Katlin Fitzgerald

Childs Brain Video-Lifespan

May 28, 2014

A child's brain is a magnificent engine for learning. A child learns to
crawl, then walk, run and explore. A child learns to reason, to pay attention,
and have the ability to remember. There is no place where learning is more
dramatic than in the way a child learns language. As children, we acquire
language that we will utilize for the rest of our lives. It is the hallmark of
being human.
In nearly all adults, the language center of the brain resides in the left
hemisphere, but in children the brain is less specialized. Scientists have
demonstrated that until babies become about a year old, they respond to
language with their entire brains, but then, gradually, language shifts to the
left hemisphere, driven by the acquisition of language itself.
But if the left hemisphere becomes the language center for most
adults, what happens if in childhood it is compromised by disease? Brain
seizures such as those resulted by epilepsy and Rasmussen's syndrome,
have a devastating effect on brain development in some children.
Developmental neurobiologist Carla Shatz appears again, stressing
that learning is connectivity, and that the term exuberant connectivity is a
very fitting description for the brains of young children that have more
synaptic connections than adults. The child is tends to eliminate unnecessary
connections and form new ones.
The lateralization of language to the left hemisphere during the second
year of childhood is demonstrated by Debby Mills. The consequences of left
hemisphere removal to treat seizures are described dramatically. Several
children provide moving demonstrations of their lives before and after
surgery, including right side paralysis. The brains remarkable plasticity is
shown.
This episode also considers dyslexia. While talking arises
spontaneously in most children, reading requires specific instruction.
Maryanne Wolf and Guinevere Eden describe reading as a very complex
human cognitive performance that uses syntax, vocabulary, naming letters,
understanding corresponding sounds, word perception, and comprehension.
Such skills, controlled by various parts of the brain, must all be coordinated
for effective reading. The episode follows an intelligent boy whose dyslexia
makes the complex task of reading particularly challenging.