Born to Learn Film Notes

"Brain Science is changing the conversation about the importance of early learning."

Brain Science brought credibility in the birth to 5 range, because people were able to see the numerous amount of brain connections, baby's have potential and it shouldn't be wasted

"Alise found she needed help learning how to parent."

FIND gave her positive people in her corner, in a loving way the visually showed her how to become a more involved and relational parent to her daughter, and her relationship with her daughter ultimately improved

"Imitation is one reason caregivers are a baby's favorite play thing."

a baby at birth recognizes that "you are like me", children are learning like sponges from YOU (ex: telephone)

"By pruning, the brain becomes custom-designed to function in its own environment."

starts pruning by age 4-5, pruning done by puberty, strengthens remaining connections, constantly changing and very adaptable, plasticity, open to rapid learning

"Skills like executive function and self-control are important for a child to develop to do well in school and life."

stress blocks learning from happening, need enriching opportunities and protection from sources pf toxic stress, emotional peace enables learning (and the opposite is true)

"We know from about preschool all the way up through high school and college that low income children don't perform as well academically in nearly every way that we can possibly think to test them."

this starts beginning within one year, early problem solving, shifting attention, selective exploration, etc. are all less in children of low income families starting as early as 6 months

"The early years really do last a lifetime."

what occurs in the early years impacts the rest of one's life.

"Timing is important when it comes to wiring the brain."

critical periods open and shut at different times (even vision), need certain experiences to wire properly

"Kuhl says babies come with surprising learning mechanisms. One is computational and the other is social."

dedicated listeners (certain sound stats), listening to native speaker in person (recognized/learned like native language), "citizens of the world", but before first birthday a baby is "culture-bound"

"The kind of care a child receives plays a big role in how the brain chooses to build itself."

every interaction is a brain building opportunity and counts big time, determines a strong or worrisome start in life

"FIND is a video coaching program. Using videos taken of parent interacting with their child, FIND coached highlight their positive serve and return behavior."

filming interactions to nurture development, encourage more responsive relationships between parents and children, and takes skills parents already have and betters them

"A baby's brain is born to learn."

form connections and network neural pathways, naturally detect

"Nature and nurture are both needed for healthy brain development."

genes (seeds) plus environment (soil, sunlight, care), a child's experiences make the "final decisions"

"Stress is another kind of experience that shapes brain development."

good stress vs toxic stress, toxic stress = ongoing hardships (neglect, abuse), this yields problems in learning. behavior, and ability to interact with other people, also effects function of brain

"Language has a critical period."

has a window of opportunity to be great at learning language and be able to learn what is in front of you no matter what it is, after 7 ability to natively learn all languages drops drastically

"So, how does the brain build a strong foundation?"

like a tennis match - back and forth/"serve and return" interactions, every interaction matters (smile, touch, dance, coo), builds skills, actual face time with caregiver, this will teach the child about emotions, social interactions, and language, also this helps the child to feel safe and secure and shapes not only school readiness, but also adult life and health

"By age three, the brain will have grown to 80% of its adult size. By age 5, it will be 90% of its adult size."

massively growing dendrites

"Meltzoff is using the MEG brain imaging technology to examine how the sense of touch lights up a child's brain."

no one knows about body maps of infants, touching hand = touching brain (stimulating brain in the same place in the mother/toucher and the baby)

"A young brain is more plastic or open to rapid learning and growth."

once fully myelinated, the brain loses some flexibility/plasticity, the dendrites are at the heart of plasticity (experiences matter), massive growth pf branches complete wiring

"By age three, a child has three times more brain activity than an adult."

over produces synaptic connections, very dense, preparing and getting ready for everything, systematically prune what you don't need

"Talking to babies... singing and rhyming about anything and everything, teaches them about language."

parentese helps to build language skills, it has an acoustic signature that is unique (animated, pitch contour, slower speech that is clearer), increase use of parentese/interaction correlates to increase babbling and language development

"Babies naturally want to interact."

parents who talk to their child help them develop language skills/connections in brain