Refusing to eat can be the first sign that teeth are erupting. Spitting food out without chewing or, trying to swallow food whole. Lots of dribbling and drooling when eating. Teething babies tend to produce a lot of saliva and instead of swallowing, they dribble it out.
Why is my baby spitting his food out?
Spitting is a normal and necessary part of learning to eat—and it will go on for quite some time! The best way to help your baby or toddler learn is through constant, repetitive practice and to give them the freedom to explore and visually inspect food (including partially-chewed food!).
What are signs of teething in babies?
- their gum is sore and red where the tooth is coming through.
- they have a mild temperature of 38C.
- they have 1 flushed cheek.
- they have a rash on their face.
- they’re rubbing their ear.
- they’re dribbling more than usual.
- they’re gnawing and chewing on things a lot.
- they’re more fretful than usual.
How do I get my child to stop spitting food?
If your child is chewing and spitting out food, stop the behavior by changing her focus. Offer a sip of a drink, place a different food on the tray, or start a conversation to re-direct her. If she continues to do it, then end the meal.
How long do teething symptoms last before tooth appears?
There is no exact answer as to how long it takes for the first tooth to cut through, however, estimates are that teething can occur over an 8 day period. Symptoms may begin to occur around 4 days before a tooth begins to erupt.
How long does it take for a tooth to come in after it breaks through?
There is no exact amount of time that has been identified for how long it takes for a tooth to cut through, but most professionals have estimated that it can emerge anytime between 1-7 days per tooth.
How long does it take for a tooth to erupt?
Teething takes about 8 days, which includes 4 days before and 3 days after the tooth comes through the gum. (You may see a blue-grey bubble on the gum where the tooth is about to appear. This is called an eruption cyst and will usually go away without treatment.)
Why does my 10 month old spit his food out?
It’s normal for babies to inadvertently lose a piece of food here and there and have it pop back out of their mouth. They are figuring out how to move their tongue, mouth, and jaw around together and sometimes food ends up falling out.
How do I get my 10 month old to stop spitting food?
If she spits, give a firm “no”, or say nothing and give finger foods. Show activity on this post. As you already said for yourself, you thought her, that spitting food is funny, by reacting very positive to her doing that. To reverse this, you need to show her that it isn’t funny.
What does a teething poop look like?
Many parents report that that their baby’s poo is a bit runnier , or even frothy-looking (Cherney and Gill 2018), during teething. However, teething shouldn’t give your baby diarrhoea – even if you’re convinced that’s what’s causing her runny poos, it’s still best to care for her as you would for any bout of diarrhoea.
What stage of teething hurts the most?
Stage 5: (25-33 months) Revenge of the molars! These are the largest teeth, and some children will find this to be the most painful time of teething.
Is teething worse at night?
Teething becomes more intense at night, pediatricians confirm, because children feel the symptoms of pain and discomfort most acutely when they have fewer distractions, and are exhausted. It’s the same reason adults feel more chronic pain at night.
Does teething pain stop once tooth cuts?
The good news is that the pain flares as the tooth is breaking through the gums, but then typically subsides.
Which are the most painful teeth for babies?
Molars tend to be very painful because they’re much bigger than other teeth. More often than not, it’s the first tooth or teeth that come in which are very painful for a child. This is because it’s the first one causing this new and unfamiliar feeling for the child.
How can I help my baby’s tooth erupt?
Soothe a Teething Baby
- Something cold in your baby’s mouth, like a cold pacifier, spoon, clean wet washcloth, or a solid (not liquid) refrigerated teething toy or ring.
- Try offering a hard, unsweetened teething cracker.
- If your baby is older than 6-9 months, you can offer cool water from a sippy cup, too.
Why won’t my baby put food in his mouth?
Consider waiting a week or two. If baby is less than or around 6 months old and showing signs of readiness, but doesn’t engage with food offered, try not to worry too much. Many babies at this age are just not cognitively ready to self-feed, even if they are showing the motor milestones for readiness. This is normal.
What color is teething diarrhea?
If your kid has diarrhoea, the colour and odour of the poop might also change. Diarrhoea can turn the poop to green colour and the smell may be really hard to bear. Why do babies get diarrhoea while teething? According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, teething does not directly cause diarrhoea.
Can teething cause upset stomach?
Symptoms of Teething
Babies can also have trouble eating food during the teething process. They will get cranky, and can also have swollen and sensitive gums. The infant can begin swallowing the drool. With continuous drool consumption, the infant can upset his stomach, and can also have a fever.
How do you help teeth break through gums?
Rub your baby’s gums with a clean finger. Give your baby something to chew on. Make sure it’s big enough that it can’t be swallowed or choked on and that it can’t break into small pieces. A wet washcloth placed in the freezer for 30 minutes makes a handy teething aid.
When should I worry about my baby not eating solids?
If your baby doesn’t like solid baby food and won’t accept any table foods of finger foods by 9 months old, it’s a good idea to get an evaluation either from the free early intervention program in your state or from a feeding therapist.
When should I stop spoon feeding my baby?
The expert recommendation is to stop spoon-feeding your baby after the age of six months. At this time, you should slowly let your baby handle foods and attempt to self-feed. Usually, babies are ready to start self-feeding by the age of 6-9 months.
Why won’t my 8 month old eat solids?
“Sometimes,” Spanier adds, “if a baby is refusing solids at 8 months, or is unable to ingest them, an evaluation by an occupational or speech therapist is needed.” More often than not, your baby will likely start eating solids when they’re ready.
Does green poop mean teething?
Teething can also bring about green stools due to increased saliva (can also cause tummy upset) a lot of green vegetables or something with green food coloring in mom’s diet. If baby has started solids, that could also account for the change in color (this is normal with the change in diet).
Can teething cause throwing up?
Most experts agree that while localized soreness and pain may occur, teething doesn’t cause symptoms elsewhere in the body, like rash, vomiting, and diarrhea. Consult your family doctor or pediatrician if your baby is vomiting or has any other severe symptoms. And don’t try to treat your child yourself.
Is it OK to rub whiskey on baby’s gums?
If a baby gets too much, the throat can become numb and it may cause problems with swallowing. Finally, although past generations of parents have used brandy or whiskey to soothe teething pain, no amount of alcohol is thought to be safe for infants so resist any urges you may have to follow in that tradition.
Should I force baby to eat solids?
“It’s very common for babies to refuse food when solids are introduced,” Flanders says. “And it’s important to respect their decision to refuse it.” Never force your kid to eat. “Forcing sets up a power struggle around eating and can undermine the health of the feeding relationship,” Flanders says.
How much banana can a 6 month old eat?
Doctors recommend that you give your child bananas at the age of 6 months, right around the time he starts eating semi-solids. A small banana per day for a 6-month-old baby is ideal. Initially start by feeding 2 tsp of mashed banana before moving on to other ways of serving them.
What do you feed a teething baby?
This makes a variety of cold foods ideal for your baby when their teething pain flares up. Cold foods from the fridge such as cold yogurt, cold hummus, or even cold soups can help ease pain from teething.
At what age do babies start scribbling?
Most toddlers are ready to start coloring and scribbling between 12 and 15 months, but like all things child-related, learning to draw is a process that happens in phases.
When should babies stop eating with hands?
From a developmental standpoint, a child should be using a spoon by age 2, a fork by age 3, and a knife, with supervision, around age 5, says Castle.
At what age should baby feed himself?
When can a baby start self-feeding? As soon as your baby can sit up and swallow solids (usually around the age of 6 months), she may be ready to start self-feeding.
What finger foods can I give my 8-month-old?
Introducing Finger Foods
- Start with menu items like pieces of soft cheese; small pieces of pasta or bread; finely chopped soft vegetables; and fruits like bananas, avocado, and ripe peaches or nectarines.
- Introduce new foods one at a time in case there are any concers about allergies.
What should an 8-month-old eating schedule look like?
8-month-olds feeding schedule
Solid foods at least twice or three times a day along with 25 to 32 ounces of formula or breast milk every 24 hours. You can start increasing the quantity and variety of the foods in your 8-month-old baby’s diet. You can also try introducing a sippy cup and finger foods.
How much should 8-month-old eat?
Your 8-month-old baby should be consuming about 24 ounces of formula in a 24-hour period. So if baby has six bottles each day, make them each four ounces. Breastfeeding: Eight-month-olds still typically nurse about every three or four hours.


