Category A: Question 2: Brain Architecture- Implications for Parents
a. Explain how the basic architecture of the brain develops during the early childhood years (birth to age 8).
b. If you were asked to explain the implications of these brain development facts to a group of first-time parents, what would be the three most important pieces of advice you would give them? Before a child is born, their brain is already working and taking in new information. When a fetus is in the mother’s womb, their brains begin to develop at around six weeks. The brain then begins producing brain cells (neurons) at a high rate, especially during the third and fourth months of the prenatal development when several hundred thousand neurons are produced in a …show more content…
Due to the many synapses that are formed at such a young age, the brain goes through the process of synaptic pruning. When the child is not fully using the connections that he/she once made, the brain filters out and decides which synapses to keep and which ones are not contributing as much to the child’s development. The synapses that are kept are the connections that the baby uses most frequently. There are two different ways in which the brain produces and prunes synapses; experience-expectant and experience-dependent. Experience-expectant production and pruning is the scenario where the brain is expected to have certain experiences thus shaping its development (i.e vocalization). The difference between experience-expectant and experience-dependent is that experience-dependent requires an experience to evolve before deciding whether or not to keep the synapse, whereas experience-expectant does not. The plasticity of the brain refers to how the brain is affected by different experiences and is much stronger in children than it is in adults (Brain Architecture, Bacigalupa, 2016). The brain remembers these experiences when they occur frequently and in turn …show more content…
Explain the differences between positive stress, tolerable stress, and toxic stress. In three thoughtful sentences, explain how toxic stress affects brain development.
b. Explain the one most important factor that contributes to resilience in children who experience toxic stress.
c. If you were asked to provide a basic orientation to new staff at a therapeutic preschool (a preschool that serves children who have experienced toxic stress), what would be three most important pieces of advice you would give
a. Explain how the basic architecture of the brain develops during the early childhood years (birth to age 8).
b. If you were asked to explain the implications of these brain development facts to a group of first-time parents, what would be the three most important pieces of advice you would give them? Before a child is born, their brain is already working and taking in new information. When a fetus is in the mother’s womb, their brains begin to develop at around six weeks. The brain then begins producing brain cells (neurons) at a high rate, especially during the third and fourth months of the prenatal development when several hundred thousand neurons are produced in a …show more content…
Due to the many synapses that are formed at such a young age, the brain goes through the process of synaptic pruning. When the child is not fully using the connections that he/she once made, the brain filters out and decides which synapses to keep and which ones are not contributing as much to the child’s development. The synapses that are kept are the connections that the baby uses most frequently. There are two different ways in which the brain produces and prunes synapses; experience-expectant and experience-dependent. Experience-expectant production and pruning is the scenario where the brain is expected to have certain experiences thus shaping its development (i.e vocalization). The difference between experience-expectant and experience-dependent is that experience-dependent requires an experience to evolve before deciding whether or not to keep the synapse, whereas experience-expectant does not. The plasticity of the brain refers to how the brain is affected by different experiences and is much stronger in children than it is in adults (Brain Architecture, Bacigalupa, 2016). The brain remembers these experiences when they occur frequently and in turn …show more content…
Explain the differences between positive stress, tolerable stress, and toxic stress. In three thoughtful sentences, explain how toxic stress affects brain development.
b. Explain the one most important factor that contributes to resilience in children who experience toxic stress.
c. If you were asked to provide a basic orientation to new staff at a therapeutic preschool (a preschool that serves children who have experienced toxic stress), what would be three most important pieces of advice you would give