Secrets of wild behaviour lie deep in the brain

By Andrew Stone and Jan Corbett

The out-of-control boy was 5 when Dr Robin Fancourt got to see him.

The New Plymouth paediatrician has a gallery of children who behave badly. At school they may be angry and destructive, or just as often moody and withdrawn.

But while mystified teachers see no obvious reason for the disruptive behaviour, Dr Fancourt says the youngsters' brains bear an invisible imprint which she traces to the home.

The 5-year-old referred to Dr Fancourt "saw something no one should ever witness -- the severe beating of his mother by his father."

Brain development research is shedding light on how children who witness domestic violence can become violent themselves because of its impact on their most vital organ.

Dr Fancourt says experiences of fear can silently invade vulnerable child brains and impose a lifetime legacy.

But from what she terms stunning advances in the knowledge of brain development, a far deeper understanding of child behaviour is emerging. From these insights, there is hope for troubled children.

Much of the neuroscience about violence and the developing brain comes from the work of Dr Bruce Perry in Texas. The Houston professor, who was in Auckland last year for a conference on child abuse and neglect, has described how a young brain organises itself in response to the nature and intensity of childhood events.

In essence, his research shows how childhood stress can affect the development of connections and pathways in the brain, links forged by exuberant biological activity. The growing infant brain takes signals from its surroundings.

In a stress-laden home, the brain adapts to danger signs, overruling higher functions such as thought or planning which modulate impulsive behaviour. In such a way, a child develops survival tactics.

Says Dr Fancourt: "If the primary relationship is characterised by abuse, quick interpretation of non-verbal cues and a rapid response to impulse can be the only ways of avoiding further danger."

Children raised in the crossfire of domestic violence can remain in a state of arousal and anxiety and be ill-equipped for school or play.

To a puzzled onlooker, tantrums and wild behaviour seem to come from nowhere. And children whose brains are shaped in a brutal household have little understanding of the process that made them lash out.

Dr Fancourt says the rest of the story compounds the misery. Many affected children are smart but cannot learn easily,and their disruptive behaviour can lead to suspension or expulsion.

Other children withdraw or "dissociate," their impaired education passing unnoticed through early school years.

If troubled children are picked up early by programmes designed to identify at-risk families, their futures could be more secure. Interventions must happen when children's brains are bursting with activity.

Failure will mean a legacy of impulsive, fearful or unwitnessed "destroyed children," warns Dr Fancourt, a member of BrainWave, a trust which wants children to reach their potential.

It is linking with Government agencies, aiming to supply research on brain development to those working with abused or neglected children and targeting parents with support and education.