Early Brain and Child Development

The first thousand days of a child's life are among the most critical for ensuring success or leading to failure. Brain architecture and skills are the result of a complex interaction between individual genetics and experiences. The skills that are needed to become a successful adult, and the neural pathways that underlie and augment these skills are hierarchical. What happens to us as infants, in many ways, determines what we will be capable of.

Early childhood is the most plastic and receptive time for environmental influences to effect brain development and function, and stress can severely impact these processes.

The concepts of Adverse Childhood Events and Toxic Stress are becoming more and more a part of what we, as pediatricians, need to be aware of, and brilliantly explain why we need to advocate for kids.

These concepts were introduced last year during the CACH rotation. We want to remind you of their significance, and the impact that our early childhood experiences have on who we become, and how we live.

Read this! Young Child Health Equity

Visit this site! The Center on the Developing Child: Check out the InBrief series of videos, and the interactive features. http://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/multimedia/