We human beings are fascinating in the way we perceive risks and how we manage our way around them.
Do you automatically put on your seatbelt, and your children’s seatbelts before you drive? What risk or risks are influencing your seatbelt wearing habits?
- The fear of being hurt in an accident? Of course you realise that wearing a seatbelt does not actually prevent you from having an accident. It just makes it more survivable.
- The fear of being fined?
Our biggest fear may be fear itself, specifically fear of the unknown. However, as we get accustomed to risks the fear seems to subside. Let’s look at what we know about various risks (that we accept) versus new risks like COVID-19.
Leading causes of deaths in Australia (2017)
- Coronary heart disease (18,590)
- Dementia & Alzheimers (13,749)
- Cerebrovascular /stroke (10,886)
- Lung cancer (8262)
- COPD (7,518)
Women make up 29,683 of the totals above.
Deaths from suicide (male and female) are over 3,000 per year. Source.
However some studies suggest that women fear breast cancer more than any from the list above. Although approximately 19,535 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019 the 5 year survival rate is 90.1%. Deaths were about 1,900 – far less than the numbers above.
The flu kills between 1,500 to 3,000 of us every year. (source). Studies support the claim that influenza vaccine can be expected to provide somewhere between 50% and at best, 70% protection. If we do get a vaccine for COVID19 within the next 12 months, it is unrealistic to expect it will offer any better protection, especially if the development and testing are rushed. Hopefully there won’t be any long term side effects.
While there has been a recent focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, common seasonal influenza currently poses a far greater danger to Australians. In fact, in the last century, more people died from seasonal influenza than in the three influenza pandemics.
In 2019 the number of Australians that died from car accidents was 1,146.
We could reduce car accidents and car deaths by reducing the speed limit on highways to 60 kph, the speed limit in suburbs to 40 kph and in CBDs to 20 kph. But societies make trade-offs when it comes to the benefits of getting somewhere faster, or getting parcels delivered faster versus the risk of becoming a statistic. We’ve learnt to live with the risk.
Back to the seat belt. It does not prevent an accident. Together with airbags, seatbelts simply improve your chances of survival.
How to avoid being killed a car accident? Stop travelling be car and walk everywhere. But pedestrians get run over too.
What about COVID-19? In 3 months Australia has had 102 deaths. (As at 25.5.2020) The medium age of deaths is 80 years. Mostly male. There have been less than 6 deaths under the age of 60. (source)
Luckily we’ve learnt a few things about this new Corona virus COVID-19 from two perspectives: minimising infection and increasing survivability.
1. Minimising Infection
The number one strategy is social distancing. Although supermarkets and bottle shops were never closed, eventually operational practices were adopted to limit people per square metre, and to provide hand gels. However it seems that few (typically young) cashiers who stand there for up to 8 hours, have been affected.
What protects them? Youth? This is especially interesting as they (theoretically) have a longer exposure time in the presence of potentially infectious people. All hospital staff know that increased exposure time increases risk.
When your Healthy Inspirations centre re-opens (NZ centres have already), short 30 minute sessions are a good idea. If you’d prefer not to come into the centre, all weight loss coaching is offered online as well.
By the way, excess alcohol consumption is an immune function negative.
The number two strategy is regular hand washing or disinfectant.
As the community gets comfortable with risk, more will return to their workplace and travel there by public transport. Should they all be encouraged to wear facial cover and avoid talking? (Talking increases droplets.) Unless the mask is hospital grade, it offers marginal protection to the wearer, but any facial covering certainly helps protect those around the wearer. It says “I care about others.”
2. Increasing Survivability
Recent reports suggest that 17% of Londoners have, or have had COVID-19. Most don’t even know it. What gives them protection?
What factors, increase risk of poor outcome: having to be hospitalised, intensive care, respirator or death? Why did the UK PM Boris Johnson suffer so badly?
You can do nothing about your age. Are there other modifiable risk factors that you can do something about? Yes!
Your Vitamin D status may make a huge difference. In Indonesia, 98.9% of patients with vitamin D deficiency died, 88% of patients with vitamin D insufficiency died but only 4% of patients with sufficient vitamin D died. (source). People of black ethnicity are at double the risk compared to fair skinned people. They need to spend more time outdoors to get the same Vitamin D boosting effect.
Want to know if your Vitamin D levels are deficient? Read more HERE. Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin found naturally in only a few foods, liver and fatty fish such as salmon (both on all Healthy Inspirations food plans), and so the major non-food source of the vitamin is from sunlight skin exposure.
If you’re carrying extra weight, especially around the waist, you should start losing weight today if you want to decrease your risk. Although excess weight may put extra strain on your lungs, it might be a condition that is associated with excess weight that most likely weakens your immune function. It’s insulin resistance (pre-diabetes).
Obese individuals have greater than 50% less bioavailability of vitamin D compared to non-obese individuals. (Do you hate the words “obese” and “obesity”? Don’t worry as it is a technical reference called BMI used by health authorities around the world. To assess your BMI click HERE.)
Diabetes and insulin resistance (pre-diabetes) significantly increase risks of worse outcomes following COVID-19 infection.
Many researchers are looking into the reasons why. It may be fluctuations and spikes in blood sugar. It may be high insulin levels. Insulin is the hormone your body produces to stabilise your body’s blood sugar after consuming foods and drinks. It may be insulin resistance, where your cells respond less to the signalling from insulin. The result? Even higher insulin levels.
Insulin and insulin resistance are typically omitted from standard GP-ordered tests. At best you might have a fasting blood sugar test, but it is possible to have normal blood sugar but your body is over-producing insulin to keep your blood sugar normal.
Want some good news?
If you are carrying extra weight around the waist, or have high insulin levels or insulin resistance, there are two lifestyle things you can do to quickly bring down your levels and reduce your risks.
It’s like putting on a seatbelt. These two things offer you (almost) immediate COVID-19 risk reduction within weeks, and continued reduced risk if you stick with them. They may make a difference within days and certainly within weeks.
1. A carbohydrate modified eating plan, structured around your body’s individual carbohydrate tolerance. Have you noticed that two people can eat the same foods and one stays slim and the other puts on weight? Their body’s have different carbohydrate tolerance levels.
With the right eating plan, elevated insulin and insulin resistance can be reduced within 2 weeks. Vitamin D levels may be increased as well. Of course, sticking to the eating plan is crucial and that’s where support, education and ongoing coaching can make all the difference. Most members are having their coaching sessions online.
There are no drugs that can have the same effect as a well-formulated carbohydrate-modified eating plan.
2. An effective resistance training program and interval training. As your muscles are the sugar sinks of your body, maintaining good muscle strength and fitness can help. Although low-level physical activity like walking is beneficial, and especially outdoors in the sunshine (Vit D), it does not have the same adaptive effect on the muscles as resistance training.
Again, there are no drugs that can have the same effect as an effective resistance training program. Exercise is medicine and resistance exercise is the best medicine. Exercising at Healthy Inspirations helps your:
- Positive mindset
- Resilience to stress
- Mental alertness
- Friendship circle
And… when you combine both a low carb eating plan and resistance exercise you get extra protection.
But what if you’re slim? Be aware that slim people can have insulin resistance too. It’s called ‘TOFI’ or Thin Outside Fat Inside. The key is if you’re carrying extra weight around the waist. A simple measure is if your waist if more than 50% of your height. Waist to height over 50% is highly correlated with insulin resistance.
11 Ways to Reduce Your COVID-19 Risks
- Put risks into perspective. Know the numbers. It is possible to enjoy a healthy life without being dictated by fear. Be informed.
- Practice social distancing. No hand shakes and hugs. All Healthy Inspirations centres have been reconfigured to keep people 1.5 metres apart.
- Wash your hands a lot. Keep alcohol gel in car.
- If you come to the centre have short 30 minute exercise sessions.
- Get outside in the sunshine for at least 15 minutes a day to help maintain your Vitamin D status. If you have dark skin you’ll need more. Eat Vit D rich foods.
- If travelling in confined spaces (like buses and trains) wearing a mask or any face covering protects others.
- Keep a diary of where you have been, and who you’ve been in contact with, just in case you need to be involved in a contact-tracing investigation. Using the COVID-19 SAFE app helps and may alert you if you have been in contact with someone who may later be diagnosed.
- Find out about our unique ICT Reset low carb coaching program that helps you discover your body’s individual carbohydrate tolerance and reduces elevated insulin and insulin resistance within weeks.
- Do not succumb to purchasing the sweets and highly processed comfort foods and drinks at supermarkets and service stations.
- If you drink alcohol, drink moderately. Aim for at least 2 AFDs per week. (Alcohol Free Days)
- Ask Healthy Inspirations about a resistance training program. We deliver this in a number of ways: In centre classes and individual equipment circuit, on-demand workout that you can follow at home, and live streaming classes delivered on our member-only private Facebook group.
Stay Healthy and Live Your Life
If your local centre is not yet open, call them as all programs are available now online. Click HERE.
Please help us share the message by sharing this post and adding the following hashtags.
#gymsaresafe #exerciseismedicine. #flattenthefear


