2010 Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology Conference

 

April 10 and 11, 2010

Grove Isle Hotel, Miami, Florida

 

“Uniting Science and Education to Identify and Remediate Learning and Emotional Difficulties Associated with Developmental Delay”

 

 

 

Featured Speakers

 

Sally Goddard- Blythe

 

Session Title:

Primitive and Postural Reflexes in Perspective: An Overview of the INPP Method – A Clinical and Educational Method of Assessment, Remediation, and Evaluation

 

Session Description:

Primitive and postural reflexes provide diagnostic signposts of maturity in the functioning of the central nervous system at key stages in development.  Although these reflexes are tested at birth and in the first weeks of post natal life by medical practitioners, they are not re-assessed at later stages in development as a matter of routine.  When the responsibility for evaluating a child’s development passes from the domain of Medicine to Education at the time of school entry (in the UK), the focus of assessment shifts from assessment of physical development to the attainment of educational targets.  Teachers do not have sufficient training to assess physical development, while doctors are primarily concerned with detection and treatment of medical conditions, not of the impact of dysfunction or immaturity on learning outcomes.  This has meant that children who are not developmentally “ready” for aspects of formal education simply “slip through the net” of professional services which should be in place to identify and remediate the underlying physical causes of educational under-achievement or behavioral difficulties.

 

The INPP Programme provides a method of identifying and assessing signs of developmental immaturity together with effective remedial intervention programmes. This presentation will examine the history of the development of The INPP Method, the use of tests for primitive and postural reflexes as tools for the identification, assessment and remediation of developmental immaturity and will discuss the use of The INPP Programmes in educational and clinical settings.

 

Biographical Information:

Sally Goddard Blythe, MSc.FRSA, is a Consultant in Neurodevelopmental Education and Director of The Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology (INPP) in Chester.  INPP was established as a private research, clinical and training organization in 1975, dedicated to the development of assessment procedures to identify underlying physical factors in specific learning disabilities and adults suffering from anxiety and panic disorder and to the development of effective remediation programmes. 

 

Sally is the author of several books and published papers on child development and neuro-developmental factors in specific learning disabilities including Reflexes, Learning and Behavior, The Well Balanced Child, and What Babies and Children Really Need.  Her newest book, Attention, Balance, and Coordination – the A,B,C of Learning Success was published by Wiley-Blackwell in April 2009.

 

Sally is the author of The INPP Test Battery and Developmental Exercise Programme for Use in Schools - a programme of daily exercises designed to be used in schools with a whole class of children over one academic year – this programme has been the subject of published research involving 810 children across schools in the UK.  The aim of the programme has been to provide teachers with a method to help them identify physical readiness for learning and a programme of exercises designed to encourage physical readiness in children with problems.

 

Sally has lectured on the role of infant reflexes in development and later learning problems to many different groups throughout Europe and in different parts of the United States.  She is a member of the International Alliance for Childhood and the “Open EYE” campaign – a pressure group dedicated to ensuring that children’s developmental needs remain at the top of the agenda for government recommendations for early years’ education in England.  She is also a patron of Toddler Kindy Gymbaroo, a programme developed in Australia to optimize children’s development in the early years.

 

The Institute of Neuro-Physiological Psychology is honoured that Dr. Pasquale J. Accardo has agreed to make a presentation at the 2010 INPP Conference; he is known throughout the world for his work on the Primitive and Postural Reflexes and the effect that they have on children. Dr. Accardo worked very closely with the medical ‘Grandfather’ of the role of Reflexes in development, the late Professor Arnold Capute. 

 

“In view of Dr. Accardo’s background and knowledge we are sure that his presentation will be vital for all Pediatricians, Occupational Therapists, Physio-Therapists, Educators and everyone involved in the future well-being of children.”  Peter Blythe, INPP-Chester

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Pasquale J. Accardo, M.D.

 

 

Session Title:

A BRIEF MEDICAL HISTORY OF NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES: Being notes on the curious and surprising, if not shocking, histories of childhood, pediatrics, medicine, society, and civilization by a bemused observer and sometime participant.

