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Module-3 Understanding Brain Dvelopment

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Module-3 Understanding Brain Dvelopment

Uploaded by

amina mughli
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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AYAZ AHMAD KHAN

M.A, Audiology and Speech Pathology


Auditory Verbal Therapist, AG Bell Academy USA,
Certification…In progress
Founder Auditory Verbal Pakistan
Employee at HHRD
UNDERSTANDING BRAIN
DEVELOPMENT
LEARNING OUTCOMES

Participants will be able to:

1. To identify the brain as the true organ of hearing

2. To describe hearing loss in babies as a neurological emergency

3. To describe the role of the Auditory Pathways in Auditory Function

4. To describe the role of Neural Plasticity in Early Intervention

5. To describe the role of Critical Periods in the development of listening and spoken
language skills in young children
Our biology is that we hear with
brain!!!!!!!

The Real Ear


Typical Infants: Listening and
Language Development

What is Language?
The design of Human Beings
Hearing

Spoken Language

Reading and Writing

Academics

Professional Flexibility
Brain Facts
The Auditory Cortex
The auditory cortex is the part of the

temporal lobe that processes auditory

information in humans and many other

vertebrates. It is a part of the auditory

system, performing basic and higher

functions in hearing, such as possible

relations to language switching


Hearing loss in Babies is a
Neurological Emergency

Auditory deprivation means that the child’s auditory system is not

developing as it would in children with typical hearing

This is not the time to “wait and see.” This is a “wait for failure”

model of services

• You have a short critical window for your child to develop listening

and spoken language • Act quickly!!


More Brain Facts
• Hearing loss is a doorway problem

• We need to get through the doorway, to the brain

• We access the doorway with spoken language

• Audiology measures the doorway information

• Need accurate doorway data

• Need on-going doorway data

• (47% of hearing loss is progressive in nature)


What is Neural Plasticity ?

The brain Continually reorganizes itself by forming new neural

connections throughout life.

This phenomena known as “neuroplasticity”


Neural Plasticity
• Neural plasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganize itself
throughout the life span of an individual by forming new
neural connections

• Neural Plasticity allows the brain to adjust it’s activates in


response to experience, environment (or exposure) and the
disease or damage

• Most plasticity in the first 12 months of life

• The young brain is the most plastic


Types of neuroplasticity

There are 2 main types of neuroplasticity

1. Structural neuroplasticity
2. Functional neuroplasticity
Structural neuroplasticity
It refers to changes in the strength between neurons (synapses), chemical or electric

meeting points between brain cells. Synaptic plasticity is a general term, and the

name itself has no meaning other that something changed within the synapse, but

can include many specific processes such as long-term changes in the number of

receptors for certain neurotransmitters, or changes where some proteins are being

synthetized more within the cell.

During development, brain areas become specialized for certain tasks such as

processing signals form the surrounding areas through sensory receptors. For

example, in occipital brain area, the fourth layer of cortex hypertrophies in order to

receive signals from the visual pathways.


Functional neuroplasticity
Functional neuroplasticity depends upon two basic processes, learning and

memory. They also represent a special type of neural and synaptic

plasticity, based on certain types of synaptic plasticity causing permanent

changes in synaptic effectiveness . During learning and memory permanent

changes occur in synaptic relationships between neurons due to structural

adjustments or intracellular biochemical processes.


Brain Development in young children
Neural Plasticity
• Neural plasticity is most available and most active during the earliest days and months of a

child’s life. The brain has some plasticity throughout, the life span, but the most rapid changes

in brain development occur in the earliest months

• Auditory tissue is located throughout the brain. All of those areas need stimulation in order to

develop. Technology that gets sound to the brain makes it possible to stimulate these areas,

in the presences of hearing loss

• The brain is designed to receive incoming signals, facilitating learning

• An enrichment input and a clear speech signals helps to grow the auditory – neural pathways

in the brain of children with hearing loss

• (Carol Flexer, 2011)


Reading and Neural Plasticity
• We know from research that reading is a multi sensory activity, and that
cornerstone of reading is auditory development of the auditory neural
centers

• Humans are pre-wired to listen and talk but not pre-wired for reading.

• Reading is an exercise in neural plasticity. The brain is not hard-wire to


read. The only way children learn to read is a by developing the connection
between various parts of the brain and the auditory centers

• (Carol Flexer,2011)
Critical Periods
• “Those times that are better than others for the brain to learn skills (Carol

Flexer)

• The cortex matures in stages or columns

• Level of maturity depends on richness of exposure/ experience

• It is well known that there are critical periods for neurobiological development in

the brain. A sensitive period for the development of the central auditory system

is a time when the central auditory pathways have the greatest plasticity or

responsiveness.
What will it take to optimize the
probability of attaining LSL outcomes?

• Developing LSL requires a systematic approach with cohesive attention to all

links in the logic chain (Flexer,2017)

• Brain Development > General Infant/Child Language Development in the

family’s Home language > Early and consistent Use of Hearing

technologies > Family-Focused LSL Early Intervention > LSL Early

Intervention for Literacy Development


Infant Auditory-Verbal Development

• At 4.5 months of age babies recognize and prefer to listen to their

own name.

• By 6 months of age, babies get the idea that objects and people

have names

• By 9 months of age, babies are sensitive to native stress patterns

and pauses in infant-directed speech (Golinkoff, R. 2013)


How’s Your Foundation?

For children who are best prepared for grade 1, 46 million

words are heard by age 4 (Hart and Risely, 1999)

20,000 hours of listening are needed as a basis for

reading

( Dehaene, S. 2009)
Setting The Stage for Optimum Brain
Development
The Three Ts:

• The 1st T: TUNE IN


• The 2nd T: TALK MORE
• The 3rd T: TAKE TURNS

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