Economy of the German Democratic Republic
|This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2008)|
Like other states which were members of the Comecon between 1949 and 1991, the German Democratic Republic (GDR – East Germany) had a centrally-planned economy (CPE) similar to the one in the former Soviet Union (in contrast to the market economies or mixed economies of capitalist states). The state established production targets and prices and also allocated resources, codifying these decisions in comprehensive plans. The means of production were almost entirely state-owned. The East German economy was the Soviet Bloc's largest economy and one of the most stable economies in the "Second World" until Communism in Eastern Europe started to collapse from 1990 and the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991.
- 1 History
- 1.1 Reparations
- 1.2 Agrarian reforms
- 1.3 Introducing the planned economy
- 1.4 Economic growth and improvement
- 1.5 New Economic System (1963–1968)
- 1.6 Economic system of socialism (1968–70)
- 1.7 The Main Task
- 1.8 The "Coffee Crisis" of 1976 to 1979
- 1.9 External debt crisis
- 1.10 Comparison with the West German economy
- 2 Central leadership
- 3 Central planning
- 4 State industrial sector
- 5 Agriculture
- 6 Private sector
- 7 See also
- 8 Source
- 9 References
- 10 Further reading
- 11 External links
Each occupation power assumed authority in their respective zones by June 1945. The Allied powers originally pursued a common German policy, focused on denazification and demilitarization in preparation for the restoration of a democratic German nation-state. Over time, however, the western zones and the Soviet zone drifted apart economically, not least because of the Soviets' much greater use of disassembly of German industry under its control as a form of reparations. Military industries and those owned by the state, by Nazi party members, and by war criminals were confiscated. These industries amounted to approximately 60% of total industrial production in the Soviet zone. Most heavy industry (constituting 20% of total production) was claimed by the Soviet Union as reparations, and Soviet joint stock companies (German: Sowjetische Aktiengesellschaften -SAG-) were formed. The remaining confiscated industrial property was nationalized, leaving 40% of total industrial production to private enterprise. The reparations seriously hindered the ability of East Germany to compete with West Germany economically. The estimated 100 billion worth of reparations taken from the East, had it been invested in the East German Economy, with East Germany's average 18% rate of return on investments, would have compounded to give East Germans a per-capita income 15 times the level of West Germans.[dubious ]
Retail trade in the east was slowly being absorbed by two state-controlled organizations (Konsum and Handelsorganisation -HO-) which were given special preferences. On 2 January 1949, a two-year plan of economic reconstruction was launched, aiming at 81% of the 1936 production level, and, by cutting 30 per cent off production costs, hoping to raise the general wage level 12% to 15%. The plan also called for an increase in the daily food ration from 1,500 to 2,000 calories.
There were several reasons behind the backward economic situation in East Germany. Its lack of essential natural resources and the separation from its traditional West German market were probably the most important. Furthermore, while large sums had been poured into West Germany, especially by the United States, the Soviet Union not only put nothing into the economy of its zone but actually took out large amounts in reparations and occupation costs (c. 6 billion marks per year). It was estimated that by 1949, 100 per cent of the automotive, between 90% to 100% of the chemical, and 93% of the fuel industries were in Soviet hands. By the end of 1950 East Germany had paid $3.7 bn of Russia's $10 bn reparations demand. After the death of Joseph Stalin and the June 1953 uprising, the Soviet Union began to return the East German factories it had taken as reparations.
The following case is typical of the economic relationship between the two eastern block countries. According to documents supplied by a shipbuilding official who escaped from the East, ships ordered by the Soviet Union for 1954 cost $148 million to build, but the Soviets paid only $46 million for them; the difference of $102 million was absorbed by the GDR.
The agrarian reform ("Bodenreform") expropriated all land belonging to former Nazis and war criminals and generally limited ownership to 1 km². Some 500 Junker estates were converted into collective people's farms (German: Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft -LPG-), and more than 30,000 km² were distributed among 500,000 peasant farmers, agricultural laborers, and refugees. Compensation was paid only to active anti-Nazis. In September 1947 the Soviet military administration announced the completion of agrarian reform through the Soviet zone. This report listed 12,355 estates, totaling 6,000,000 acres (24,000 km2), which had been seized and redistributed to 119,000 families of landless farmers, 83,000 refugee families, and some 300,000 in other categories. State farms were also established, called Volkseigenes Gut ("People's Owned Property").
Introducing the planned economy
The Third Party Congress of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands—SED) convened in July 1950 and emphasized industrial progress. The industrial sector, employing 40% of the working population, was subjected to further nationalization, which resulted in the formation of the "People's Enterprises" (German: Volkseigene Betriebe—VEB--). These enterprises incorporated 75% of the industrial sector. The First Five Year Plan (1951–55) introduced centralized state planning; it stressed high production quotas for heavy industry and increased labor productivity. The pressures of the plan caused an exodus of GDR citizens to West Germany. The second SED Party Conference (less important than a party congress) convened from 9–12 July 1952. 1565 delegates, 494 guest-delegates and over 2500 guests from the GDR and from many countries in the world participated in it. In the conference a new economic policy was adopted, "Planned Construction of Socialism". The plan called to strengthen the state-owned sector of the economy. Further goals were to implement the principles of uniform socialist planning and to use the economic laws of socialism systematically.
Joseph Stalin died in March 1953. In June 1953, the SED, hoping to give workers an improved standard of living, announced the New Course which replaced the "Planned Construction of Socialism." The New Course in the GDR was based on the economic policy initiated by Georgi Malenkov in the Soviet Union. Malenkov's policy, which aimed at improvement in the standard of living, stressed a shift in investment toward light industry and trade and a greater availability of consumer goods. The SED, in addition to shifting emphasis from heavy industry to consumer goods, initiated a program for alleviating economic hardships. This led to a reduction of delivery quotas and taxes, the availability of state loans to private business, and an increase in the allocation of production material.
While the New Course increased the availability of consumer goods, there were still high production quotas. When work quotas were raised in 1953, it led to the uprising of June 1953. Strikes and demonstrations happened in major industrial centers, and workers demanded economic reforms. The Volkspolizei and the Soviet Army suppressed the uprising, in which approximately 100 participants were killed.
Economic growth and improvement
|This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2014)|
In 1956, at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev repudiated Stalinism. Around this time, an academic intelligentsia within the SED leadership demanded reform. To this end, Wolfgang Harich issued a platform advocating radical changes in the GDR. In late 1956, he and his associates were quickly purged from the SED ranks and imprisoned.
An SED party plenum in July 1956 confirmed Walter Ulbricht's leadership and presented the Second Five-Year Plan (1956–60). The plan employed the slogan "modernization, mechanization, and automation" to emphasize the new focus on technological progress. At the plenum, the regime announced its intention to develop nuclear energy, and the first nuclear reactor in the GDR was activated in 1957. The government increased industrial production quotas by 55% and renewed emphasis on heavy industry.
The Second Five-Year Plan committed the GDR to accelerated efforts toward agricultural collectivization and nationalization and completion of the nationalization of the industrial sector. By 1958 the agricultural sector still consisted primarily of the 750,000 privately owned farms that comprised 70% of all arable land; only 6,000 LPGs had been formed. In 1958–59 the SED placed quotas on private farmers and sent teams to villages in an effort to encourage voluntary collectivization. In November and December 1959 some law-breaking farmers were arrested by the Stasi.
By mid-1960, nearly 85% of all arable land was incorporated in more than 19,000 LPGs; state farms comprised another 6%. By 1961 the socialist sector produced 90% of the GDR's agricultural products. An extensive economic management reform by the SED in February 1958 included the transfer of a large number of industrial ministries to the State Planning Commission. In order to accelerate the nationalization of industry, the SED offered entrepreneurs 50-percent partnership incentives for transforming their firms into VEBs. At the close of 1960, private enterprise controlled only 9% of total industrial production. Production Cooperatives (Produktionsgenossenschaften—PGs--) incorporated one-third of the artisan sector during 1960–61, a rise from 6% in 1958.
The Second Five-Year Plan encountered difficulties, and the government replaced it with the Seven-Year Plan (1959–65). The new plan aimed at achieving West Germany's per capita production by the end of 1961, set higher production quotas, and called for an 85% increase in labor productivity. Emigration again increased, totaling 143,000 in 1959 and 199,000 in 1960. The majority of the emigrants were white collar workers, and 50% were under 25 years of age. The labor drain exceeded a total of 2.5 million citizens between 1949 and 1961.
New Economic System (1963–1968)
The annual industrial growth rate declined steadily after 1959. The Soviet Union therefore recommended that East Germany implement the reforms of Soviet economist Evsei Liberman, an advocate of the principle of profitability and other market principles for communist economies. In 1963 Ulbricht adapted Liberman's theories and introduced the New Economic System (NES), an economic reform program providing for some decentralization in decision making and the consideration of market and performance criteria. The NES aimed at creating an efficient economic system and transforming the GDR into a leading industrial nation.
Under the NES, the task of establishing future economic development was assigned to central planning. Decentralization involved the partial transfer of decision-making authority from the central State Planning Commission and National Economic Council to the Associations of People's Enterprises (Vereinigungen Volkseigener Betriebe—VVB--), parent organizations intended to promote specialization within the same areas of production. The central planning authorities set overall production goals, but each VVB determined its own internal financing, utilization of technology, and allocation of manpower and resources. As intermediary bodies, the VVBs also functioned to synthesize information and recommendations from the VEBs. The NES stipulated that production decisions be made on the basis of profitability, that salaries reflect performance, and that prices respond to supply and demand.
The NES brought forth a new elite in politics as well as in management of the economy, and in 1963 Ulbricht announced a new policy regarding admission to the leading ranks of the SED. Ulbricht opened the Politbüro and the Central Committee to younger members who had more education than their predecessors and who had acquired managerial and technical skills. As a consequence of the new policy, the SED elite became divided into political and economic factions, the latter composed of members of the new technocratic elite. Because of the emphasis on professionalization in the SED cadre policy after 1963, the composition of the mass membership changed: in 1967 about 250,000 members (14%) of the total 1.8 million SED membership had completed a course of study at a university, technical college, or trade school.
The SED emphasis on managerial and technical competence also enabled members of the technocratic elite to enter the top echelons of the state bureaucracy, formerly reserved for political dogmatists. Managers of the VVBs were chosen on the basis of professional training rather than ideological conformity. Within the individual enterprises, the number of professional positions and jobs for the technically skilled increased. The SED stressed education in managerial and technical sciences as the route to social advancement and material rewards. In addition, it promised to raise the standard of living for all citizens. From 1964 until 1967, real wages increased, and the supply of consumer goods, including luxury items, improved much.
In 1968, Ulbricht launched a spirited campaign to convince the Comecon states to intensify their economic development "by their own means." Domestically the East German regime replaced the NES with the "Economic System of Socialism" (ESS), which focused on high technology sectors to make self-sufficient growth possible. Centralized planning was reintroduced in the so-called structure-determining areas, which included electronics, chemicals, and plastics. Industrial combines partnerships were formed to integrate vertically industries involved in the manufacture of vital final products. Price subsidies were restored to accelerate growth in favored sectors. The annual plan for 1968 set production quotas in the structure-determining areas 2.6% higher than in the remaining sectors to achieve industrial growth in these areas. The state set the 1969–70 goals for high-technology sectors even higher. Failure to meet ESS goals resulted in the conclusive termination of the reform effort in 1970.
The Main Task
The Main Task, introduced by Honecker in 1971, formulated domestic policy for the 1970s. The program re-emphasized Marxism-Leninism and the international class struggle. During this period, the SED launched a massive propaganda campaign to win citizens to its Soviet-style socialism and to restore the "worker" to prominence. The Main Task restated the economic goal of industrial progress, but this goal was to be achieved within the context of centralized state planning. Consumer socialism—the new program featured in the Main Task—was an effort to magnify the appeal of socialism by offering special consideration for the material needs of the working class. The state extensively revamped wage policy and gave more attention to increasing the availability of consumer goods.
The regime accelerated the construction of new housing and the renovation of existing apartments; 60% of new and renovated housing was allotted to working-class families. Rents, which were subsidized, remained extremely low. Because women constituted nearly 50% of the labor force, child-care facilities, including nurseries and kindergartens, were provided for the children of working mothers. Women in the labor force received salaried maternity leave which ranged from six months to one year. Retirement annuities were increased.
The "Coffee Crisis" of 1976 to 1979
Due to the strong German tradition of drinking coffee, imports of this commodity were important for consumers. A massive rise in coffee prices in 1976–77 led to a quadrupling of the amount of hard currency needed to import coffee. This caused severe financial problems for the GDR, which perennially lacked sufficient hard currency to address imports from the West. As a result, in the summer of 1977 the Politbüro withdrew most cheaper brands of coffee from sale, limited the use of coffee in restaurants, and effectively withdrew its provision in public offices and state enterprises. In addition, an infamous new type of coffee was introduced, Mischkaffee (mixed coffee), which was 51% coffee and 49% a range of filler including chicory, rye, and sugar beet. Unsurprisingly, the new coffee was generally detested for its comparatively poor flavour, and the whole episode came to be informally known as the "Coffee Crisis." The crisis passed after 1978 as world coffee prices began to fall again, as well as increased supply through an agreement between the GDR and Vietnam. The episode vividly illustrated the GDR's structural, economic and financial problems.
External debt crisis
Although in the end political circumstances led to the collapse of the SED regime, the GDR's growing hard currency debts were a cause of domestic instability. Debts continued to grow in the course of the 1980s to over 40 billion Deutsche Marks owed to western institutions, a sum not astronomical in absolute terms (the GDR's GDP was perhaps 250 billion DM) but large in relation to the GDR's capacity to export sufficient goods to the west to provide the hard currency to service these debts. While the problem was by no means unique to the GDR or to socialist economies in general, as the United States and other Western European nations faced far weaker debt-to-GDP ratios and trade deficits throughout the 2000s, in the context of failing support from its Soviet allies in the early 1990s, the gravity of these otherwise manageable issues became more severe for the GDR. In October 1989, a paper prepared for the Politbüro (the Schürer-Papier, after its principal author) projected a need to increase export surplus from around 2 billion DM in 1990 to over 11 billion DM in 1995 to stabilize debt levels. It is doubtful whether such a Herculean effort could have succeeded without political turmoil, or indeed at all.
Much of the debt originated from attempts by the GDR to export its way out of its international debt problems, which required imports of components, technologies and raw materials; as well as attempts to maintain living standards through imports of consumer goods. The GDR was internationally competitive in some sectors such as mechanical engineering and printing technology. However the attempt to achieve a competitive edge in microchips against the research and development resources of the entire western world – in a state of just 16 million people – was perhaps always doomed to failure, but swallowed increasing amounts of internal resources and hard currency. A significant factor was also the elimination of a ready source of hard currency through re-export of Soviet oil, which until 1981 was provided below world market prices; the resulting loss of hard currency income produced a noticeable dip in the otherwise steady improvement of living standards. (It was precisely this continuous improvement which was at risk due to the impending debt crisis; the Schürer-Papier's remedial plans spoke of a 25–30% reduction.)
Comparison with the West German economy
|East Germany||West Germany|
|GNP/GDP1 ($ billion)||159.5||945.7|
|GNP/GDP per capita ($)||9,679||15,300|
|Budget revenues ($ billion)||123.5||539|
|Budget expenditures ($ billion)||123.2||563|
1 GNP, used for the GDR, includes income earned by its citizens abroad, minus income earned by foreigners from domestic production. GDP, used for the Federal Republic of (West) Germany, is not so modified. So, the two figures are not strictly comparable, but they serve reasonably well for the purposes of this table.
Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
The ultimate directing force in the economy, as in every aspect of the society, was the SED, particularly its top leadership. The party exercised its leadership role formally during the party congress, when it accepted the report of the general secretary, and when it adopted the draft plan for the upcoming five-year period.
More important was the supervision of the SED's Politbüro, which monitored and directed ongoing economic processes. That key group, however, could concern itself with no more than the general, fundamental, or extremely serious economic questions, because it also had to deal with many other matters.
At the head of the state apparatus responsible for formally adopting and carrying out policies elaborated by the party congress and Politbüro was the Council of Ministers, which had more than forty members and was in turn headed by a Presidium of sixteen. The Council of Ministers supervised and coordinated the activities of all other central bodies responsible for the economy, and it played a direct and specific role in important cases.
The State Planning Commission, sometimes called the "Economic General Staff of the Council of Ministers," advised the Council of Ministers on possible alternative economic strategies and their implications, translated the general targets set by the council into planning directives and more specific plan targets for each of the ministries beneath it, coordinated short-, medium-, and long-range planning, and mediated interministerial disagreements.
The individual ministries had major responsibility for the detailed direction of the different sectors of the economy. The ministries were responsible within their separate spheres for detailed planning, resource allocation, development, implementation of innovations, and generally for the efficient achievement of their individual plans.
In addition to the basic structure of the industrial sector, a supplementary hierarchy of government organs reached down from the Council of Ministers and the State Planning Commission to territorial rather than functional subunits. Regional and local planning commissions and economic councils, subordinate to the State Planning Commission and the Council of Ministers, respectively, extended down to the local level. They considered such matters as the proper or optimal placement of industry, environmental protection, and housing.
The fact that the GDR had a planned economy did not mean that a single, comprehensive plan was the basis of all economic activity. An interlocking web of plans having varying degrees of specificity, comprehensiveness, and duration was in operation at all times; any or all of these may have been modified during the continuous process of performance monitoring or as a result of new and unforeseen circumstances. The resultant system of plans was extremely complex, and maintaining internal consistency between the various plans was a considerable task.
Planning by timescale
In May 1949, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky claimed that production in the Soviet occupation zone in March 1949 had reached 96.6 per cent of its 1936 level and that the government budget of the Soviet zone showed a surplus of 1 billion East German Marks, despite a 30% cut in taxes.
When the 1953 budget was introduced in the Volkskammer on 4 February, economic exploitation in the Soviet interest was still the dominant trend. The budget envisaged expenditures of 34.688 bn East marks, an increase of about 10% over the 31.730 bn of the 1952 budget. Its main object was to provide investments for strengthening the economy and for national defense.
Operationally, short-term planning was the most important for production and resource allocation. It covered one calendar year and encompassed the entire economy. The key targets set at the central level were overall rate of growth of the economy, volume and structure of the domestic product and its uses, use of raw materials and labor and their distribution by sector and region, and volume and structure of exports and imports. Beginning with the 1981 plan, the state added assessment of the ration of raw material use against value and quantity of output to promote more efficient use of scarce resources.
Low-range (five-year) planning used the same indicators, although with less specificity. Although the five-year plan was duly enacted into law, it is more properly seen as a series of guidelines rather than as a set of direct orders. It was typically published several months after the start of the five-year period it covered, after the first one-year plan had been enacted into law. More general than a one-year plan, the five-year plan was nevertheless specific enough to integrate the yearly plans into a longer time frame. Thus it provided continuity and direction.
In the early 1970s, long-term, comprehensive planning began. It too provided general guidance, but over a longer period, fifteen or twenty years, long enough to link the five-year plans in a coherent manner.
In the first phase of planning, the centrally determined objectives were divided and assigned to appropriate subordinate units. After internal consideration and discussion had occurred at each level and suppliers and buyers had completed negotiations, the separate parts were reaggregated into draft plans. In the final stage, which follows the acceptance of the total package by the State Planning Commission and the Council of Ministers, the finished plan was redivided among the ministries, and the relevant responsibilities were distributed once more to the producing units.
The production plan was supplemented by other mechanisms that control supplies and establish monetary accountability. One such mechanism was the System of Material Balances, which allocated materials, equipment, and consumer goods. It acted as a rationing system, ensuring each element of the economy access to the basic goods it needed to fulfill its obligations. Since most of the goods produced by the economy were covered by this control mechanism, producing units had difficulty obtaining needed items over and above their allocated levels.
Another control mechanism was the assignment of prices for all goods and services. These prices served as a basis for calculating expenses and receipts. Enterprises had every incentive to use these prices as guidelines in decision making. Doing so made plan fulfillment possible and earned bonus funds of various sorts for the enterprise. These bonuses were not allocated indiscriminately for gross output but were awarded for such accomplishments as the introduction of innovations or reduction of labor costs.
The system functioned smoothly only when its component parts were staffed with individuals whose values coincided with those of the regime or at least complemented regime values. Such a sharing took place in part through the integrative force of the party organs whose members occupied leading positions in the economic structure. Efforts were also made to promote a common sense of purpose through mass participation of almost all workers and farmers in organized discussion of economic planning, tasks, and performance. An East German journal reported, for example, that during preliminary discussion concerning the 1986 annual plan, 2.2 million employees in various enterprises and work brigades of the country at large contributed 735,377 suggestions and comments. Ultimate decision making, however, came from above.
State industrial sector
On 1 January 1954, the Soviet government turned over to the GDR thirty-three industrial concerns including the Leuna and Buna chemical works, and the GDR became the owner of all the enterprises in its territory.
Directly below the ministries were the centrally directed trusts, or Kombinate. Intended to be replacements for the Associations of Publicly Owned Enterprises—the largely administrative organizations that previously served as a link between the ministries and the individual enterprises—the Kombinate resulted from the merging of various industrial enterprises into large-scale entities in the late-1970s, based on interrelationships between their production activities.
The Kombinate included research enterprises, which the state incorporated into their structures to provide better focus for research efforts and speedier application of research results to production. A single, united management directed the entire production process in each Kombinat, from research to production and sales. The reform also attempted to foster closer ties between the activities of the Kombinate and the foreign trade enterprises by subordinating the latter to both the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Kombinate. The goal of the Kombinat reform measure was to achieve greater efficiency and rationality by concentrating authority in the hands of midlevel leadership. The Kombinat management also provided significant input for the central planning process.
By the early 1980s, establishment of Kombinate for both centrally managed and district-managed enterprises was essentially complete. Particularly from 1982 to 1984, the government established various regulations and laws to define more precisely the parameters of these entities. These provisions tended to reinforce the primacy of central planning and to limit the autonomy of the Kombinate, apparently to a greater extent than originally planned. As of early 1986, there were 132 centrally managed Kombinate, with an average of 25,000 employees per Kombinat. District-managed Kombinate numbered 93, with an average of about 2,000 employees each.
At the base of the entire economic structure were the producing units. Although these varied in size and responsibility, the government gradually reduced their number and increased their size. The number of industrial enterprises in 1985 was only slightly more than a fifth that of 1960. Their independence decreased significantly as the Kombinate became fully functional.
The agricultural sector of the economy had a somewhat different place in the system, although it too was thoroughly integrated. It was almost entirely collectivized except for private plots. The collective farms were formally self-governing. They were, however, subordinate to the Council of Ministers through the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Foodstuffs. A complex set of relationships also connected them with other cooperatives and related industries, such as food processing. By 1 July 1954, there were 4,974 collective farms with 147,000 members which cultivated 15.7 per cent of the arable land of the territory.
Legal private enterprise
The private sector of the economy was small but not entirely insignificant. In 1985 about 2.8 percent of the net national product came from private enterprises. The private sector included private farmers and gardeners; independent craftsmen, wholesalers, and retailers; and individuals employed in so-called free-lance activities (artist, writers, and others). Although self-employed, such individuals were strictly regulated. In 1985, for the first time in many years, the number of individuals working in the private sector increased slightly. According to East German statistics, in 1985 there were about 176,800 private entrepreneurs, an increase of about 500 over 1984. Certain private sector activities were quite important to the system. The SED leadership, for example, encouraged private initiative as part of an effort to upgrade consumer services.
In addition to those East Germans who were self-employed full-time, there were others who engaged in private economic activity on the side. The best known and most important examples were families on collective farms who also cultivated private plots (which could be as large as 53,820 ft² or 5,000 m²). Their contribution was significant; according to official sources, in 1985 the farmers privately owned about 8.2 percent of pigs, 14.7 percent of sheep, 32.8 percent of horses, and 30 percent of laying hens in the country. Professionals such as commercial artists and doctors also worked privately in their free time, subject to separate taxes and other regulations. Their impact on the economic system, however, was negligible.
Informal economic activity
More difficult to assess, because of its covert and informal nature, was the significance of that part of the private sector called is the "second economy." As used here, the term includes all economic arrangements or activities that, owing to their informality or their illegality, took place beyond state control or surveillance. The subject has received considerable attention from Western economists, most of whom are convinced that it is important in CPEs. In the mid-1980s, however, evidence was difficult to obtain and tended to be anecdotal in nature.
These irregularities did not appear to constitute a major economic problem. However, the East German press occasionally reported prosecutions of egregious cases of illegal "second economy" activity, involving what are called "crimes against socialist property" and other activities that are in "conflict and contradiction with the interests and demands of society", as one report described the situation.
One kind of informal economic activity included private arrangements to provide goods or services in return for payment. An elderly woman might have hired a neighbour boy to haul coal up to her apartment, or an employed woman might have paid a neighbour to do her washing. Closely related would be instances of hiring an acquaintance to repair a clock, tune up an automobile, or repair a toilet. Such arrangements take place in any society, and given the deficiencies in the East German service sector, they may have been more necessary than in the West. They were doubtlessly common, and because they were considered harmless, they were not the subject of any significant governmental concern.
Another common activity that was troublesome if not disruptive was the practice of offering a sum of money beyond the selling price to individuals selling desirable goods, or giving something special as partial payment for products in short supply, the so-called Bückware (duck goods; sold from "below the counter"). Such ventures may have been no more than offering someone Trinkgeld (a tip), but they may have also involved Schmiergeld (bribes; lit. money used to "grease" a transaction) or Beziehungen (special relationships). Opinions in East Germany varied as to how significant these practices were. But given the abundance of money in circulation and frequent shortages in luxury items and durable consumer goods, most people were perhaps occasionally tempted to provide a "sweetener", particularly for such things as automobile parts or furniture.
- Eastern Bloc economies
- New Course
- New Economic System
- Economic System of Socialism
- Volkseigener Betrieb
- Volkseigenes Gut
- Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft
- This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Library of Congress Country Studies. Library of Congress
- Merkel, W. and S. Wahl. Das gepluenderte Deutschland: Die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung im östlichen Teil Deutschlands von 1949-1989. IWG: Bonn (1991)
- Naumann, G. and E. Truempler. Von Ulbricht zu Honecker. Dietz: Berlin (1990)
- A. Murphy – The Triumph of Evil. European Academic Publishing (2000)
- "CIA World Factbook 1990". Retrieved 2011-04-25.
- RFE/RL East German Subject Files: Industry Open Society Archives, Budapest


