Dr. James Comer, Yale Child Study Center

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Dr. James Comer, Yale Child Study Center
Six Developmental Pathways
Presented by Kay Davies, Principal Ericson
Elementary
September 29, 2007 FUSD Family Leadership
Conference
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Six Developmental Pathways

• Physical
• Cognitive
• Language
• Social
• Psychological
• Ethical

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Physical Pathway

• Children need
• To eat good food,
• Enough sleep and rest,
• Regular check-ups,
• A healthy and safe lifestyle,
• Drinking water,
• Exercise, and
• A stress-free environment.

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Physical Pathway
Make sure your child drinks lots of water!

• The brain is mostly water.
• Lack of water causes the brain to dry out
  (dehydration) which is linked to poor learning.
• Dehydration causes loss of attentiveness and lack
  of energy.

Daily physical exercise

• Better muscle flexibility, and
• Better attitude toward school, and better
  academic performance.

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Physical Pathway
Stressful environments student failure

• Crowded conditions
• Poor student/teacher, and child/family
  relationships and
• Poor lighting contributes to stress.

Chronic stress

• Students who have trouble figuring out what is
  important
• and what is not important, and
• Delays the brains short-term memory and ability
  to form long-term memories.

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Cognitive Pathway

• Increases the ability to think, plan, solve
  problems, and accomplish goals it helps your
  child to

• Be serious and questioning thinkers, and
• Use information to solve
• problems well.
• When you child develops these cognitive skills,
  they become positive contributors to our
  community.

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Cognitive Pathway

• For young children
• The brain learns fastest and easiest during
  elementary school years.
• Help children by
• Spending time,
• Playing and talking,
• Doing new and different things, and
• Revisiting past experiences.

• For teenagers
• Boredom may actually shrink teenagers brains.
• If teenagers are stimulated, the shrinkage can be
  reversed in four days

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Social Pathway

• Increases the ability to build healthy
  relationships with all kinds of different people

• Children need to learn to work and play well with
  their friends and others across all ages.
• Children need to learn to celebrate the diversity
  and differences in their schools and communities.
• Children need to learn to work cooperatively in
  groups.

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Language Pathway

• Receive and express language in many different
  situations in life

• Children need to know and be able to use a wide
  variety of words for different reasons,
  situations, and groups of people.
• Children need to learn to listen attentively.
• Children need to be able to express their
  thoughts and feelings appropriately.

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Psychological Pathway

• Acceptance and confidence in oneself during the
  ongoing process of identity formation and
  managing ones emotions in socially accepted ways

• Children need to feel safe at home and at
  school. This includes physical and emotional
  safety.
• Children need to feel loved and protected.
• Children need to feel a sense of adequacy and
  competence.
• Children need to feel successful.

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Ethical Pathway

• Behave with justice and fairness toward others

• Children need to
• Learn respect for themselves and others,
• Understand the concept of right and wrong, and
• Understand the concept of justice and fairness.

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Why do you need to know these six developmental
pathways?

• Helps you understand your child better
• Develop a no-fault attitude to your relationship
  with your child, and
• Helps you think about your childs behavior in a
  bigger picture.

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A Reminder . . .

• Children are the messages we will send to a time
  that we will never see.
• Neil Postman

2010
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