A Child’s Brain · 2017. 5. 26. · Create an in which your child can thrive! Brain growth and development require care that is nurturing, supportive, and predictable. This type

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How Your Child’s Brain Develops

www.susanchrisman.com

© COPYRIGHT 2016 SUSAN CHRISMAN

A Child’s Brain

• The cell body receives messages through dendrites.

• The message or impulse passes through the cell body and then travels down the axon which branches into terminals.

• At the end of the terminals, a synapse is crossed, a junction between the axon of one neuron and the next neuron or muscle cell or gland cell.

The synapse forms the connection between cells, and is strengthened as the circuit is used.

• The development of the myelin coating makes transmission systems more efficient, allowing the message to travel more quickly.

Your child has 100,000,000,000 neurons at birth!

“Understanding a child’s brain and the way it develops is the key to understanding learning.” – Jane Healy, Ph.D.

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Create an in which your child can thrive!Brain growth and development require care that is nurturing, supportive, and predictable.This type of care will foster curiosity, creativity, and self-confidence in your child.

Shown below are the basics of what is needed to create an atmosphere conducive to developing and keeping important connections in the brain.

Atmosphere

Safety

Appropriate Nutrition

Conversation

Exercise Timesfor Rest

Lovewith emotional

consistency and an emotionally stable climate

Stimulating Environment with a sense of

having choices and reasonable limits

GeneticsIntelligence is determined in part, but not completely, by genetics.The way they learn and the pace at which they learn are more genetically influenced. “…our job is to appreciate her particular way of learning and provide new experiences to enhance it.” Jane HealyTimetable of Development is individual. Respect your child’s own developmental timetable.

NutritionToddlers need 1,000 –1,200 calories daily. Four to eight-year-olds need 1,200–2000 depending on how active they are. Help them develop a taste for nutritious food. (See Appendix A.)

ExperienceThe child’s experience will profoundly influence the nature and quality of his neural networks. A catalyst for brain growth is the child’s firsthand involvement with objects and experiences.

C onnection formation is inf luenced by:

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Give experiences

that stimulate their senses.

Visual

Auditory Touch

Taste

Smell



Network ConnectionsA useful set of network connections must be learned during the early years.

Helping your child’s brain make connections is the essence of early education.

Major factors in forming connections: active interest and mental effort by the child.


• encourages better attention

• enables child to picture what is heard

• fosters better imagination

• gives child power to entertain himself

• promotes better body rhythm and coordination of movement

• makes it difficult to pay attention

• results in retention of sensations rather than information which can be organized into knowledge

• raises child’s expectation of entertainment

• fosters a tendency for the child to give up if he cannot immediately understand

Active interest and mental effort are best employed by the child through his senses.

Active Interest Passive Interestvs

VestibularMovement/balance

ProprioceptiveKnowing where your body is in space—spatial orientation;

awareness of position of one’s body

Every response to his senses makes connections in your child’s brain.

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“By overlooking the developmental imperatives of childhood, parents can deprive their child of the richest possible foundation for future learning.”

Appropriate support vs. excessive pressure

Growth can be stimulated and fostered, but should not be forced and rushed.

“It is possible to force skillsby intensive instruction,but this may cause the child to use immature, inappropriate neural networks and distort the natural growth process.” —Jane Healy

Picture forcing a child to learnsomething where no connections

have been developed.

Forced learning of any kind may result in the use of lower systems since the higher ones that should do the work have not yet developed.

You cannot push learning from the higher levels to the lower levels.

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GROSS MOTOR SKILLS




What should preschoolers learn?

• Involve the whole body

• Arms and legs moving together on both sides of the body

• Large muscle skills

• Integrate hands, eyes and muscles

• Promote bilateral coordination Helps build muscle tone and strength Encourages fluid body movements and balance Aids in development of fine motor skills Ensures muscle development necessary before child begins school work

• Encourage crossing the midline Refers to vertical line running down the middle of the body, dividing right from left Using part of one side of the body in the space of the other part Crucial for pre-reading development

EXAMPLESroll, crawl, walk, run,

jump, hop, skip, jumping jacks,

spin, somersaults

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FINE MOTOR SKILLS

OCULAR MOTOR SKILLS




• Requires the use of hands, wrists, and fingers

• Develops a. Hand-eye coordination b. Manual Dexterity c. Tactile perception d. Brain growth through connections

• The ability of the eyes to follow and focus on an object in the field of vision as required

• Important development of seven eye muscles

• These skills: a. Prepare eyes for more close focus b. Encourage eyes to work together c. Build connections in the brain

• Time needed outside for far vision to reduce eye strain

EXAMPLESpainting, puzzles,

play-dough,threading,

making mud pies,blocks, cutting

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• Have child observe a landscape. • Let him tell you what he saw. • Keep up the spirit of a game!

• Picture what is happening during a story• Word recognition & future spelling ability• Remember what was read

Children’s eyes are made primarily for distance vision.

Take time to be sure your child is ready.

Readiness is defined by the development of motor and sensory skil ls.

The best place for building those skills is outside.

What is the best way to build a strong and healthy intellectual foundation for your child?

Take your child and go outside and play!

• Build social skills• Enhance oral communication & vocabulary

The P icture Painting Game

Develop V isualization Skil ls

A Child’s Brain · 2017. 5. 26. · Create an in which your child can thrive! Brain growth and development require care that is nurturing, supportive, and predictable. This type

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