Smart children

Smart Children and the theory of Enhanced Enriched Environments (EEE) focuses on how a child's brain and in extent intelligence develops through the direct environment. Greenough(1975) illustrated that deprived environments in comparison to result to a subject which has a larger brain structure and in extent performs better in intelligence tasks. Furthermore an environment that is complex and full of intriguing stimuli for the subject to interact with enhances sprouting of dendrites, synapses, and axons(Coss, Brandon and Globus , 1980). Adding to this fact Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) research has shown that intelligence and cognitive abilities directly link to brain size (Gibb, 2007; Willerman, Schultz, Rutledge & Bigler, 1991; Wicket, Vernon & Lee 2000; Mori, Hirono, Yamashita, Imamura, Ikejiri, Ikeda, Kitagaki, Shimomura & Yoneda, 1997). In extent the brain when it receives inputs from the environment it develops accordingly in order to cope with the environmental demands. Practising a particular skill (e.g. juggling balls, playing a musical instrument and extensive education) leads to structural changes in the surface of the brain (Draganski, Gaser, Buschi, Schuierer, Bogdahn, & May, 2004; Jacobs, Schall,& Scheibel, 1993; Schlaug, Jancke, Huang, & Steinmetz, 1995). These skills however in order to be developed and mastered the individual must practice in a certain way for a certain period of time. During these time the brain builds up additional dendrites thickening the brains grey matter and fattening the axons of the white matter to make this skill possible. In addition through the use of modern imaging techniques such as Functional MRI one can construct cognitive tests to see which regions of the brain light up during a mental task. Thus by having these studies as axons and by knowing which parts of the brain light up during a mental task this organisation develops particular exercises or mental games that promote the development of a particular area of the brain thus making a child prone to the particular capability (memory, logic, reasoning). The founders of Smart Children (Stephanos Ioannou & Helene Ioannides) have put in practice neurological, psychological and health evidence to show that an individual's intelligence can be enriched, stimulated and strengthened all the way from the foetus through to adolescence.
 
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