Brain Development

On this page:

• Implications for Librarians
• Implications for Parents and Caregivers
• Facts about Brain Development and How Children Learn
• Links to More Information about Brain Development

During the last decade, breakthroughs in technology, particularly in brain "scanning" technology, have shown that environment plays a much bigger role in children's intellectual capacity then we once thought.

When babies are born, they have all the neurons or brain cells they will ever have, but lack the connections or "wiring" between the neurons. The experiences a child has during the first three years of life have a decisive impact on how his or her brain is "wired." With every reading of a nursery rhyme or game of peek-a-boo, thousands of connections among the brain are formed or strengthened. These are not connections that can be easily made later on. Although we continue to learn new things throughout our lifetimes, after age 10 our brains begin wiping out the connections that haven't been used, making it harder to develop social, emotional and intellectual skills.

It is never too late to overcome learning barriers because brain development is cumulative and emerging capacities build on earlier activities. However, it is much more cost effective to practice early intervention and prevention than it is to try to overcome those factors later in life.

Implications for Librarians

As members of the early childhood education community, librarians play a crucial role in applying what is known about brain research to their own libraries and in helping educate parents about the role they play as their child's first teacher.

Infants need a stimulating environment to capitalize on this early rapid brain development. Parents and child care providers need information on how to foster early learning opportunities through play, talk, stories and other activities.

Children of parents who are undereducated are likely to continue the cycle of low literacy skills. Programs that support the literacy needs of parents, along with those of children, break this cycle of low literacy and help families become more self sufficient.

Idaho's libraries are the only educational institutions reaching the 0 - 3 age range. More and more Idaho libraries are taking an active role in reaching out to parents and caregivers by collaborating with community partners, sponsoring lapsit programs for infants and toddlers, providing family literacy programs, and working with child care providers. However, there is still much work to be done if we are to achieve the goal that every child in the state is ready for success upon entering school.

• A sampling of things Idaho libraries can do to prepare children for school readiness include:
• Support community efforts to provide prenatal care and information.
• Be willing to reexamine traditional methods of service. Build on individual family strengths by including the entire family in programming for young children.
• Provide outreach services for young children in child care, Head Start programs, programs that reach teen parents, etc.
• Partner with local child advocacy groups and support their efforts to prepare children to be ready for school.

For more information on the implications for libraries, see: The Library's Role in Emergent Literacy.

Implications for Parents

Scientists are finding that the kind of caregiving that parents provide for their children has an even greater effect than most people previously suspected. We now know that a complicated mix of heredity and experience shapes brain development. Good prenatal care, warm and loving attachments between young children and adults, and positive stimulation from birth on make a difference in children's ability to learn. Because most of your child's brain development takes place after birth, you have many opportunities every day to contribute to your baby's healthy development.

Essential to all these efforts, of course, is a child's basic health and safety. Children need to be well-nourished and have regular check-ups and timely immunizations.

Research in brain development and school readiness suggest the following ten guidelines from I Am Your Child that can help parents and other caregivers raise healthy, happy children and confident, competent learners.

• Be warm, loving, and responsive
• Respond to the child's cues and clues
• Talk, read, and sing to your child
• Establish routines and rituals
• Encourage safe exploration and play
• Make TV watching selective
• Use discipline as an opportunity to teach
• Recognize that each child is unique
• Choose quality child care and stay involved
• Take care of yourself

The Parents and Teachers web site (http://www.patnc.org/) offers suggestions for ideas and activities in four areas of your child's development -- language, intellectual, social-emotional and motor skills.

Facts about Brain Development and How Children Learn

Brain development begins soon after conception.

At birth, a child has 100 billion brain cells (neurons) and 50 trillion connections (synapses).

Early childhood experiences exert a dramatic impact and physically determine how the brain is "wired."

In the first months of life, the number of synapses increases 20 times to more than 1,000 trillion synapses.

Early sensory experiences create new synapses and repetition of experiences strengthen them.

Growth continues and a single neuron can connect with as many as 15,000 other neurons.

A three year old child has twice as many connections as an adult.

The number of connections could easily go up or down by 25 percent or more, depending upon whether a child grows up in an enriched environment.
- Ron Kotulak, cited in "Unlocking the Mind," Chicago Tribune, 1993.

Some researchers, according to the April 17, 1997, New York Times, believe "the number of words an infant hears each day is the single most important predictor of later intelligence, school success, and social competence."

Those synapses that aren't used wither away in a process called pruning.

At about age 10, the brain begins to dramatically prune extra connections and make order of the tangled circuitry of the brain.

New synapses grow throughout life and adults continue to learn, but they do not master new skills so quickly or rebound from setbacks so easily.

Links to more information on brain development and its implications

Brain Development. Contains information and graphics that show how the brain develops. Provides links to other good sites and information on how to subscribe to a monthly brain information e-mail newsletter. (http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/dev.html)

Carnegie Corporation Starting Points. Contains information about the national Starting Points Project and other states' and cities' initiatives. (http://www.carnegie.org/startingpoints/)

Early Years are Learning Years: From the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Contains "short information pieces designed as communication tools for use by adults involved with children on a daily basis to make sure the early years are learning years. Frequently used for releases in newsletters to parents and in working with the media. Reproduction of the Early Years Are Learning Years is freely granted, provided credit is given to the National Association for the Education of Young Children. (http://www.naeyc.org/resources/eyly/default.asp)

I Am Your Child. Contains information about brain research, developmental information on children age 0 - 3, resources and much more. (http://www.iamyourchild.org)

Making Connections: How Children Learn. A summary of recent brain research written as part of the America Reads Challenge. (http://www.ed.gov/pubs/ReadWithMe/makconn.html)

Zero to Three. Another information-rich source of information for parents and professionals. Contains research and information on physical, cognitive and social development of children from birth to age three. (http://www.zerotothree.org)

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