On the Trail of the Orchid Child

Resource: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=on-the-trail-of-the-orchid-child Summary: Scientist at the University of California have been looking at the genes of children and have happend to find something that could either be a good thing or a really bad thing depending on the things that surround the children, such as their parents, friends and family. The gene that they have found in children are called "Orchid Child", which can mean a few things depending on their enviorment. If the child is surrounded with love and attention they will exceed above and beyond, but if the child is abandonded or neglectid they tend to struggle most of their life or fail. They are also very sensitive to their surroundings and the people they are around. These kids can develope problems over the years if the parents, family member or friends treat them or act a certain way. They can get stress put on them and have mood problems that could make them have to go to counseling or take medication. Scientist have found where to look for this gene and they looked in the genetics of heavy drinking. They found that this could be the cause of children to have behavioral disorders and their brain may function different from most kids. The scientists tested this on over 400 girls and boys around the cities in the U.S. that they have been testing and asking questions to once a year since they were in kindergarden. None of them had disorders at the beginging but once they started testing and asking more questions as the years went by some of them began to get some of these problems. Critique: This was a very interesting article to read, i learned a lot about why some children may act the way that they do. Hopefully the "Orchid" children dont fail or struggle, but exceed and get the love and attention that they need. Impact: If more and more Orchid children are born then i think that it could be a big impact on the world. If there tend to be more and more of these people, depending on what they are surrounded by it could be a very good or very bad impact on the U.S.