Benefits Of Green Tea
The origin of green tea can be traced back to China where it was used to treat everything from a minor headache to severe cases of depression. Today, Green tea has achieved worldwide acclaim for its medicinal properties. The reason can be attributed to the fact that green tea is rich in catechin polyphenols, mainly EGCC or epigallocatechin gallate. EGCG is known to be a very potent antioxidant and also inhibits the growth of cancerous cells. It does allow the formation of abnormal blood clots (thrombosis) and also lowers LDL cholesterol levels, thereby decreasing the chances of stroke and heart attacks.
Green tea is more effective than black tea because of the difference in their processing. The processing of black tea helps in fermentation while green tea does not allow it. This is the reason why green tea is rich in anti-oxidants. Green tea has many known benefits. Although not all of these are scientifically proven, but scientists are slowly confirming the validity of all of them:
- Green Tea helps in regulating the glucose levels, which does not allow the blood sugar to rise after eating. This is very beneficial for diabetic patients as it prevents insulin spikes and the consequent fat storage.
- Scientists claim that green tea helps the walls of the blood vessels stay relaxed and enables them to endure fluctuations in blood pressure. It is a very beneficial medicine for heart patients, as it does not allow the formation of blood clots, which are known to be the main cause of heart attacks.
- It is also known to minimize bad cholesterol in blood and helps improve the good cholesterol.
- Green tea can also delay the deterioration that is caused due to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. It does not allow brain cells to die quickly.
- The catechin present in Green tea destroys viruses and bacteria that are responsible for dental caries, throat infections and several other dental conditions.
- Green tea can minimize the risk of esophageal cancer. Moreover, green tea can selectively kill cancer cells without harming the surrounding healthy tissue.
- If you drink Green Tea regularly, it will help combat high blood pressure.
- Green tea is known to increase the metabolism thereby increasing the levels of oxidation of fat and also increases the rate of conversion of food to calories and helps in weight loss.
- Green Tea is rich in Theanine – an amino acid that relaxes and tranquilizes the drinker and can be effectively used to combat depression.
- Green tea is also known for its application as a beauty enhancer and preserver. It does not allow for early formation of wrinkles and other signs of aging. Green tea is a great anti-inflammatory agent and anti-oxidant, which help maintaining the glow of the skin and also reduce the damage due to exposure to sun.
- Catechin has strong antiviral and antibacterial properties and helps in treating everything ranging from cancer to influenza. Green Tea does not allow many diseases to spread and is often used as a general medicine for many ailments.


