It was quite important for Yuting to keep her surname, and
she never has been one to take convention at face value. When she became
pregnant with her first child, she wanted her to carry on her name. So, she let
her husband, Tim, choose the first name. Lisa Yoo was about to come into a
world where she would be loved dearly and cared for by a strong community that
Yuting and Tim have built. Yuting plans on staying at home for several months,
and she and Tim have been able to save a significant amount of money so that
Yuting’s income won’t be missed. Ron and Tom can’t wait to be grandparents.
Yuting has heard that is you play a certain kind of music
for your baby before it is born, it increases the chance that the baby will be
musical. Not usually one to fall prey to such claims, Yuting nonetheless finds herself
laying down next to the stereo speaker while the CD plays. It relaxes her, and
she’s not sure it does anything at all, but she figures it can’t hurt.
·
1) What are the typical developmental milestones
for the child in utero? Outline the
stages of pregnancy and the threats to optimal development at each stage. When
are teratogens most dangerous for the developing child?
· 2) What is the chance that Lisa will suffer from a
learning disability? Is there anything specific that Yuting and Tim can do in
terms of primary prevention? What is the chance that Lisa will inherit Yuting’s
musical aptitude? Is there anything specific that Yuting and Tim can do to
encourage such aptitude?
· 3) Based on your answer to question #2, take a
stand as a group on the relative influence of “nature” (heritability) and “nurture”
(familial) with regard to learning disabilities and musical aptitude.
4) Is there any evidence to support claims that one can
create certain aptitudes in children based on what happens in the external
world while the child is in utero? In
other words, is there anything to be gained by Yuting sitting with music
playing close to her abdomen? 
1) What are the typical developmental milestones for the child in utero? Outline the stages of pregnancy and the threats to optimal development at each stage. When are teratogens most dangerous for the developing child?
ReplyDeleteDuring the first month of pregnancy, the heart, digestive system, backbone and spinal cord begin to form. In the second month the heart is operating. The baby is starting to move, yet the mother cannot feel the movement. The eyes, nose, lips, tongue, ears and teeth are forming. Within the third month of pregnancy, the fingernails and toenails start to develop, and the earlobes, eyes, arms, hands, fingers, legs, feet, and toes are fully formed. After these development the baby has reached a recognizable form. The baby has also developed most of its tissues and organs. At month four, the baby is developing innate reflexes such as sucking and swallowing (Matz). As a result some babies will begin to suck their thumb. The tooth buds are forming as well as the sweat glands on the palms of hands and soles of feet. The skin is pink and covered with downy hair, and the gender is distinguishable. In the fifth month, the mother begins to feel the fetus moving. Hair starts to grow on the baby’s head, and eyelids, eyebrows, and eyelashes become visible. During the sixth month of pregnancy, the eyelids will open for short periods of time. The baby is also able to hiccup and the baby is covered in vernix, a protective coating. Within the seventh month, the taste buds are fully matured and the fat layers are forming. The organs have developed. The overall growth is very rapid for the eighth month. Remarkable brain growth occurs during this time and the only organs that aren’t fully developed are the lungs. In the final month, the lungs have matured and the baby has fully developed. The baby is now able to survive outside of the mother’s womb (“Developmental Milestones”).
There are three trimesters and it is critical that the developments are met at each stage throughout the pregnancy. The first trimester begins at conception and lasts for the first 13 weeks of pregnancy. This is the stage where the organs will form, such as the brain, heart, spinal cord and intestines. Bones and muscles also start to form (“Developmental Milestones”) .The second trimester lasts between weeks 13 and 26. The sex organs form during this stage, and the placenta is completely developed. The unborn baby now has eyebrows, eyelashes, fingernails, as well as their own distinct fingerprint. The third trimester follows the second trimester and lasts until the baby is born. During the final trimester, the baby will grow the most. The unborn baby will first open its eyes and notice light. The taste buds have also developed and the baby can distinguish sweet from sour. In the third trimester, all organs have fully formed (Matz).
A teratogen can increase the chances that a baby will be born with birth defects. In order for a teratogen to effect the closure of the neural tube, it must be in the mother’s blood within the first 3-5 weeks of pregnancy. However, the central nervous system, which includes the baby’s brain and spine, is susceptible to teratogens throughout the entire pregnancy. Alcohol is a teratogen which can affect the nervous system (“Teratogens Overview”). Teratogens are most hazardous during times of rapid growth. Teratogens are harmful at all stages but mostly during the first and second trimesters when crucial organs are forming (Matz).
2)What is the chance that Lisa will suffer from a learning disability? Is there anything specific that Yuting and Tim can do in terms of primary prevention? What is the chance that Lisa will inherit Yuting’s musical aptitude? Is there anything specific that Yuting and Tim can do to encourage such aptitude?
