80 MD2 Assignment 4

Colleagues Responses

Colleagues responses

Assignment 4 8080 Part 2

. Interact with 3 colleagues and respond to them by sharing additional insights, comparing experiences, and posing questions that further promote dialogue. (Post to each colleague in 150 words.)

Colleague 1 response:

Posted by   DeQuanda Cummings  

Optimizing Brain Development

                The first few years of a child’s life are critical for healthy brain development. Brain development begins during the prenatal period and continues through early childhood. Although the brain continues to develop into adulthood, the first eight years builds the foundation for learning and success (CDC, 2021). Brain development depends on many factors such as, prenatal care, experiences, and exposures to toxins and infections. “Nurturing and responsive care for the child’s body and mind is the key to supporting healthy brain development” (CDC,  2021). Positive and negative experiences help shape a child’s brain.

                How the brain grows is highly affected by the child’/ s experiences with people and the world. Children depend on interactions with parents and their caregivers to be responsive to their needs. Children thrive in environments where they can explore and play in a safe environment. Their needs ought to be met and not neglected. They do not need to be exposed to stress. As a parent and/or caregiver to support healthy brain development you can constantly talk to the child, read to your child, meet their needs, and offer them a safe place to explore and play. Speaking and reading to children increase their language and communication skills. “Nurturing a child by understanding their needs and responding sensitively helps to protect children’s brains from stress” (CDC, 2021). Exposure to stress can negatively affect brain development. When children are at risk, it can cause them a delay in accomplishing developmental milestones. They will distrust people if their needs are not constantly being met.

                This topic is important to me because in the school that I work at we have a high population of students who needs are not being met. When they get into the classroom, before I can teach them anything I have to meet their needs whether it be feeding them or giving them extra attention. I have even gone as far to buy clothes and shoes for students. This affected the students’ learning. They were usually the ones that were below grade level in the classroom. When having conversations with the parents, they want better for their children but did have the resources or just did not know.

                I will need support from pediatricians, early childhood educators, and counselors to help inform parents and caregivers about the importance of brain development and optimizing brain development.  

 

Reference

CDC. (2021, February 22). Early Brain Development and Health. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/early-brain-development.html.

  Colleague 2 response:

Posted by   Lua Shanks  

                                           Blog Post- Understanding Brain Development

                                           Optimizing Brain Development

Infancy research within the last two decades indicates drastic transformations in how developmental psychologists describe the initial stages of cognitive development. The infant is currently seen as having complex cognitive skills and complex conceptions that direct knowledge acquisition. Cognitive development defines the growth and change in mental capabilities like reasoning, thinking, and understanding (Bauer, 2007). Generally, it involves knowledge gaining and consolidation. In addition, infants deduce on language, socio-emotional, perceptual, and motor experiences and abilities of cognitive development. This implies that infants are accustomed to interactions between aspects of actions, objects, and the physical setting but most importantly, are accustomed to people (Bauer, 2007).  Therefore, parents, friends, family members, caregivers, and teachers play are significant in supporting the cognitive development of infants by offering the healthy social-emotional or interpersonal background that unfolds cognitive development.   

Parents, family members, caregivers, friends, and early childhood professionals need to recognize that loving and approachable adults offer the basis from which infants entirely engage in interactions and behaviors to encourage learning. The adults are the primary source of imitation for children and supportive of positive social change. They have a crucial role in determining children's experience, managing emotions, expression, and the capability to establish rewarding and positive relationships with others (Messinger & Fogel, 2007). Optimizing children's cognitive development through providing positive experiences and behaviors enables infants to express, experience, and perceive emotions and actions and attempts to understand them (Messinger & Fogel, 2007). They build skills that bond them with family, teachers, peers, and the community. They develop emotionally and can identify and understand their feelings and those of others in a constructive way.  At this point, infants can regulate their behavior, develop compassion for others, establish and sustain relationships. These development abilities help children become capable of negotiating sophisticated complex social interactions. They can contribute efficiently in relationships and group actions, reaping social support benefits requisite to healthy human development and functioning.