The corrosion to austenitic stainless steel of SUS 316L and 316LN occurring due to carriage of wet process phosphoric acid is a very complex phenomenon. White Phosphoric acid (pure food grade) is not corrosive to stainless steel, however, the Wet PAC (fertilizer grade-green PAC and BK PAC) is perhaps the most aggressive and difficult of all chemicals transported in a stainless steel chemical tanker. The corrosion is affected by various impurities normally present in wet process acid. Only 317LN and duplex 2205 stainless steels can be said to resist this acid without too much damage and that too if the loading temperatures are within limits. The tank surface should be smooth polished under 3.5 micron. Tank cleaning before and after loading requires special attention in order to avoid contamination. For example, after discharge the tanks should be cleaned by fresh water first, than seawater, then immediately again fresh water to remove all chlorides from tank. This is crucial to avoid elephant skin. Please note acid / sea water mixture will result in pitting. After final cleaning with fresh water (pH7 neutral) tanks needs to be passivated in order to restore the passivity of the stainless steel as the phosphoric destroys the passive oxide film (coating) of the stainless steel.
Under certain specific conditions, particularly involving chlorides (such as sodium chloride in sea water) and exacerbated by elevated temperatures, small pits can form in the surface of the steel. Dependent upon both the environment and the steel itself these small pits may continue to grow, and if they do, it can lead to perforation, while the majority of the steel surface may still be totally unaffected. Pitting corrosion is a form of extremely localized corrosion that leads to the creation of small holes in the metal. The driving power for pitting corrosion is the lack of oxygen around a small area. This area becomes anodic while the area with excess of oxygen becomes cathodic; leading to very localized galvanic corrosion. The corrosion area tends to bury into the mass of the metal, with limited diffusion of ions, further pronouncing the localized lack of oxygen. This kind of corrosion is extremely insidious, as it causes little loss of material with small effect on its surface, while it damages the deep structures of the metal. The pits on the surface are often obscured by corrosion products.
Pitting corrosion is a localized form of corrosion by which cavities or "holes" are produced in the material. Pitting is considered to be more dangerous than uniform corrosion damage because it is more difficult to detect, predict and design against. Corrosion products often cover the pits. A small, narrow pit with minimal overall metal loss can lead to the failure of an entire engineering system
Pitting corrosion, which, for example, is almost a common denominator of all types of corrosion can produce pits with their mouth open (uncovered) or covered with a semipermeable membrane of corrosion products. Pits can be either hemispherical or cup-shaped. Contamination of stainless steel is not just a “cosmetic” problem; in the long term, those contaminants can cause localized damage (pitting) that can be very harmful.
Additional Information: passivity
The corrosion resistance of stainless steels depends on the quality of a very thin oxide layer, the so called “passive layer”. Maintaining this passive layer is one of the most important aspects in maintaining the quality of stainless steel. Damage of the passive layer, in time, will cause severe corrosion. Therefore preserving the passive layer is a must.


