In the last few weeks "why is my child failing school" has been a question asked by several parents.What set these parents apart was that they are foster or adoptive parents and are struggling to understand the academic challenges to their children of choice.Each reported that when they sit with the child, they can see that the child is competent to do the work, and in fact one father mentioned that ".He is so fast in getting this math, that I can't keep up on a calculator.Yet he is failing math" How frustrating for parents to see how really intelligent their children are, and yet not see that reflected in grades and school success.Part of the answer can be found in the early history of the children where developmental processes were interrupted or interfered with in such a way to create changes in emotional and perceptual behavior.Numerous studies have documented the impact of childhood maltreatment on health and emotional well-being.Additionally it is clear that stress early in life can generate long-term brain patterns that impact perception, learning and memory as well as increased risk of adverse health conditions.Many of these patterns laid down in early life underscore many dysfunctions that affect health and quality of life throughout and individual's lifespan.Childhood maltreatment, neglect and chaotic living environments are linked to a variety of changes in brain structure and functions related to the stress responsive within human neurobiological systems.Clinical professionals have known for some time that children respond to trauma by using a variety of psychological mechanisms.However less attention is sometimes given to what is happening neurobiologically.Traumatic experiences can have a devastating impact on a child, altering their physical, emotional, cognitive, and social development.When explaining the process of how neurobiology might alter their child's performance academically to parents and other caregivers, it is sometimes easier to put the process into metaphor.If you are familiar with deserts that are frequently involved in draughts, you may find that the soil is constructed in such a way that light rains tend to rapidly seal the soil so that water runs into depressions and get collected rather than being immediately absorbed into the soil.This sets up an erosion path through the desert terrain that will be reinforced with successive rains.This is much like what happens to human beings as they have experience, neural pathways are created through synaptogenesis, and with each rain/new experience the pathway is strengthened or the rivulet is deepened.However occasionally, there are tremendous storms in the desert and so much rain falls that it overwhelms the riverlet's ability to move the water into the most ecologically useful ways.After this sort of storm, one will find deep eroded fishers carver into the soil which is not generally supportive of the ecosystem of the desert terrain.Using the above metaphor as a backdrop to explaining at least in part some of the challenges a child may face, might help those working with children to grasp some of what is happening.Imagine that slow and useful memory is like the regular rains, pathways are being built and memories are being collected in the most useful ways.When stress is overwhelming then it could be compared to the down pouring that creates deep and pervasive patterns that may not support the learning ecology best.For example, children raised in an early environment that is chaotic and unpredictable, where they are the custodian of their parents moods can create such deep crevices that it is difficult for them to be free of them.This kind of crevice might be what is called other directedness, which means that the child is so focused on what others want, demand and expect that their own preferences get lost.So what happens when they are no longer in this type of environment? For some the patterns persist even though the situation has changed, and they are so focused on others that they have difficult learning from their own experiences.This of course is just one possible answer to what these very delightful foster and adoptive parents are experiencing.Many of the childhood behaviors that can interfere with learning and memory can be related to early childhood maltreatment.There exists significant evidence that there is an increased risk of developing depression, social anxiety, difficulty establishing and maintaining long term friendships and other intimate relationships.That poor parenting and attachments exacerbates or adds to the likelihood of psychiatric disorders.Returning to the desert metaphor, Traumagenic environments in early childhood create these crevices of deeply implicit patterns, and subsequent rains are diverted from the original eco-friendly way of sustaining the environment.Systems that develop in the brain during infancy through the first years of life allow us to form and maintain emotional relationships, function effectively in our environments and learn to tolerate stress and distress.These early life experiences set the stage for learning effectively and integrating experience into the gestalt of daily life.Many times children removed from these traumagenic environments bring the deep crevices of their neurobiological experience with them.This is not a deficit on the part of the child but an intricate part of the person that they have developed into as a result of their early interactions and it is a reality of their life experiences.If we look at the other-focused child, they could be so over whelmed by the demands of not only their teacher but by every other person they wish to have contact with that attending ability is completely absorbed or so divided that they will likely not learn well without accommodation.Schools in general are not funded or organized in such a way to deal with the demands of children raised in traumagenic environments.Frustration on the part of caring families of foster and adoptive homes is not an uncommon experience because they come to genuinely love these children in most circumstances, and yet love is inadequate to create the change that is necessary to ameliorate or mediate the neurobiological foundations of how the child encodes and processes their experiences.It is like trying to terraform the desert landscape into a rain forest environment through love and concern.While well intentioned, likely not terribly effective.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Why Is My Child Failing School?
