Anxiety disorders are supposedly the most common mental health issue today for adolescents, with one national study of more than 10,000 adolescents finding that about 31% qualified for an anxiety disorder at least at one point in their lives (Merikangas et al., 2010). Prescriptions given to children for these anxiety disorders are antidepressants that include selective …
The National Association for Child Development is always looking for the best knowledge to further our understanding of developmental disorders and their remediation. Therefore, we are fascinated by the prospects of neuroscience research, but are fully aware of the current limitations. One major area of neuroscience research that has generated a lot of hyped buzz…
It might not be that shocking to find homeschoolers get more sleep than their public school peers, but a new study which featured 2,600 adolescents around the nation found homeschoolers get on average 90 minutes more sleep per night! Just to put that into perspective, 90 minutes a night over the course of a 5-day school…
Last summer, a group of researchers published a study in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience in which they used fMRI technology to show auditory working memory training (such as the auditory sequential processing activities in Simply Smarter) resulted in physical changes to the brain. In addition to showing auditory working memory can be trained, this research was able…
Have you ever wondered what it is exactly about the extra chromosome 21 that makes cognitive development in children with Down syndrome so challenging? Just this March researchers at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute published research that may have cracked the code on this one. The researchers have found that a protein called sorting nexin…
It is natural for parents to feel concerned about how to help their children live fulfilling lives. Parents of children with special needs have additional concerns. My son, Mark Turner, was nine days old when he became paralyzed due to complications related to a congenital heart defect. He is now 39 years of age…
We are sometimes asked how NACD differs from the ABA – Applied Behavior Analysis therapy approach to individuals with Autism. In simplistic terms, the two approaches have profound philosophical differences that impact on the specific practices as well as the understanding of what needs to be changed. NACD approaches any individual as a whole person….
by Bob Doman We generally think of independence as being free of outside control. With children, and from a developmental perspective, I see it not so much as being free of outside control as gaining self-determination, autonomy, and initiative. To discover that you can affect and change what is happening and to perceive, learn, and…
For more than three decades, the National Association for Child Development (NACD) has worked toward a better and more thorough understanding of cognitive function and how neuroplasticity affects that function. The ability of the human brain to change and improve due to neuroplasticity provided the foundation for the development of the NACD approach. NACD has…
by Bob Doman Understanding and remediating the neurodevelopmental issues of those within the autism spectrum is critical if we are going to provide these children and adults with an opportunity to overcome their issues and to function at higher, “normal,” or even “superior” levels. It is important to understand that most neurodevelopmental issues will not…