 

Session Description:

Some key milestones in the history of childhood and their developmental significance will be reviewed. The various threads in the histories of medicine, neurology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and education will be used to explain the surprisingly recent discovery of neuro-developmental disorders and then place in perspective the many current unanswered questions about diagnosis and treatment. Cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, learning and attention disorders, and autism will be highlighted.

 

Biographical Information:

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Pasquale Accardo, MD, received his M.D. from SUNY Downstate, and completed his pediatric residency at Riley Children’s Hospital, Indianapolis, and his developmental pediatrics fellowship at the Kennedy Institute, Baltimore.  He has subspecialty certification in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and in Neuro-developmental Disabilities through the American Board of Pediatrics. He previously served as the medical director of the Knights of Columbus Developmental Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and the LEND director at the Westchester Institute for Human Development, New York. He is currently James H. Franklin Professor of Developmental Research in Pediatrics at Virginia Commonwealth University where he directs the VCU Child Development Clinic. Dr. Accardo has authored, edited, co-edited over three dozen books as well as numerous chapters and papers in the field of neuro-developmental disabilities. In 2005 Dr. Accardo received the Arnold J. Capute Award from the Council on Children with Disabilities of the American Academy of Pediatrics. 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Maryanne Wolf, Ed.D

 

 

Title:

The Evolving Reading Brain: Implications for Reading Development, Dyslexia, and Intervention

 

Session Description:

An overview of how the human brain learned to read will be used as a new framework for understanding how each child learns to read and why many children have difficulties. Principles of the brain’s design that allow the learning of new skills will be described in terms of their implications for intervention. Results of efficacy studies will be described. Finally, implications of this view of an evolving reading brain will be the basis for discussing societal challenges and individual children’s challenges in the current transitions to a digital reading brain.

 

Biographical Information:

Maryanne Wolf is the John DiBiaggio Professor of Citizenship and Public Service, Director of the Center for Reading and Language Research, and Professor in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University.  She received her doctorate from Harvard University, where she began her work on the neurological underpinnings of reading, language, and dyslexia.  Among her awards for teaching and research are the Distinguished Professor of the Year award from the Massachusetts Psychological Association, the Teaching Excellence Award from the American Psychological Association, the Distinguished Researcher Award from Tufts University, a Fulbright Research Fellowship award for research on dyslexia in Germany,  the  Norman Geschwind Lecture Award from the International Dyslexia Association for neuroscience research in dyslexia, and the Alice Ansara Award for work in dyslexia.  Along with colleagues Dr. Robin Morris, and Dr. Maureen Lovett, Prof. Wolf was awarded the  NICHD Shannon Award for Innovative Research and several multi-year NICHD grants to investigate new approaches to reading intervention, including the RAVE-O reading intervention program, created by Prof. Wolf and members of the Center.

 

The author of numerous scientific publications, Wolf recently completed a book for the general public, Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, published by Harper-Collins in the United States, by Icon Books in England, and now translated into ten languages and audio version. Described as one of the Best Books of the Year by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and an Acclaimed Book of the Year by US News and World Report, Proust and the Squid received the Marek Award from the New York International Dyslexia Association for the best book of the year on reading. 

 

Dr. Wolf’s recent research interests include reading intervention, early prediction, fluency and naming speed, cross-linguistic studies of reading, the relationship between entrepreneurial talents and dyslexia, and the uses of brain imaging in understanding dyslexia and treatment changes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anna R. Buck

   

Session Title:  

The INPP Program: What Happens When the Primitive Reflexes Become Inhibited‐ 

Documented Stories from the Perspective of Parents and Professionals

 

Session Description: 

Anna will share real‐life stories of children she has treated: previous diagnoses, findings 

fromINPPassessments, progression through the INPP program, observed behavioral and academic changes, and responses from parents and professionals. 

 

Biographical Information:

Anna Buck has been in the educational field for more than 20 years.  She is a certified 

Neuro‐Developmental Delay therapist, trained by INPP in Chester, England.   She is a 

certified Listening Fitness Instructor, trained at the Listening Centre, Toronto, Canada.  

