Past Programs
Family and Children - 2006
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
Placenta Brain: the cognitive burden of pregnancy?
21/10/2006
Ever had a case of 'placenta brain', or 'pregnancy stupidity'? Can carrying a foetus make you drop your cognitive bundle? Expecting women worldwide find themselves suddenly forgetful and absent minded. So why is there so little research into the phenomenon? Are hormones to blame, or the psychological burden of approaching mumhood? Does it have an evolutionary function? Libbi Gorr and others contemplate the hungry placenta..
In the Family - A Journey through Madness
16/09/2006
This week, a candid family story of life inside. Inside psychiatric hospitals, inside schizophrenia, and inside a remarkable journey towards compassion, activism and understanding. Penelope and Lloyd met and married after years of cycling in and out of Perth's psychiatric institutions. Penelope's 19-year-old daughter, Tynx, reveals a wisdom beyond her years about the impact of growing up with a parent with mental illness. They join Natasha Mitchell in conversation with a story that is sure to move you.
Jerome Kagan - The Father of Temperament
26/08/2006
Why can two children born into the same household be like two different peas in a pod? Harvard's Jerome Kagan trailblazed the controversial science of temperament to investigate why. In a career that spans more than half a century, now he's going into battle for our minds, with a compelling retrospective, An Argument for Mind. To some an iconoclast - one of the biggest names in psychology of our time joins Natasha Mitchell in conversation...and reflection.
Learning with All Kinds of Minds
08/07/2006
We now know that we all differ in the way we think. We have different areas of natural strength and weakness which can deeply affect our learning experience. We look at some alternative approaches to helping children achieve their potential and we hear from the mother of a boy with Tourette's syndrome whose school experience has been transformed. Also a psychologist speaks about the importance of teaching children to manage their emotions in school.
Early childhood and the developing brain
24/06/2006
We explore how very early childhood experiences can deeply affect the way the brain develops.
Human interactions create the neural connections from which the mind emerges, so for very young children, relationships are crucial. But what happens when children are deprived of human relationships in these critical early years?
Petrol sniffing and the brain: 'petrol blackbella, chuck im la bin' Yilila
28/01/2006
The practice of petrol sniffing is devastating some Australian Aboriginal communities, with some kids starting to inhale petrol fumes as young as six years old. But amazingly very little was known about the effect sniffing petrol has on the brain until recently. Lynne Malcolm speaks with a scientist whose research is beginning to cast light on a problem which has been too easy to sweep under the carpet. And we hear from an Aboriginal mental health worker who takes computerised card games out into the community to test the brain function of her people.
