“There has long been interest in the use of newborn neurobehavior to forecast the future development of children,” reports Dr. Barry Lester, Director of the Brown Center located at the Hospital of Rhode Island.  In the December 7th issue of Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Journal of Pediatrics, we learn that a newborn exam has been developed by Dr. Lester and his team.  It was created to identify newborns “who may have problems with school readiness and behavior at the age four.”  This would open up the possibility of early intervention to prevent these problems.  

The NNNS exam was developed under a contract with the National Institutes of Health and has been studied extensively over a period of two years.  “At three to four and one half years of age, infants with poor performance were more likely to have behavior problems (age three), school readiness (age four) and low IQ (age four and one half).   

Lisa Guernsey, who writes analysis for the New America Foundation, was quoted today in a Washington Examiner article. The article, "Inattentive kids most likely to struggle with grades", documents studies that often times the children in early childhood classrooms are labeled as troublemakers or “at risk.” Often prescription medication will state that. From this study and other studies, the pediatric research is guiding us to look at physiological causes of attention disorders. Lisa is quoted as saying, “Of critical importance is treating children as soon as possible, and giving kids the environment they need and instructional opportunities to help them.“

Right on, Lisa! The article ends with an example of using a book to encourage a longer attention span. I have seen this technique utilized in classrooms I have observed across the country. A teacher would begin with a book read for two to five minutes and then lengthen the time as the school year progresses. Another way to support these children lengthening their attention spans is to have a structure for children which include center play with interesting activities that are refreshed often.

For me, this information is very encouraging. Turning away from medication to environment interventions is ideal and should be the norm and not the exception.