Fun Start: An idea a week to maximize your baby’s potential from birth to age 5. June Oberlander R.

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       Preface

      The early brain

      Learning begins at birth! Research on brain development has shown that any attempt to maximise intellectual growth must begin in the first three years of life; the younger the child, the stronger the effect. Beginning education at age five is too late. Brain development before age one is more rapid and extensive than previously realised. Babies are born with billions of brain cells, many more than they have at age three and nearly twice as many as they have as adults.

      Sensory experiences can affect which brain cells and cell connections live or die. Synapses (brain connections) not reinforced by what the baby experiences (e.g., voices, music, sights, smells, touch) shrink and die.

      Brain development is much more vulnerable to environmental influence than suspected. Environment affects the number of brain cells, connections among them and the manner in which connections are wired. Ultimately, the adult has an approximate 1.3-kg walnut-shaped mass of grey matter consisting of billions of brain cells and trillions of synapses (the number varies according to whether a child grows up in an enriched environment or in an impoverished one). Nature acts as a sculptor throughout childhood, chiselling away the excessive cells so the brain can function more efficiently. Timing is very important. Therefore early stimulation of the brain is crucial for the development of sensory functions. Learning, memory, emotions and physiological responses are moulded in early development when the brain changes the most. Impoverished children receiving enrichment for three years averaged IQs 20 points above those who did not receive enrichment. Children exposed to inadequate amounts of play and touching developed brains 20-30 per cent smaller than normal.

      Early musical training shapes children’s growing brains and boosts their learning power, aiding in the development of logic, abstract thinking, memory and creativity.Young children exposed to soothing music, especially classical with repeated patterns and rhythms, develop skills to master unrelated disciplines such as mathematics, engineering and chess because the same brain areas that appear to be stimulated are associated with temporal/spatial reasoning.

      The influence of early environment on brain development is long lasting. When high-risk children entered educational programmes by six months of age, their incidence of mental retardation was reduced 80 per cent. By age three, these children had intelligence quotients that were 10-20 points higher than children of similar backgrounds who had not attended programmes. At age 12, these children still functioned at a higher level, and at age 15, the effects were even stronger, suggesting that early educational programmes can have long-lasting and cumulative effects.

      Early stress has a negative impact on brain function. Negative experiences can have lasting effects because they can alter the organisation of the brain. Children raised in poor environments can display СКАЧАТЬ