Anna has also received advanced training in Bilateral Integration by Sheila Dobie 

Associates (Training) Limited in Bo’ness, Scotland.  Currently, Anna is completing 

program studies for certification as a Naturopath.  She established Anna’s House, LLC, in2005 in Denver, Colorado. 

Miracle Children was published in 2008.  This book tells the story of Anna’s pursuit to 

find theroot of her own daughter’s difficulties, which she eventually found through INPP.The book describes, in layman’s terms, how dysfunction in the brain stem can affect 

children and how an INPP program targets these difficulties at the root level.  It includes 

stories of children as they progressed through an INPP program and a Listening Fitness 

program and describes how their lives were transformed. 

 

Anna’s Sound Bits, Volume 1 was published in 2009.  This is a CD curriculum for 

teaching reading,writing and spelling through sound and is adaptable for classroom or 

home‐school use.  Additional materials are available to support the curriculum. 

Anna’s Sound Bits, Volume 2 will be available in 2010. 

 

 

 

Paul Madaule

 

Title:

Listening and the Ear-Voice Connection

 

Session Description:

The ear is the first sensory modality to develop well before birth starting with the vestibular system at about ten weeks of pre-natal life, soon followed by the auditory system. The listening function, the ability to use the ear and body to pick-up the information we need and leave others, has pre-natal roots as well. This developmental precedence gives a head start in the acquisition of language.

 

Being the first listeners of what we say, listening is key to the monitoring of our own voice. This ear-voice loop provides the control system necessary to speak, read and write. It also influences self-regulatory functions such as attention span, focus, being ‘in sync’ and ‘well-balanced’. It also plays a role in social-emotional maturation, self-image and self-awareness.

 

Listening and the ear-voice connection can be developed and improved through sound stimulation training and voice exercises. Listening training and work on the primitive reflexes complement each other in many ways because they both access deeply rooted issues through different sensory-motor pathways.        

 

 

Biographical Information:

Paul Madaule is the Director of The Listening Centre in Toronto that he founded with Dr. Tomatis in 1978. The Listening Centre was the first clinical facility using listening training in North America.  Paul also helped develop this work throughout the US, Mexico and South America.

 

Paul authored When Listening Comes Alive (1993), available in ten languages. He also authored numerous articles on the importance of music, listening and the voice in education and therapy. His primary focus is children with developmental and learning problems, specifically auditory processing disorders, ADHD, learning disabilities, and Autism.  His work has garnered widespread media attention through television and radio, and the written press.

 

Drawing from 35 years of clinical experience, Paul has developed a portable audio device called the LiFT^® (Listening Fitness Trainer) to support international clientele and a course for professionals on how to incorporate listening training within their own practices and classrooms.

 

 

Dr. Harry Schneider, Ph.D, M.D. P.C.

 

Title:

Neurobiological and Neuroimaging Evidence for Abnormal Findings of Brain and Connectivity Dysfunction in Autism Spectrum Disorder

 

Session Description: Awaiting details

 

Biographical Information:

 

 

 

Maureen Swanson –awaiting details of this session.

 

For further information or to download a registration form contact ajanoura@bellsouth.net

 

Sally Goddard Blythe examines the implications of the findings of a recent study in the context of child development

 

The results of a study carried out by the UK think tank Demos has found that the most important influence on children is the quality of parenting they receive.

The findings are a reminder that whatever the developments of the modern world, parental involvement, love and consistent discipline are essential to provide a secure framework for children’s development.

The findings based on more than 9000 households in the UK found that although children from the richest backgrounds were more than twice as likely to develop qualities such as application, self-regulation and empathy which make, “a vital contribution to life chances, mobility and opportunity”, parental style and confidence, warmth and discipline were the key factors in developing social skills and in narrowing the divide between rich and poor.   This study follows on the heels of the UK Millennium Cohort Study published in September the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health which showed that  children whose mothers go out to work have poorer dietary habits, are more sedentary and are more likely to be driven to work than children’s whose mothers are not in paid employment.

