Calming the Storm: Nurturing Learning Environments for Children Facing Stress and Autism Challenges

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Have you ever wondered what happens in a child's brain when they feel scared or stressed? Join us as we uncover the powerful role of the amygdala and how it can hinder a child's ability to learn by triggering a fight-or-flight response. We'll explain the vital connection between the amygdala and the hippocampus, emphasizing why a calm and supportive environment is crucial for effective learning. Plus, we address the unique challenges faced by children on the autism spectrum, especially with multitasking, and provide practical tips for parents and educators to help these young learners thrive.

Unlocking a child's potential doesn't have to be a daunting task. This episode offers valuable strategies to break down mental blocks and make learning enjoyable. By focusing on small, manageable steps, we'll show you how to engage the brain's thinking and reasoning centers effectively. Discover why viewing education as a positive and rewarding experience can foster continuous growth and development. As we set the stage for future discussions on effective learning techniques, we promise you a weekend full of insights and actionable tips to support the young learners in your life. Stay tuned for more enlightening content on Monday morning!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 0 (00:00):
Hi everyone.
I hope you're having a goodweekend.
Today I'm going to talk alittle bit, as I had promised,
about the brain.
First I want to say I have nomedical degree.
This is very elementary, justgiving a little bit of
information that I haveexperienced myself working with
kids and reading.

(00:22):
I used to have a reading lab andI always looked at the brain as
like a train station goingaround and if one part of the
brain was blocked then thelearning would stop.
So my job was to figure outwhat part of the brain is
blocked and to unblock it.

(00:45):
Maybe it was visual or maybe itwas auditory, and those are
some things that we looked atwhen there was a problem with
reading.
So one part of the brain andit's a small part of the brain,
it's just almond shape, it'scalled the amygdala and I
probably did not pronounce thatright it's an almond shape and

(01:10):
it is part of the limbic systemand it's adjoined to the
temporal lobe of the brain andit evokes emotion of fear and
aggression and what happens whenthat?
When it that it sends achemical to that part of the
brain and it swells up, so itkind of stops and you get that

(01:31):
fight or flight kind of reactionwith this part of the brain and
then it also sends it to thehippocampus, which puts it into
the memory.
So emotion part of the brain,this is part that affects how
your child reacts to a situation.
So think of yourself and let'suse the example I used in my

(01:52):
other podcast, where you turnoff the lights, you go, you're
going, it's dark out and you'regetting ready for bed and
somebody's trying to break intoyour house and all of a sudden
that part of the emotion of yourbrain is reacting and you are
have that fear of flight orfight.

(02:12):
So what are you going to do?
You're not going to go bake acake or watch TV or anything
like that.
You're going to figure out howto protect yourself and your
family.
And that's what happens withour kids.
Sometimes, if they getoverstimulated or anything like
that, they get the emotions andthat part of the brain that

(02:32):
controls the emotions andlearning stops.
So we are fighting against achemical that's in our body,
that we're trying to calm ourkids.
And remember I said from myother podcast that your first
job is to keep calm and keepthem calm and to be able to keep

(02:53):
that door open so you can getthe learning in.
So then it sends it into thememory anyway.
And then, well, first let meback up a little bit that part
of the brain is kind of thevisual, so it sends it to the
top of the brain and then itgoes to the back of the brain
and then in the middle, therewhere the amygdala is, and then

(03:15):
you have that emotion and itsends it to the hippocampus and
that helps to organize things.
That part of the brain is wefile things like okay, this is
the math file, this is thereading file and this is this
memory, and they're good and badmemories that we have.

(03:35):
So that train station.
If that part of the brain isblocked, the students become
frustrated and learning alsostops.
So do our kids organize?
So do our kids organize?
Do we see that they have thememory and that's a part of the

(03:55):
memory like, okay, I forgotabout how to do this math
problem, so there might besomething going on in that part
of the brain where it's notkeeping the information and it's
not organizing.
And then the other part of thebrain is where the frontal
cortex is at and this is wherewe have reasoning and thinking
and possibly the outcomes.

(04:17):
Kids on the spectrum learn onething at a time.
It's hard for them to multitask.
It doesn't mean that they can'teventually.
But at first you know kids, andit doesn't matter what age they
are.
They may just have troublelearning more than one thing.
They may want to just do onething and do it well and then
move on to the next thing.

(04:38):
For example, if when you learnto drive, remember at first
you're thinking of every step.
You know, turn it on, put it in, you know drive, hit the gas,
the pedal, what foot do you use.
You're thinking of every stepalong the way while you're
driving.

(04:58):
Then after a while it justbecomes second nature and we
don't think about it.
Like riding a bike is the otherexample.
That's really good about that.
Our whole body has some type ofmemory and so we don't need to
think about that all the time.
And that's the same way withour kids in the frontal cortex,

(05:19):
cortex that we need to.
You know, lab and take onething at a time, learn that, and
then it becomes second natureto them.
It's like think of this way too.
Later they will learn to do twothings at once.
But, for example, you'reteaching them to write their
letters from A to Z and then youteach them to write their

(05:41):
numbers from 1 to 20.
You have them write A1, b2, c3.
And that takes longer to dothan writing A, b, c or 1 to 20,
and then having them write 1, a, 2, b.
But if you have them do apuzzle and then ask them a

(06:03):
question while they're doing, itwill help build that multitask.
Sometimes they're going to notlike that.
They want you to be quiet, theydon't want you to interfere.
And make sure, when they dothat, that if they're getting
upset, have them use their words, say no, thank you, and this
will help.
Remember, let the child knowwhen they come to the table.

(06:27):
It's just a short time.
So that's the other thing youwant to do, because that will
help relax them.
You want to keep that door open.
That we're going to do, remember, I told you the formula that I
read about is you take their ageand you add two minutes.
So if there's seven, you addtwo and I would do 10 minutes.
But that's actual work.

(06:49):
It's not you reading, it's notyou preparing, it's actually
doing the work.
If they're 15, then you add twoand they're going to do 17
minutes of work and let themknow, okay, we're doing 17
minutes at a timer, whateverkind of timer, that is good for
them.
But anyway, those are some partsof the brain that is that train

(07:10):
station that keeps keeping thetrain going, keeping the
learning going, and if there issome part that is blocked, then
we need to learn to unblock it.
And with the part of the brainwhich is thinking and reasoning
and everything like that, and ifthat part is blocked, how do we

(07:31):
open it?
Just do small bits, do a littlebit of learning, do one thing
at a time.
They're only going to read this.
These are the vocabulary wordsI want them to know.
Then do the reading, break itdown, make it easy for them,
enjoy helping them to learn, sothey can feel that sense that

(07:52):
this is not a bad thing, this isa good thing.
Okay, so that's all I have fortoday.
I know this is a short one, butI think a lot of people like
them short, so I'm going to doanother one for Monday morning
and that will also be a littlebit shorter.
Anyway, I hope you're having agreat weekend and I will talk to
you soon.
Bye.