The absence of reflexes.
The difficulty with or loss of muscle coordination and bodily movements.
Inheritance characteristic where a gene is located on a numbered, non-sex chromosome. These are found on one of the 22 pairs of (44 total) autosomal chromosomes in a human body where DNA is stored. This is one of several ways that a trait, disorder, or disease can be passed down through families. These chromosomes are not the sex (X or Y) chromosomes.
Any chromosome in a cell that is not an X or Y sex chromosome. The average person has 22 pairs of autosomes (44 autosomes in total) in each cell that define the genetic make-up, or DNA, of the being. These chromosomes store thousands of genes and they are inherited from the beings’ parents. In addition to the 22 pairs of autosomes (44 total), beings also have one pair (2 total) sex chromosomes (X and Y in a male, and X and X in a female).
Long and single nerve-cell process that usually conducts impulses away from the cell body.
Batten disease is the common name for a broad class of rare, inherited disorders or diseases of the nervous system also known as neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses, or NCLs. In these diseases, a defect in a specific gene triggers a cascade of problems that interferes with a cell’s ability to recycle certain molecules. The disease has several forms that share some of the same features and symptoms but vary in severity and age when symptoms first begin to appear. Each form is caused by a variant in a different gene. Although “Batten disease” originally referred specifically to the juvenile-onset form of NCL, the term Batten disease is increasingly used to describe all forms of NCL. The disease ultimately leads to shortened lifespan.
When a variant has no impact on health and is recognized as a neutral variant.
A study conducted in humans that evaluates the effectiveness, safety, and side effects of investigational products (which could include medications, treatments, and devices) that have the possibility of treating a disease in that particular patient group.
Tightening in or around a joint that occurs when muscles surrounding the joint weaken and other muscles remain strong or increase in strength to accommodate the weakness. Joint contractures are more common in the feet, ankles, hips, hands, and wrists.
The erosion of a molecule.


Jurassic–Cretaceous ammonites are particularly robust fossil tools in global stratigraphy and correlation. The successive evolution and extinction of these cephalopod mollusks was so rapid that many ammonite zones are no more than one million years in duration. A well-preserved ammonite specimen from the Fortissimo-1 core, Browse Basin, NW Australia is assignable to the widespread latest Jurassic dimorphic berriaselline genus, Blanfordiceras Cossmann, recorded previously from the Spiti area, Nepal, Tibet, Madagascar, Papua-New Guinea, Antarctica, and southern South America. This is the first report of ammonites of this age in the Australian region. The evolute shell of an estimated 90–100 mm diameter (when extrapolated) and pronounced ornamentation of variably bifurcating, curvilinear and flexuous ribs, intercalated with simple, non-bifurcating ribs, is consistent with Blanfordiceras wallichi (Gray, 1832), which has traditionally been restricted to the uppermost Tithonian Stage, ca. 146.5–145.5 Ma, but may well have survived into the earliest part of the Berriasian. The first recorded occurrence of this ammonite in Australia fills an anomalous absence in the paleobiogeographic distribution of Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary ammonites in the Indo-SW Pacific Subrealm with important implications for the calibration of offshore rocks and wells in Australia.
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CDC Releases Guidelines to Promote Physical Activity
CDC today announced the release of Guidelines for School and Community Health Programs
to Promote Lifelong Physical Activity Among Young People, a set of comprehensive
recommendations for schools and communities on how to promote and provide opportunities for
physical activity among young people. The report follows the July, 1996 release of the first
ever Surgeon General's Report on physical activity and health, which outlined the significant
health benefits of regular, moderate physical activity, such as reduced risk of dying of heart
disease, and developing diabetes ,high blood pressure, and colon cancer.
"Physical activity prevents disease, and promotes health," said Donna Shalala,
Secretary of Health and Human Services. "It helps control weight, reduces feelings of
depression and anxiety, and promotes psychological well-being. These important recommendations
send a strong message to all Americans who care about our youth, that keeping young people
physically active makes them more healthy now, and will prevent diseases they may face in
The report, released in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), states that although American young people are more active than adults, physical activity declines with age among children and adolescents. For example, a 1995 CDC survey showed that 48% of high school girls and 26% of high school boys do not exercise vigorously on a regular basis. Additionally, the CDC reports that the proportion of young people who are overweight has more than doubled in the last 30 years. Meanwhile, participation in school physical education classes has dramatically decreased in recent years--daily enrollment has dropped from 42% of high school students in 1991 to 25% in 1995.
"This past July, we said to all Americans that being physically active has significant, positive health benefits. Now we are following up with solid recommendations for parents, teachers, school administrators, health officials, and community leaders to help ensure that our young people make physical activity a part of their lifestyle," said Dr. David Satcher, CDC Director.
The guidelines include recommendations on 10 aspects of school and community programs to
promote physical activity among young people, including policies, physical education and
health curricula, extracurricular activities and community programs, and family involvement.
The guidelines emphasize that physical activity promotion programs are most likely to be
effective when they:
According to the guidelines, schools should:
These guidelines were developed by CDC and experts from other federal agencies, state
agencies, universities, and national voluntary organizations and professional associations.
"We based these recommendations the most current science from the fields of physical
education, exercise science, health education, and public health," said Dr. Jim Marks,
Director of CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
"In schools, effective physical education classes are very different from the PE classes that many of us dreaded attending in our youth. We have learned that it is very important for young people to enjoy physical activity, to gain confidence in their ability to be active, to learn how to do activities that they will be able to continue to do throughout their lives," said Dr. Lloyd Koble, Directors of CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health.
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When you turn car to your right car makes Clunking noise seems worse when cold nothing feels loose .
This sounds like a worn or failing CV joint. All front-wheel drive cars have constant velocity joints or CV joints on both ends of the drive shafts (half shafts). Inner CV joints connect the drive shafts to the transmission while the outer CV joints connect the drive shafts to the wheels. Many rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive cars and trucks also have CV joints.
The CV joints are needed to transfer the torque from the transmission to the drive wheels at a constant speed while accommodating the up-and-down motion of the suspension. When the CV joints begin to wear out or fail, you may hear a clicking or popping sound. This will become more noticeable when turning the wheels to the left or right as well. I would recommend having an expert mechanic, such as one from YourMechanic, come to your location to inspect your CV joints and determine the best course of action going forward.
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Granite – the Earth’s Oldest Building Material
Granite is formed from liquid magma, molten rock which originates from the core of our planet. It is molten rock which has cooled down slowly to form a substance approaching the hardness and durability of a diamond. Granite is an igneous rock, the name reflecting its fiery beginnings. The chemical composition of granite is similar to that of lava. However, granite owes its hardness and density to the fact that it has been solidified deep within the earth, under extreme pressure. Over the eons, seismic activity has changed the crust of the planet, forcing veins of granite to the surface. Glaciers scrape off layers of dirt, sand and rock to expose granite formations. Typically revealed by outcrops, the deposits have been discovered on all the continents.
Many varieties of the stone exist. While they differ in color, texture and crystalline structure, the granites have three essential minerals in common:
Feldspar (50% or greater)
These minerals occur in different proportions, giving each granite its own color, texture and structural characteristics. In addition, hornblende, magnetite, hematite, pyrite, zircon, garnet, corundum and other minerals may be present in smaller amounts, adding to the unique coloration and texture of each granite deposit. In supplying granite for a large building or a complex of buildings, it is essential that the stone be consistent in color and texture. To assure this, each granite color must be quarried from the same deposit. With natural material like granite, a certain amount of “movement” or grain in the stone must be expected. Many people find this flow and blending of colors to be the most compelling reason for using granite.


When Telemann went off to University in Leipzig, he was supposed to forget about being a musician. Somehow, his roommate found out that he was a composer and had one of his pieces performed in church. That was the end of his career as a minister and the beginning of his composing career!
He spent his adult life composing, and was even the composer for a Duke in Poland! He eventually became the music director for a big city; first Frankfurt and then Hamburg. In this job he was able to compose music for churches and special occasions, conduct concerts and teach music. Telemann was influenced by folk instruments and the sounds of life around him. You can hear these influences in some of his pieces. Follow the Classics for Kids link on the Apps & Websites page above to hear some of his most famous works.