These two studies each examining different aspects of child well being raise the question, in what ways do parents act as the primary mediators of child well being?

Why Parents Matter:

Human babies are born at an immature stage of development compared with other mammals and remain physically dependent on their parents for an extended period of time.  In the first year of life the mother (or primary care-giver) acts as an “auxiliary cortex” to the infant’s developing brain.  The quality of care-giving (reciprocal interaction) a child receives in the early years  develop neurological pathways involved in emotional regulation and helps to form the basis for self-regulation and self control later on.  Children who are neglected or who receive inconsistent care and attention tend to have difficulty with self-regulation.

The human brain develops through dual processes of maturation and interaction with the environment.  A child’s earliest experience of the world is a physical one with information about the environment being derived primarily from sensory experience, movement opportunity and social engagement with the primary source of love.  One-to-one interaction is a vital ingredient for the development of language and socialization particularly in the early years.

Parental education and breast feeding were mentioned in the study as positive influences.  The positive effects of breast feeding are not surprising when we remind ourselves what breastfeeding actually does.  The word “mammal” means “breast” and as one of the species of mammal, humans were designed to suckle their young.  Whilst there are 4000 species of mammal that produce milk, the only source of milk specifically designed to provide all the nutrients a human baby needs is human breast milk. Human breast milk also adapts to the environment of the baby during each and every day changing its composition to meet the specific needs of mother and child.   It stimulates the production of hormones involved in maternal bonding and infant attachment and requires both commitment and self-discipline from the mother to establish and maintain.    It has also been shown to have many other physical health benefits including containing the optimum ratio of essential fatty acids needed for brain development, development of binocular vision and some protection from the development of familial allergic tendencies and the of onset childhood obesity.

Time is a crucial factor in parental involvement. Parents who  have too many external demands on the their time, or mothers suffering from stress, depression, illness or drug and alcohol abuse are more likely to resort to use convenience foods, equipment and forms of entertainment,  which act as surrogates for direct interactive parenting. Modern conveniences do not provide the same amount, quality or flexibility of care as interaction with another human being.  As the study on working mothers pointed out, this can affect the amount of physical exercise children experience,  time spent in conversation - necessary for developing social skills and social awareness - and can be linked to a tendency to seek comfort from biochemical sources such as sweets, snacks and soft drinks. Nutrition is the source of many of the chemical messengers through which the nervous system communicates.  Nutritional status affects not only weight and physical health but also attention, mood and behaviour.

The nature of entertainment provided by the electronic media is different from activities shared with another person.  Before the invention of radio, television or computers, leisure time was filled with outdoor pursuits, reading, drawing, imaginative games, making things, socializing and discussion.  The negative face of leisure technology is not what it does provide – there are many benefits - it is what it does not provide.  This includes, arousal without integration; inflexible response; talking without listening to what a child has to say, and encouraging rapid shifts of attention.    Electronic media does not teach children to read and adapt to the non-verbal aspects of language in the same way that direct communication with another human being does.  Non-verbal language contributes up to 90% of effective communication including the understanding of empathy.

The word “discipline” is derived from “disciple” or “pupil”, meaning one who is taught.  The original meaning of discipline is therefore associated with teaching through example.  Parents act as sounding boards for negative emotions and inappropriate behaviour.  The goal of discipline is to help children become responsible for the consequences of their behaviour by teaching them how to modify behaviour within developmentally appropriate parameters.  Inconsistent, disengaged  and authoritarian parenting are less effective than a firm and consistent approach (authoratitive).  A child who cries in the night and is picked up one night and then left to cry the next, simply learns that it has cry longer on the third night to receive attention.  Authoratitive parenting involves paying attention to children’s needs and a firm and consistent approach, which above all else requires parental time and involvement.

Children learn by example (modeling).  In less technologically advanced societies this is one of the chief ways in which the wisdom and skills of one generation is passed on to the next. Learning by example involves time spent together observing and learning through practice (doing) simple activities such as eating a meal together, cooking, reading, washing the car etc.   This type of learning takes place over many years, cannot be taught in short “bytes” and is rooted in the self-discipline and consistency provided by parents and other  adults such as teachers and grandparents. 

