The Development of the Human Brain:
Implications for Parenting in the Early Years

A recent series of articles in the Chicago Tribune described in detail the development of the human brain as it has been discovered through several serious research efforts. The findings reported were fascinating but not surprising to those of us who have long believed that the early years of life have the most impact on eventual human potential.

One of the most basic findings of the study was this: An infant's experiences actually develop his brain. Sensory experiences (hearing, seeing, touching, feeling, tasting) actually teach brain cells their jobs. A lack of such sensory experiences results in brain cells failing to make connections and eventually dying off. If a child lies in a playpen all day, he is experiencing a limited number of sensations. He will not have many new experiences through which he can establish new brain connections. Unfortunately, these connections must be made in infancy. A person can not go back and "redo" these experiences. The first four years of life are when the brain is "built."

Babies who have more sensory experiences are able to develop more brain power. Dr. Frederick Goodwin who is the director of the National Institute of Mental Health participated in some of this research. His conclusion? "Your can't make a 70 IQ person into a 120 IQ person, but you can change their IQ measure in different ways, perhaps as much as 20 points up or down, based on their environment." In essence, an infant born with a 100 IQ can either become an 80 IQ or a 120 IQ by his fourth birthday, based on the poverty or enrichment of his experience base!

Another important finding of one study details the effect of a stressful environment on infants and toddlers. Young children exposed to a steady diet of stress lay down abnormal connectors in their brains because of high levels of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline These abnormal connectors set up aberrant networks of connections, causing the child to learn violent responses to benign stimuli. These networks create a brain which is designed for "fight or flight" which may lead an individual to violence and other inappropriate responses.

Megan Gunnar, a child development psychologist at the University of Minnesota, has found that some children from stressful environments are able to "neutralize" their stress through a caring parent or an involved adult. "The things that are associated with resiliency have to do with protective factors like the quality of home life, the parent-child relationship or another relationship that provides some security for the child."

The implication of this research is exciting for parents: There is biological evidence that the environment and nurture they provide for their children can have a powerful impact on the child's developmental potential. Maybe our grandparents said it best: The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world!