Scientists have identified windows of sensitive periods for learning. These are times (usually in the early years of life-- birth-10 years old) when a person can best develop, lay and solidify the foundation for learning abilities. After that period, for most people, it becomes much more challenging to efficiently learn certain skills upon which to further build, but it can be done.

What is important for parents, teachers and children to know is that for some skills, missing the window does not mean that the skill cannot be learned. It just means it will take more effort and practice.

The good news for learning academic skills (e.g., reading, math, vocabulary) is that there are no real critical periods. These kinds of skills can be learned at varying ages--7, 10, 25 or 90 years old!