It has long been believed that the key milestones in a child’s development are achieved automatically, purely as a result of the child’s growing older over time and/or the baby’s genetic make up.

This theory dictates that the child walks at age one due to some kind of built-in mechanism””rather like an alarm clock set to ring at twelve months that triggers the ability to walk.
Simultaneously the alarm clock for talking rings, and he begins to say words. The same theory postulates a preset alarm clock for each and every significant stage of development. This theory suggests that the mere passage of time leads to the development of human ability and that the acquisition of ability is as inevitable as the sunrise and the sunset.

This is called “readiness.” For example, the alarm clock rings at six years of age and the child supposedly has “reading readiness.”

If reading readiness takes place at six years of age as the conventional thinking says it does, then how can we explain that thirty percent of the children in school system in the United States will fail to learn to read properly by the age of eighteen? Why did their alarm clocks fail to ring at age six or seven? Why has it still not gone off by the time they are eighteen?

It is even harder to explain the thousands of brain-injured children who have actually learned to read by the age of three. They were more than ready. They think reading is the greatest invention since mothers.

Why did their reading “alarm clocks” ring early?

It is true that at twelve months of age the average child will walk. But is this a cause-and-effect relationship? Is it the passage of time that has brought about this new ability?

Obviously not.

After living night and day with well children who were given a superb environment in which to develop from birth, we had to ask ourselves, Why do they walk and talk and use their hands earlier than their peers?
Do they all just happen to have better genes?
Why do their alarm clocks go off before they are supposed to do so?
Why are they learning earlier?

One of the most exciting discoveries we were to make was that the process of growth and development is a product of the amount of stimulation in the child’s environment. It is not determined by a preset alarm clock or superior genes.

We therefore began to look for every way we could to “set off the alarm clocks” for brain-injured children, and we have found hundreds.

We discarded the model of the preset alarm clock. What we had discovered was a simple and elegant truth:

The brain grows by use, not a preset alarm clock.

Brain growth can be speeded by increased stimulation at any point in life, but most especially at those times when it is growing fastest: in the first six years of life.

The first six years of life are precious because during this time the brain grows at a tremendous rate. Brain growth is most dramatic in the first year.

The development of the newborn’s visual pathway offers clear proof of the dramatic growth of the brain in the first year of life.

A well newborn is, like other little creatures, functionally blind in a practical sense. He can see only light and dark. He has a “light reflex.” This means that if we shine a light into his eyes, the pupil will constrict to prevent too much light from entering the visual pathway. If we turn off the light, the pupil will again dilate to allow an acceptable amount of light to enter his visual pathway.

The significance of gaining the ability to see earlier is far greater. The average baby is trapped in a visually ordinary room at the very moment when his brain is growing at its fastest rate. He is capable of taking in a tremendous amount of information but his visual pathway is not sufficiently developed to do so.

The newborn who is stimulated, and thereby gains the ability to see weeks or even months earlier, has the wonderful opportunity to see everything that is around him during the period when his brain is growing so very rapidly.

This visual ability then leads to the maturation of other pathways. Once he can see, he begins to understand more easily what we are saying to him. When he can see, his need to move is hugely increased. As a result, he tries harder to move and moves more. This movement both stimulates his sense of touch and helps to further develop his vision. His increased movement helps his chest to grow and as a result his respiration improves. This better respiration allows him to make sounds more easily so he can communicate his needs better.

Thus begins a happy cycle of events, each one touching off yet another spark, each spark igniting yet another new ability.

The more the brain is used the more it grows, and the more capable the baby becomes. This is the very definition of using the brain.

This stimulation should be done on purpose, not by accident.

The brain-injured child cannot afford to be stimulated by accident and, in truth, neither should the well newborn baby.

The ability of the child is a product of stimulation and opportunity, not of a preset alarm clock or a predetermined genetic design.

The reality of how the brain really develops turns out to be much better than the old idea of how the brain develops. The truth turns out to be much better than the fiction.

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We think of the worst case scenarios where low self-confidence and self-esteem are linked to mental health disorders and once again, we worry. We want to boost self esteem and surely praising children will do that, won’t it?

Praise can be a good thing and even as adults, we like to be told that we have done something well. We are not immune to the glow of satisfaction when somebody recognises our efforts or achievements but could we be inadvertently doing more harm than good? Carol Dweck has conducted research studies into the effects of praise on children finding:¹

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Many educators have hoped to maximize students’ confidence in their abilities, their enjoyment of learning, and their ability to thrive in school by praising their intelligence. We’ve studied the effects of this kind of praise in children as young as 4 years old and as old as adolescence, in students in inner-city and rural settings, and in students of different ethnicities””and we’ve consistently found the same thing: Praising students’ intelligence gives them a short burst of pride, followed by a long string of negative consequences.²

Negative consequences as a result of being praised for their intelligence? Surely not?  Whilst at first this might seem contradictory, when we explore the relationship between praise, the traits being praised and self-esteem, we find that praise becomes connected with how pupils view not only their own intelligence, but the concept of intelligence itself. If children are praised for ‘being clever’ they believe that intelligence is something fixed. Rather than opting for a challenge, children then choose ‘safe’ tasks which they feel that they can complete and don’t put themselves out of their comfort zone. They begin to associate their own self-worth with performance which can generate anxiety. Children need to develop resilience by trying, not succeeding and trying again which they won’t do if they believe that ‘intelligence’ is fixed and predetermined.

So how do we get it right? How can we praise children to be encouraged, boosting their self-esteem and their confidence? What does this “good” sort of praise look like?

• Don’t overpraise. If a child is engaged and motivated by an activity, over praising them can encourage them to become motivated by the reward (your praise) than by the activity itself. They then start doing it for you rather than for themselves.
• Praise their efforts or the strategy they used, the process rather than the product. Research has shown that children who are praised for their engagement, perseverance, strategy or improvement rather than their intelligence or achievements show greater confidence in having another go at a task they have not succeeded in. It also shows greater levels of enjoyment in the task and therefore greater motivation to continue rather than give up³. Children should know that results come as a result of all those other important things which are so much to do with one’s attitude towards learning.
• Embrace challenge. Tasks should be achievable but it is important not to link doing something easily with intelligence. The level of challenge needs to be set at the right level for the ability of the child and what they have already learnt but should encourage them to take their thinking to the next step.
• Encourage children to explain. Ask them to discuss their work or their ideas, explain how they solved a puzzle or ask them to teach you something. In being able to do all these things, children will realize their abilities and confidence in being able to apply what they have learnt which will lead to a deeper and more lasting confidence.
• Be specific. Let your child know what they are being praised for rather than a generic “well done”. Maybe it’s for sounding out difficult words in their reading or maybe it was for listening carefully to the instructions so that they knew exactly what to do. Children want to know what it is they have done well in. It also sounds much more sincere like you have really been paying attention.
• Reward charts can be a useful way of developing a pattern of behaviour rather than a one off. It is a visual way for a child to see that if they repeat something they can work towards a reward.

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• 1 (Cimpian, Arce, Markman, & Dweck, 2007; Kamins & Dweck, 1999; Mueller & Dweck, 1998)
• 2 http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct07/vol65/num02/The-Perils-and-Promises-of-Praise.aspx
• 3 http://www.education.com/magazine/article/praise-children-expert/
• Featured image: Andrés Nieto Porras

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