In the last few weeks "why is my child failing school" has been a question asked by several parents.What set these parents apart was that they are foster or adoptive parents and are struggling to understand the academic challenges to their children of choice.Each reported that when they sit with the child, they can see that the child is competent to do the work, and in fact one father mentioned that ".He is so fast in getting this math, that I can't keep up on a calculator.Yet he is failing math" How frustrating for parents to see how really intelligent their children are, and yet not see that reflected in grades and school success.Part of the answer can be found in the early history of the children where developmental processes were interrupted or interfered with in such a way to create changes in emotional and perceptual behavior.Numerous studies have documented the impact of childhood maltreatment on health and emotional well-being.Additionally it is clear that stress early in life can generate long-term brain patterns that impact perception, learning and memory as well as increased risk of adverse health conditions.Many of these patterns laid down in early life underscore many dysfunctions that affect health and quality of life throughout and individual's lifespan.Childhood maltreatment, neglect and chaotic living environments are linked to a variety of changes in brain structure and functions related to the stress responsive within human neurobiological systems.Clinical professionals have known for some time that children respond to trauma by using a variety of psychological mechanisms.However less attention is sometimes given to what is happening neurobiologically.Traumatic experiences can have a devastating impact on a child, altering their physical, emotional, cognitive, and social development.When explaining the process of how neurobiology might alter their child's performance academically to parents and other caregivers, it is sometimes easier to put the process into metaphor.If you are familiar with deserts that are frequently involved in draughts, you may find that the soil is constructed in such a way that light rains tend to rapidly seal the soil so that water runs into depressions and get collected rather than being immediately absorbed into the soil.This sets up an erosion path through the desert terrain that will be reinforced with successive rains.This is much like what happens to human beings as they have experience, neural pathways are created through synaptogenesis, and with each rain/new experience the pathway is strengthened or the rivulet is deepened.However occasionally, there are tremendous storms in the desert and so much rain falls that it overwhelms the riverlet's ability to move the water into the most ecologically useful ways.After this sort of storm, one will find deep eroded fishers carver into the soil which is not generally supportive of the ecosystem of the desert terrain.Using the above metaphor as a backdrop to explaining at least in part some of the challenges a child may face, might help those working with children to grasp some of what is happening.Imagine that slow and useful memory is like the regular rains, pathways are being built and memories are being collected in the most useful ways.When stress is overwhelming then it could be compared to the down pouring that creates deep and pervasive patterns that may not support the learning ecology best.For example, children raised in an early environment that is chaotic and unpredictable, where they are the custodian of their parents moods can create such deep crevices that it is difficult for them to be free of them.This kind of crevice might be what is called other directedness, which means that the child is so focused on what others want, demand and expect that their own preferences get lost.So what happens when they are no longer in this type of environment? For some the patterns persist even though the situation has changed, and they are so focused on others that they have difficult learning from their own experiences.This of course is just one possible answer to what these very delightful foster and adoptive parents are experiencing.Many of the childhood behaviors that can interfere with learning and memory can be related to early childhood maltreatment.There exists significant evidence that there is an increased risk of developing depression, social anxiety, difficulty establishing and maintaining long term friendships and other intimate relationships.That poor parenting and attachments exacerbates or adds to the likelihood of psychiatric disorders.Returning to the desert metaphor, Traumagenic environments in early childhood create these crevices of deeply implicit patterns, and subsequent rains are diverted from the original eco-friendly way of sustaining the environment.Systems that develop in the brain during infancy through the first years of life allow us to form and maintain emotional relationships, function effectively in our environments and learn to tolerate stress and distress.These early life experiences set the stage for learning effectively and integrating experience into the gestalt of daily life.Many times children removed from these traumagenic environments bring the deep crevices of their neurobiological experience with them.This is not a deficit on the part of the child but an intricate part of the person that they have developed into as a result of their early interactions and it is a reality of their life experiences.If we look at the other-focused child, they could be so over whelmed by the demands of not only their teacher but by every other person they wish to have contact with that attending ability is completely absorbed or so divided that they will likely not learn well without accommodation.Schools in general are not funded or organized in such a way to deal with the demands of children raised in traumagenic environments.Frustration on the part of caring families of foster and adoptive homes is not an uncommon experience because they come to genuinely love these children in most circumstances, and yet love is inadequate to create the change that is necessary to ameliorate or mediate the neurobiological foundations of how the child encodes and processes their experiences.It is like trying to terraform the desert landscape into a rain forest environment through love and concern.While well intentioned, likely not terribly effective.
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