Laughter is considered the best medicine. Since childhood, we have heard that it prolongs life and improves health. It's really true.
When we laugh, the body receives more oxygen, activating the production of hormones associated with well-being. For this reason, laughter is considered a natural pain reliever. Plus, it effectively acts against depression and improves mood. This has led some French psychologists to wonder: Could laughter contribute to the ability to learn new information more quickly in childhood? They decided to test the reaction of children when they begin to explore this world.
We have collected information about the research conducted by these scientists. You will find out whether children are actually better able to learn new information when they are in a cheerful mood.
A study that caused a lot of laughter
Based on the fact that a good mood improves learning in older children, psychologists conducted an experiment to find out whether laughter has a positive effect on young children when they learn something new. To conduct the study, which was then published in a scientific journal, psychologists studied the reactions of a group of 18-month-old children.
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The group was divided into two subgroups. Children had to see their parents take toys and have, depending on the group of kids, two opposite reactions. In the first group, the adult took a toy and simply started playing with it. In the second group, adults took the same toys, but made silly faces and gestures to make the children laugh.
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Early childhood autism
(Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD) is a group of diseases characterized by delayed development of speech skills, communication problems and the presence of a set of stereotypical habits.
Autism usually appears during the first three years of life. Children with autism are generally well-built physically, and most autistic children are quite attractive and appear normal in appearance. But their behavior is very different from that of their peers. They have special preferences, strange behavior, games and reactions. Usually parents notice the peculiarity and some strangeness of their children quite early.
Main signs of autism:
there are problems in communication and socialization
there are strange games, preferences, repetitive actions and/or self-stimulation
there is any hypersensitivity or unusual insensitivity to touch, sounds, new people, rooms and/or impaired eye contact
The main oddities of a child appear before 30 months and are very individual; each baby may have something different or not have any typical sign. But if there are disturbances in communication, games, perception, incomprehensible whims and preferences, speech delay, the child is definitely at risk. The peak of autistic traits occurs at the age of 2-2.5 years. There are a lot of signs of autism, there are no clear criteria, children are all different and everyone displays autistic traits in their own way.
What does the child look like and autistic traits +- 2 years:
YOU SHOULD BE ALERT if:
There is regression in development and the child has lost some skills, there was speech but it disappeared, etc.
The child does not want to learn new things, it is difficult to attract his attention.
The child does not speak at all or has any speech disorders
Frequent, strong whims and hysterics, violent reaction to the word “no” and “no”
The child does not always respond to names and speech; he seems deaf, but hears even quiet sounds.
Does not understand spoken speech, the child does not comply with commands and basic requests
There is no pointing gesture, does not try to explain himself with facial expressions and gestures, there is no questioning intonation
Doesn't ask for help, achieves everything by crying or using your hand, uses another person as if he were an inanimate object.
Does not repeat the actions of adults, there is no copying or repetition of everyday actions
Problems with the potty, does not want to undress or do other self-care
Weak reaction: “Look, there’s a pussy over there,” directing the gaze to the same place where the adult is looking is difficult.
The child rarely looks into the eyes or looks, but at the face as a whole, casually, is difficult to reach or photograph, does not maintain eye-to-eye contact for any length of time
The child rarely seeks consolation from his mother, shares his joy, interests, achievements with other people (for example, does not bring or show others objects that he likes)
The child does not seek communication. Doesn't worry when separated from mother. Can stay alone in the room.
Avoids affection, moves away in the arms, spreads out or, on the contrary, tenses, does not provoke contact.
There is no interest in peers, no attempts at interaction and general games. Does not know how to communicate or ignores other children.
Doesn’t accept changes in everyday life, ritualistic behavior, favorite routes on the street, favorite pictures in books that he won’t let you flip through, only these clothes or a mug, only this towel and a cartoon, does the same actions in the playroom or on the street...
Strange games appear with rearranging, laying out toys, sorting, rows of toys, etc. THE SAME games and actions, there are no role-playing games. Insistent attention to parts of objects or non-toys.
