Quotes from Contemporary Research

“Emotional learning comes first, and it happens through interactions. Curriculum comes after you have the warm, encouraging relationships. It’s less effective without them.”

-- Dr. T. Berry Brazelton

Brain research indicates that “the architecture of the brain depends on a series of critical but subtle emotional transactions between an infant and a devoted caregiver . . . clearly formulating the elusive building blocks of creative and analytic thinking, and the sense of self.”

-- Dr. Stanley Greenspan

Professor Barry Sanders defines “orality” as the rich use of language conveyed through the nursery rhymes, songs, finger plays and circle games that have informed infancy and early childhood life throughout all time. Such a foundation of rich oral language not only helps to assure successful reading, but also helps a child’s ability to develop a sense of self as an antidote to later violent behavior. (A is for Ox: Violence, Electronic Media and the Silencing of the Written Word).

According to an article on brain development in a special edition of Newsweek, “…short of being raised in isolation, a baby will encounter enough stimulation in most households to do the trick – anything from banging pots and pans together to speaking to a sibling. The key phrase here is ‘properly stimulated, which is not the same as expensively stimulated or the worse fate, over stimulated.”

-- Rosenberg and Reibstein, Newsweek, Spring/Summer 1997.

“Studies show that four-, five-, and six-year-olds in heavily ‘academic’ classes tend to become less creative and more anxious – without gaining significant advantages over their peers. Youngsters in well-structured ‘play’-oriented schools develop more positive attitudes toward learning along with better ultimate skill development."

-- Jane Healy, Ph.D., Your Child’s Growing Mind.

Research out of the University of Chicago reports that only “live” language produces vocabulary- and syntax-boosting effects. “Language has to be used in relation to ongoing events, or it’s just noise. Information embedded in an emotional context seems to stimulate neural circuitry more powerfully than information alone.” Additionally, the American Academy of Pediatrics has put out an official warning that young children should not watch television.

According to the Children’s Defense Fund’s 1998 Yearbook The State of America’s Children, “myriad studies have shown that children who are afflicted with even mild forms of undernutrition suffer adverse health and learning effects.” These are associated with “impaired cognitive development, fatigue, trouble concentrating in school, and stunted growth.” 

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