When I Think of Child Development...

   I reflect on this quote about children:  "We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today."  Stacia Tauscher
    We must support and encourage our children each day of their lives so that they will become successful later in life.  Thanks to everyone for your encouraging words and interesting stories.  It has been great!

Testing for Intelligence

         I feel that children's intelligence should not be measured or assessed.  All children do not learn at the same pace and are not on the same level.  What does measuring or assessing a child entell; how smart or not so smart children are.  Some children, regardless of their disabillity, can be smart in some areas and not smart in other areas.  Marian Diamond, a neuropsychologist at the University of California-Berkeley, has discovered that the human brain can change and improve with use.  Diamond's theory of the "Plasticity of the Brain" implies that environmental conditions, interpersonal stimulation and the way in which individuals think and behave actually change the body, brain and intelligence (Hine, 2007).  Every child is smart to varying degrees in each of the intelligences, stronger in some ways and less developed in others.  By broadening our view of intelligence and valuing and nurturing abilities of children, we can open doors by using the strengths of children as a means of complementing their less developed areas.
        In Japan, emotional intelligence is not a fad, but a cultural value.  Logical intelligence in Japan is seen as inferior to emotional intelligence.  The logical truth is set aside for the sake of getting along with one another.  They believe in letting children learn on their own.  In Japan, they believe that emotional intelligence should be avoided because the more conflicts that are encountered, the more opportunities you have to learn from it.

Hine, C. (2007). Developing Multiple Intelligences in Young Learners. Early Childhood News. Retrieved
    from http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com
Suematsu, D. (2007, October 7). Should We Teach "Emotional Intelligence" to Our Children?  Retrieved
     from http://dyske.com