Friday, April 10, 2009

The stress of poverty affects kids' learning ability

Here's a link to an interesting article in the Washington Post that discusses recent research on the affects that the stress of living in poverty has on the cognitive ability of children.
Now, research is providing what could be crucial clues to explain how childhood poverty translates into dimmer chances of success: Chronic stress from growing up poor appears to have a direct impact on the brain, leaving children with impairment in at least one key area -- working memory.

2 comments:

Monica said...

Wow, Arloa...thanks for sharing this article. As you know, the school that I teach at is in a very affluent area. We do have some children that attend, who come from poor families, by scholarship. I am very close to one of the children and "stress" should be her middle name! The problems she has with the very basics of academics I'm sure is because of her families day to day struggles with poverty. Thanks again, Monica

Anonymous said...

Terrific post Arloa. Thanks!