Richard Reeves, co-author of The Building Character report said that, “The Right is obsessed with family structure and the institution of marriage rather than the actual job of parenting, while the Left is more comfortable with economic explanations and is terrified of appearing judgmental.  The result is to deepen disadvantage for already deprived children”.  If we are to make a lasting difference in the future, we need to pay attention to what children really need, emotionally, developmentally and socially. Children need stable, loving and consistent parents.  The rest is politics.

 

 Report of INPP research in North Tyneside has been submitted to C4EO ( Centre for Excellence and Outcomes ).  It has been validated and can be found  at:   http://www.c4eo.org.uk/themes/general/localpracticeexamples.aspx?themeid=10   under  ’ Narrowing the Gap’. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jan/07/product-placement-tv-advertising-children

Response to article:  Teaching teenagers parenting skills will encourage teenage pregnancy:

Sir,

Teaching children parenting skills is not the same as encouraging teenage pregnancy and although the fact it is necessary to give 14-year-olds compulsory parenting lessons is a sad reflection of our times, it is one of the better initiatives to be instigated by the present government. 

It is not easy to be a parent in modern world of the 21^st century. We are seeing an increasing percentage of new parents who have no direct experience of having been parented by a full time parent themselves.  Part of the instinct to parent – to intuitively know what your child needs and act upon it appropriately – develops as a result of the parenting received.  Advances in technology and speed of social change over the last 50 years have resulted in a range of time saving devices, which allow parents more time for other activities but reduce the physical time parents actually spend engaged with their children.  Children are not miniature adults.  Children’s brains have evolved to develop in the context of physical interaction with the environment and social engagement with the primary source of love.  This involves time spent together, shared activity and a climate of firm and consistent discipline over the course of many years, the early pre-school years being particularly important.  While the majority of parents still do a good job, we are in danger of raising a generation of youngsters for whom remote parenting and entertainment have been normal.  It is vital for society in the future that the next generation of parents grow up understanding the biological and developmental needs of children.  Far from encouraging teenage pregnancy, a better understanding of the sheer hard work involved in parenting might serve to delay it.

Sally Goddard Blythe

Movement and

Music

Sally Goddard Blythe will be providing a one day course on the use of The INPP Programme in Schools for teachers who are resident in Cyprus on the 14th November.  Details of the course to be held in Cyrpus and final applicatons to attend the course may be made by contacting m.tsappas@gmail.com

SEMINAR

 

«MOVEMENT AND EXERCISE IN LEARNING»

 

IN PAFOS: SUNDAY NOVEMBER 15TH 2009

 

 TIME 9:30-5:30

 

                     CENTRAL BRANCH OF POPULAR BANK

 

SPEAKER:         SALLY GODDARD BLYTHE

 

RESEARCH DIRECTOR OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT   IN THE INSTITUTE OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY IN CHESTER, ENGLAND.

 

BOOK AUTHOR OF ‘ The WELL Balanced CHILD’ , ‘WHAT BABIES AND CHILDREN REALLY NEED’ “Attention, balance and Coordination – the A,B,C of Learning Success”

 

THE SEMINAR IS APPROPRIATE FOR:

 

SCHOOL COUNSELORS, SPEECH THERAPISTS, PSYCHOLOGISTS, TEACHERS, SPECIAL EDUCATORS AND PARENTS.

 

FEE: €150 PER PERSON.

INCLUDES: SEMINAR  PARTICIPATION, COFFEE, SNACK AND CERTIFICATE OF ATTENDANCE.

THE PRESENTATION WILL BE IN ENGLISH.

