Faculty Bibliography

Dr. [Clyde Francks], who is now at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands, recalls that the discovery made headlines and attracted a great deal of attention, the more so because this gene was also found disproportionately in people with schizophrenia, even though none of these connections are simple or well understood. 'We're not looking for a gene for handedness or a gene for schizophrenia,' he said. 'We're looking for subtle relationships.' The gene affects the ways that neurons communicate with one another, he said, but its mechanisms still need to be studied. Dr. Daniel Geschwind, a professor of human genetics, neurology and psychiatry at University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, is interested in the connections between language and handedness, and the ways that handedness can help us understand the evolution of the human brain. 'Handedness has a genetic basis, but like other complex traits -- height, weight -- it is complex,' he said. 'It's not a single gene that leads to it. There's a strong environmental component, too. It's a very tricky problem.' A colleague's husband, Anthony Gentile, a fund manager who is 41 and grew up outside Cincinnati, said that though he was always left-handed, he was taught to write with his right hand -- though he can form the letters, he could never learn to hold the pencil correctly in that hand. 'I can hold the pencil properly in my left hand, but I don't have the coordination to write,' he said. 'It looks like I'm holding the pencil properly, but I am unable to make any letters.'

'We're not looking for a gene for handedness or a gene for schizophrenia,' he said. 'We're looking for subtle relationships.' The gene affects the ways that neurons communicate with one another, he said, but its mechanisms still need to be studied. 'Handedness has a genetic basis, but like other complex traits - height, weight - it is complex,' he said. 'It's not a single gene that leads to it. There's a strong environmental component, too. It's a very tricky problem.' A colleague's husband, Anthony Gentile, told me that though he was always left-handed, he was taught to write with his right hand - though he can form the letters, he could never learn to hold the pencil correctly in that hand. 'I can hold the pencil properly in my left hand, but I don't have the co-ordination to write,' he told me. 'It looks like I'm holding the pencil properly, but I am unable to make any letters.'

[...] I got so worried the child was dehydrated that I told her to go to the emergency room. [...] when she got there, she told them she was scared because the child had a high fever. [...] fever does not harm the brain or the body, though it does increase the need for fluids.

'We're not looking for a gene for handedness or a gene for schizophrenia,' he said. 'We're looking for subtle relationships.' The gene affects the ways that neurons communicate with one another, he said, but its mechanisms still need to be studied. 'Handedness has a genetic basis, but like other complex traits - height, weight - it is complex,' he said. 'It's not a single gene that leads to it. There's a strong environmental component, too. It's a very tricky problem.' 'I can hold the pencil properly in my left hand, but I don't have the co-ordination to write,' he told me. 'It looks like I'm holding the pencil properly, but I am unable to make any letters.'

There are complex behavioral and neurological connections linking screens and attention, and many experts believe that these children do spend more time playing video games and watching television than their peers. The kind of concentration that children bring to video games and television is not the kind they need to thrive in school or elsewhere in real life, according to Dr. Christopher Lucas, associate professor of child psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine

'We should be careful not to set kids up who are anxious,' she said. 'Make sure they can take their favorite fuzzy bear with them.' The important distinction is in the response. 'If you have a child that's very anxious, you're going to use a lot of anxiety management techniques,' said Christopher A. Kearney, a professor and director of clinical training in the department of psychology at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. With the reward-seeking group, he continued, 'increase incentives for going to school and supervision outside of school.' 'It's not a diagnosis, school refusal,' Dr. [Helen Egger] said. 'It's not a disorder. It's a symptom.' It is a symptom with consequences that can be harsh. It should send parents -- and pediatricians, educators and psychologists -- looking for ways to help.

[...] he was avoiding things in school that made him uncomfortable -- interactions on the bus, jostling on the playground. [...] missing school intensifies both the academic pressures and the social pressures that are waiting when a child returns, setting up a dangerous cycle in which the more you're absent, the more you want to stay out

'The physician who understands delayed speech understands child development,' said Dr. James Coplan, a neurodevelopmental pediatrician in Rosemont, Pa., who created the Early Language Milestone Scale to measure children's language from birth to age 3. Pediatricians have been faulted in the past for dragging our feet in making speech-delay diagnoses, but times have changed; Dr. Coplan credited parent advocacy and the federally mandated early intervention program, which makes it possible for children younger than 3 to get a free evaluation

[...] a child who asks a parent this question may be worrying over how and when to bring it up