Preference for objects over communication. Can play alone, spin wheels, look at flickering toys, a spinning top, fiddle with beads, a handkerchief, open and close doors, drawers, swing on a swing for a long time, roll down the slides, play with something for a suspiciously long time or look at some object or action (gets stuck) for ATMs, slot machines, ticker tape, intercom, etc.).
The child is characterized by any movements: flapping, clapping, twisting with his hand or fingers, or complex movements of the whole body. It can flap its arms like wings, begins to walk on tiptoes, often tilts its head, shakes its head or hits itself, pulls its hair or ears, sways, laughs for no reason, sometimes looks into emptiness, squints its eyes to the side, spins, walks backwards...
Reacts inappropriately to touch, hair cutting, nose drops, mittens, hats, etc.
Fears of the noise of a vacuum cleaner, drill, musical toys, barking dog, etc. appear.
The baby doesn’t like it when something is done with his hand
The child does not like new places, shops, in the hospital it is more difficult for him than for other children, and is not allowed to be examined by doctors.
The child experiences special satisfaction at the window of a moving vehicle.
Does not understand the real danger, there is no sense of edge.
Possible slight sensitivity to cold, wet, pain.
Fine and gross motor skills lag behind age levels and the child may be clumsy.
Lethargy or, conversely, severe excitability of the child.
The child has or has had problems with the intestines, microflora, and diathesis.
Fears, aggression, and aggression itself can occur with autism, but are not its obligatory signs.
If a child in infancy looked like an adult in photographs, this is also an indirect sign of autism.
There is a diagnostic test that will help determine whether your baby has autistic traits (autism spectrum greater than 30). It is also very convenient to take this test regularly and see the dynamics: what areas still need to be improved and how far the child has progressed.
There is a short diagnostic test for young children:
- Does your child look in the same direction as you when you try to attract his attention to something interesting or new?
Does your child point at something to get your attention, not with the goal of getting what you want, but simply to share the joy?
— Does the child play with toys, imitating the actions of adults (feeding a bear, putting a doll to sleep, rolling a car loaded with Legos, etc.)
A more advanced version looks like this (early diagnosis of autism M-CHAT)
Does the child show interest in other children?
Does your child like being rocked in your arms, on your lap, etc.?
Has your child ever played pretend, like talking on the phone or rocking a doll or something else?
Does the child use the index finger when showing or showing interest in something?
Has anyone ever brought you (parents) objects to show you something?
Can your child look you in the eye for more than 1-2 seconds?
Has the child ever been overly sensitive to sounds (for example, covering their ears)
Does the child smile at you or in response to your smile?
Does the child imitate what you do (for example, imitates your facial expressions)
Does your child call out his name when you call him?
If you point to a toy in the room. Will the child look at her?
Will the child look at the things (objects) that you look at?
Does your child make unusual finger movements near his face?
Is your child trying to get your attention to what he is doing?
Have you ever felt that your child is hearing impaired (deaf)?
Does the child understand what other people say?
Does it happen that a child is not fascinated by a toy or part of a toy, or wanders aimlessly around the room?
Does your child look at your face to check your reaction when faced with something unfamiliar? Here's a good sign. Enlarge to view.
Causes of autism.
The causes of autism are varied and there are many versions. There are a lot of disorders in autism: speech, socialization, often motor skills and sensitivity suffer, the digestive system is disordered, etc. Therefore, if you do not consider the picture as a whole, there can be a lot of versions for reasons.
My personal opinion: for some reason, outyats have impaired fermentation, useful things come in with difficulty, but harmful things, on the contrary, are not excreted, or are excreted too slowly. The lack of and not eliminated affects the overall development of the child, prevents the brain from developing properly, the speech area suffers, and the work of the whole organism is disordered. Development is suspended or the child regresses. The body spends all its energy on intestinal problems, on processing incorrect sensory information, the brain works more slowly, and new neural connections are not created consistently. As a result, the child does not develop spontaneously and marks time. Hence the problems and the lag!
