part one meet your child's brain

369 Pages·2010·19.57 MB·English

Contents

Acknowledgments

Quiz – How well do you know your child’s brain?

Introduction – The Brain that Builds Itself

Part 1 – Meet Your Child’s Brain
Chapter 1 – The Five Hidden Talents of Your Baby’s Brain
Myth: If anything goes wrong, Mom is to blame

Chapter 2 – Epigenetics: Beyond Nature versus Nurture
Culture can drive evolution
Myth: Genetic traits cannot be changed, while environmental effects can

Chapter 3 – In the Beginning: Prenatal Development
Practical tip: Prenatal stress increases the risk of developmental problems
Practical tip: Eating fish during pregnancy is good for your baby’s brain

Chapter 4 – Baby, You Were Born to Learn
Myth: Breast feeding increases intelligence
Practical tip: Guided practice can accelerate motor development
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Part 2 – Growing Through a Stage
Chapter 5 – Once In a Lifetime: Sensitive Periods
Your child’s brain consumes half of the body’s energy
The limits of brain plasticity

Chapter 6 – Talking Heads
Practical tip: Teach foreign languages in elementary school

Chapter 7 – Beautiful Dreamer
Practical tip: How to get your baby to sleep
What children dream about

Chapter 8 – It’s a Girl! Gender Differences
Practical tip: Play preferences can influence adult sex differences

Chapter 9 – Adolescence: It’s Not Just About Sex
Myth: Adolescents have a longer day–night cycle

Part 3 – Start Making Sense
Chapter 10 – Experience-Expectant Development of Vision
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Practical tip: Outdoor play reduces the risk of nearsightedness
Speculation: Modern life is changing our brains

Chapter 11 – Connecting with Your Baby Through Hearing and Touch
Practical tip: Protect your child from noise, starting before birth
The neuroscience of snuggle

Chapter 12 – Eat Dessert First: Food Preferences, Taste, and Smell
Practical tip: Getting your child to eat (and like) spinach
Practical tip: Worried about your child’s weight?

Part 4 – The Serious Business of Play
Chapter 13 – The Best Gift You Can Give: Self-control
Practical tip: Imaginative play can improve self-control
Practical tip: Learning two languages improves cognitive control

Chapter 14 – Playing for Keeps
Play in adult life

Chapter 15 – Moving the Body and Brain Along: Sports and Exercise
Practical tip: Protect your children from head injuries

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Chapter 16 –Electronic Entertainment and the Multitasking Myth
Speculation: Does internet use interfere with empathy?
Practical tip: Baby videos do more harm than good

Part 5 – Your Child as an Individual
Chapter 17 – Nice to Meet You: Temperament
Why you’re turning into your mother
Myth: Birth order influences personality

Chapter 18 – Emotions in the Driver’s Seat
Myth: The right hemisphere is the emotional side of the brain
Self-control is a key ingredient of empathy

Chapter 19 – Empathy and Theory of Mind
Older siblings speed a child’s theory of mind development
Mirror neurons and imitation

Chapter 20 – Playing Nicely with Others
Stereotyping and group socialization
Practical tip: Promoting the development of conscience

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Part 6 – Your Child’s Brain at School
Chapter 21 – Starting to Write the Life Story
Practical tip: The best study habits for your child’s brain
Babies forget faster than older children

Chapter 22 – Learning to Solve Problems
Practical tip: Social rejection reduces IQ dramatically

Chapter 23 – Take It from the Top: Music
Myth: The Mozart effect – and the Barney effect
Practical tip: The benefits of music and drama lessons

Chapter 24 – Go Figure: Learning About Math
Practical tip: How stereotypes influence test performance

Chapter 25 – The Many Roads to Reading
The causes of dyslexia
Practical tip: Reading at home

Part 7 – Bumps on the Road
Chapter 26 – Hang in There, Baby: Stress and Resilience
Practical tip: Dandelion and orchid children
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Chapter 27 – Mind-Blindness: Autism
Practical tip: Behavioral therapy is helpful if started early
Speculation: Are feral children autistic?

Chapter 28 – Old Genes Meet the Modern World: ADHD
Practical tip: How to evaluate nonstandard treatments
Myth: Brain imaging can diagnose developmental disorders

Chapter 29 – Catch Your Child Being Good: Behavior Modification
Practical tip: Getting to good
Myth: Praise builds self-esteem, which protects against problems

Chapter 30 – A Tough Road to Travel: Growing Up in Poverty
Why epidemiology is difficult to interpret

Notes

References
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Acknowledgments

[To come after editing]
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Quiz
How Well Do You Know Your Child’s Brain?

1) Which action by a pregnant woman poses the greatest risk to her baby?
(a) Drinking two beers one evening
(b) Fleeing from a hurricane
(c) Eating sushi for dinner
(d) Flying in an airplane
(e) Walking three miles

2) How do your child’s genes and his environment interact during development?
(a) His genes influence his sensitivity to environmental features
(b) His environment influences the expression of his genes
(c) His genes influence how you care for him
(d) All of the above
(e) None of the above

3) What fraction of the calories eaten by a five-year-old go to power her brain?
(a) One tenth
(b) One quarter
(c) One half
(d) Two thirds
(e) Nearly all
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