What’s Going On Inside Your Child’s Brain?

What’s Going On Inside Your Child’s Brain?

Children vs Adult Brains:
A child’s brain has completely different priorities than an adults.
Children think, behave, and learn differently —
Meaning parenting and teaching can be a challenge

Below we see how different sections of the brain trigger behaviors in children and adults.

Most active areas in children:

1. Brain stem
The brain stem is the part of a child’s brain that controls heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature.
2. Midbrain
The midbrain stimulates “arousal,” appetite/ satiety and sleep.

Most active areas in adults:

1. Limbic system
The limbic system controls sexual behavior, emotional reactivity and motor regulation.
2. Cortex
The cortex is responsible for concrete thought, affiliation and attachment.

The Brain Basics

1. Neurons:

• Building blocks of the brain


• Nerve cells that specialize to form brain sections


• Communicate messages throughout the brain

2. Synapse:

• A connection between 2 neurons


• Each Neuron has thousands of synapses


• Creates connections between thousands of neurons.

3. Myelin:

• An insulating sheath that covers the length of mature neurons


• Necessary for clear, efficient, electrical transmission


• Increasing connection effectiveness by 3000x

Synapse Time Line

Brain development throughout stages of life:

[Newborns]


• Developing automatic functions, the 5 senses, and motion


• Brain is 25% of its future adult weight


• Implicit (or unconscious) memory allows recognition of mother and family

[Toddlers]

• Brain develops up to 2,000,000 synapses per second


• Building the architecture for future functioning

[by Age 3]

• Brain already weighs nearly 90% of it’s future adult weight


• Explicit (conscious memory) develops


• Future capacities for learning, social interaction, and emotional abilities are already largely established

[4 through 10 ]

• Children’s brains are more than twice as active as adult’s brains.


• Of the body’s total O2 intake, the adult brain consumes 20%
  
  A child’s brain consumes up to 50%

[by Age 8] “Logic” abilities start to form

[Age 11 into adulthood]

• “Use it or Lose it”


• Pruning: deleting lesser-used synapse connections making other pathways more efficient

[Age 14]

• Myelination begins in the Frontal Lobe (higher learning)


• Reasoning, planning, emotions, and problem-solving skills significantly develop

[Age 16] Drive a car

[Age 18] Vote

[Age 21] Drink Alcohol

[Age 23] Pruning completes

• Nearly half of the child’s synapses have been deleted

[Age 25] Myelination completes

• The brain is finally fully matured
  Insurance rates drop – Not a coincidence

[Beyond:] Brain Composition

• Continually changes as learning occurs throughout lifespan

No matter what your age, when it comes to brain functions, it’s literally “use ’em or lose ’em”

Sources:
http://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/briefs/inbrief_series/inbrief_the_science_of_ecd
http://www.cyf.govt.nz/documents/info-for-caregivers/fds-cd-stages-of-brain-dec11-hu.pdf
http://hrweb.mit.edu/worklife/youngadult/brain.html
https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/issue_briefs/brain_development/how.cfm
http://www.academia.edu/6089683/REFLECTION_ON_LEARNING_AND_THE_STAGES_OF_DEVELOPMENT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXnyM0ZuKNU
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK28194