The Melody of Language

Newborns' Cry Melody Is Shaped by Their Native Language

Scientist at University of Würzburg found that human fetuses are able to memorize auditory stimuli from the external world by the last trimester of pregnancy, with a particular sensitivity to melody contour in both music and language. Newborns prefer their mother's voice over other voices and perceive the emotional content of messages conveyed via intonation contours in maternal speech (“motherese”).This prenatal exposure to native-language prosody influences newborns' perception leading to a specific cry melody. Later on surrounding speech influences the newborn's sound production. http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(09)01824-7

This research confirms what dr.Tomatis already found 50 years ago: we are born with the memory of our mothers voice. He based his wonderful listening therapy on this melody of language. More info: www.listeningfitness.com

Lot Blom writes in Paravisie Magazine about picture thinking

An excellent article about the gift of dyslexia appeared in the September issue of Paravisie Magazine. In my contribution to this article I write about picture thinking and give my opinion about how we should deal with dyslexia in the Netherlands. This contribution can also be found on my website: www.dyslexie-info.nl

Creative thinkers have a difficult time at school

Picture thinking is a talent, but at school it is not estimated for its worth. Creative thinking, finding original solutions, looking at things from another perspective. Those characteristics are much needed in our society, but at school they lead to lower appraisal. Students with restless minds and bodies - far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity - are ignored or even stigmatized. The talent is wasted.
Sir Ken Robinson, expert on the field of creativity and innovation, argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says.
Sir Ken Robinson held his TEDTalk in June 2006 , but the content is still up to date.

Look at: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66

Compensation for dyslexia treatment

From Jan 1st dyslexic children in the Netherlands get compensation for dyslexia treatment. Sounds good, but how good is it? The compensation is geared at one kind of treatment only, so parents have no free choice about what they want for their child. Compare it with dental care: if artificial teethings are compensated but dental crowns not... how much choice do you have when you have no money?
Healthcare compensation for dyslexia also means that suddenly on TV you can hear people talk about dyslexia being a 'disease'. I shiver when I hear that. Nobody protests, we are not crazy... for illnesses and diseases we get compensated. Financially you rob yourself when you persist that dyslexia is a talent, a creative, visual way of thinking.
The schools have to take care of the implementation of the whole plan. Seems not a bad idea, but the logic rattles: now the teachers have to diagnose the disease called dyslexia. Or is this a way to admit that the problem is in fact educational?