D. Move Left to Get Ahead

No, I’m not talking about ideology here. I’m not referring to, say, a right-leaning politician’s need to move left, to become a bit more centrist, to gain more support, as often happens in Western democracies. Or, to use an analogy from highway etiquette our BC government has been pushing of late - keep right unless you want to pass, i.e., get ahead. Of course, I’m talking about brain development again. 

I wrote previously that at some point in normal brain development the more right-dominant brain begins to be augmented and sometimes seemingly even supplanted by the rise  of the left brain. The left brain, as was also briefly mentioned, is the side that has mostly to do with cognitive skills - reason, logic…thinking. It is also the seat of language. If we want to say the right brain is non-verbal, the left is verbal. 

Now, the vast majority of individuals do experience significant, perhaps one might say even adequate, left brain and language development to get by in life. It has often intrigued me when scanning a psychoeducational assessment of a student, even children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, that the scores for language are higher than at least the composites for other areas. It seems as though our wise Creator God has deigned it that even if circumstances beyond the poor student’s control present him from reaching a normal or average potential, he will have enough language to at least be able to fend for himself to get his basic needs met. That is a good thing for survival.

However, there are many things that we have learned that prevent the brain of the infant and toddler from being able to embark upon a normal trajectory of development. If we ask ourselves what humans need for good development to occur we will see how things can go wrong and prevent normal progress. Then we can begin to look at the ways parents, caregivers, families and even society fail too many of our babies in these areas.

What came up in your answer to the above question? Babies obviously need what we call their basic needs met.  They need to be fed. They need to, as we would say in our society, have their diapers or nappies changed. They need to be clothed at whatever level the ambient temperature, the warmth or lack thereof, of the surroundings, calls for. They need to be protected as they are physically unable to move about to do that for themselves.

Now, we know, particularly from our learning from the lives of certain deprived individuals, but especially from studying infants and toddlers in places like the notorious Romanian orphanages, that these needs may be met, albeit perhaps barely, but infants still will not thrive, and may even die. What is going on here? What is lacking?

Well, we have also realized that youngsters also need stability. Again, one might look, for example, at these orphanages and see that things seem quite stable, at least in the better ones. There is a routine that is followed. The child may get used to certain staff. There is consistency and predictability. The child may eventually realize the they don’t have to fret; they will be fed and changed in due course, even if the frequency is not optimal. But even when we follow these children, their growth is far from ideal. What else is still absent?

We referred to a less-than-ideal situation of meeting needs. Would that not still leave the child feeling somewhat insecure? Again, even with better schedules, development turns out to be  less than desired. Is something else needed to provide a fuller sense of security?  

Again, observations in places like intensive care nurseries and situations where an infant needs to be kept in an incubator, anywhere they are kept from the normal interaction with a caregiver,  have shown that they need - you guessed it - touch! Babies need to be caressed, held and cuddled. Research has shown that young animals, e.g., the ubiquitous lab rat, deprived of the normal licking and grooming they would receive from their mothers, do not turn into healthy, well-adjusted rats. Why would we expect less from humans? That is why progressive infant wards promote physical maternal contact with their charges, by their mothers/fathers if possible. 

Anything still missing? Well, if you follow along the lines we have just turned to, you will think about our just referring to touch by parents. We are finally talking here about something that occurs in the context of a relationship. Yes, without a significant relationship, child development is doomed to be incomplete. Again, I could say that is in the design of Creation.  God made us so God could have more individuals to - what? - be in relationship with. What kind of relationship though? As we have already alluded to in our references to orphanages and hospital settings, simply having caregiver relationships doesn’t seem to be enough.  By now the reader might be impatiently saying, yes, yes, but when are you going to get to it? A baby needs love. Ah, yes. , for a human being to have a chance of reaching their potential, they need a loving relationship. Indeed, the Ground of out being, the One who created us to be in relationship with God, as we said, is also described as Love. John Lennon got that right, even if not everything else, when he wrote, “Love Is All You Need [Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album].”