Through the Advisory Committee on Dengue and other Flavivirus Vaccines, the World Health Organization(WHO) has had a long-standing commitment to facilitate and to guide research and development of vaccines for medically important flaviviruses. Recently, the Paediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative (PDVI) was formed to accelerate the development, testing, and introduction of dengue (DEN)vaccines worldwide, partnering with WHO in this important public health effort. There are now a variety of DEN vaccines in various stages of the developmental pipeline. In an attempt to make interlaboratory information more directly comparable, WHO with the support of PDVI initiated a program to coordinate the procedures used for the plaque-reduction neutralization test (PRNT). ThePRNT is the most common assay used to measure neutralizing antibody. The presence of antibody is believed to be most relevant means of determining protective anti-DEN virus (DENV) immunity. While other neutralizing antibody assays are being considered for use in large-scale vaccine field trials, the PRNT is still considered to be the laboratory standard against which other neutralizing antibody assays should be compared. The need for PRNT coordination has been identified at several consultations between the WHO and PDVI. A more complete version of these guidelines is available on the WHO website: http://www.who.int/immunization/documents/date/en/index.html.


Beale AFB, Calif. June 2, 2020 – Approximately 6 acres of prescribed burning is scheduled for June 5th 2020 on Beale Air Force Base at the corner of A St and Gavin Mandery.
The intention of this prescribed burn is to study the fire effects on milkweed, monarchs and associated upland vegetation on Beale AFB. The study is designed to try to answer the following questions:
- How does season of prescribed burning affect an extant milkweed population and associated upland vegetation?
- How does the season of burning affect monarch use of milkweed?
- How does fuel load impact fire temperature at ground level and does fire temperature differ significantly by burn season?
- Does fire temperature at ground level impact milkweed survival?
Prescribed burn operations will begin when plots come within prescriptive levels that meet the objectives of the prescribed fire plan and research project. The Air Force will only initiate the burns with favorable weather conditions including humidity, temperature, wind speed and direction, and moisture in the vegetation. Fire crews conduct small test fires before igniting the larger area to verify how effectively vegetation (fuels) will be consumed to ensure the burn and smoke management objectives can be met. Beale’s Air Quality Manager and Wildland Fire & Fuels Specialist work diligently with Air Quality Management Districts to minimize smoke impacts to the communities.
During active firing operations, fire personnel and vehicles working in these vicinities will be visible to the public. Motorists are reminded to slow down and drive with heightened caution when passing through active project areas.


John Gould: The Family of Toucansby Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
John Gould: The Family of Toucans
Taschen’s resuscitation of John Gould’s series of prints, The Family of Toucans, comes in an impressively unwieldy box, measured at 13.3 by 19.3 inches. Inside one finds a short text, which serves as a preamble for the following 51 prints, providing a biography of Gould and a brief outline of the history of the toucan in the arts and sciences. Gould, though given sole authorial possession of these prints by the book’s title, actually worked in collaboration with his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and Edward Lear, who is now most famous for having written the children’s tale The Owl and the Pussycat. The purpose of their work lies in a gray zone between scientific fieldwork, artistic expression, and commercial entertainment. These are the first images ever made of certain toucan breeds, thereby functioning to extend ornithological study, while at the same time they were being sold to wealthy subscribers as an artist’s exotic images of foreign lands.
Sifting through the numerous beautifully printed images is a strange experience. Down to the precise pigment of their plumage, the toucans are rendered in painstaking realist fashion. The bright reds, yellows, and blues that mark each breed compel the viewer to look closer, and striking discoveries emerge. There is a weightiness to each bird’s eyes (usually only one eye, as most of the birds are shown in profile), to their unblinking stare. How should we position ourselves in the face of these nonhuman life forms? At times a certain romantic anthropomorphism shows up, as in the case with the image of the Ramphastos dicolorus. Here we see a full grown of this type, and two of its young. The adult leans over the children in a defensive pose, while one of the youths has its mouth open wide as if it was in the middle of a plaintive cry. The adult’s face expresses parental concern, and the ominously gray trees in the background, which strongly resemble a billowing cloud of smoke, give the entire image an anxious narrative thrust. In images like these we see ourselves, and what we like to think of as our own natures, played out through the figures of our bestial stand-ins.
And yet the tenets of scientific practice are still being observed here, and this tethers the human imagination from flying too far from the birds themselves. Many images confront us with the animal’s alienness, its absolute inhumanity, denying our attempts to decipher our own reflections in their countenance. The image of the Ramphastos toco, for example: its bulging eyes seem so alive, and yet so unrelated to any type of life we have experienced, that we are left frightened in the face of the bird’s blankness. In these images we find the permanently disconnected smile of the toucan’s oversized beak, the empty eyes that seem to swallow us up as we contemplate them, that type of “bottomless stupidity” which Werner Herzog famously ascribed to chickens.
My favorite prints are those that combine the animal and the human in unexpected ways. This is the case with the picture of the Ramphastos inca, who is depicted alone, perched on a branch with a mountain in the background. The bird has a presence, one might almost be tempted to say a sense of dignity, that is conveyed through its central position on the page and its expanded chest. When its eyes meet our own they neither give way to our human narcissism, which demands that we be replicated even in that which we deem unlike us, nor do they lead us to Herzog’s nightmarish vision of the nonhuman. Yes, the Ramphastos inca has very little in common with us, but in this instance that is not a cause for fear but rather a mystery to be marveled at.
BENJAMÍN SCHULTZ-FIGUEROA is an artist, theorist, and independent curator based out of Brooklyn, New York.


Primary Care Imaging
Primary care physicians are the health care providers responsible for initial clinical decisions, including diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and referral to the specialists. Primary care physicians largely rely on physical examinations and simple magnifying tools, such as an otoscope and an ophthalmoscope. However, those magnifying devices only provide superficial and qualitative information about the body sites, limiting the diagnostic accuracy. In order to advance the diagnostic and monitoring capabilities in primary care, we have implemented our portable OCT systems to the traditional diagnostic devices, creating a new Primary Care Imaging (PCI) system.
Otitis media (or ear infection) is any inflammation causing the accumulation of fluid in a normally air-filled middle ear space. Otitis media is an especially common health condition for children, and is a leading cause of visiting physicians and receiving antibiotics during childhood. The key diagnostic factor is to determine the presence of a fluid in the middle ear, but it is often difficult to determine using a standard otoscope. With our PCI OCT system, we can further provide quantitative information of the middle ear, potentially improving the diagnostic accuracy of otitis media.
(A) Portable, handheld Primary Care Imaging (PCI) OCT system, (B) demonstration of PCI OCT system for ear imaging and zoomed in handhled probe, and (C) depth-resolved view of normal and abnormal middle ear with standard otoscopic view in the bottom right.
Middle ear biofilm
Recent studies have shown that there is a correlation between chronic otitis media and the presence of middle ear biofilm. With our portable, handheld PCI OCT system, bacterial biofilm was non-invasively observed in chronic otitis media.
(A) Otoscopic image of an eardrum with chronic otitis media, (B) representative LCI A-scan showing the tympanic membrane and biofilm, (C) cross-sectional OCT B-scan image, and (D) classification of the data showing a relationship between thickness and abnormality of the middle ear.
|Nyugen CT, Jung W, Kim J, Chaney EJ, Novak MA, Stewart CN, Boppart SA. Noninvasive in vivo optical detection of biofilm in the human middle ear. PNAS, 109(24):9529-9534, 2012.||PubMed Abstract|
Differentiation of Otitis Media
There are mainly two types of otitis media: acute and chronic otitis media. The accurate diagnosis of otitis media is critical, as the treatment varies among different types and stages of otitis media. We defined new metrics, such as the thickness of tympanic membrane and the presence of middle-ear biofilm, based on quantitative and non-invasive measurements from our PCI OCT system.
Representative OCT images: (A) normal, (B) acute otitis media, (C) chronic otitis media, and representative en face images from an otoscope: (D) normal, (E) acute OM, (F) chronic OM. Scale bars represent 150 microns in depth. (A-C) provide quantitative distinction among different cases.
|Monroy GL, Shetlon RL, Nolan RM, Nguyen CT, Novak MA, Hill MC, McCormick DT, Boppart SA. Noninvasive Depth-Resolved Optical Measurements of the Tympanic Membrane and Middle Ear for Differentiating Otitis Media. Laryngoscope, 125:E276-E282, 2015.||PubMed Abstract|


At the center of this image is a supermassive black hole, shooting radiation out from the heart of its galaxy. Those two bursts of pink to the left and right are jets of particles that the black hole is shooting out of the galaxy at unbelievable speeds.
Chandra X-ray Laboratory reports on what you're seeing:
This multi-wavelength view shows 4C+29.30, a galaxy located some 850 million light years from Earth. The radio emission comes from two jets of particles that are speeding at millions of miles per hour away from a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. The estimated mass of the black hole is about 100 million times the mass of our Sun. The ends of the jets show larger areas of radio emission located outside the galaxy.
The X-ray data show a different aspect of this galaxy, tracing the location of hot gas. The bright X-rays in the center of the image mark a pool of million-degree gas around the black hole. Some of this material may eventually be consumed by the black hole, and the magnetized, whirlpool of gas near the black hole could in turn, trigger more output to the radio jet.
Most of the low-energy X-rays from the vicinity of the black hole are absorbed by dust and gas, probably in the shape of a giant doughnut around the black hole. Thisdoughnut, or torus blocks all the optical light produced near the black hole, so astronomers refer to this type of source as a hidden or buried black hole. The optical light seen in the image is from the stars in the galaxy.
The bright spots in X-ray and radio emission on the outer edges of the galaxy, near the ends of the jets, are caused by extremely high energy electrons following curved paths around magnetic field lines. They show where a jet generated by the black hole has plowed into clumps of material in the galaxy (mouse over the image for the location of these bright spots). Much of the energy of the jet goes into heating the gas in these clumps, and some of it goes into dragging cool gas along the direction of the jet. Both the heating and the dragging can limit the fuel supply for the supermassive black hole, leading to temporary starvation and stopping its growth. This feedback process is thought to cause the observed correlation between the mass of the supermassive black hole and the combined mass of the stars in the central region or bulge of a galaxy.
Read more at Chandra X-Ray Lab, and see more gorgeous pictures, too.


