Columbine by the river.
Why Stress
Inhibits Learning
William R. Stixrud, Ph.D.
Children need to feel safe in order to learn—if they
become stressed in school,
their brains will spend more energy on self-protection
than learning.
Ted was a talkative, engaging and curious second-grade
boy. But while he was extremely smart,
Ted had difficulty learning. He had a short attention
span. He hated to write.
He was also somewhat anxious, socially awkward and
self-conscious.
His teacher had become increasingly concerned about and,
understandably, frustrated
by his resistance to writing, his inability to “get
anything done,” his obsessive habits,
his negative attitude and his frequent tendency to “shut
down.”
When I tested him at my neuropsychology practice and
observed him in class,
it became obvious that Ted was very easily stressed and
felt highly stressed in school.
When we are stressed, the lower part of the brain takes
over. Nature wants us to respond
to emergencies instinctively, not thoughtfully. That way
we’ll have a better chance of,
say, outrunning a predator. So when our stress response
(aka fight-or-flight) is activated,
stress hormones actually turn off the parts of the brain
that allow us to focus attention,
understand ideas, commit information to memory and reason
critically.
Ted’s stress response was constantly being triggered in
the classroom. He was worried about disappointing his teacher and looking stupid
in front of the other students. Thus, he avoided group activities, spaced-out
during work time and looked for any opportunity to get away.
I test dozens of kids every year who are so stressed out
that they have trouble learning
and keeping up in school. And it’s not just my practice.
Research indicates that kids today
are experiencing record levels of
stress-related mental health problems—and much more stress
than their parents realize. This is a big deal, because prolonged
stress can profoundly undermine learning, mental health and brain
development in young people.
In Ted’s case, I ultimately concluded that he needed to
be in a school program
that was highly sensitive to the needs of children with
learning difficulties. His parents were luckily able to find such a program.
They were delighted to send me his first report card
from the new school, which enumerated his many strengths,
including his “infectious enthusiasm!”
I could hardly believe this was the same child I had seen
six months earlier. The difference was
that Ted felt safe and accepted in his new school and, as
a result, didn’t spend the whole day
with a stressed brain that couldn’t think, learn or work
efficiently.
Extensive research shows that the optimal mental state
for learning is relaxed alertness.
This means that kids have to feel safe
in order to learn. Otherwise, their brains spend more energy
on self-protection than on their work. This doesn’t mean
that children shouldn’t be challenged
and stretched. If they aren’t challenged, kids feel
bored, and hard situations are crucial
for the development of resilience—or the ability to deal
with adversity flexibly. We therefore don’t want to try to protect children from
having any stressful experiences. However, chronic stress
is counterproductive. Kids’ brains work most efficiently
when they feel safe—not just physically,
but also emotionally. When students know that it’s ok to
fail, they can take the kinds of risks
that lead to real growth; they can develop brains that
are capable of thinking,
learning and performing at a high level and of being
happy.
Some things you can do to protect your kids—of any
age—from being stressed out of their minds:
Try as much as possible to be a “non-anxious presence”
for your children. If we stay relatively calm and centered, it makes it much
easier to comfort an infant or sooth a toddler,
respond to a child in a flexible, mature, understanding
manner and enjoy our kids.
Maintain as much consistency in your child’s
(and your own) daily routine as possible. This helps,
in part, because a lack of predictability and a low sense
of control increase vulnerability to stress.
Avoid over scheduling children and teenagers. Young
children and school-age kids need time to play and to be with their families,
and teens need time to catch up on sleep
and stay connected with their parents and siblings.
Make sleep a top priority, as even a half hour of sleep
can make a significant difference
in a child’s mental and emotional functioning. Help kids
develop good wind-down routines at night, and talk to their pediatrician if
they have trouble sleeping or seem unusually tired during the day.
Schedule in weekly periods of “private time” with each child
as regularly as possible.
Spending time alone with children is a powerful way of
staying connected with them,
which helps them feel safe in the world.
Support your children in developing a strong sense of
internal control, which will make them
more resistant to stress. With young children, give them
choices about how and when to do things. With older children and adolescents,
allow them to increasingly make decisions
about things that affect their lives.
Get kids help if they seem highly anxious. Early
treatment of anxiety has a strong protective effect. Talk to your child’s
pediatrician, a community health clinic or a school guidance counselor.
From kindergarten on, try to protect your kids from
excessive homework and academic pressure, which are completely
counterproductive. Work with other parents and professionals
to encourage schools to implement
“evidenced-based” homework practices,
as there is no scientific evidence to support hours and
hours of homework.
Encourage kids to develop routines for de-stressing
themselves. With young children,
this could include 30 minutes of quiet play in their
rooms, looking at books
or watching a video that is not highly stimulating.
With older children and teens, it could be regular
exercise, yoga or daily meditation.
Talk to your kids about the stresses in their life. The
American Psychological Association
has a useful article titled “Talking With
Your Children About Stress.”
http://learnnow.org/topics/stress/reduce-stress-to-increase-learning
You can TCR software and engineering manuals for spontaneously recall – or pass that exam.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
How
to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps
you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com gives many ways
for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com which takes
advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com
just for fun.
To
quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will
know.
The
more that you learn; the more places you'll go.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your opinions, experience and questions are welcome. M'reen