Brain Development / SES / Poverty

"Family income, parental education and brain structure in children and adolescents"

Nature Neuroscience and Nova Next (PBS), Allison Eck, 3/31/2015

NovaNow Link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/stress-from-poverty-decreases-child-brain-sizes-even-at-birth/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=pbsofficial&utm_campaign=nova_next

Nature Neuroscience Link: http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.3983.html#access

I believe this article is a very important reading for educators! This article points to the issues of brain development and socioeconomic status (SES). The researchers have found and argued that brain development is affected by the SES of the person. This research may point to more importance and need in prenatal and early childhood development focus among those families of poverty.

Here is a quote from the journal: "Among children from lower income families, small differences in income were associated with relatively large differences in surface area, whereas, among children

from higher income families, similar income increments were associated with smaller differences in surface area. These relationships were most prominent in regions supporting language, reading, executive functions and spatial skills; surface area mediated socioeconomic differences in certain neurocognitive abilities. These data imply that income relates most strongly to brain structure among the most disadvantaged children." Nature Neuroscience

Audience: parents, educators, public policy makers, early childhood educators, general public

Relevant to all teachers and those concerned with poverty in America.