There was a general feeling of relief when war eventually broke out. There had been tension and certainty of conflict for so long, that many people now felt released from this and looked forward to the anticipated ‘adventure’ of war. Most assumed that this would be a short conflict and that it would definitely be over by Christmas. The one dissenter in the British government was the newly appointed Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, who predicted that the conflict would last a minimum of three years and require a huge army of at least one million men.
The British Army, under the command of Field Marshal Sir John French, was the smallest of all the major European powers, but was mobilised on 4th August, with the first troops landing in France just three days later. Young men, aged between nineteen and thirty were being urged to volunteer for the armed forces and swell the ranks of the regular army, now referred to as the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The initial response to this call to arms, was enthusiastic, but in an effort to offer even greater encouragement, the government advocated that young men should be allowed to train and serve with people who they already knew in civilian life. It was, therefore, suggested that battalions of ‘Pals’ should be formed – made up of men from the same towns, villages, factories, clubs or even football teams. By the end of September, Kitchener had his expanded army.
Across the Channel in Belgium, the German army was facing far greater resistance from ‘Little Belgium’ than had been anticipated as even civilians unexpectedly joined the defence of their country. The Germans did not really know how to manage this situation and some soldiers began to carry out reprisals against civilians, some of which were violent and occasionally involved women and children. Such atrocities soon led to the portrayal of the German soldiers as the ‘Monstrous Hun’, in newspapers throughout Europe. This propaganda tool was a gift to Great Britain and exaggerated stories and images of the violence encouraged even more men to enlist – not only to protect Belgium, but also to prevent the Germans from having the same opportunities in Britain.


From the 1960s until quite recently, British historians have frequently used the term ‘secular’ in their own writing, on the assumption that the meaning of this term is widely-understood and obvious. But actually, there are at least three quite different uses of the term ‘secular’ in modern Western history, and we need to get them distinct if we’re to make any analytical headway. Indeed, these differences are crucial for understanding secularity, secularization, and modern European political culture.
The Medieval Christian usage
The modern Western term ‘secular’ comes from the Latin ‘saeculum’, which originally meant ‘a long period of time’, but eventually shifted to mean ‘of this age’ (as opposed to ‘the world to come’), and then to mean ‘of the world’. In the middle ages, the paired terms ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ referred to types of clergy: ‘religious clergy’ were those who worked in monasteries, and ‘secular clergy’ were those who worked outside them, in ‘the world’.
The post-Medieval Christian usage
At the same time, though, Western Christendom had always distinguished between two halves of the Christian polity: the Christian state, responsible for earthly matters, and the Christian church or churches, responsible for eternal matters. In the early modern period, the paired terms ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ came to refer to this two-fold division of authority. So ‘religious’ meant ‘to do with the churches’, and ‘secular’ meant ‘to do with the state’. At the same time, though, European polities were all still Christian (at least until 1789) – it was just that they distinguished between these two spheres of authority, between the political leadership, and the moral leadership.
So, in this Christian usage, one can speak of ‘secular authorities’, to mean people in the government (rather than in the church); and ‘secular intellectuals’ to mean people working in non-religiously-affiliated universities (rather than in theological colleges). In this usage, these people could still very easily be Christians; it’s just that they’re working in the ‘temporal-concerns’ bit of the Christian polity, rather than the ‘eternal-concerns’ bit.
Many non-monotheistic cultures, by contrast, do not bifurcate moral duty in this way. In the secular Soviet Union, for example, the political leadership was also the moral leadership: there were not two sets of institutions, and two sets of hierarchies, political and religious; these were combined into a single politically supreme and morally authoritative Communist Party hierarchy.
Finally, and crucially: in this Christian framework, the invented domains of ‘the religious’ and ‘the secular’ are distinct, but they are also partners. The assumption is that, in Christian polities, the religious sphere and the secular sphere will continue to co-operate for as long as the Christian polity survives. Of course, Western political reality was much messier than this: medieval, early modern and modern European history is full of Christian disputes about where exactly the religious/secular boundary should lie, such that Church or State gains jurisdiction over a particular question. But co-operation is how it’s supposed to work in theory.
The secular usage of ‘secular’
The secular usage of ‘secular’ is quite different. In this usage, the terms ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ do not refer to components of the same Christian polity, but to two completely distinct moral cultures, one belonging to ‘Traditional’ cultures, the other belonging to Modernity. ‘Secular’ here means ‘has departed from religion, is not religious at all, now gains morality from non-religious sources’. So, in this usage, we can speak of ‘secular society’ meaning ‘a society that has irreversibly abandoned religion’. Being ‘secular’ in this sense is a subset of being ‘non-religious’: it means (a) not being ‘religious’, but also (b) being more modern than ‘religion’. The secular use of the term ‘secular’ is positing a chronological contrast between the two – hence the insistence on irreversibility.
In this usage, ‘religion’ and ‘the secular’ are opposites, and so they’re inversely related: the more you have of one, the less you have of the other. So, if we speak of a ‘secular intellectual’, we mean someone who expressly identifies as not belonging to any ‘religion’. This is not like the Christian usage, where ‘religion’ and ‘the secular’ are supposed to be co-operating partners.
Why is this important?
For two reasons. The first is quite simple: when we read British sources from prior to the ‘secular revolution’ of the 1960s, we need to be sure we’re not misinterpreting them as employing the secular usage of ‘secular’ when actually they’re employing the Christian usage. This mistake will trick us into thinking that ‘secular’ people (in the secular usage) were much more numerous prior to the 1960s than they in fact were.
The other reason is quite fundamental: that the uses of these categories reflect the cultures that created them. These two usages of the terms ‘religion’ and ‘secular’ are quite distinct: they reflect different worldviews. This means that, as Britain’s Christian culture declined, there was no automatic or easy way for people to slip from the Christian usage into the secular usage. Instead, this transition took cultural work. Someone, or some people, needed actively to rework these Christian categories to create the secular usage. My research suggests that, for the mainstream of British public culture, this transition mostly took place in the late 1950s and early 1960s, thus enabling widespread and permanent ‘secularisation’ to become widely thinkable, as it hadn’t been previously.
So two crucial lessons are embedded into the very language of the secularization debate – lessons which subvert much of the way in which that debate has been so far been conducted. First: Britain’s shift from the Christian framework to the secular framework was a transformation, not an evolution. It required a distinct reworking of some fundamental categories. Second: this transformation required active human creativity. It was not an automatic process of history.


From Crib To Classroom
Welcome to the world
Newborns enter a world filled with sights, sounds and sensations. These auditory, visual and tactile stimuli are received by highly specialized receptors in a baby's ears, eyes and skin. In the first few months of life, a child reveals a preference for one type of information over the others.
Depending upon their innate preference for learning, I refer to the three styles of learners as: Listeners, Lookers, and Movers.
As babies, "Listeners" are attuned to sounds and words. They talk early, rapidly add new words to their vocabulary, and love being read to.
From the first year of life, "Lookers" are drawn to color, shape and motion. Their eye-hand coordination is excellent and, as toddlers, they enjoy playing with blocks, stringing beads, and doing simple puzzles.
As infants, "Movers" achieve motor milestones, such as crawling and walking, ahead of schedule. They are well coordinated and confident in their bodies. Movers crave to be held and rocked, and seek out physical contact.
Learning style can be observed so early on because it's inborn and inherited. A baby's learning style tends to be like that of one parent or a blend of both. Sometimes, a child's learning style tends to be like that of a close relative such as an uncle or grandparent. You can see evidence of heredity when you catch yourself thinking, "Golly, he's just like his uncle Jack," when as a toddler, your son pulls away from being touched, or as a first grader, excels in math but struggles with reading.
From crib to classroom
Learning preferences are easy to spot in Mrs Lively's first grade classroom:
There's Meredith, who is talkative in class and everywhere else. She loves to read aloud and is reading on a second grade level. She frequently talks to herself when doing seat work and gets in trouble for passing notes to girlfriends. Her favorite pastimes include listening to the radio and to her tape player which she takes with her on trips in the car. She likes games such as "Mother, May I?" Without a doubt, Meredith is a Listener.
Also a first grader, Brett is quiet, and even when he knows the answer, rarely volunteers to speak in class. His favorite pastimes include computer games and putting together model airplanes. Brett's math pages are near perfect, and he is precise about forming letters and staying within the lines. Brett, of course, is a Looker.
When called upon by his first grade teacher, Ethan responds with short, unelaborated sentences his favorite being, "I dunno." He isn't really himself until the school bell rings. Well coordinated and naturally competitive, he comes alive on the playground. In class, Ethan feels confined at a desk. He struggles to print on lined paper and to keep his hands to himself. Ethan is a classic Mover.
When left entirely to their own devices, over time children tend to settle into a preferred way of learning often to the point of screening out less familiar types of information. When this occurs, by first grade a Looker may have difficulty mastering phonics, a Listener may be unable to memorize math facts on flash cards, and a Mover may be up and out of his seat during classroom instruction. Extremes of learning style can result in learning disabilities.
This outcome can often be prevented by gently encouraging children as early as possible to welcome all types of input from their environment, and thereby maximizing learning ability.