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One of the most fascinating issues is how people become smart: how brainpower is developed in a child's brain. While the science has been available in textbooks for at least a decade, it hasn't been explained well for the general public, and very few adults know about it. So I thought it would be worth the effort to summarize the topic for parents, teachers, coaches and others who work with children. If you only have time for the bottom line, please skip to “So What.” If you’re genuinely curious about what's going on in kid's brains, read on, and enjoy. The scientific explanation... The outer layer of the brain, called the cerebral cortex, coordinates perception, physical activity and higher-level thinking. Each of these vastly important functions is handled by different areas of the cortex. Perception is processed by back regions, physical activity is directed by a strip along the top of the cortex, language areas (both linguistic and artistic) are located in the temporal and frontal lobes, and higher-level thinking is handled by the prefrontal cortex—an area located directly behind the forehead. , During the first phase, overproduction, a frantic period of neuron (brain cell) growth takes place, in which the brain is stimulated to produce many times more cells than it will eventually need. This gives that area of the brain all the neurons it will eventually need to set up a network to handle the input it receives. How many brain cells are actually needed depends on the demand for that function immediately after overproduction ceases. During the second stage, pruning, brain cells extend to receive incoming signals and process them, while the unused cells die off. In order to see, hear, feel, move, associate and reason, the brain cells need to connect. If demand is intense, more brain cells will try to connect and a higher percentage of brain cells will survive. If a child has no use for certain brain cells during this development period, she loses them forever. During the third stage, a myelin sheath covers the remaining neurons, creating a kind of insulation for brain cells that greatly enhances cell-to-cell transmission speed. That’s when learned cognitive skills become powerful and easy. After the foundation is set, the remaining system of brain cells can continue to grow by "branching" or interconnecting. As an individual tries to learn something new, the brain creates new pathways. Dendrites from existing brain cells are stimulated to reach out to other brain cells, creating new connections. This is the value of lifelong learning: it stimulates dendrite growth as long as the child (and eventually, the adult) is trying to master new skills and knowledge. In summary, initial stimulation and learning activate the process of brain development during critical periods. The greater the stimulation and learning during these periods, the more extensive the production of basic pathways. So the physical brain of every child will be similar in organization but different in capacity. After this network is in place, a child's basic mental structure is set, once and for all, except for the branching of dendrites within the existing network, which continues throughout life. The all-important question is, when do these time-windows open, and what should a concerned adult do to maximize the child’s cognitive development before they close? Window #1 - Perception. If you’ve raised a child, you know that a newborn infant’s eyes may be open, but she can’t see anything clearly. She has to learn to see. The overproduction of perceptual neurons takes place while the child is still in the womb. Pruning begins on the first day of life. The child begins a furious process of learning how to see, hear, touch, taste—all the perceptual skills. This foundation learning and pruning takes place during the first six months of life. For maximal development during that time, a child needs a perception-rich environment—ongoing stimulation of all the senses. Window #2 - Physical activity. The motor neurons also overproduce during gestation, but the window for basic learning and pruning of neurons takes place from 4-18 months. During this period, a variety of new physical challenges will stimulate growth and connection of motor neurons. The more the child does, the more diverse the challenges, the more her physical capabilities will be enhanced. Window #3- Language and categorical thinking. The child learns language, along with the ability to name and categorize everything in her world. Overproduction of the language areas begins while a child is an infant, and pruning starts around the age of 18 months, ending at approximately age 5. During pruning, parents should communicate with a child extensively, giving good, thorough answers to all “what" and "why" questions. This is the time to build vocabulary and to introduce multiple languages. This foundation of linguistic skills will serve the child as she learns factual knowledge during the years before puberty. Window #4 - Higher-level thinking. This is the last cognitive area to develop. During the onset of puberty, another period of pre-frontal brain cell overproduction begins. This can be an awkward, emotionally and rationally difficult time for a teenager, because the areas of the brain needed for reasoning and understanding are disrupted. This is followed by a stage of learning-pruning which establishes the physical foundation for conceptual thinking. During this stage, teenagers need opportunities to solve problems and to seek answers to “major why” questions: scientific, social, cultural, philosophical, and intellectual. If family environment or social norms discourage this kind of learning, a child may waste this all-important developmental period forever. Ideally, the young person will be curious enough to exercise the conceptual areas of her brain as much as possible during the high school and college years. This developmental period, including myelinization of pathways, continues until the early 20s. After that, her baseline capacity for higher-level thinking and learning is set. During the rest of her life, she will use this foundation to continue specialized learning. So what? During roughly the first 20 years of life, a child’s brain develops along with her body. The basic neural network grows into place, establishing her individual capacity for thinking and learning for the rest of her life. During these early years, there are critical periods of brain development that begin and end, during which it’s important for a child to have rich developmental opportunities. 1. Approximately the first half-year, a child learns how to see, hear, taste, smell and touch. Give the child as much sensory stimulation as possible. 2. Approximately 4-24 months, a child learns how to do things. Give the child opportunities to be active, to learn skills, physical coordination and doing things with her hands. 3. Approximately 18 months-5 years, a child learns to define her world. Give the child lots of facts, definitions, rules, and answers to basic what and why questions. Introduce languages, including music and basic mathematics. 4. Approximately 12-22 years, a child learns how to think. Give the child opportunities to imagine, associate, reason, evaluate, debate, plan, organize, manage, solve problems, be responsible and make decisions. I sincerely believe that any adult involved in the raising or teaching of a child needs to understand these critical growth brain periods. Kids are ready for certain kinds of foundation learning at certain times. After these critical periods, the opportunities for basic structural brain development are over. She can continue to learn within the parameters of her limits, but her capacity will have been physically laid down in her brain once and for all. I strongly advise adults who want to give a child the maximum mental advantages for life to make the most of these developmental windows in time. In a way, nothing is more important than this. If you can imagine the behavior of an adult with limited brain power, you can appreciate the importance of this information to society.
Article Source: http://www.articledestination.com
Dennis E. Coates is CEO of Performance Support Systems, author of MindFrames, a brain-based personality assessment system (www.initforlife.com) and co-founder of the Train-to-Ingrain alliance (www.train-to-ingrain.com, info@train-to-ingrain.com, 800-488-6463), which delivers a reinforcement-centered approach to learning and development that achieves permanent, measurable improvements in workplace behavior and positive impacts on business results.
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