There are powerful lessons that we have learned about the windows of opportunity, that open for young
children, at certain stages of development and close if those functions, those areas of the brain are not
engaged. Young children, who were misdiagnosed in the past as “mentally retarded” when they were deaf,
were never able to learn to speak in the manner we naturally learn as children, even after their deafness
was discovered and they received hearing aids and speech therapy.
Children who were born with cataracts, which were not removed very soon after birth, would remain
blind, even after the cataracts were removed at a much later date. There is a period when the optic nerve
and the brain work in concert to create the connections needed for vision.
In both of those well documented situations the windows of opportunity do not remain open without the
required stimulation during the time when they are supposed to happen.
Understanding the developmental stages and the windows of opportunity with language, spatial relations,
abstract concepts, empathy, impulse control and problem solving all relate to those windows of
opportunity. There is little integration of this critical information in our educational system.
A good educational system is based first and foremost on how children learn and then on how to teach and
what to teach. I understand the value of standards-they should be high, but they should also make sense.
“U.N. says U.S. children worse off than many.” This report goes on to identify five metrics which
measure well-being of children in 29 Western countries. Our Children fall into the bottom third with the
lowest ratings in education and poverty.
We can do better!