Page 43 - Meeting with Children Book

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allows the adolescent to consider many different
solutions to a problem before acting.

Although all of the changes in brain development for
an adolescent point towards greater ability to express
thoughts and feelings through language, some
consideration must go towards to the point that the
adolescent brain does not resemble an adult brain
until the young person is in his early 20’s. There is a
top-down brain development process which
contributes to the control of impulses and planning
ahead and these parts of the cortex are the last to
mature. Grey matter in the cortex where the
processes of thought and memory are based increase
until early adolescence and then a pruning process
begins based on exercised use (or lack of use).
Connections between different parts of the brain
mature at different rates. This makes the adolescent a
complex person to fully understand because although
there is a greater possibility for an adolescent to
consider different solutions to problems, impulsivity,
both in action and language, may interfere with
appropriate “best interests” outcomes. Adolescents
and adults access different parts of the brain related
to tests that require calculation and impulse control
and emotional content. Brain circuitry continues to
change throughout adolescence and during this
period the prefrontal cortex continues to form.

Of interest related to adolescents, is that this age
group tends to respond in more heightened ways to
emotionally laden images; even more so than adults
and younger children. Reproductive hormones may