Some months ago, after my grand-daughter Leila’s school in Oakland, California burned down and its rebuilding seems to be drowning in a bureaucratic swamp, I predicted that it would NEVER be rebuilt in time to begin the 2007-8 school year on time. I was wrong. The Oakland Unified School District and the contractors that they…
I know a 16-year-old boy who is addicted to video games. By ‘addiction’, I mean that he is compelled to play them for several to many hours each day, even while he knows that it is in his own best interests to limit his play time, even while his parents continually (ineffectively) try to curtail…
Dr. X (another commentor who is reluctant to use a name) made an important point in responding to my August 14 entry considering a recent study in which Baby Einstein was found not to improve, and to possibly modestly delay normal language development — a claim that I argued was simplistic. In Dr. X’s words:…
There was an interesting exchange of comments following a July 7th entry (“What’s it all about”) that begins with the argument (by CCb at anom@anom.com) that “brain fitness training” is unnecessary, for someone who is still engaged in reading and scholarship. [CCb, might I suggest that you and other commentors at least identify yourself with…
The extent of confusion about the relationships between what infants and young children spend their time doing, the development of their behavioral abilities, and the genesis of their ‘interests’ and ‘personality’ is massive, both in the lay and scientific communities. l was reminded of this once again when I read the comments of scientists (the…
Stephen was inspired by an earlier exchange of blog entries and comments to raise another question about the origins of “the observer and what the observer sees”. He writes: “I read a fascinating description at the end of a book on Special Relativity by the late physicist David Bohm which implied that all the perception…
I have a wonderful niece (Lea Ann Thompson) who owns and manages a residence facility for autistic and other impaired young people in Salem, Oregon. Lea Ann and her husband Matt are full of good spirits and do-goodness, with two young sons of her own. Here, she asks a question that commonly arises out there…
My wife Diane and I spent a weekend several weeks ago at the National Academy of Sciences center at Woods Hole, in a beautiful coastal location near the southern base of Cape Cod. The National Academies hold several meetings each year for a group of special senior advisor’s (their ‘President’s Club’), and in part because…
I thought that I’d give you a brief update on how little Abby is doing. As you may remember, my daughter’s 4-year-old niece suffered from several minutes of asphyxiation in a playground accident. She emerged from a week-long coma with clear physical and behavioral signs of subcortical brain damage. Abby is now a month out,…