is why the develop set rituals and NEED predictability as there is
too much going on.
3. microflora in your stomach 40-60% of people with autism have digestion issues.
4. possible lack of oxytocin at an unknown key development point.
As we get to age 3 the brain begin to prune and specials and cut away the parts which have not been deemed important in the first part of our life. e.g if a child has never experienced empathy then empathy is at risk of being 'pruned'.
Dyslexia
The dyslexic brain achieves the same thing but it takes twice as long. It relates to lateralization. Often children with dyslexia are very capable adults as they have worked so hard getting 'there' their brains are very 'work fit' but they need lots of support to get there and stay positive on the journey.
Screen time
We KNOW that the amount of screen time you have in childhood increases the chance of having anxiety and depression as teenagers.
To counteract this children need to have at least 2hours regular device / screen free time each day.
Technology only aides education when it is used in addition to face to face learning.
ADHD
Science doesn’t know much about ADHD.
Slight change in the temporal lobes of the brain.
It is thought that ADHD has as much to do with the environment as it does with genetics.
Originally cal 'absent father syndrome'
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