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Hardwired To Connect With Others

Hardwired to Connect is the name of a report issued by the Commission on

Children at Risk and published in 2003. The Commission is made up of 33pediatricians, research scientists, mental health professionals, and youth

service professionals. The study was jointly sponsored by the YMCA of

America, Dartmouth Medical School, and the Institute for American Values.

The report sets out 10 points, or "planks," on what young people need to

develop into mature and functioning adults, and cites the scientific studies

supporting their conclusions. What are the Ten Essentials, or "Planks" of the

Report?

1. The mechanisms by which we become and stay attached to others arebiologically primed, and are increasingly discernible, in the basic structure of

the brain.

2. Nurturing environments, or the lack of them, affect gene transcription (and

duplication) and the development of brain circuitry.

3. The old "nature vs. nurture" debate ... is no longer relevant to serious

discussions of child well-being and youth programming.

4. Adolescent "risk taking" and novelty-seeking are connected to changes in

brain structure and function.

5. Assigning meaning to gender in childhood and adolescence is a human

universal that deeply influences well-being.

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6. The beginning of morality is the biologically primed moralization of

attachment.

7. The ongoing development of morality in later childhood and adolescence

involves the human capacity to idealize individuals and ideas.

8. Primary nurturing relationships influence early spiritual development - call it

the spiritualization of attachment - and spiritual development can influence us

biologically in the same ways that primary nurturing relationships do.

9. Religiosity and spirituality significantly influence well-being.

10. The human brain appears to be organized to ask ultimate questions, and

seek ultimate answers.

The report cites the high and rising rates of depression, anxiety, ADHD,

conduct disorders, suicidal ideation, and other serious mental and behavioral

disorders. About 21% of US children between ages 9 and 17 have a

diagnosable mental disorder or addictive disorder.

According to the commission, social programs, mental health agencies,

medications, and psychotherapies are useful, but they are inadequate to

change the growing problem.

The solution to solving this growing problem is "Authoritative Communities."

There is a two-part conclusion to the commission's report. The first conclusion

is that, "What's causing this crisis of American Childhood is a lack of

connectedness - close connections to other people and deep connections to

moral and spiritual meaning."

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The second conclusion of the commission is that, "the human child is hard-

wired to connect." According to the commission, humans are designed to need

other people, to have moral meaning, to seek a purpose to their life, to be

open to the transcendent, and to seek ultimate answers. And they concluded,

"Meeting these basic needs for connections is essential to health and to

human flourishing."

Authoritative Communities are defined by the commission as "...groups of

people who are committed to one another over time, and who model and pass

on at least part of what it means to be a good person and live a good life."

Both families, and churches, fit this definition.

"The weakening of authoritative communities in the US is a principal reason -

arguably the principal reason - why large and growing numbers of US children

are failing to flourish. As a result, strengthening these communities is likely our

best strategy for improving the lives of children." What is an "Authoritative

Community"?

1. A social institution that included children and teens.

2. It treats children and teens as ends in themselves. (As opposed to treatingthem as means to an end.) It relates to the child or teen as a person and cares

for them for their own sake.

3. It is warm and nurturing.

4. It establishes clear limits and expectations.

5. The core of its work is performed largely by non-specialists.

6. It is multi-generational.

7. It has a long-term focus.

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8. It reflects and transmits a shared understanding of what it means to be a

good person, or to live a good life.

9. It encourages spiritual and religious development.

10. It is philosophically oriented to the equal dignity of all persons and to the

principle of love of neighbor.

Although the Report does everything that it can to avoid referring to God, or to

Christ Jesus (using instead phrases like "seeking the transcendent" or

searching for "spiritual meaning") their point is very clear. Even physicians andresearch scientists, in studying adolescent and child development, mental

health, and dysfunction, agree that our children and teens will be healthier if

they are involved in their families, and in Church.

Invite your friends, your neighbors, and their families to join you at Church

next week. Help them to feel at home, and introduce them to others.

Encourage them to consider their benefits of being a part of our "Authoritative

Community." Help them to see the benefits of Church attendance and

involvement, for their marriage, their family, and their children.

Dr. Cowan is a family therapist who has worked with ADHD children and their

families since 1986. He is the clinical director of the ADHD Information Library's

family of web sites at http://newideas.net helping over 350,000 parents and

teachers learn more about ADHD each year. Cowan also serves on the Medical

Advisory Board of VAXA International of Tampa, FL., is President of the Board of

Directors for KAXL 88.3 FM in central California, and is a Board Member for

Outpost Ministries which is building schools for children in rural Guatemala.

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your physician or health care provider. Always consult your physician about ADHD.

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