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Neurobiological Effects of Poverty on the Developing Brain

Neurobiological Effects of Poverty on the Developing Brain. Developed for the Hou Met Annual Conference Presented by Roz Fink, M.A.T. & Traci Whittenberg, Ph.D., LSSP. Risk Factors. Financial: Money to purchase good & services Quality of prenatal care Exposure to toxins

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Neurobiological Effects of Poverty on the Developing Brain

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  1. Neurobiological Effects of Poverty on the Developing Brain Developed for the Hou Met Annual Conference Presented by Roz Fink, M.A.T. & Traci Whittenberg, Ph.D., LSSP

  2. Risk Factors • Financial: Money to purchase good & services Quality of prenatal care Exposure to toxins Chronic stress

  3. Emotional & social Challenges • What we need • A strong, reliable caregiver • Safe predictable environments • Reciprocal social Interaction • Enrichment

  4. Effects on Schools • Give up Easily • Can’t monitor own behavior • Narrow range of emotional responses • Poor emotional regulation

  5. Acute & Chronic STressors Children from lower SES are more likely to: • Be exposed to violence • Live in overcrowded situations • Endure multiple separations

  6. Children of high SES show more activity (dark green) in the prefrontal cortex (top) than do kids of low SES when confronted with a novel or unexpected stimulus. (M. Kishiyama/UC Berkeley)

  7. Effects of Chronic Stress in the Hippocampus & Amygdala

  8. Early childhood adversity such as neglect, abuse or the stress produced by extreme poverty weakens and distorts the development of the brain and sets the body’s hormonal stress function on permanent high alert.

  9. Language development • Research about language in children from ages 1 to 3 in stable households by economic group. Source: Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children (1995) by Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley

  10. Cognitive Systems & SES • Systems that we use in school: • Executive Functions – Prefrontal Cortex • Language – Left Perisylvan, Temporal • Memory – Medial Temporal • Spatial – Parietal • Visual - Occipital Adapted from "Neurocognitive Correlates of Socioeconomic Status in Kindergarten Children,” by K. G. Noble, M. F. Norman, and M. J. Farah, 2005, Developmental Science, 8, pp. 74–87.

  11. How DO We tEST cognitive systems? • Executive Function • Language • Memory • Spatial • Visual

  12. Accounting for Differences • Thus far we’ve talked about: • Chronic stress • Emotional & social challenges • Language • Cognitive Systems

  13. Health and Safety Issues • There is a correlation between SES and overall health • Lower income is correlated with: • Premature birth, low birth weight • Physical disabilities, asthma, ear infection, hearing loss • Lower nutritional intake • Exposure to toxins

  14. Health and Safety Issues The brain on the right has been exposed to lead

  15. Iq and poverty • Students in poverty score on average 9 points lower on IQ tests. • Payne states that this is due to lack of acquired knowledge consistent with middle class • What are some other posibilities that we find IQ differences between different cultural groups and different SES groups?

  16. IQ quiz • What is a bag sale? • What does it mean to get krunked? • What is a roach? • You go to the bakery store, you can buy 5 loaves of day old bread for 39 cents each or 7 loaves of 3 day old bread for 28 cents each. Which choice will cost less?

  17. IQ quiz • What is yellow tape and what is it used for? • What are the advantages and disadvantages of moving often?

  18. Importance of relationships • 9 out of 10 students who have successfully left poverty say that a relationship with another individual (e.g., teacher, counselor, etc.) made the difference to them • A successful relationship occurs when emotional deposits are made to students and emotional withdrawals are avoided. This is true in any relationship.

  19. brain plasticity • Increased Brain Stimulation • Regrowth of Axons: Under certain circumstances, axons can grow and connect. • Sprouting: Sprouting is a normal condition, as the brain is constantly adding new branches of axons and dendrites and withdrawing old ones. This process accelerates in response to damage and to stimulation. • Reorganization of cognitive maps • Learned adjustments in behaviors

  20. Can these effects be reversed • Many of the neurobiological effects are reversible • Structured instruction time • Limited television time • Problem solving taught as a skill • Enriched environments

  21. What does this mean for us? • Recommendations for interventions

  22. references Burgess, A.W., Hartman, C.R., & Clements, P.T. (1995) The biology of memory and childhood trauma. The Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 33(3), 16-26. Delaney-Black V, Covington C, Ondersma SJ, Nordstrom-Klee B, Templin T, Ager J, Janisse J, Sokol RJ. (2002) Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine.;156:280-285. Diamond, A. & Lee, K. (2011). Interventions shown to aid executive function development in children 4–12 years old. Science, 333 (6045), 959-964. Duyme M, Dumaret AC, Tomkiewicz S (1999) How can we boost IQs of “dull children”?:. A late adoption study. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences USA 96: 8790–8794

  23. references Evans, G.W. & Schamberg, M.A. (2009). Childhood poverty, chronic stress and adult working memory. Proceeding of the Noational Academy of Sciences USA 106, no. 13 Hart, B., & Risley, T. (1995). Meaningful differences in everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore: Paul Brookes Publishing Co., MD. Hanson, J.L; Chandra, A; Wolfe, B.L; & Pollack, S. (2011). Association between income and the hippocampus. PLoS One, 6 (5), e18712 Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind: What being poor does to kids' brains and what schools can do about It. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development Jensen, E. (2008) The effects of poverty on the brain. The Science Network Symposium. Brains RUs: the Science of Educating, March 2008

  24. references Knudsen, E. I., Heckman, J. J., Cameron, J. L., and Shonkoff, J. P. (2006). Economic, neurobiological, and behavioral perspectives on building America’s future workforce.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. v. 103, n. 27. 10155-10162. Lupien, S. J., King, S., Meaney, M. J., & McEwen, B. S. (2001) Can poverty get under your skin? basal cortisol levels and cognitive function in children from low and high socioeconomic status. Developmental Psychopathology, 13(3), 653-676. Raizada, R. D. S., and Kishiyama, M. M. (2010). Effects of socioeconomic status on brain development, and how cognitive neuroscience may contribute to leveling the playing field.Fontiers in Human Neuroscience. v. 4 article 3. Rosenfeld, L. B., Richman, J. M., & Bowen, G. L. (1998). Low social support among at risk adolescents. Social Work In Education, 20, 245-260.

  25. references Shonkoff JP, Phillips DA (2000) From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. (National Academy Press, Washington, DC). Wasik, B. H., Ramey, C. T., Bryant, D. M., & Sparling, J. J. (1990). A longitudinal study of two early intervention strategies: Project CARE. Child Development, 61(6), 1682- 1696. Jensen, E. (2008) The effects of poverty on the brain. The Science Network Symposium. Brains RUs: the Science of Educating, March 2008 Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind: What being poor does to kids' brains and what schools can do about It. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development

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