Brain Awareness Week

March 11, 2012
Every March, scientists and children's advocates around the world participate in Brain Awareness Week, a global campaign to increase public awareness of brain-related research and its importance for public health.

CANDLE (Conditions Affecting Neurocognitive Development and Learning in Early Childhood) is following 1,503 Memphis and Shelby County mothers from their second trimester of pregnancy until their children reach age 5. When completed, the study will provide valuable data that will enrich the child development field as well as inform public policy.

Children are profoundly affected by what they hear, see and experience. Even in the earliest years of life, children's long-term outcomes are linked to family income, neighborhood characteristics and parents' education and mental health.

Why do early experiences remain so powerful throughout life? The key is the way the brain develops in a child's first three years. Early childhood is a time of rapid growth and development, which sometimes occurs in spurts. These spurts are critical periods to enhance a child's development, but they also are times in which insults can have a detrimental effect on the brain's growth. Fortunately the brain is more adaptable during early childhood than it is in later years. Brain cells are making more connections, and a child's environment plays a large role in determining which connections become strong enough to survive. This means that early experiences can have lifelong effects on intellectual, emotional and social development. Positive experiences promote optimal brain development and desirable outcomes.

Fran Tylavsky is a professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She is also principal investigator for the CANDLE study.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/mar/11/guest-column-environments-play-huge-role-in/