L.A. is for babies!

After spending almost a week in the L.A. area, I can safely say I never want to live there, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER. TOO ugly, too many highways, too much jacked-up stucco, and too much smog. there, i've said my peace.

HOWEVER, the reason I was in L.A. was for a conference by the Zero to Three people. It is a very well-respected group (co-founded by one Mr. T. Berry Brazelton...awww! he's awesome!!). I attended some really great sessions, and some really crappy ones. Here are some highlights...

* Gotta read "The Philosophical Baby" by Allison Gopnik. She is a FABULOUS speaker with all kinds of cool information on research on babies and toddlers. Behold...
--At 40 minutes of age, newborns are actually able to imitate human gestures like sticking out their tongue. Babies are amazing!
--At 18 months of age, babies can understand differences in desire. If an experimenter pretends to love broccoli rather than goldfish crackers and the babies are asked to give broccoli and crackers to the researcher, they will always give the person what they want. However, at 15 months, the babies will always give the researchers the crackers...afterall that's what they'd prefer! Babies are amazing!
--**My favorite**At 14 months, babies can understand altruism. They will crawl across a room to give researchers the pen they've dropped and "can't reach". Babies are NICE!
--By 4 years of age, they've learned that beliefs can be false and differ among people...and that beliefs can change. An experimenter shows a 4 year old a box of candies. When the child opens the box, there are only pencils. The 4 year old will say they thought there were candies, but now knows there are pencils. 3 year olds will say they ALWAYS thought there were pencils. Babies are ADORABLE! (fyi, children with autism spectrum disorder often don't develop this ability until 8-9 years of age).
--There's a study by Simon Baron-Cohen (Borat's cousin) that shows that if you look at videos of 1st birthday parties of children who have have since been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, you'll notice that they don't engage in the pointing, joint-attention, gaze-following or imitation behaviors of typically developing children. Babies are FASCINATING!
--Children are regulated by their own intrinsic need to be "good". Mothers who talk about feelings have children with higher emotional "IQ". Babies are SMART!
--Children as young as 6 months can recognize and prefer the baby doll that looks most like them.
--(Sad) When a black child was asked to play with a doll house and dolls of various races and ethnicities, the child put the white family downstairs and the black family upstairs because the black family were the renters and the white family owned the house. Babies are aware of social messages!
--Most psychotropic medications that are prescribed to young children are prescribed by pediatricians, NOT psychiatrists. From '91 to 2001, use of this medication has increased 10-fold! There is NO evidence that these medications are effective (let alone appropriate) for children 3 or younger. Most of these drugs have not even been approved for children under 6! The vast majority of children on these medicines are boys (71%).
--T. Berry Brazelton says that children have 'breakdowns' before major steps in development. They tend to "regress" before they "progress". Just know that if they're on the verge of a major milestone, they'll act a little nutty, but you'll both get through it and it will be all better. Babies are FUN!


I'll post about disney with pictures and everything later. it's time for me to put away my little notes and go home!