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CNN Live Today
Paging Dr. Gupta: Genetics Have Role in Child's Intelligence
Aired November 14, 2002 - 10:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And continuing our focus on health now, there is some good news out there for parents who may not have graduated at the top of the class. Moms and dads can help bring out the genius in their youngsters with the right actions and interactions early in a child's life.
Our medical news correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 360,000 babies are born every day on our planet. Which of them will grow up to outwrite Shakespeare, find a universal cure for cancer, or prove Einstein wrong?
It's a common myth, perhaps made popular by Spock, the emotionless Vulcan from "Star Trek," that emotions and intellect are two separate parts of our mind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really need to change that historic dichotomy of cognition on the one hand, emotions on the other hand, and realize that our emotions are the fuel that give rise to social behavior, but also to different levels of intelligence.
GUPTA: Genetics play a role, but Dr. Greenspan says a baby's future is not written in the DNA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Regardless of the history of the IQ tests in the family, if I see nurturing, warm, interacting people that read emotional signals well and interact well, usually I see happy, confident and bright children.
GUPTA: And there's a few other approaches to increasing baby brain power that have drawn attention. Breast feeding is good for your baby, and most experts believe it's also good for your baby's developing brain.
Listening to music was once thought to enhance mathematical skills. Recent studies, however, don't prove this claim. But music and dancing can be excellent ways to interact.
Other studies show infants learn basic sign language even before they speak. These infants appear to grow up a little smarter, but some experts think, again, the benefit due to increased parent-child interaction.
Baby reading lessons are quite popular. The make of these videos, books and flash cards claim to sometimes have 2-years-olds reading simple children books themselves. Some experts support these programs, other oppose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you do a little bit of looking at books with your children, and inspire them to be curious about the pictures and the words mean, but don't get into very structured systematic teaching at too early an age, I think, and I think you also interact emotionally, and have fun with reading and problem solving together, then you have the best of both worlds.
GUPTA: While it may seem obvious, your child will learn the most if he or she also learns that learning is fun.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: I can dig that.
GUPTA: Yes. I tell you, you know, a thing that struck me about this, reading early, you know, maybe something to brag about at the birthday parties, but babies reading earlier doesn't necessarily translate to increased adult intelligence, really just that interaction really seems to make these kids more likely to get smarter.
HARRIS: What about from culture to culture, like say here versus the Far East, say in Japan?
GUPTA: Right. And a lot of cultures have more focus on interacting with the child, and a lot of cultures have less focus as well. But what they mind, and we're going to hear more about this in the next hour but what they find is that interaction very early on, even up to four hours a day, just interacting, not necessarily making them read, but interacting with your child, playing little games with their child, seems to be most likely to translate into adult intelligence.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Intelligence>
Aired November 14, 2002 - 10:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And continuing our focus on health now, there is some good news out there for parents who may not have graduated at the top of the class. Moms and dads can help bring out the genius in their youngsters with the right actions and interactions early in a child's life.
Our medical news correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 360,000 babies are born every day on our planet. Which of them will grow up to outwrite Shakespeare, find a universal cure for cancer, or prove Einstein wrong?
It's a common myth, perhaps made popular by Spock, the emotionless Vulcan from "Star Trek," that emotions and intellect are two separate parts of our mind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really need to change that historic dichotomy of cognition on the one hand, emotions on the other hand, and realize that our emotions are the fuel that give rise to social behavior, but also to different levels of intelligence.
GUPTA: Genetics play a role, but Dr. Greenspan says a baby's future is not written in the DNA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Regardless of the history of the IQ tests in the family, if I see nurturing, warm, interacting people that read emotional signals well and interact well, usually I see happy, confident and bright children.
GUPTA: And there's a few other approaches to increasing baby brain power that have drawn attention. Breast feeding is good for your baby, and most experts believe it's also good for your baby's developing brain.
Listening to music was once thought to enhance mathematical skills. Recent studies, however, don't prove this claim. But music and dancing can be excellent ways to interact.
Other studies show infants learn basic sign language even before they speak. These infants appear to grow up a little smarter, but some experts think, again, the benefit due to increased parent-child interaction.
Baby reading lessons are quite popular. The make of these videos, books and flash cards claim to sometimes have 2-years-olds reading simple children books themselves. Some experts support these programs, other oppose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you do a little bit of looking at books with your children, and inspire them to be curious about the pictures and the words mean, but don't get into very structured systematic teaching at too early an age, I think, and I think you also interact emotionally, and have fun with reading and problem solving together, then you have the best of both worlds.
GUPTA: While it may seem obvious, your child will learn the most if he or she also learns that learning is fun.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: I can dig that.
GUPTA: Yes. I tell you, you know, a thing that struck me about this, reading early, you know, maybe something to brag about at the birthday parties, but babies reading earlier doesn't necessarily translate to increased adult intelligence, really just that interaction really seems to make these kids more likely to get smarter.
HARRIS: What about from culture to culture, like say here versus the Far East, say in Japan?
GUPTA: Right. And a lot of cultures have more focus on interacting with the child, and a lot of cultures have less focus as well. But what they mind, and we're going to hear more about this in the next hour but what they find is that interaction very early on, even up to four hours a day, just interacting, not necessarily making them read, but interacting with your child, playing little games with their child, seems to be most likely to translate into adult intelligence.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Intelligence>
