“Although experience may affect human brain structure and function throughout the entire life span, evidence…..suggests that early experience may be particularly critical” (Rao et al., 2010). During the childhood years, adequate nurturance by parents has a large impact on optimal biological and psychological development. This includes neurological, social, emotional, and cognitive growth. Rao et al. (2010) broadly define nurturance as including “warmth, affection, and acceptance” (p. 1145). Like nurturance, many researchers have looked at the importance of similar issues such as attention, attachment, and bonding. Conversely, issues such as stressful environments and unstable relationships have been shown to have negative consequences on childhood development. The importance of this early childhood nurturance is evident in the story of Michel Oher as described in the movie The Blind Side. Due to his neglectful upbringing, Michael has many academic deficits including language problems as well as having limited social and stress management skills. However, when taken in by the Tuohy family Michael begins to thrive and flourish due to the encouraging attention he receives and the positive environment in which he now lives. Although Michael’s case is atypical, not every impoverished child gets a second chance, it does illustrate the effects that improper, and later adequate, nurturance has on a child and his or her development.
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...
... middle of paper ...
...cEwen, B.S. (2000). Child’s stress hormone levels correlate with mother’s socioeconomic status and depressive state. Biological Psychiatry, 48(10), 976-980.
Pungello, E.P., Iruka, I.U., Dotterer, A.M., Mills-Koonce, R., & Reznick, S. (2009). The effects of socioeconomic status, race, and parenting on language development in early childhood. Developmental Psychology, 45(2), 544-557.
Rao, H., Betancourt, L., Giannetta, J.M., Brodsky, N.L., Korczykowski, M., Avants, B.B., Gee, J.C., Wang, J., Hurt, H., Detre, J.A., & Farah, M.J. (2010). Early parental care is important for hippocampal maturation: evidence from brain morphology in humans. NeuroImage, 49, 1144-1150.
Skuban, E.M., Shaw, D.S., Gardner, F., Supplee, L.H., & Nichols, S.R. (2006). The correlates of dyadic synchrony in high-risk, low-income toddler boys. Infant Behavior Development, 29(3), 423-434.
There are three types of adverse childhood experiences; abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual), neglect (physical and emotional), and household dysfunction (incarceration, mental illness, parental violence, divorce, and substance abuse) (Felitti et al., 1998 and Anda et al., 2006). The majority of brain development occurs during the first few years of life. Although genetics provide the basic blueprint for the brain, one’s experiences lay the foundation for future interactions, health, learning, and
As every child grows up in a different environment, not all have a safe one to grow up in and as a result everything that surrounds them becomes apart of the clarity that their mind incorporates and becomes apart of that child 's behavior of way. In terms of brain development children or teens often listen, and see what is around them, it is also said, by researchers of the National Institute of Health, that in recent studies that were made that in teen years massive loss of brain tissue...
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.
LaPlante, Charil A., DP, C. Vaillancourt, and S. King. "Prenatal Stress and Brain Development." NCBI. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 05 Oct. 2010. Web. 03 Nov. 2013.
Letourneau, Nicole Lyn, Duffett-Leger, Linda, Levac, Leah, Watson, Barry, Young-Morris, Catherine (2013). Socioeconomic Status and Child Development: A Meta-Analysis, Journal of Behavioral and Emotional Disorders. Volume 3, pages 211-224.
In fact, Erik Erikson’s view validates that social deprivation of certain developmental stages can have a heavy influence on one’s physical, neural, and psychological well-being. The way infants form attachments, for example, is a straightforward example of this. In their early stages of development, they build attachment bonds and unique emotional relationships based on the love and attention they receive. Thus, depending on one’s family environment -- whether a child is born in a nurturing, loving family, as opposed to an abusive, violent one -- these attachments may not develop and can have a serious impact on their growth. This is because the stress hormone system may detect abnormalities, and as a result, will produce severe and long lasting
The foundations for a child’s development begins not only in the child’s first year, but also while they are in utero. A child’s development can also be influenced by how much the parents are contributing to the development of the child. A couple that interacts well with one another as well as with the child can have “positive impacts on a child’s cognitive, language and motor development, this can also positively benefit the couple relationship, and the parent-infant relationship,” (Parfitt, Pike, & Ayers, 2013). A parent’s especially a mother’s mental health can greatly impact a child’s development if a mother is less stressed the will be more comfortable around the child creating a better mother-child attachment which also promotes language development. (Parfitt, Pike, & Ayers, 2013). If a father’s is positively involved in a child’s life early on that the child will have a greater reduction in cognitive delays, this is especially true in boys (Parfitt, Pike, & Ayers, 2013). Another positive key in a child’s development comes from the sibling relationships. Siblings help a child learn social, emotional, cognitive and behavioral
The first two years of a humans life are bursting with biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial development. In the first few weeks after conception to two years after birth a child’s brain experiences more growth than any other organ in the body. During the first two years of a child’s life the brain is very plastic and malleable. In order for children to continue down a path of success and learning there are certain experiences a child must have in order to develop normally. The First Two years of a child life is responsible for the foundation that is layed.
