Developing Brains Need Iron

Research is continuing to indicate that iron is extremely critical to early brain development. Iron deficiency anemia is a common condition for young children who are not receiving enough iron in their diets. The danger is anemia can lead to a permanently low intelligence quotient (IQ).

Iron is important because it is an essential part of hemoglobin (Hb). Hemoglobin is what allows the red blood cells to transport oxygen to the body cells. Lack of hemoglobin limits the blood’s ability to feed the cells, which therefore limits tissue growth.

Essentially, iron deficiency anemia results in a lack of oxygen in the body various tissues. When tissue is starved of oxygen, it fails to grow and can suffer permanent damage.

Brain development is of primary concern when considering the effects of iron deficiency anemia on young children. Brain tissue in unborn and young children is under constant development, and an adequate oxygen supply is absolutely critical to proper brain formation. An inadequate oxygen supply can result in an underdeveloped brain with permanently lower cognitive ability.

For this reason, pregnant mothers should be certain to consume enough iron throughout their pregnancies, so that the developing brains of their unborn children can benefit from proper oxygen levels. (Note 20% of women suffer from anemia during pregnancy.) Parents should make sure that their children continue to receive proper amounts of iron throughout childhood.

Iron is available from many sources, such as beef, green leafy vegetables, raisins, dried apricots, almonds, etc. A diet with plenty of Vitamin C is also advisable, because Vitamin C aids in the body’s absorption of iron.

If you are concerned about your child’s iron levels, ask your pediatrician to test your child’s hemoglobin level. The hemoglobin test is a simple blood test that requires a quick prick on the toe or finger and a small blood sample. In many cases, the results of a hemoglobin test can be available in as little as a few minutes. (Note: Pregnant women should also be tested for anemia.)

Correcting iron deficiency anemia is fairly simple. If your or your child is anemic, the doctor will be able to prescribe a diet that will include proper iron levels.

Your Baby’s First Noun

A breakthrough moment in a child’s language development is the realization that objects have names. You can help your child reach this breakthrough moment by repeatedly exposing your child to a single object and stating that name of the object.

The best object to use is a ball. The object is extremely simple, so it is easy to process and remember. The word ball is short and simple to understand.

To teach your child the meaning of the word ball, choose a solid-colored ball. Red is the ideal color for this ball since red is visually striking and babies develop the ability to see red at a very early age.

At random times throughout each day, hold the ball one to two feet in front of your baby’s eyes. Look your baby in the eyes and clearly speak, "Ball." Move the ball slightly to refocus the baby’s attention and repeat, "Ball."

Repeat this up to five times and then offer the ball to your baby. To let this lesson sink in, allow your baby to play with the ball for as long as he or she wishes. Repeat this process a few times each day.

Eventually, you will see a glimmer of understanding in your baby’s eyes. Your baby will eventually comprehend that the object has a name. Your baby will know that the word ball is not just a sound that comes from people’s mouths, but a word with actual meaning. Once your baby gains the understanding that objects have names and words have meanings, your baby will begin to travel down the glorious path of understanding language.

To Sign or Not to Sign

A few years ago, it became stylish to teach babies how to communicate with sign language. Teaching babies how to sign has grown in popularity, and many are debating over whether sign language is beneficial, innocuous, or harmful.

It is true that babies can learn sign language effectively. Toddlers are even better at it. The benefit of a child being able to sign is that he or she will be able to communicate long before he or she could possibly speak. The child may also gain an early understanding of the interactive nature of communication. Clearly, these are positive aspects of teaching a child to sign.

Teaching a child to sign has its negatives, however. If a child can effectively communicate wants and needs through sign language, he or she will have little to no incentive to speak. Learning to speak is an extremely difficult task. The child has to experiment over and over to learn how to manipulate the mouth to make proper sounds. There is no incentive to struggle with the pronunciation of the word milk when one can just hold out a hand and squeeze the fist to make the sign for milk.

Learning to speak is a highly important developmental milestone. Unfortunately, some children have a great deal of trouble learning to speak. A delay in speech skills may be a small problem at first; however, the problem compounds rapidly as the child ages and approaches more advanced developmental steps. Since it is possible that relying on sign language may delay a child’s speech development skills, the parent should carefully consider whether the benefits of signing are outweighed by the potential risks.

Schoolhouse Rock Still Rocks

Anyone who was around in the 70s and early 80s remembers those Schoolhouse Rock music videos that came on during ABC’s Saturday morning cartoons. Animated shorts with catchy tunes like “Three is a Magic Number,” "Conjunction Junction," “I'm Just a Bill,” and "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here" taught the children of America about math, grammar, civics, etc.

Emmy Award-winning Schoolhouse Rock was the brainchild of David McCall, an advertising executive whose son was having trouble learning multiplication tables but seemed to have an excellent memory for pop song lyrics. McCall decided the solution to his son’s troubles was to marry education and music, and thus began the songs and animation that eventually became, the edutainment phenomenon, Schoolhouse Rock.

In the years that followed, David McCall with help from George Newall, Tom Yohe, Bob Dorough, Radford Stone, Lynn Ahrens, et al., tackled material in almost every area of elementary education. The result is a few dozen three-minute music videos that make learning fun and remarkably memorable. If you grew up during the Schoolhouse Rock era, I’ll bet you still remember the lyrics to some of those songs and still have not forgotten the lessons they taught you. Can you believe that was twenty to thirty years ago?

The good news is that all of these Schoolhouse Rock videos are available on DVD, and the subjects they cover are still relevant. You can take an enjoyable stroll down memory lane while your child has a blast learning about all sorts of subjects.

The comprehensive Schoolhouse Rock Special 30th Anniversary Edition DVD is available from most DVD retailers and generally costs less than $15. Please note that this material is geared toward elementary school children. Preschoolers will be able to enjoy the music and animation, but will probably find much of the subject matter too complex to understand. Also note that this Schoolhouse Rock DVD is controlled by Disney, so prepare to be assaulted with commercials when you press the play button.