Renowned American educational psychologist, author and lecturer, Dr Jane Healy, held a conference on Brain Development and the School Aged Child at Paria Suites, La Romaine, on January 14.The topics at the conference included Different Learners, positive strategies to maximise children's innate potential, Brain Cleaning 101-how genes, brains, homes and schools interact to help children succeed, or not and the Stress Equation, finding the balance to help children succeed in a challenging world.
Dr Healy stated, "All children don't develop at the same pace but sometimes the late bloomers are very smart. If given the opportunity they can develop into a very smart person because the brain has had a longer period of time to build up connections." She stated that because of genetics you can't control what the child comes to you with but variables such as home and school can be controlled.
Dr Healy said, "Boys are at a serious disadvantage in traditional primary classrooms. At age five boys may be as much as six months behind girls in development of school type skills. Boys on average tend to have more hands-on, physical learning. They need different teaching methods and less seat work. Some talented girls also fit this description."The way children are raised and taught play a major role in shaping children's brains. Dr Healy said children are so busy staring at a screen that they can't formulate a simple sentence and even basic language skills are neglected.Children cannot be expected to formulate good problem-solving skills or be adaptable in terms of original thinking if the foundation is not laid out. Sensory systems need to be stimulated early on.