Our First Blog! (Yay!)

According to Brian Kolb and Robin Gibb, there are a few different factors that can affect brain development. One combination of factors are sensory and motor experiences. They explained how rodents, “…deprived of environments such as in darkness, silence, or social isolation clearly retards brain development,” (Kolb & Gibb, 2011, p. 7). Another factor that affects brain development are psychoactive drugs. This can be drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, or heroin, or also prescription drugs. All of these have been proved to affect the dendrites in the brain in rodents, (Kolb & Gibb, 2011, p. 9). The last factor that I think is really important to discuss, that I find extremely interesting as well as information every parent, guardian, or person that works with children should know is early stress. Perinatal stress in rodents produced different behavioral abnormalities. Some of those include learning and memory problems as well as prolonged stress responses, (Kolb & Gibb, 2011, p. 12).

I took Cognitive Development last semester and remember my professor had the class watch a video about the children with disabilities that were abandoned at orphanages. These children experienced very high rates of abuse and neglect. They were deprived of the sensory experiences all children need to grow and build synaptic connections in their brain. It can be seen how badly these children were affected by this lack of experiences. Some of these children were just blind but were acting as if they had a mental disability. The video is truly heartbreaking but also informative because studies on sensory and motor deprivation are not done as they are inhumane. So to see how it affects children really shows how important it is to provide children with these experiences.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTuCgFdO5L0

Epigenetics to me means that nature and nurture are interwoven. A young child developing is not only affected by their biology and is not only affected by the environment they are raised in. These two work together in how a person develops. In the article by Cantor et al., (2018), it is explained how the brain develops through experience. “…Neurons and neural tissue are the most susceptible to change from experience of any tissue in the body,” (p. 311). I believe what the article is saying is that without the biology we already have, without the good stuff we are born with, we would not have nature that affects our development. Without the experiences we go through, that affect our biology, nurture would not affect our development either. I believe epigenetics to be that we cannot have one without the other.  

I really think it is so important for early childhood educators to have knowledge of how young brains develop. After taking a few, (graduating in the spring so maybe more than a few) childhood development classes, I can see why many of the classes we take are a requirement, including learning about brain development. ECE’s can apply the knowledge they know about brain development to their classroom and the children they are working with. Since our brains develop differently at different ages, ECE’s can know what to expect of a child, developing with no signs of mental or learning disabilities, if they have a general knowledge of where their brain development is at. They also know what to expect if a child is showing these any of these signs and how to work with them and potentially help brain development. In the article by Ansari et al., (2011), they said, “We believe that such instructional components will help teachers to gain a fuller understanding of child development and the biological constraints placed on learning processes…” (p. 3). I think the authors put it perfectly, ECE’s will understand the children their working with better when they know what is developmentally going on with them.

It's so hard to pinpoint just one topic that I hope to learn more about in this course. When I think of topics, a few come to mind. I am interested the developing brain of a child, just in general because I have a son who is five years old, and I think it would be beneficial to know how his brain is developing so I can know what to expect of him and not put higher expectations on him. I think it would be beneficial for all parents to learn how their children’s brains develop so they can be the best parents they can be. (I know not all parents are taking child development classes and are trying to be the best parent they can be without that knowledge; this is not a knock towards them at all. We’re all in this together!) The more specific topic that I think I am more interested in, that I just started learning about from one of my other classes is how stress can affect children. I think this topic is so important because, from what I have just learned in this other class, there are actually health issues related to children who experience adversity. When I heard this, my first thought was, “This is something all expecting parents should be verbally told by their doctor.” I had no idea, and I am sure there are many other parents out there that also don’t know this information. I know that for some families, there are stress factors that are out of their control, but I think having this knowledge could help them when raising their child during those stressful times.  

References

Ansari, D., Coch, D., & De Smedt, B. (2011). Connecting education and cognitive neuroscience: where will the journey take us? Educational Philosophy and Theory, Vol. 43, Nos. 1-2, 2011. DOI 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2010.00705.x

Cantor, P., Osher, D., Berg, J., Steyer, L., & Todd, R. (2019). Malleability, plasticity, and individuality: How children learn and develop in context. Applied Developmental Science 232(4): 307-337. DOI 10.1080/10888691.2017.1398649

Kolb, B., & Gibb, R. (2011). Brain plasticity and behavior in the developing brain. Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 20(4): 265-276.