Crucial developmental years
Infancy is a crucial stage in human development. But is overstimulating just as harsh as under-stimulating a child? To understand one must first understand the changes occurring in brain development during infancy.
During development inside the mother's womb, the embryo produces trillions of neurons. According to Doctor Arnold B. Scheibel, at least 50,000 brain cells are produced every second of the embryo's intrauterine life. After birth, the infant's brain mass will weigh approximately 25% of its adult brain. By the time the child is three years old, the brain mass will have tripled. Though the brain does lose millions of cells a day, as a child a great deal of 'pruning' happens. This simply means that the synapses and pathways that are not needed will wither away whilst the ones in service remain and produce stronger connections. Though genetics plays a role in the brain's development, a major contribution falls largely on environmental factors as well. A baby's early brain development is influenced by the interaction and experience with the external world. Though it is not sure what crying directly influences in the child's learning it is a the first way a child learns to change the external world.
At birth, a newborn's sense of touch is well developed since it is the first sense to develop prenatally. The child is most sensible to touch in the areas surrounding the mouth, palms, and the soles of the feet. This is why kangaroo care is important during hospital care of premature infants. The child is able to register the slightest pressure and distinguish. There is a connection between mother and child skin to skin contact that send signals of nourishment to the infants brain supporting a health...
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...ld's playtime is important for it is the building blocks for social interaction, personality, language, development, identity development. If a child is overstimulated, the child will lack in coping with failures, social interaction, personality and identity development. How come? Most children that are overstimulated stress the mind and repression takes hold. Most of the times parents that tend to overstimulate tend to treat their infants as adults causing the infant to be deprived of Erickson's second stage of development in which sense of autonomy must be reached and are stalled into shame and doubt. This causes serious problems in their later life. This can be seen with those rare cases when a – what seemed – 'perfect child' bursts out into becoming a social psychopath. I, like Dr. Steinberg , believe: as all the ages to their age so must a child be a child.
Early Childhood is marked by a time in children’s lives when they develop “a confident self-image, more effective control over their emotions, new social skills, the foundations of morality, and a clear sense of themselves as boy or girl” (Berk, Kauffman & Landrum, 2011, pg. 45). According to Erik Erikson, early childhood is a period of “vigorous unfolding,” one where children have a sense of autonomy and a new sense of purposefulness or initiative (Berk, Kauffman & Landrum, 2011, pg. 45). Play is a means for children to learn about themselves and they begin to adopt the moral and gender-role standards of the society in which they live (Berk, Kauffman & Landrum, 2011). A negative outcome of early childhood is the guilt children feel as a result of excessive punishment and criticism by the adults in their lives (Berk, Kauffman & Landrum, 2011)....
Reinis, Stanislaw and Jerome M. Goldman. The Development of the Brain. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas Publishers, 1980.
From the time of conception, a child’s brain begins to develop and the nurturing or neglectful experiences that parents provide the child can dramatically influence his or her neurological development. As Farah et al. (2008) and Lupien et al. (2000) found, a high stress environment often leads to the develop...
.(moodle,2017)Neuroscience helps us understand that what we do with our babies matters as much as how we interact with them. It influences adults to become more self-aware and self-reflective about how we
Talge, N. M., Neal, C., & Glover, V. (2007). Antenatal maternal stress and long-term effects on child neurodevelopment: how and why?. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48(3/4), 245-261.
It has been proven that a child’s early years are the peak at which the mind can bend and shape, creating the foundation for a life. We know now that even before birth, the mind is a delicate matter that if improperly taken care of could alter a person’s entire life. Nourishment and stimulation before and after the birth of a child mold’s the brain in its most malleable state. Medical and scientific institutes paired with parenting information organizations have made information readily available for parents, childcare providers, and students to advise them of the importance of childhood brain development. This information is not only critical for the child, but for the person they will become in the future.
