The Stress Shaped Brain

We did all of the new readings for the  next part of our training.  Only the first 5 pages were about Russian law; the rest was about child development, language barriers, sexual identity, risks for issues regarding health and skill development, and the stress shaped brain.

 I knew a lot of the info about development because of teachers' college.  It never hurts to reread anything though.  I also felt I was quite aware of many of the issues that could occur and the delays that are to be looked for because of coming from the institution -moreover, not just aware, able to work with a child with any of these delays.
For example:  Kid is not an English second language person.  Kid is replacing what she has already learned with a whole new language.  She is a regular English language learner, just learning it a year and a half later than everyone else her age.  I feel able to support Kid with this and making sure that teacher's realize Kid is actually a year behind the other kids in her class when she starts kindergarten. 

I really enjoyed the info about the stress shaped brain.  A child growing up in a stressful situation, whether the institutional setting or a neglectful family setting, actually has a brain that develops differently than one in a nurtured environment.  It has a lot to do with the fact that the brain doesn't keep producing the 'happy' feelings because it is always on guard.

I would really like to go into more details but it would take way too long.  Two things that struck me the most were that a child who has a stress shaped brain doesn't feel physical pain as instantly as a different child.  The stress brain has blocked the feeling receptors by always having it on the 'look out' so it doesn't notice the pain of getting cut or hit until you point it out.  This can cause a child to play more rough or dangerously without learning it is not good.  I also liked the analogy of how a stress shaped brain can freak out at the smallest question because of how it is always on guard.  The brain defaults to fight/flight/freeze when it is on guard.  They used the image of a person running from a bear.  The person running is onguard from the bear and if you tried to stop him and ask him a question he wouldn't be ABLE to answer... not just that he isn't answering.  The stress shaped brain is always running from the bear...

We have to really work to show that we are here for Kid and allowing her to let down her guard.

We do an assignment together tonight.  I like that Mike is getting a better understanding of child development. 

Eleven sleeps until take off.  Barf.