So how is a child’s brain affected by environments hostile to healthy development?
One way is the stress response, specifically the release of cortisol. Continued exposure to elevated levels of this hormone negatively impacts the child’s cognitive development, setting them on a path to what Shonkoff, et al. call a “fragile foundation for all the health, learning, and behavior that follow.
In a study that explored the impact of family instability (“residential, caregiver, and family structure changes”) and maternal unresponsiveness on the cortisol levels of young children, researchers found that children who experienced “heightened levels of socio-economic distress … displayed categorically different physiological set points of basal cortisol activity” from the age of 2.
And the impact on learning? The authors say this:
“our study found that the elevated pattern of basal cortisol was associated with the lowest mean level of cognitive functioning in children aged 4”
My takeaway? The earlier kids are stressed, and the more chronic that exposure is, the harder it is for them to learn because their brain grows differently and that difference is a fragile foundation for learning.
What are the things we view as normal, or the things we tolerate, which put our kids in chronic states of stress? (Remember, the science says this applies from conception).
Is it possible to talk about raising literacy achievement without also doing something about these?
Today’s message from Pluto
“Oi - my life is awesome. Why isn’t every kid’s? Woof!!!”