HELP for autism varies:
- therapy with a specialist or at home
Hug Therapy()
Sensory Integration
Gluten-free and casein-free
Biocorrection (ultra-high doses of vitamins)
Centers and sanatoriums, special courses for children with disabilities
Therapy with horses, clay, dogs, dolphins, etc.
Game therapy, art therapy, music therapy, Tomatis therapy
Acupuncture, osteopathy and other alternative treatments...
Honey-vitamin therapy()
- much more
: Signs and causes
The tendency to epilepsy and the onset of its development are expressed in the characteristics of the child’s behavior, which parents should pay attention to: the earlier the diagnosis is made, the more successful the treatment will be.
Candidate of Medical Sciences M. VAYNTRUB
In most cases, epilepsy is a childhood disease. The onset of the disease occurs at 6-10 years (18-20%), at 11-15 years (30% of cases). Usually children themselves cannot understand that something is wrong with them, so adults must come to their aid.
Most people believe that epilepsy is expressed exclusively in the form of seizures. However, there are also non-convulsive forms, with which, as a rule, the disease begins. They are usually not noticed or are not considered signs of the disease, although they are very important for early diagnosis.
For example, children prone to epilepsy often get up and walk around the room in their sleep, can move light furniture, and rearrange things. They do not answer calls or questions. Then they go to bed and, as a rule, don’t remember anything the next morning. In other cases, the child sits up in bed and falls asleep again, sometimes pronouncing incomprehensible words and sounds in his sleep. In some children, such activity during sleep is the only manifestation of epilepsy, so parents should monitor the child if he has this feature.
Another warning symptom is nightmares. In this case, the same “plot” of the dream is repeated many times throughout the week. Nightmares about attack, beating, murder are accompanied by a feeling of fear, sweating, and palpitations. Upon awakening, vivid episodes of dreams are retained in memory. Children usually talk about them and ask for help.
Often in a dream, a child screams, cries or laughs several times during the night. In the morning, children do not remember their dreams. In this case, screaming, crying, and laughter are automatic speech and motor phenomena that accompany a nonconvulsive attack of epilepsy.
Such phenomena indicate the gradual development of the disease.
The initial stage of epilepsy is sometimes accompanied by short-term loss of consciousness in the child - so-called absence seizures (“absence” in French means absence). At this moment, a “blackout” occurs, when from the outside it may seem that the patients freeze, think, and freeze in place. In other cases, the patient in this state rubs his hands, clenches his fingers into fists, taps on the table, turns pale or red, his pulse quickens or slows down, and his muscles twitch. Two to three month old babies can “nod” - quickly tilt their head forward. At six months, these “nods” may be replaced by a tilt of the head and torso forward.
These attacks occur before the age of 6 years. Later, at the age of 5-10 years, during an attack the patient rolls his eyes, throws his head back or raises his arms. There may also be impulsive attacks (at the age of 7-20 years), when various muscle groups, especially the arms and shoulders, instantly shudder. Muscle twitching can also be observed when falling asleep, waking up, and during sleep. These phenomena occur in 3% of patients in the initial stage of epilepsy.
One of the most common initial manifestations of epilepsy is recurring headaches. For many weeks and even months, they may be the only symptom of the disease. Pain occurs often and suddenly, in paroxysms, without any reason, sometimes combined with nausea and vomiting, most often in the morning and afternoon, less often in the evening and at night. Headaches are usually not associated with head injuries.
Epilepsy sometimes begins with fainting. The difference between epileptic fainting and an attack of lightheadedness is that this fainting occurs slowly and is accompanied by muscle relaxation, while with epilepsy the muscles are tense. In some patients, the only symptom of epilepsy is a short-term speech disorder. In this case, patients are well oriented, understand everything, continue the work or conversation they started, but cannot speak. Sometimes they poorly understand speech addressed to them; its sounds seem muffled to them. Usually such attacks occur 2-3 times a day.
A child’s behavior can also be a worrying symptom. If a child of preschool and early school age is too active, easily excitable, restless, absent-minded, then parents should treat him more carefully. Typically, kindergarten teachers or primary school teachers report “difficult” child behavior. However, most often, educators or parents themselves regard this behavior as flaws in upbringing or characteristics of the age period.