ReplyDeleteWith the knowledge that we have of Yuting’s present learning disability, the chance that Lisa will suffer from a learning disability is anywhere between 35% and 45% (Horowitz 2007). The possibility is higher because Yuting has a learning disability as well, but learning disabilities can also be caused by biological influences during pregnancy, like cigarette smoking, which has not seemed to have happened during Yuting’s pregnancy so far. Primary prevention options are quite easy when it comes to the biological influences during pregnancy. All Yuting and Tim have to do is make sure Yuting is not drinking, smoking, doing drugs, and that she is staying healthy during the pregnancy. Because Yuting already does have a learning disability, the chance that Lisa will have one as well is higher than that of a child being born to parents that do not have a learning disability.
The question of whether Lisa will inherit her mother’s musical aptitude is a question between nature versus nurture. While Yuting can let Lisa listen to music while in utero, it is not shown to actually do anything for a child’s musical ability or intelligence. If anything, it startles that child if it is too loud. However, there have been studies that say musical aptitude can be traced through genetics to some extent. A test was done by a Finnish geneticist, Irma Järvelä, in which 15 families were given a musical aptitude test, and 224 of those family members, who were either related to or actually musicians, scored at a professional level even if they had no musical training. That means that with almost half of the individual’s tested, nature out played nurture (Wright 2009). While Yuting does have a high musical aptitude, it is unknown if Tim has any musical abilities. There is a study that shows while musical ability and “successfulness” are genetic, things like tone deafness are genetic as well. In fact, tone deafness is inherited as a single dominant trait, so even if Yuting is really good at the piano, there is a chance that if Tim has that dominant tone deafness trait, Lisa will have it as well (Rowley 1988).
All of these factors do not mean, however, that Lisa cannot grow up loving music, even if she does not have her mother’s aptitude. Using music to do things around the house and in school can encourage Lisa to tap into her musical ability if it lies dormant in her. Musical aptitude develops during early childhood and children have an innate musical aspect in them, whether they are good at music or not (Kemple 2004).
3) Based on your answer to question #2, take a stand as a group on the relative influence of “nature” (heritability) and “nurture” (familial) with regard to learning disabilities and musical aptitude.
ReplyDeleteAs a group, we feel that both nature and nurture will have an influence on Lisa Yoo's musical aptitude and learning disability. Heritability has been found to be one of the many risk factors involved with learning disabilities. Because Lisa's mom, Yuting, had a diagnosed learning disability, this increases the chances of Lisa having one as well. Although learning disabilities cannot be acquired, and are therefore present at birth, there are some environmental influences that could help Lisa with a learning disability. Lisa's parents can keep a close eye on her to make sure that she is reaching the correct developmental milestones. If she is not and the Yoo's have any concern, they can immediately put Lisa in an early intervention program. Aside from this, Lisa's parents can do what they can to expose Lisa to language; they can do things such as reading to her often.
While learning disabilities tend to be primarily nature, musical aptitude is primarily nurture. Although it is likely that Lisa will inherit genes from her mother that "contain" the ability to be good with music, this does not mean that Lisa will automatically be a musical genius. For the talent to obtained, it would take the exposure to music and the interest in music, which will come from Lisa's environment. If Lisa's parents want her to be good at, and like music, it is important for them to expose it to her early and continue to work at it with her; she has the ability to be good at it, but she needs the direction, guidance and support from her parents to bring about her musical ability.
4) Is there any evidence to support claims that one can create certain aptitudes in children based on what happens in the external world while the child is in utero? In other words, is there anything to be gained by Yuting sitting with music playing close to her abdomen?
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt in our mind that most parents would be overjoyed if their child could be born rather adept in the subject of mathematics, English, or science. While many parents may pride themselves on the environment they provided for their child in utero, there is little evidence to support external stimulation, such as playing music or reading, on a child’s future intelligence, creativity, or development (Robledo 2012).
Gordon Shaw, a neuroscientist from the University of California at Irvine, explains that there have been no validated findings that exposing a baby in the womb to music will make them smarter (Robledo 2012). Janet DiPietro, a developmental psychologist who studies fetal development at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, also set straight the notion that newborns identify music that was played to them in the womb (Robledo 2012). Because nobody has done verified research, DiPietro says it is impossible to know if the baby’s reaction in going to sleep or perking up is related to the recognizable music they are hearing (Robledo 2012). Rick Gilmore, an associate professor of psychology at Penn State, says that the fetus begins to perceive sounds as early as sixteen weeks, but the embryonic fluid impedes the amount of audible input the child receives (Eshleman 2009). With music, Gilmore says the child may pick up the rhythm rather than the music’s melody (Eshleman 2009). He states that there is learning going on during this time, but the learning is simple and does not relate to the information that was played or taught to the child in utero (Eshleman 2009). Reading provides vocal rhythm and patterns that can be soothing to a child in the womb, but it too will not have an observable effect on the baby (Eshleman 2009). A child will not come out being able to recite or read Shakespeare because the mother read passages to them in utero (Eshleman 2009).
In conclusion, nobody really knows what long-term effects playing music or reading has on a child in utero. Although Yuting may believe that sitting with music on her abdomen will ultimately create a baby genius, there is no conclusive evidence to support this notion. Music has a relaxing effect on many people, and DiPietro believes it can have an indirect effect on the child by easing the mother’s tension (Robledo 2012).