Brain Team Symposium

I spent a few hours working at the book fair portion of the Brain Team Symposium. Several Kiwanians were there, either as a part of the Brain Team or as members of the Youth Services committee. If you are interested in the actual Brain Team, you could talk to Don Siffring or Franc E. Wagner. Here is what I know--every other year, the team brings in a renowned speaker, at least in there area, to talk about a child's brain and how it develops, how outside forces act on it, how it is "mapped", etc. This year's speaker was Jane Healey, who has written at least four books on the subject.

The attendance is capped at 400 and I believe there were at least 390 in attendance. The audience is primarily made up of teachers, day care workers, and medical workers. Dr. Healey's advice in layman's terms was play with your kids, let them get dirty, limit the amount of screen time they engage in (including television, DVDs, video games, handheld devices, etc.) She recommends NO screen time for children under two--in other words, don't let your tv set be the bablysitter.

Does any of this sound familiar to those of you raised in the nineteen-fifties?

She also talked about new research into how the brain functions. For example, she mention mirror neurons, which might have something to do with how infants mimic the funny faces that parents make. She talked about the lack of fatty acids in a child's diet and how some authorities recommend a spoon of cod liver oil daily. She also went into much more depth on topics I don't fully understand.


Anyway, those in attendance paid $120 to attend this day long session, meal included, and I got to see it for free just because I offered to spend my day selling a few books to motivated readers.