But when the child’s motor disinhibition and “excitement” does not go away, but increases, and is joined by aggressiveness, a decrease in the rate of perception of new information, deterioration of attention, memory, and poor academic performance, then all this indicates the progression of the disease.
Having noticed the described phenomena, you need to show the child to a neurologist. It’s better to have doubts and still go to see a specialist than to hope for “maybe.” Unfortunately, most parents do not rush to see doctors for various reasons: some believe that all this is due to the characteristics of the child’s body, overwork, overheating in the sun, lack of sleep, others hope that “everything will go away with age.” However, non-convulsive forms of the disease pave the way for convulsive seizures. But even after the first seizure, a doctor is consulted only in 40-45% of cases.
Some patients begin to be treated by psychics and traditional healers. After disappointing results, they finally turn to doctors. A specialist can diagnose epilepsy only after an electroencephalographic study of the brain (EEG). It sometimes happens that the first EEG results do not reveal a tendency to seizures, especially if the attacks are nocturnal, and the study was carried out in the morning or afternoon. Therefore, a dynamic EEG study is necessary.
If treatment is started on time (and as early as possible), it leads to effective results in 50-60% of patients. Seizures quickly disappear, mental disorders do not occur, memory, attention and other intellectual functions of the brain do not deteriorate. Children continue to study, and adults continue to study and work. In a word, the dangerous moments of the disease are left behind.
With what trepidation we wait for a baby’s first smile, and how sometimes we wonder what’s so funny about picking up worms in the pockets of little ones. How we frown in response to “stupid jokes” about the potty, poop and peeing dogs. We tell you on April Fool's Day on MedAboutMe what good things experts find in children's manifestations of a sense of humor.
Despite the fact that not all manifestations of children’s humor are appropriate and should be supported by parents, the ability to find humor in the ordinary, to make one laugh, even if these reasons seem “stupid” to adults, is a sign of the child’s proper development. The sense of humor is based on logic and the ability to generalize the characteristics of objects and phenomena and find paradoxes. Well, if a grown-up child continues to make jokes that are not entirely smart and appropriate, then experts say that there is no need to blame him - the peculiarities of the sense of humor are transmitted genetically from close relatives!
The willingness to laugh avidly at something that only makes others smile may be part of a child's natural temperament, a set of personality traits that are, at least in part, genetically inherited: children's prevailing moods, attention spans, and activity levels influence their sense of humor. , are also aspects of temperament.
What turns out to be more decisive is not yet particularly clear to science. "Both genetic and environmental factors can influence temperament," says Brian D'Onofrio, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Indiana University. "And when you notice that your child's temperament is similar to your husband's or your own, it is safe to assume that he either received some of your genetic characteristics or learned these aspects from the people living under the same roof with him."
However, most humor is a socially constructed feeling, something that a child understands by observing adults. “When moms and dads do absurd things, like blowing bubbles with their mouths or talking in stupid voices, children don't know what to do about it, but their parents 'tell' them how to react by smiling and laughing,” explains Gina Miro, professor psychology, which studies humor in infants.
When adults giggle because of a cat's silly antics or a baby's face, the child will start laughing too. As children get older, they develop their own ideas about what makes them laugh. However, they will likely consider their parents' humor to be their only option for quite a long time. And this will make the child strive for the same things that make parents laugh, even cat videos on Youtube.
In the end, it is not so important to decipher the complex genetic code of a child. A better question to ask is: “Given my child’s temperament, characteristics, strengths and weaknesses, what can I do to better parent?” With a thoughtful response, the efforts of parents, nature and society will come together in an optimal way, regardless of who exactly this child is like.
Having a good sense of humor is much more important than just being able to tell funny jokes. It is a mood that allows us to notice the bright side of life. Humor transforms reality and helps cope with stressful experiences. Finding the funny and enjoying the simple stupid things in life makes difficult situations easier to cope with. And even three-year-old children are capable of reducing tension with jokes, you just need to see it.
