It IS Amazing!Brain: Facts for You

Brain development begins about two weeks after conception and continues into young adulthood. Although prenatal brain development is largely under genetic control, studies confirm that environment also plays a role: adequate nutrition, maternal stress, and infections, for example, can influence brain development.
 
Brain development continues throughout the lifespan, but the basic structure of the brain is established during the first three years of life.
 
Development during the first three months prepares the child’s brain for what is to come: movement (rolling, crawling, walking, climbing), language, attachment, and executive function.
 
During the first three months, a newborn child’s brain is developing BILLIONS of neurons and generating TRILLIONS of synaptic connections at a terrific rate — a rate FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF SOUND!
 
Many more brain cells and synaptic connections are created than will be needed—nature’s way of ensuring healthy brain development.

By age 4, any connections that have not been reinforced through baby’s experiences have been pruned (eliminated).

Adult brains have ½ as many neurons and synapses as a 3-month-old baby.

During the first year, the cerebellum TRIPLES in size.
 
The cerebellum plays an important role in motor control (movement) and cognitive (learning) functions such as attention and language. The cerebellum contributes to coordination, precision, accurate timing and fine-tuning motor activity.

Genes arrange the basic wiring of the brain and allow the brain to fine-tune itself according to input it receives from the environment.

The importance of physical touch, speech, song and direct face-to-face interactions, which contribute to stronger synaptic connections during the first three months of life, cannot be over-emphasized. Recent research indicates that this early stage of brain development is linked to later mental, physical, psychological, and academic outcomes.

Prepared and Submitted by Cheryl Stewart,
MOTAL Board Member and Secretary