 

ORGANIZED BY:  ‘Μ.Τ. ΤΟ ΑΝΑΓΝΩΣΤΗΡΙΟ’ PRIVATE INSTITUTE.                                                                                                                                    

 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: MRS MONIKA TSAPPA, 99557317.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full Transcript of letter sent to Times Education Supplement and published in TES on the 23rd October 2009

 

The Cambridge Review

Although there has already been considerable coverage of the recommendations of the Cambridge Review since its release last week, there has been little in depth coverage of why it is recommended that formal learning should not start until 6, why boys are falling further behind under the current system and why a less centralised prescriptive curriculum is advised. 

The key to learning success at every stage of education is developmental readiness.  Although some children are ready to read at 4½ years of age, others will not be ready until 6+ years, and one school of thought used to say that reading “readiness” was linked to biological development and coincided with the onset of shedding the first milk teeth, which usually takes place from 6 years of age (later in children with developmental delay). 

Boys are generally later than girls at developing the fine motor skills needed for writing and the control of gross motor skills necessary to be able to sit still.  These motor skills are developed through physical action and interaction with the environment in the early years when motor experience entrains neurological pathways involved in coordination, the control of eye movements needed for reading, writing and drawing and physical self control. 

The ability to use written language is built upon an oral tradition when knowledge was passed from one generation to the next through the spoken word, songs and stories. Listening and speaking are the building blocks of literacy at which every child needs sufficient practice in the early years before being ready to “internalise” the written elements of language and match visual symbols on a page to memorised sounds.

Developmentally and neurologically, a child’s brain is primed to learn in different ways at different stages in development.  For example, from 4- 7 years of age, areas involved in movement, rhythm, rhyme and song are particularly receptive to new information and experience and will support verbal language later on. When education seeks to attain targets without going through the necessary building procedures first, it results in gaps  or weaknesses in the system which can undermine higher aspects of learning later on.

 Learning is a biological as well as an educational process.  Until education takes individual developmental readiness into account, we will continue to see an unacceptably high percentage of children in the British school system who under-achieve.  The Cambridge Review, if governments can only heed its recommendations, is a ray of hope for children and education in the future.

 

This blog has been provided and was first published by Mary Jessica Hammes and babygooroo.com

It might not be easy for you to read all of Sally Goddard Blythe’s “What Babies and Children Really Need.” It turns out that what they really need is not what many mothers can provide, simply because they live in a society that, well, does not value those needs.

Here’s the gist of the book, summed up a little halfway through it, just after Blythe states that mothers should spend at least the first year (and preferably the first two years) at home, and work part-time until the child is in school: “Although this view flies in the face of political correctness and what many people would like to hear, the purpose of this book is to write about what children need, not what adults would like to do.”

Of course, staying at home as long as you can in those early years is just one of the suggestions made by Blythe, a British author who is director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology in the UK. In fact, she has a litany of children’s’ needs near the end of the book, and some of them would require some extensive societal, and sometimes political, shifts (not just in the UK). The list is extensive; here is just a sample:

• * Enable women to take a career break during the years of “maximum fertility and brain maturity” (that would be the early 20s to early 30s). “A society which really cares for its children makes it possible for a mother and child to be together for at least the first 2-3 years,” she writes.

• * Tell people about the advantages of breastfeeding. “Celebrate breasts not primarily as sexual objects but also as nature’s gift to every child.”

• * Welcome children at city centers, meal times, public entertainment; make room for them in the adult world. She suggest taking a cue from Mediterranean culture, where “children do not dominate adult time, but they are an important part of it.

• * Encourage parents to have a “secure and positive climate of discipline.” (This goes back to a fascinating section which looks at three different kinds of parenting styles—rigid authoritarian control, which uses punishment; authoritative control, which uses discussion; and permissive control, which has no clear guidelines. The first and third styles, she says, “are generally the least effective.”)

• * Make parents know how necessary they are in children’s lives. Blythe devotes a section on “Why Children Need Fathers.” And, she writes: “We need to acknowledge as a society that in the first year(s) of life, babies need their mothers. Government needs to take a greater share in the financial responsibility of making it possible for parents to choose to stay at home.” (She suggests that in the UK, the tax burden be reduced for fathers for the first two years, encouraging dads to support their children and moms to return to work in the third year.)

