Born to Learn∶ Language, Reading, and the Brain of the Child.doc

Born to Learn: Language, Reading, and the Brain of the Child Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl Co-Director Center for Mind, Brain, and Learning University of Washington Seattle, WA. 98195 Voice-mail: (206) 221-6473 FAX: (206) 221-6472 E-mail: pkkuhl@ Paper Presented at the Early Learning Summit for the Northwest Region: Boise Idaho June 9-10, 2002 The research described here is supported by grants to Patricia K. Kuhl from the National Institutes of Health, the Human Frontiers Science Program, the William P. and Ruth Gerberding Professorship, and by major support to the Center for Mind, Brain, and Learning from the Talaris Research Institute.Born to Learn: Language, Reading, and the Brain of the Child ? I want to thank First Lady Laura Bush, and Idaho’s First Lady Patricia Kempthorne, as well as the First Ladies of the Northwest Region. I also want to thank the sponsors of the conference, the Talaris Research Institute of Seattle, Washington and Albertsons. The conference is important because it highlights the country’s most precious resource, our children. ? I’m delighted to be here today to talk about early learning and the brain. It’s an extraordinary time in this field. In the past decade, genetics and the genome project, biotechnology, and computer science have witnessed explosions in scientific information. In this decade, that kind of information explosion is taking place in the field of early learning and brain development in infants and children. This is creating a new science of learning, and the new science of learning is changing how we view the child’s developing mind, and how we view a child’s education. ? There are three factors contributing to this. Slide 1: Academic, Society, and Business Interest in Cognitive Development ? Academic: The 1990s was the “Decade of the Brain.” New technology was developed that allowed scientists, for the first time, to examine a living brain. It’s not always been like this. When I was a graduate student w