DOES OBESITY IMPACT LEARNINGAccording to a new study done at the University of Pittsburgh, researchers scanned the brains of 94 people who were of normal weight, overweight, and obese. The results were staggering. Overweight people had 4% less brain tissue than people of normal weight, and obese people had 8% less brain tissue than people of normal weight. These results are serious. According to Dr. Paul Thompson, a UCLA professor of neurology, just a 4% loss represents, "severe" brain degeneration. Here are the areas of the brain reported to be effected by obesity:
So what does all this have to do with special education? Being fat effects more than a child’s self-concept, it also has serious consequences for learning because now he has less brain to think with (lower IQ), he has lost the ability to regulate his attention so he is not learning as much, long-term memory is impaired and he doesn't remember what he does learn, and now he is also clumsy, because his basal ganglia are all clogged up causing a loss of coordination. And, this combination when assessed will result in a diagnosis of learning disability. If we have correctly understood the facts in the case, we may conclude a logical relationship between obesity and learning disabilities. This all brings to mind the commercial of the little fat kid sitting in front of the TV playing video games while stuffing his face with pizza. An assessment plan, evaluation, and a meeting to design an individualized education plan do not seem to be a proper intervention for this scenario. This scene suggests the need for more exercise and a more healthful intake of food. Recommended intervention: turn off the TV and put the kid outside to play, or purchase a Wii Sport instead of video games. The physical exercise required to play Wii could be just the ticket. Research demonstrates remarkable results for elderly adults, let’s pretend that the results are equally beneficial for children, and we have covered step number one: more exercise. For step number two: a change of diet is easy, children don’t choose their own menus, the adults in their world take the easy way out and indulge them with the foods less time consuming to prepare rather than foodss that are beneficial. Make a gradual change to more beneficial foods with the eventual goal of just not bringing junk food into the house. Children can’t eat it if parents don’t buy it. *Source: Raji CA, Ho AJ, Parikshak NN, Becker JT, Lopez OL, Kuller LH, Hua X, Leow AD, Toga AW, Thompson PM. Brain structure and obesity, Hum Brain Mapp 2009 Aug 6. Additional information is available in our parent guide.
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