There are other enlightening tidbits throughout the book, such as the importance of reading aloud to your child; the “3 Ms” of preschool education, which are mother, movement and music; and the importance of play in a child’s life.

I particularly liked the way she addressed how motherhood suffers generally from a sense of support and worth. She writes about how she dreaded social events when her children were young, knowing the inevitable response when she was asked about her career.

“I soon came to expect the glazed look of fading interest that would pass across the questioner’s face when I replied, ‘I have three small children,’” she writes. “It was as if I had just issued them with a certificate which confirmed my intellectual level was the same age as that of my youngest child…there is something fundamentally wrong with a society which regards motherhood as a temporary mental aberration which will only be restored to normalcy when she returns to the world beyond children.”

I was very pleased to interview Blythe.

You write how “the purpose of this book is to write about what children need, not what adults would like to do.” An example in this book is the section on breastfeeding. Most American pregnancy guides say that breastfeeding is best, but they emphasize the mother’s choice for whatever reason, including convenience, and include information on formula. Your book only has positive information about breastfeeding, and mentions bottle-feeding only when describing its disadvantages (although you do say, “A mother should never feel guilty or inadequate” in regards to feeding). Can you talk about that rather fearless approach?

Blythe: Yes.  The aim of the book was to promote an understanding of factors which affect children’s development.  The fact that bottle-feeding is readily available as a safe alternative is not in dispute.  What I wanted to do was educate future generations of parents into understanding what breastfeeding provides that bottle-feeding does not, so that they can make an informed choice about which type of feeding they use.

Increasingly in the UK, we are seeing a new generation of young parents who have had little or no experience of full-time parenting themselves, who do not know what the benefits of breastfeeding are, and for some, for whom breastfeeding is regarded as an unnatural choice.  One example of this was only a few weeks ago, when I asked a woman who was 8 months pregnant if she had decided how she wanted to feed her baby when it was born.  She replied, “I am going to bottle-feed.  Ugh, I couldn’t do the other, I think it is disgusting, it is unnatural.” This is despite government advice to pregnant women that “breast is best.”

I wanted women to have a better understanding of the physical benefits to both mother and child.

You also talk about how it’s healthier for younger women to become mothers, but that society makes it very difficult financially (and of course these days, becoming a young mother rather than pursuing a career carries its own stigma). Do you feel that this sentiment may raise the ire of some feminists, who have worked so hard to ensure young women can pursue careers without the pressure of having children? Do you think it’s possible for mothers to “have it all” when it comes to both child-rearing and career-pursuing (or even fair to tell people they can do that successfully)?

Blythe: I am sure that many of the points raised will invite the ire of some feminists. Once again the book was not written to praise or criticize different life style choices, and I am sure that nature did not have feminism in mind when human reproduction evolved.  While there are many older women who have healthy pregnancies and children, the evidence shows that the older women are when they start a family, the higher the risks of subsequent problems.  Ideally, nature designed women to have maximum fertility with minimum risk to mother and child in the early twenties.  The fact that this is now at odds with how modern technological societies have shaped themselves has in my view, brought new problems for parents, children and society as a whole.

My main area of work is with children experiencing specific learning disabilities (dyslexia, developmental coordination disorder, attention deficit disorder, under-achievement etc.).  In a survey we are currently carrying out of early developmental factors amongst this group, in a sample of nearly 80-plus children, at least 10 were conceived by older mothers as a result of IVF.  While we cannot say that IVF was the cause of their later difficulties, more than 10 percent is a high ratio within a given population.  When women delay their fertility for social reasons believing that IVF is available as an alternative in the future, they are not usually told, or do not heed that these techniques bring high risk pregnancies, greater likelihood of intervention at birth, and problems in the perinatal period with an increased risk of related sequelae.

Some things you recommend—staying close to the baby after birth, baby-wearing, sleeping close to baby, extended breastfeeding, not letting a baby “cry it out”—are the hallmarks of what some people call “attachment parenting.” Do you view this book as advocating attachment parenting?

