About the Symposium

Research on children with developmental disabilities informs our understanding of the mutual influences of biology and environment. This symposium explored the plasticity of the human nervous system by examining the different developmental trajectories of children with disabilities.

Questions discussed included: How do early brain injuries impact a child's language learning? What are the effects of language learning on the developing brain? Can family interactions make a difference in child outcomes? Does early intervention shift developmental trajectories? This symposium also addressed the implications of these research findings for intervention policy and practices.

Funding was provided by the McCormick Tribune Foundation and the Harris Foundation.

Early Brain Injury and Language Learning

Heidi M. Feldman, M.D., Ph.D.

In adults, specific regions of the brain are essential for language functioning. If these regions are damaged during adulthood through injury or stroke, the individual is likely to suffer significant disruptions in language skills. Is this neural specialization present at birth or do the language areas of the brain continue to develop during childhood? What are the effects of language learning on the developing brain?

Dr. Feldman presented studies of the development of children who sustained brain injuries early in their lives, before beginning language learning. She found that children with early brain injuries typically show delays in the early phases of language development, but their rate of language development improves during the preschool years. At school age, their communication is adequate for natural conversation, but they have problems with language tasks such as interpreting sentences. Dr. Feldman also presented neural imaging studies of children who are developing typically and of children with early brain injuries. The results suggested that the mature pattern of brain organization for language functioning is still developing in school age children and that different patterns of organization may arise when the brain is injured early in life. Taken together, these studies demonstrate the plasticity of the human nervous system at a behavioral and neurological level as well as limitations of the plasticity. Implications for the design and implementation of early intervention and educational programs were also explored.

Dr. Feldman is the Ronald L. and Patricia M. Violi Professor of Child Development and Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Trained as both a developmental psychologist and a pediatrician, she is interested in the interaction of brain and behavior as well as the collaboration of health care and education. She is an active fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Board of Pediatrics and is a member of the Society for Research in Child Development. She serves as Project Director for University, Community, Leaders, and Individuals with Disabilities at the University of Pittsburgh, an interdisciplinary leadership-training program regarding disabilities. She has served as a member of the Human Development Aging Study Section of the National Institutes of Health and as a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.

Children with Disabilities in Early Intervention:

A 10-year Study of Child Development and Parental Well-being

Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D.

As the frontiers of neuroscience continue to advance, service providers and parents of children with developmental disabilities eagerly await new insights to guide creative interventions to "unlock" each child's potential for more adaptive functioning. Central to this challenge is the need for greater understanding of how constitutional predisposition and environmental influences affect the establishment of developmental pathways early in life, and how individual trajectories can be modified over time.

The Early Intervention Collaborative Study was launched in 1985 to address these complex questions. Drawing on data collected at five time points between the initiation of services in infancy and age 10 years, Dr. Shonkoff presented an analysis of how trajectories in children's development and parent well-being evolve and interact over time. Discussion focused on two important challenges. The first relates to the domain of science, and addressed the extent to which research on atypical development can inform our overall understanding of the interactive influences of biology and experience. The second relates to the world of policy and practice, and addressed the need to identify predictors and moderators of change in both child function and family adaptation that are amenable to intervention.

Dr. Shonkoff is Dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management and the Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold Professor of Human Development and Social Policy at Brandeis University. A pediatrician by training, his work focuses on early childhood health and development and the interactions among research, policy, and practice. He recently served as Chair of the Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development for the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, and co-edited its final report, From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. He currently serves as a member of the Scientific Core Group of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Early Experience and Brain Development, and the Board of Directors of Zero to Three. He has been elected to the Institute of Medicine and the American Pediatric Society, and was recently designated a lifetime National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences.

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