Humor also plays a huge role in self-esteem. Because children with a good sense of humor tend to be more popular and befriend each other more readily, they tend to feel better about themselves. And let's not forget the healing power of humor: a child who can make a friend laugh when he's sad understands the importance of empathy and sympathy. Likewise, a child who can laugh at himself when he makes a mistake is more able to accept imperfection and is less afraid to try again.
Laughter's ability to relieve stress is just one of many reasons why a sense of humor is so important to a child's development. Having a sense of humor plays an important role in developing self-esteem, learning problem solving, and honing social skills, explains Louis Franzini, Ph.D., author of Kids Who Laugh: How to Raise Your Child's Sense of Humor. “This is one of the most desirable personality traits. And parents, without a doubt, can contribute to this.” Luckily, this is one skill that parents enjoy reinforcing.
Humor takes many forms: wordplay, visual jokes, or simply a child using the element of surprise. But most experts agree that the essence of humor is taking something in a familiar form and turning it upside down, making it unusual.
This is why very young children don't really have a sense of humor - they are still learning how the world looks, feels and sounds in normal contexts, so they don't "get the joke" when something is wrong. Thus, the first signs and sounds of a baby's laughter at about 4 months of age are usually a reaction to excitement. For example, bouncing on your knees causes laughter because it is physically stimulating.
But in just a few months, the funny sounds the toy makes will make you smile or laugh. Beginning at the 6-month mark, babies begin to accumulate enough information about the world around them to be surprised and delighted by the unexpected.
"Babies experience pleasure in processing information that is a little new and a little similar," says Paul E. McGee, Ph.D., a child development psychologist and author of Understanding and Promoting Children's Humor.
At this age, peek-a-boo games become the most beloved, and almost everything that goes beyond their normal experience makes children laugh. For example, it’s funny that dad tries to drink from a child’s sippy cup. This signals that the child has learned: dad belongs to the adult world, and the mug is a child’s object. Does not match! So it's funny.
The leap in cognitive development during a child's second year allows him to catch auditory and visual jokes. By their second birthday, children have already mastered the basic language and its simple rules, so they appreciate the humor in breaking them. If, for example, a child knows for sure that a cow says “moo,” he may find it very funny if his mother takes a toy cat or dog and asks him to say “moo.”
As language skills develop, wordplay becomes an important part of young adult humor. Everything that rhymes is funny (especially if it rhymes words to which parents say “ugh, we don’t say that at the table!”). Songs sung in a “stupid” voice cause colic laughter.
A child's sense of humor really grows and develops when he begins to enjoy imaginative play around the age of 3. Preschoolers love to create their own jokes—showing up in mom's high heels, changing the ending of their favorite song to nonsense words, or telling stupid, really stupid stories (albeit sometimes with completely incomprehensible plot lines).
Expert commentary
Here are some great ways to laugh with your child, make your child smile and even burst out laughing, and also help you develop faster, stimulate mental and physical development, and overcome fears.
Baby from 4 months to one year
- Gently tickle, accompanied by nursery rhymes, rhymes, sounds of a little pig, etc.
- Say “Oh-oh-oh!” with a funny intonation and face when the child deliberately drops something.
- Play peek-a-boo and change your facial expression every time you remove your hands from your face.
From 1 to 2 years
- Crawling and walking after the child (“I’ll catch you now!”), rewarding the child who is eventually caught with hugs.
- Make funny faces and encourage your child to imitate.
- Sing and speak in rhyme.
From 2 to 4 years
- Sing along to songs familiar to the baby with new words and funny intonation.
- Encourage (occasionally, as a game) the child to put on an adult's clothes and pretend that the adult is wearing his things.
- Bring pleasure from food: create funny faces from pancake dough, put them in porridge from pieces of fruit, corn flakes, etc.
Of course, not all types of jokes deserve praise. Humor can be offensive or just plain rude. And what makes some people laugh, may offend or offend others.
For toddlers, this kind of humor usually focuses on all things toilet related. During potty training, children become passionate about exploring their bodies, their functions, and what comes out of them.
