We have earlier discussed factors that our research has indicated may have contributed to the increased incidence of Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Whatever factors are contributing to the growing incidence must have three qualities: 1) They must be increasing in human environments. 2) They must be widely distributed on the planet. 3) They must be (collectively)…
Joseph Biederman is probably THE leading advocate for more aggressive diagnoses and more aggressive medical treatments of children with severe neuro-behavioral problems. If you track the research history of this prominent Harvard scientist and his Massachusetts General Hospital colleagues, it documents the development of a new diagnosis of the misbehaving, out-of-control child as “bipolar”, and…
I was surprised to read about neuroscience and the brain considered from a particularly intelligent general perspective in the politician Al Gore’s recently published The Assault on Reason (now a Penguin soft-cover). I recommend this book for its perspective about the relationship between “reason” and “marketing” — as “truth” hangs in the balance — in…
No blogs for a few days, because I have been attending a scientific meeting in Crete, and have now moved on to attend a second meeting in Jerusalem. The focus of the meeting in Crete was on the neurological processes contributing to normal and abnormal brain development. I am struck at meetings like this by…
I was at Scientific Learning yesterday, participating in the filming of a Canadian Broadcasting System-produced documentary, and during one break, had a brief discussion with Bob Bowen (the Scientific Learning President/CEO) about state achievement test scores in one Louisiana school district in which we’ve been tracking kid performance over time. Two years ago, the average…
In two earlier blogs (last August 3rd, 5th), I briefly discussed some aspects of the neuroscience of “reactive attachment disorders” (RADs). That evoked an informative series of comments from individuals whose families or friends had struggled with this problem. One comment, by “Teletype”, indicated that I did not have an accurate view of the Self.…
Many of you may have seen this program. At last count, it has been shown several thousand times. Almost every PBS station has repeatedly aired it. Moreover, like a bad penny, it’ll show up again, in the next pledge-break period! All of this attention stems from its success. PBS viewers have made this one of…
An important recent study reported by scientists from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Cornell and Rutgers universities (Gaab N, Gabrieli JD, Deutsch GK, Tallal P, Temple E, Restor Neurol Neurosci 25:295-310, 2007) has documented the emergence of more normal brain response patterns resulting from intensive brain plasticity-based training, in children with impairments in language and reading abilities. …
This past weekend I visited two outstanding programs in Portland designed to inform Oregon educators (and through them, school-age children) and an interested citizenry about advances in neuroscience. I was very much impressed by these programs; they are good models of what SHOULD be happening, all across America. <strong>Brain Awareness</strong> (www.oregonbrains.org) targets teachers and school…
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