Early brain development

Learning starts long before a child is able to talk and look at books – or even shake their first baby rattle. A child's experiences from the moment of birth, if not before, affect how the brain develops and their later outlook on the world, ability to learn, relationships and behaviour.

  • The human brain is unfinished at birth. A baby's brain develops at an astonishing pace: from 25 per cent at birth to 80 per cent of the fully formed brain by the age of three.
  • This development is not automatic but is 'experience dependent'. During the first three years of life, the brain makes trillions of new connections between nerve cells – known as synaptic growth. These connections govern the development of language, emotional, physical, social and cognitive abilities.
  • Connections that have been repeatedly used grow stronger, form well-trodden pathways and are retained. Those connections that have not been used are 'pruned' and shed by the age of three, resulting in literally a smaller, less developed brain with fewer connections across which messages can be passed between nerve cells. The difference between the brain of a 'normally developed' three year old and the brain of a three year old who has experienced extreme deprivation is graphically illustrated in these pictures:

Images of brain of normal 3-year old and and 3-year old who has suffered extreme neglect
These images illustrate the negative impact of neglect on the developing brain. The CT scans on the left are from healthy three-year-old children with an average head size (50th percentile). The image on the right is from a series of three, three-year-old children following severe sensory-deprivation neglect in early childhood. Each child's brain is significantly smaller than average and each has abnormal development of cortex (cortical atrophy) and other brain abnormalities suggesting abnormal brain development of the brain.

From studies conducted by researchers from The ChildTrauma Academy (www.ChildTrauma.org) led by Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.

Perry, B.D. (2002) Childhood experience and the expression of genetic potential: what childhood neglect tells us about nature and nurture. Brain and Mind, 3: 79-100.
www.childtrauma.org/ctamaterials/MindBrain.pdf
Cited in: Melhuish, Edward Parents as teachers: the home as a learning environment (PowerPoint presentation)

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Last updated: 20th November 2009 at 03:11:18