Obsessing over stool and urine is a completely normal way for children to cope with the task of managing physical functions. Exercising such control can be challenging for a young child. Experts suggest adopting this type of joke, for starters.
Overreacting to toilet humor can unwittingly reinforce the idea that it is taboo, which only makes it more fun for little ones. They live to receive emotional reactions from mom or dad, and cursing in response to a potty joke is providing them with what they want.
This kind of humor is a way for children to test the boundaries of socially acceptable behavior. Option for parents: Set appropriate limits without making too much noise in these situations. “It was funny, but once is enough.” “We don’t joke about these topics at the table or at a party.”
Simple things like discussing a herring jam sandwich or putting a hat on a dog reinforce the idea that humor makes life much more enjoyable. An added bonus: a sense of humor promotes creative thinking. The basis of humor is that it develops the habit of looking at things from an unusual perspective. As a result, the little person will be better equipped to solve problems and understand other people's specific points of view. And these are invaluable skills that will serve him in the future.
So encourage your kids to joke, and make jokes yourself, not just on April Fool's Day, by creating a time and space where children and adults are allowed to be silly.
Take the test Use this test to determine your child's communication skills.
- cerebral encephalopathy
Due to certain circumstances and a difficult birth, from the moment the baby was born, I have been worried about not overlooking some of his abnormalities. I know that, for example, brain encephalopathy is very difficult to diagnose in children. Mine is almost 5 months old now. Sometimes I notice that the child has difficulty falling asleep and is capricious for a long time before bed. and sometimes he cannot focus on any subject for a long time. What examination would you recommend to undergo to rule out encephalopathy, thank you! - hyperactive child
What to do with a hyperactive child? Doctor, advise me what to do, I no longer have the strength to take care of my third child. The birth was difficult, almost immediately after the second pregnancy. The third child was born premature, but has now more or less gained weight. And now he is almost a year old, there is literally not a minute of peace. He crawls, howls, if I don’t look at him or don’t work with him, he starts screaming, crying, banging his head on the floor ((We did soothing baths, massages, everything helps for a while. Is such hyperactivity a reason to prescribe special treatment? And it’s possible Is it possible to get by with home methods? thank you very much
Explanation of the laughter experiment
Experts offer two answers to explain the study's findings. The first has to do with each child's temperament rather than their mood. Laughing children tend to have better relationships with their environment, communicate more willingly, and imitate the actions of adults. The second answer has to do with brain chemistry. Laughter generates positive emotions. This, in turn, increases levels of dopamine, the feel-good hormone that helps make learning efficient and quick.
Child laughs when scolded 2 years old
Anastasia, hello.
Remember your childhood story about when you were very angry, what did your parents do then? Did they laugh at your anger? How did you deal with fear? Does your family respond to fear by laughing it off and smiling? How did you yourself react to your child when he was very small and angry/afraid? Did you laugh at his emotions? If at least one answer is “yes,” then there is a high probability that the child is simply mirroring you. In this case, you need to start with yourself, learn to live your emotions yourself, and not hide them behind laughter and jokes, learn to withstand the emotions of another and, in the case of communicating with a child, contain them. Please familiarize yourself with this technique in detail. But please take into account that to use it effectively you need developed emotional intelligence.
So, you must first recognize your emotions and teach your child this. You can make cards with different emotions and guess them, you can play theater, discuss books and cartoons/movies that you watch together. Ask your child what he thinks, what emotion the character is experiencing, and why, and how did he understand it?
Children learn faster by laughing
In another experiment conducted by American and German scientists, it was noted that children remember material much better when the teacher tells jokes during the lesson and behaves positively. Research has shown that laughter can attract attention, enhancing the learning experience. Excessive rigor and a depressing atmosphere, on the contrary, discourage schoolchildren’s interest in a particular subject.
With all this information in mind, experts suggest slightly changing teaching methods in schools so that children perceive learning not as something boring and unpleasant, but as an opportunity to discover the world around them in a fun way.
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