Brain Development

Brain Development
The Infant Brain is
CO-CONSTRUCTED!
YCS Intitute for Infant and Preschool Mental Health

INFANT BRAIN
By 5 months gestation - 80 billion neurons that will form the adult cortex have been created.
During the first 8 months, new connections are formed more quickly than they are broken.
Development requires not only synaptic connections but selective loss or “pruning”.
Trauma and stress adversely affect the growing brain.

The Infant Brain
Research on the human brain reveals the continuing opportunity for change, and there is no evidence that there is some age beyond which the intervention fails to make a difference.
While early experiences are unquestionably important, it is likely that more complex areas of development, such as attachment or personality are not governed by narrowly defined “critical periods”.

From Jack Shonkoff, MD
Relationships/experience shape both the architecture of neural circuits and the genes the neurons express
Sensitive periods for circuits that process basic information end earlier than those that process more refined information.
Higher circuits depend on lower circuits and adaptation at higher levels of function is more difficult if lower circuits are not wired properly

Based on data we know…..
We know what infants and children need to develop well and the science of early childhood should make it clear that promotion of early mental health is not just a MORAL imperative but an ECONOMIC imperative.
The Perry Preschool Project Follow-up data at age 40 indicated a total benefit-cost ratio of 17:1 for participants (4:1) and public (13:1)
From Jack Shonkoff, MD

Highlights from “Neurons to Neighborhoods”
Early experiences affect brain development and lay the foundation for intelligence, emotional health and moral development.
Healthy early development requires nurturing and dependable relationships.
How young children feel is as important as how they think - especially for school readiness.
While birth-to-three is important, focus only on that period is too narrow.
Copyright-YCS Institute for Infant and Preschool Mental Health

What the Neurosciences are Telling us About What Infants and Children Need.

Lesson : Negative Effects of Instability and disruptions in attachments. (e.g. Allan Schore; Daniel Siegel)
Implication : Infants and children must form secure relationships and when change is necessary, it must occur with planning, support and regular contact with familiar caregivers

Lesson : Trauma adversely effects the infant and child brain (e.g. Bruce Perry)
Implication : Primary prevention efforts must be enhanced and when trauma or exposure to violence occurs, immediate, reparitive, community-based mental health programs must be available (e.g. CD-CP Program – Yale University; Safe Havens Training Program)

Lesson : The human brain forms connections more easily during the early years of life, and connections are formed more easily than they are broken.
Implication : Early experiences do matter and the human brain is more sensitive to good and bad events in the first five years of life. If earlier, more basic “neural circuits” are not well established, subsequent neural circuits will not be “wired” adaptively (e.g. Jack Shonkoff)

Lesson : A child’s capacity for “regulation”, to return to a state of calm and organization following an increase in arousal and excitation, or emotional distress is both a biological and psychological capacity. This is “psychobiological regulation”. (e.g. From Neurons to Neighborhoods)
Implication : Children with regulation problems are not just “behavioral” problems, but may be “hard-wired” to react with sustained arousal due to biological factors and/or psychosocial experiences. (e.g. Bruce Perry)

Lesson : The nature of the earliest relationships organizes brain development in infants and influences the way in which experiences “wire” the neural connections (e.g. Allan Schore, Daniel Siegel, Stanley Greenspan).
Implication : Infant and Child support intervention MUST include the family and other important relationships in the child’s life. Relationships are the key to promoting good emotional health and intervening when there are difficulties.

Biology & Environment Work together to shape the brain.

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Brain Development

by Erin O'Hanlon on Jun 14, 2008

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Brain Development — Presentation Transcript