This kind of social support is particularly important as responsive care giving supports children in developing a sense of predictability, responsiveness, and safety and regulating their emotions in their social environments. Early relationships are vital in developing infants as research shows that stable, consistent, and nurturing relationships are important to healthy growth, development, and learning (Lagattuta & Thompson R, 2007). Research about the brain reveals that cognition and emotion are intensely interconnected processes. This concept is justified by recent cognitive neuroscience findings suggesting that the neural mechanisms that underlie emotion regulation are similar to those that underlie cognitive processes (Bell & Wolfe, 2004). Hence, their cognitive and emotional processes jointly inform the children's impression of situations and behavior influences. The main psych scripts for each child's life are grounded on the rich interpenetrations of cognitions and emotions.  They influence a child's capability to carry on goal-oriented action, ask for help when necessary, and partake in and realize the benefits of relationships. 

The facts surrounding the entire issue of optimizing brain development calls for early childhood professionals to support cognitive development and positive social change among toddlers and infants. They can create childcare settings that foster social-emotional development by interacting with the young ones daily and communicating with their families. Equally, they can arrange the physical space in the childcare environment in a constructive manner that allows children to socialize with others and learn. Early childhood professionals have a task to plan and develop a curriculum that fosters social-emotional relationships in early childcare settings.   The curriculum should adjust for healthy emotional and social interactions that promote healthy development and functioning in children. Children brought up in such settings are more likely to demonstrate healthy emotional, social, and behavioral modification and have excellent academic performance in elementary school.  Hence, early childhood programs can optimize toddlers' brain development by promoting healthy social, emotional development that leads to positive learning outcomes.

References

Bauer, P. (2007). Recall in Infancy: A Neurodevelopmental Account. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16 (3), 142-146. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00492.x

Bell, M., & Wolfe, W. C. (2004). Emotion and Cognition: An Intricately Bound Developmental Process. Child Development, 75 (2), 366-370. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00679.x

Lagattuta, K. H., & Thompson, R. A. (2007). The Development of Self-Conscious Emotions: Theory and Research. Edited by J. L. Tracy, R. W. Robins, and J. P. Tangney. New York: Guilford Press.

Messenger, D., & Fogel, A. (2007). "The Interactive Development of Social Smiling" in Advances in Child Development and Behavior (Vol. 35). Edited by R. V. Kail. Burlington, MA: Elsevier.

 

Colleague 3 response:

Posted by   Temitope Egoh  

Research-based overview:

Magic (2007) illuminates that as soon as conception occurs, the fetus already has the biological capacity to interact, be influenced, and be influenced by the environment, and for this reason prenatal care is important. The experiences of the fetus do not only have an impact on its current state but also influence the future of the baby. Contrary to previous research, that a mother’s mental health only affects the baby after birth, recent research finds that a mother’s poor emotional health during pregnancy can have a great adverse effect on the baby. According to Jyoti (2019) during pregnancy, the fetus is affected by the emotional state of the mother, and this is evidenced by increased heart rate in response to the mothers feeling and reaction to her environment. Close monitoring of the depressed mothers highlighted a disconnect between two regions of the brain the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. The amygdala region of the brain is responsible for regulating emotions while the prefrontal cortex controls behavior Speech and reasoning. A disconnection between these two regions of the brain implies less cognitive control over their emotion thus influencing the neurological and behavioral development of the child adversely. Future consequences include high anxiety or ADHD which may impair the learning and development of the child.

Advocacy:

Caring for a mother’s mental health and emotional well-being is caring for the healthy development of a child and its future outcome. As an early childhood professional, I advocate that the mental health of mothers be made a priority. I will suggest that antenatal care does not only focus on the physical well-being of the mother and child but must focus on the emotional well-being and mental health of the mother. This entails caring for the mother’s mental well-being and taking into consideration the external factors that may affect her mental health and emotional wellbeing and intervene promptly when necessary.

Importance of Topic:

This topic is vital because before now, including myself there was very little information on how vital the mental and emotional well-being of a pregnant woman is to the future of her child. This information is not only vital to the expectant mother but also those around her daily in including family and friends because their actions and support affect the mental well-being of the mother.

Call for support:

The early year's sector will have to call for the support of various agencies including health officials, housing department, early help, and local authorities to take the mental and emotional wellbeing of expectant mothers seriously. By working together, we can explain better to the community the connection between the mother’s mental health and the child’s brain development and future outcomes. Together we can offer support such as counseling and financial help for women and families with the emphasis on single mothers and families going through financial difficulties and homelessness.

References

Music, G. (2017). Nurturing Natures: attachments and children’s emotional, sociocultural and brain development (2nd ed). Routledge.

 Madhusoodanan, J. (2019). How maternal mood shapes the developing brain. Knowledge Magazine.