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Language Therapy as a Game
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=== The Miracle of the Human Child=== Combinatorial language is unique to humans. Although animals have the ability to send and receive a variety of signals, we are the only species whose power of expression is unlimited. Not only can we describe to each other anything we’ve encountered, but we can conjure up at will and put in words scenarios that exist only in our minds. We owe this gift to a set of “high-speed” connections between the front and the back of the brain. Without these connections, we would not be able to think, speak or understand the kinds of details that make up our normal use of language. And yet we are not born with them. The fast connections, including the combinatorial language-mediating arcuate fasciculus, develop during the first five years of life in response to our environment. This “custom” feature of our brain helps each generation adapt to the changes in our culture and physical surroundings. [[File:CH1.png|400px|thumb|left|The “high-speed” connections between the front (marked as Lateral Prefrontal Cortex) and the back of the brain (marked as Posterior Cortex), such as arcuate fasciculus and superior longitudinal fasciculus, mediate combinatorial language comprehension. The connections are marked Frontoposterior connections.]] Because so much of our brain development takes place after we’re born, humans take a long time to grow up. Most mammals reach social and physical maturity during the first months of life. By contrast, we spend a large portion of our lifespan as children. Delayed maturation is the price we pay for neuroplasticity. Not only does a child’s brain adapt easily to a new way of life, it can even make up for its own shortcomings. In his 1967 work The Biological Foundations of Language, Eric Lenneberg observed that children whose left hemisphere was surgically removed before the age of five (to treat cancer or epilepsy), grew up to function like any other adult. Astonishingly, a young child’s brain was able to “make do” with the one remaining hemisphere. On the other hand, there are tragic examples of healthy children growing up mentally impaired because of neglect. When adults don’t speak to infants and toddlers—or involve them in social activities—nothing prompts the growing brain to produce the necessary hardware, and combinatorial language remains out of reach. This was the heart-breaking reality of poor orphanages in Romania in the 1990s, where children were discouraged from talking, and other language-deprived children around the world. What about a child born into a loving family like yours? While your child gets the same exposure to language as his peers, inside his mind things are different. The genetic mutations affecting his brain distort the flow of information and change his priorities. The usual ways of the world do not work for him. He tunes it out. Even though he is capable of figuring out what you’re saying, the task seems overwhelming or not worthwhile. The brain defaults to nonverbal activities, and, barring prompt intervention, the outcome is similar to that of a language-deprived child. Josh started showing signs of autism around the age of two. It was impossible to get his attention. No eye contact. He preferred to be by himself. Then came the diagnosis, and with it, a string of experts, each promoting her own cure. Diet, ABA, karate, special programs. Despite their claims, they all seemed to push Josh further into his shell. Then his father, Alex, decided to try something new. <blockquote> “instead of ‘fixing’ him, I wanted to find out what it felt like to be him. I noticed that he was easy to scare. Super sensitive to our tone of voice. A different tone—panic, end of the world. Something is missing—hysterics. A toy breaks— tragedy. I thought maybe it’s fear. Maybe the outside world is causing him too much stress. Maybe he can come out of his shell, but he doesn’t want to: it’s calmer inside. The contact may be hurting or scaring him. He is not expecting any joy from it.” </blockquote> Alex found ways to make his son feel safe in his presence. He patiently waited for Josh to show him that he enjoyed his company. Alex’s efforts paid off. Josh warmed up to spending time together, and that opened the door to shared learning games and exercises. At the age of five, Josh started talking.
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