Slide 58:

Yale published a nice report a little over a year ago. Their report that I’m going to present is at this point very, very consistent with the general teaching in pediatrics. What they showed was that infants and toddlers first days, months, years have a decisive impact on the formation of neural connections in the developing brain. This is a critical aspect of understanding your children. When a child is born, they have not developed all the mature connections that you have as adults. They have to develop those through their learning experiences as a child. Research showed that parents and caregivers can help a child’s brain develop to its full potential if the child is loved and receives attention through talking, reading, playing. However, if a child is abused or neglected, problems may ensue that persist a lifetime.

One of the most distressing parts to me is to realize that many of your children, even dysfunctional, are extremely bright. How are they being treated? Are they being treated like a child who might be in pain and hurting? Are they being treated like a child who is struggling because they are totally frustrated? Or are they being treated as a behavioral problem and let’s discipline them?