Blythe: Attachment parenting is not a term I am familiar with and is an example of a parenting method, as opposed to being a natural parent who is responsive to the needs of their child.

The book is not intended to promote any single style of parenting, recognizing that what works for one child in a family will not necessarily work for another.  What I tried to do was to look at a baby’s physical and developmental needs at different stages in development and explain why physical contact and interaction and social engagement with a primary source of love are so important for a child’s well being.

One major point you make is that young babies need their mothers in the first few months of their life, and you suggest some taxation approaches that might make this possible in the UK. But it’s clear that at the moment, many mothers (especially here in the U.S.) must return to work after only a few weeks after the birth. Do you think that getting society to acknowledge the fact that babies need their mothers for several years is a hard task? Can we look to Sweden for a good example (even though the “welfare state” you mention in the book has its own problems)?

Blythe: Yes, this is becoming an increasingly difficult task.  In the UK, we have reached a stage where the government actively promotes earlier and earlier availability and placement of children in nursery care (this reduces the burden on the state for paying for benefits) as well as a statutory curriculum for the under fives (Early Years Foundation Stage).  Many of the so called “targets” a child is expected to reach before starting formal education at rising 5 years of age fail to take physical development into account or to acknowledge some of the research which has indicated that children who are placed in full-time nursery care before the age of two years benefit on cognitive measures but show higher levels of stress and emotional problems.  In the recent words of one respected academic, Sir Christopher Ball, “we are the only species of animal (mammal), which deliberately separates its young from its mother for social reasons, before it is mature enough to take care of itself.”

Sweden and the Nordic nations in general have much better child care policies and provision than we do in the UK but as you rightly say, the welfare state can also bring its own problems with it.

My first choice of title for the book was “First Love—Valuing Motherhood in Modern Society”, but this was changed by the publisher for a more popular title.  I still think that the original title better described the aim of the book—to re-instate motherhood as a valuable stage in a woman’s life—rather than it being seen as a second class alternative or adjunct to a career.  If society could only remodel itself to enable women to take time out in their early twenties to accomplish the early stages of motherhood, there need not be a contest between being a parent or having a career.  This is not to judge the many women who must return to work for financial reasons or to prejudice those who have not met the man they would like to be the father of their children in their early twenties. Rather to say, that we need flexibility to enable women to take a break and to be able to return to the world of work a few years later.  “Having it all,” as you describe it, may not be possible all at once, but it might be possible in stages. Perhaps a better title for the book would have been, “What parents need to know.”

In my view:  Published in “Nursery World” 18.6.09

http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/913607/Opinion-view—Reading-shared/

 

By Sally Goddard Blythe, freelance consultant in neuro-developmental education and director of the pioneering Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology in Chester

 

The recent poll commissioned to mark National Family Week showing that just under half of all children are missing out on a traditional bedtime story is a travesty of our times.

 

Reading to your child involves more than simply telling a story. Long before children learn to read they learn to love the music of language, the tonal, rhythmic and dynamic aspects of speech, which are exaggerated when read out loud. Listening to stories, often repeated many times, helps develop memory, including a memory for the phonological components of the written word. As children listen to stories, they also learn to match sounds to pictures and word shapes. This prepares the brain for the formal aspects of learning to read.

 

Desire to read begins with a love of stories – the colour and familiarity of characters, excited anticipation, the shape of the story line, and the pictures that the story creates in the mind’s eye - the stirrings of imagination. Story time is also important because it involves one-to-one time between parent and child when both share in the same activity. Sharing the same experiences have been shown to increase the level of a powerful hormone involved in securing attachment and strengthening close social bonds. Being read to also increases a child’s vocabulary and reading comprehension, which has benefits in childhood through to old age.

 

In my practice and in schools around the country I regularly come across parents who have never read to their child. Although we live in difficult times, it is important to remember that some of the most essential ingredients for a happy childhood are free – fresh air, space, friends, family, reliability and time spent together. Just 10 minutes a day spent reading to your child will help them not only at school in the years to come but may also give them a long, happy and active life. Surely, this is what we all want for our children.