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Early Childhood Neglect Associated With Altered Brain Structure, ADHD
vinces99 writes "Under the rule of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, thousands of Romanian children were placed in overcrowded orphanages with bleak conditions and minimal human contact, a legacy that continued even after the 1989 revolution. Only recently have research and public concern caused policy changes.
University of Washington research on children who began life in these institutions shows that early childhood neglect is associated with changes in brain structure. A paper published this month in Biological Psychiatry shows that children who spent their early years in these institutions have thinner brain tissue in cortical areas that correspond to impulse control and attention. "These differences suggest a way that the early care environment has dramatic and lasting effects for children's functioning," said lead author Katie McLaughlin, a UW assistant professor of psychology.
Since 2000, the Bucharest Early Intervention Project has worked to document and treat the children's health. McLaughlin joined the team about six years ago to focus on brain development. This study is among the first in any setting to document how social deprivation in early life affects the thickness of the cortex, the thin folded layer of gray matter that forms the outer layer of the brain. The study provides "very strong support" for a link between the early environment and ADHD, McLaughlin said.
University of Washington research on children who began life in these institutions shows that early childhood neglect is associated with changes in brain structure. A paper published this month in Biological Psychiatry shows that children who spent their early years in these institutions have thinner brain tissue in cortical areas that correspond to impulse control and attention. "These differences suggest a way that the early care environment has dramatic and lasting effects for children's functioning," said lead author Katie McLaughlin, a UW assistant professor of psychology.
Since 2000, the Bucharest Early Intervention Project has worked to document and treat the children's health. McLaughlin joined the team about six years ago to focus on brain development. This study is among the first in any setting to document how social deprivation in early life affects the thickness of the cortex, the thin folded layer of gray matter that forms the outer layer of the brain. The study provides "very strong support" for a link between the early environment and ADHD, McLaughlin said.
Too many parents are wasting more time on facebook and other "social media" sites. At least with TV, the parents could sit on the couch and have the kid on their lap, so there was some contact. Facebook and twitter are sowing the next generation of facebook and twitter users with low attention spans.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Greenough showed the effects of enriched and deprived environments on cortical connectivity and thickness in a series of studies. This is one of his early studies:
Science. 1972 Jun 30;176(4042):1445-7. Rearing complexity affects branching of dendrites in the visual cortex of the rat. Volkmar FR, Greenough WT.
"Higher-order dendritic branching is considerably greater in Golgistained neurons from the occipital cortex of rats reared in groups in a complex environment than in similar neurons of littermates reared individually in laboratory cages have intermediate amounts of branching, while lower-order branching did not appear to be affected by any rearing environment."
Imagine if the opposite was true; if complete neglect and institutionalization was good for kids. Now that would be a real finding.
So you deny it was Reagan who drove the second parent from the home then? Name one major sociatal change in the last thirty years that enables the average person to support a family on one income. Hell, we can't even get a living minimum wage passed in this country. It's all about more profit for the profit mongers and nothing about the survival of the family. So for some it is the best of times, for others the worst of times.
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
We adopted our son a few years ago. When you're going through the process you're required to take classes where they prepare you for this. Romanian and Russian orphanages are so horrific we specifically ruled out adopting from those countries. It's a tough choice but you have to weigh your families ability to deal with huge amounts of stress and the financial burden of years of therapy, drugs, etc...
We adopted from Ethiopia, which is a country that's renowned how well they care for their orphans despite the poverty. I saw the care centers, and the people that ran them. They rival daycares here in the US and the workers hugged and cried with my son when he left. Even despite that, the lack of a true 1on1 relationship with a mother has had a significant impact on my son. With women especially, he fears they'll leave him. He acts out to get attention. His teachers need to do special 1on1 activities with him to reassure him. Give him special tasks, etc. It's tough but he's otherwise a great kid and definitely smarter than I was at that age. It's the biggest challenge I've ever had in my life. I couldn't imagine what the famillies of those Romanian children are going through. My hat is off to them.
One of the first things they have you watch is this study from the 1950s where they gave monkeys a Fake wire mother that had milk and cloth mother that did not:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Caution: it's emotionally disturbing to a lot of people.
The monkey would rather starve on the cloth comforting mother than eat on the wire mother.