Schools are beginning to offer an increasing number of courses in social and emotional intelligence, teaching students how to better understand their own emotions and the emotions of others.

It sounds warm and fuzzy, but it’s a trend backed up by hard data. Today, new studies reveal that teaching kids to be emotionally and socially competent boosts their academic achievement. More precisely, when schools offer students programs in social and emotional learning, their achievement scores gain around 11 percentage points.

That’s what I heard at a forum held last December by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). (Disclosure: I’m a co-founder of CASEL.) Roger Weissberg, the organization’s director, gave a preview of a massive study run by researchers at Loyola University and the University of Illinois, which analyzed evaluations of more than 233,000 students across the country.

Social-emotional learning, they discovered, helps students Read the rest of this entry »

Neurofeedback is one of the technologies that people often ask us about.  It is a promising intervention in a variety of areas, and has got significant traction in helping kids with ADD/ ADHD. Now, given the significant cost it poses for parents, we need to ask the question: “How Strong is the Research Support for Neurofeedback Treatment of Children with ADHD”?

We are honored to present the thoughts of Duke University’s Dr. David Rabiner, a leading authority on the field, on that important issue. As a bonus, you will enjoy his detailed description and suggestions of how to design a high-quality scientific study. Without further ado, let’s hear Dr. Rabiner speak.

- Alvaro

(Update as of March 2009: Dr. David Rabiner has written an update to the article below based on a newer study. You can read it clicking on link: New Study Supports Neurofeedback Treatment for ADHD)
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How Strong is the Research Support for Neurofeedback Treatment of Children with ADHD? 

Neither of the two prominent approaches to treating ADHD – medication treatment and behavior therapy – are expected to effect long term changes in the child. Medication treatment induces short-term changes in brain activity that is associated with a reduction in symptoms for many individuals. Behavior therapy attempts to create a set of environmental contingencies that promote desired behavior in the child, but which is unlikely to endure when those contingencies are removed.

In recent years, researchers have begun devoting greater attention to the possibility that children – and adults – may be provided with particular kinds of experiences that may induce alterations in brain functioning that are associated with more enduring changes, i.e., they do not dissipate as soon as treatment ends.

Neurofeedback – also known as EEG Biofeedback – is reflective of this approach and has a history that goes back Read the rest of this entry »

In 1895, this will by Alfred Nobel created the Nobel Prizes. One page worth reading, with this core paragraph:

“The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine; one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction; and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. The prizes for physics and chemistry shall be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; that for physiological or medical work by the Caroline Institute in Stockholm; that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting. It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration whatever shall be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be a Scandinavian or not.”

The Nobel Foundation has started to announce 2007 Laureates. So far:

- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Mario R. Capecchi, Martin J. Evans and Oliver Smithies for producing specific genetic alterations in mice.

- Nobel Prize in Physics: Albert Fert and Peter Gruenberg for discovering the effect underlying data storage on most hard disks.

As we discussed yesterday, basic science is crucial for innovation and for economic growth, but it is often underappreciated. Scientists are not “nerds”, as sometimes they are portrayed in popular culture, but people with a deep curiosity and drive to solve a Big problem. Many of the speakers at the  2007 Aspen Health Forum had been inspired by the Sputnik and the Apollo missions to become scientists. Two previous Nobel Prize Laureates (Peter Agre, Michael Bishop), talked about their lives and careers trying to demystify what it takes to be a scientist and to win a Nobel Prize. Both were grateful to the taxpayers dollars that funded their research, and insisted we must do a better job at explaining the scientific process to society at large. Both were proud of having attended small liberal arts colleges, and having evolved from there, fueled by their great curiosity and unpredictable, serendipitous paths, into launching new scientific and medical fields.  Bishop listed a number of times where he made decisions that were considered “career suicide” by mentors and colleagues, and mentioned “I was confused” around 15 times in 15 minutes…down to earth and inspiring. 

The Nobel Prizes, what a beautiful tradition. What a beautiful meme.

Meme: “The term “meme” (rhyming with “theme”), coined in 1976 by the biologist Richard Dawkins, refers to a “unit of cultural information” which can propagate from one mind to another in a manner analogous to genes.

If you haven’t read Dawkins’ classic book The Selfish Gene…it is never too late to enjoy it!

There are some “memes” floating now around bloggers and I have been “tagged” (included) by 2 of them. So here you have:

1) On good daily habits: this is the original post, and here are Hueina’s My Simply Successful Secrets.

My “Simply Sucessful Secrets” habits that I follow close to every day, in more or less that sequence:

• Perform 10-15 minutes of Read the rest of this entry »