News

News update: June 2010

In this month’s newsletter I would like to announce two new resources that will soon be published by Behaviour Solutions. The first is a set of posters entitled Your Amazing Brain – the series will outline things that pupils need to know about getting the most out of their brains. The themes are Make Up of Your Amazing Brain, Your Amazing Brain and Learning, Fuel for Thought for Your Amazing Brain and Your Amazing Brain and Behaviour.

The second resource is a follow-up book to the best selling Behaviour Solutions – A Guide to Syndromes and Conditions. This book will outline a further 20 syndromes and conditions and will give practical classroom strategies to use with students with each syndrome or condition. It will also outline typical characteristics and causes of each.

If you would like further information on either of these products then e-mail dave@behaviourmatters.com.

Prince of Wales Education Charity Report

A report for the Prince’s Teaching Institute has suggested that schools are now expected to ‘mop up all kinds of social problems, like obesity, that really aren’t their business.’ This emphasis on social problems removes them from focusing on teaching. The report states that Every Child Matters has 25 aims and only 2 deal with academic subjects. The report’s findings were based on interviews with 100 state and independent headteachers and education experts. They felt that there had been an ‘encroachment of politics’ into education over the past 20 years.

Government figures show an increase in pupils with Special Needs

According to Government findings 21% of pupils have Special Needs which is nearly double that in 1990. Behaviour and speech problems are the fastest growing categories. The figures also show that 10% of pupils with Special Needs have been given statements. It has been suggested that social and cultural reasons could have contributed to the rise. Also medical advances and rising survival rates for premature babies may also be factors contributing to the increase. Children over exposed to varied forms of media, including television and computer games may have worsened attention and language problems.

The perils of teenage years

TheBabywebsite.com reports from a survey of 2000 mothers and fathers of children aged over 18 that you can forget the terrible twos as being the worst age – the teenage years are the most difficult to cope with. For boys, 15 is the toughest age with parents frequently reporting that their sons refused to speak to anyone or get on with their schoolwork. However the most difficult to handle of all were 14 year old daughters. They were the most demanding – wanting greater freedom, fiercely defending their privacy and were likely to suffer from size zero dieting problems and have an interest in alcohol. They are also more likely to succumb to peer pressure. 63% of girls’ parents found them most sullen, moody and sulky at 14.

Watching too much television makes toddlers less intelligent

The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent medicine followed 1314 children born in Quebec in 1997 and 1998. Parents were asked to report how much television their offspring watched aged 29 months and at 53 months. Teachers than evaluated their academic and psycho-social and health habits when they reached 10 years of age. On average 2 year olds watched 8.8 hours a week and 4 year olds 14.8 hours. The study found that for every extra hour of television 2year olds watched there was:

• 6% decrease in maths achievement (though not reading)

• 7%  decrease in classroom engagement

• 10% increases in ‘victimisation’ by peers – teasing, rejection and assault

• 9% less exercise

• 10% more snacks were consumed

• A 50% rise in body mass index

Researchers found that pre-school is a critical time for brain development and tv watching displaces time that could be spent in ‘developing enriching tasks’. Modern television and computer screen viewing – modern television has faster editing, louder sounds and more intensive colours than that of 1960s and 1970s - can more dramatically affect young minds.

Gendered play

Psychologists from City University London carried out experiments involving 90 infants aged 9 to 36 months. The infants were placed a metre away from 7 toys and were allowed a free choice of toy. The toys were a car, a digger, a ball, a blue teddy, a doll, a cookery set and a pink teddy. Their choice and amount of time spent playing with each toy was recorded.

Among the 2-3 year old girls 50% of their time was spent playing with the doll while only 2 boys touched it. The boys spent 90% of their time playing with cars, which the girls barely touched. Researcher Dr Brenda Todd said ‘Children of this age are already subject to a great deal of socialization. Boys may be given “toys that go” while girls get toys they can nurture which may help shape their preferences. But these findings are consistent with the idea of an intrinsic bias in children to show interest in particular kinds of toys. There could be a biological basis for their choices. Males through evolution have been adapted to prefer moving objects, probably through hunting instincts, while girls prefer warmer colours such as pink, the colour of a newborn baby.’

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