Brains and the more nonessential parts of the nervous system are made up of neurons (Meadows, 1993 p. 266). The brain is made up of neurons, axons, dendrites, and synapse. They all have their individual job that contributes to the functioning of the body. The weight of the brain increases as a child develops into adulthood. According to Siegler & Alibali (2005, p13), the changes in the size of the brain make it possible for advanced thinking. The neurons are the functioning core of the brain (Brotherson, 2005). The brain begins to develop in the mother’s womb and continue to develop as the child develops. The neuron has branches protruding from the cell sending signals to the synapse and axon. The synapse and axon shapes the brain which allows connections to be made. Young children learn new information when they follow the same routine on a regular base. If a parent repeatedly calls a child a certain name, then connections form that allow the child to recognize that name over time and he or she will begin to respond to that name (Brotherson, 2005). Through repetitive experiences the axons and synapse strengthen causing learning to take place.
Cognitive development highly relies on the growth and maturation of human’s brain (Paus, 2005). In childhood and adolescence, individual’s cerebral neurons and synapses develop rapidly.
Children begin learning before they are even born. Some people may wonder how this is possible if the child hasn’t even taken its first breath yet, but it is true. Brain development begins in week four of their first trimester in the womb. This is important because the development helps a child learn and grow, effecting their future learning, education, and social skills. Brain development begins right in the womb and continues to flourish after birth. A child’s brain develops through neurons and their connections by synapses. Neurons communicate at synapses through the use of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are chemicals sent between neurons as well as the muscles and organs they work with. They attach to receptors on receiving cells, translating into messages. Synapses, the connections in the mind between nerve cells, must be reinforced in order for them to remain active. For example, if a parent incorporates music into a child’s life, those connections will be strong, allowing the child to be musically talented, and more likely able to switch from instrument to instrument. On the other hand, if a parent does not reinforce musical skills on a child, they may not be able to ever learn how to play an instrument in the future. Furthermore, brain development is influenced by nutrition, speech, environment, nurture or neglect, and early childhood programs, all occurring in two periods of life. A child’s brain development is influenced by events while in the womb and after birth.
..., L. L., Groer, M. W., & Younger, M. S. (2003). The behavioral effects of gentle human touch on preterm infants. Nursing Science Quarterly, 16(1), p60-67. Retrieved from http://www.capellauniversity.edu/library/12593316
has to stand behind a piece of tape and try to throw the hoops over
The early stages of a child’s lifespan is the most crucial part of their overall development. “Brain and biological development during this time is influenced by an infant's environment”(Statistics
Play directly influences how children develop both emotionally and socially. Children learn how to express their emotions and cope with their feelings as they experiment with different characters in their play. Play gives children a “harmless outlet to their built up aggression” (CHETN). This is displayed when a child becomes angry, upset, or stressed about a situation in their lives; these young children may not be old enough or have the proper communication tools to communicate what they are feeling. Therefor they may choose to play with objects that depict the emotions that they are feeling and attempt to cope. Simply said, a child will use play to explain how they are feeling rather than acting out in a negative fashion (Wehrman 351). This not only works for the child when expressing emotions, it can also be effective for whole families in coping with emotions. When families come together and play they may be “less analytical and intellectual and more ...
The first two years of a infants development is crucial. They are dependent on their caregivers to provide them with enough nutrition, nurturing, attention, love, and experiences to not only learn about their surrounding world but how to interact with it. Without these experiences a babies brain isn’t given the chance to grow and develop the way that is was designed to. Unfortunately in many circumstances if these experiences don’t happen early on children suffer
Brain Development is a nonstop development, we never stop learning so our brain isn’t going to just stop I mean well when it’s our time, but it won’t as long as you continue to learn and grow. The human brain begins to develop as early as three weeks after conception. But our brain development is a lifetime process. It doesn’t just stop developing at a certain age. There is a difference in brain development in children and adults the early life is impressionable then in the maturity aspect of life. This is a positive thing because as children they learn new thing they’re open to new and exciting things but then again it can be negative because children tend to be vulnerable to development problems. Our brain develops not only from nurture