“Because brain development is so heavily dependent on early experience, most babies will receive the right kind of nurturing from their earliest days, through our loving urges and parenting instincts. “there are so many things that I’ve read that could make a baby smarter like reading to them while pregnant or even talking to them so the brain can develop the right way while in the womb but loving your child and catering to them is the right way and will eventually lead them to the right path to learn. Yes, speaking to your child and listening to them can and will critically develop the brains –building years. Parents do forget that a child’s developments are not when school begins but before that. If a child comes from a home that listens and speaks when the other one is done and knows manners the child will develop that and learn that is the right way to go about things as oppose to a house hold who may talk over each, shout or even hit their brains will pick all that up like a sponge. So talking to your child and actually listening to them is one of the best brain developments. “Language is fundamental to most of the rest of cognitive development, this simple action—talking and listening to your child—is one of the best ways to make the most of his or her critical brain-building years.” (Zero to
In other words, as we grow and experience life, we get familiar with knowing who we are interacting with. Whether it is family and close relatives and later down the road, our peers in the world, our brains begin to wire up or connect in a way that becomes our way of remembering or knowing who we are connecting with. It is our neurons that communicate and connect to other cells and strengthen very important pathways to parts of the brain. If those connections are not strengthened through our attachment, children are deprived the experiences they need to grow the pre- frontal cortex. “Learning and executive function are compromised and children remain unable to regulate their emotions and behaiors in response to their experience of the world” (Johnson, 2000). “Children at different stages, have varying levels of access to executive functions of the brain. Without the time to amass an array of emotional and physical experiences, their brains cannot always successfully predict, plan, or react properly. Therefore, they may fail to act responsibly” (Johnson, 2000). As children grow, his or her filters or patterns blueprint, will organize his or her systems of thought, memory, beliefs, emotions, expectations, and inform their brain on how to react on various situations. The developmental focuses on the ages beginning from birth to three. By the time a child is
The last factor that has already been mentioned and considered to be crucial in explaining the relationship between social class and language development is the effect of family interactions. Most have been said to this subject, but in addition, it needs to be noted that it has been centered on three main variables: the frequency, quality, and continuity of interactions. Every mother needs to talk to their child, motivate him to participate in conversation, pay enough attention to him and help him explore world around him
As children grow towards adolescence they go through many stages of development. Child development refers to the stages of physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and language growth that occurs from the birth to beginning of adulthood. All aspects of a child's development may be affected by many different factors, including a poor learning environment, lack of social interaction, cultural background differences, abuse, and loss of a parent. All of the before mentioned examples can affect the child's maturation, "a biological growth process that enables orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience" (Myers 172). Children grow and mature at very different rates, some faster than others, which is why it is necessary to understand the importance of the different types of child development. Though all parts of child development are important, it is probably language learning that is most important to a child's development as a whole.
The development of the human brain is largely based on relationships acquired during the first few months of life. Traits that a child is born with differ from the ones that he or she gains from an outside environment. The types of things that effects the acquirement of these traits is the environment that the guardian provide, and the interaction between baby and guardian in that environment.
During infancy, and childhood the body’s physical development changes at an increasingly speed. During infancy and childhood, growth does not occur at a steady rate (Carel, Lahlou, Roger, & Chaussain, 2004). As the child begins to become older, they are capable of controlling their attention and behavior. The child then begins to experience mood symptoms or disorders more than ever. Having control over the brain allows the child to have control over their
In the study of child development, nature and nurture are two essential concepts that immensely influence future abilities and characteristics of developing children. Nature refers to the genetically obtained characteristics and abilities that influence development while nurture refers to the surrounding environmental conditions that influence development. Without one or the other, a child may not develop some important skills, such as communication and walking. The roles of physiological and psychological needs in a person’s life are also crucial for developing children. Humanistic psychologist, Abraham Maslow, suggested that humans don’t only aim towards survival, but also aim towards self-actualization (Rathus, P. 94).