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© 2002, 2010 Susan Rich Sheridan
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© 2002, 2010 Susan Rich Sheridan |
Interview with Wendy Blumenthal on Key News, a program on Amherst Media, a public access channel in Amherst, MA
On July 6, 2011, Dr. Sheridan was a guest on Key News in an interview with Wendy Blumenthal. In this interview, Dr. Sheridan discusses her research on the effects of marks and writing - scribbles, drawings, writing, mathematical notation, and musical notation - on the evolution of the human brain, as well as on the development of contemporary children's brains.
Dr. Sheridan believes that using Scibbling/Drawing/Writing provides an easy and important way for fathers to spend quality time with young children.
"What a cutting edge exchange it was -- and one whose time is almost overdue. I hope that you will do more with Amherst Media because I was getting deeply engrossed just as the video wrapped.
"As an aside, it occurs to me that the hands-on aspect of scribbling/drawing/writing would appeal greatly to fathers -- many of whom are single and could use instructions on how to interact with their children. Perhaps it is time for a book directed specifically to fathers? In synch with this idea, I came across the article below:
"Fathers who actively engage in raising their children can help make their offspring smarter and better behaved, according to new research from Concordia University." -- C.C. Elian
Resources on the Importance of the Ears and Hearing:
This interview is also available on Amherst Media's web site.
Posted September 3, 2011
A Quantum Theory of Scribbing
Sustained visual attention (analogous to the self-focusing optical phenomena that occurs when photons propagate inside microtubules) achieved by marks of meaning has quantum effects within the noisy, thermal and chaotic intercellular milieu of the thinking brain. Click here to read more about Dr. Sheridan's Quantum Theory of Scribbling.
Posted May 15, 2011
The program was developed by Amy Robbins-Wilson, who is a mom, as well as being a Mom's Choice Award winning recording artist and author, the Lullaby Lady at Lullaby-Link.com, and she holds masters degrees in Ritual Song and Chant and Expressive Arts Therapy. If you are a new mom or know a new mom, Dr. Sheridan highly recommends Amy's work. Also, Amy gives away some beautiful free MP3s when you subscribe to her email list or "Like" her on Facebook.
Posted March 8, 2011
Listening for the Light
A New Perspective on Integration Disorder in Dyslexic Syndrome, Schizophrenia, Bipolarity, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Substance Abuse, by Laurna Tallman
In her book, Listening for the Light, Canadian writer/researcher, Laurna Tallman, writes clearly and persuasively about the connections between healthy hearing and healthy mental states.
Tallman presents a new paradigm for explaining human behaviour and for correcting disorders like dyslexic syndrome (ADHD), schizophrenia, bipolarity, chronic fatigue syndrome, autism, depression, and substance abuse -- using high-frequency sound. Tallman's observations and conclusions are powerful and startling.
Connect with Tallman's papers and her book at Northern Light Books.
Posted December 15, 2010
How writing by hand makes kids smarter
Younger Americans are typing or texting more and writing less, even in school -- and that's a problem when it comes to brain development
Posted on October 6, 2010, at 12:59 PM in The Week
With the ubiquity of keyboards large and small, neither children nor adults need to write much of anything by hand. That's a big problem, says Gwendolyn Bounds in The Wall Street Journal. Study after study suggests that handwriting is important for brain development and cognition -- helping kids hone fine motor skills and learn to express and generate ideas. Yet the time devoted to teaching penmanship in most grade schools has shrunk to just one hour a week. Is it time to break out the legal pad? Here's a look at how the brain and penmanship interact:
Nikki and Parker, HandMade Marks, 2010.
Writing by hand can get ideas out faster
University of Wisconsin psychologist Virginia Berninger tested students in grades 2, 4, and 6, and found that they not only wrote faster by hand than by keyboard -- but also generated more ideas when composing essays in longhand. In other research, Berninger shows that the sequential finger movements required to write by hand activate brain regions involved with thought, language, and short-term memory.
Writing increases neural activity
A recent Indiana University study had one group of children practice printing letters by hand while a second group just looked at examples of A's, B's, and C's. Then, both groups of kids entered a functional MRI (disguised as a "spaceship") that scanned their brains as the researchers showed them letters. The neural activity in the first group was far more advanced and "adult-like," researchers found.
Good handwriting makes you seem smarter
Handwriting also affects other people's perceptions of adults and children. Several studies have shown that the same mediocre essay will score much higher if written with good penmanship and much lower if written out in poor handwriting, says Vanderbilt University education professor Steve Graham. "There is a reader effect that is insidious," he says. "People judge the quality of your ideas based on your handwriting." And the consequences are real: On standardized tests with handwritten sections, like the SAT, an essay deemed illegible gets a big zero.
This isn't only an English-language phenomenon
Chinese and Japanese youths are suffering from "character amnesia," says AFP's Judith Evans. They can't remember how to create letters, thanks to computers and text messaging. In China, the problem is so prevalent, there's a word for it: "Tibiwangzi", or "take pen, forget character." "It's like you're forgetting your culture," says Zeng Ming, 22. So closely are Chinese writing and reading linked in the brain, says Hong Kong University linguist Siok Wai Ting, that China's reading ability as a nation could suffer.
New technology is part of the solution
New touch-screen phones and tablets, like the iPhone and iPad, are providing a countervailing force, translating handwriting into digital letter forms or making writing practice fun (a $1.99 iPhone app called "abc PocketPhonics" rewards kids with "cheering pencils"). In Japan, an iPhone game called kanji kentei -- a character quiz with 12 levels -- has become a hit with all age groups.
Science may just be catching up with common sense
Heather Horn in The Atlantic Wire says that while all this research is fascinating, it mostly shows that "scientists are finally beginning to explore what writers have long suspected." She notes a 1985 article in the Paris Review in which the interviewer asks novelist Robert Stone if he mostly types his manuscripts. His reply: "Yes, until something becomes elusive. Then I write in longhand in order to be precise. On a typewriter or word processor you can rush something that shouldn't be rushed -- you can lose nuance, richness, lucidity. The pen compels lucidity."
Sources: Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Wire, AFP/Reuters
Posted December 14, 2010
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