Exploring The Center on the Developing Child Harvard University Website.

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/

        I just recently returned home from a week long trip to Tulsa Oklahoma where I attended a 43 hour Conscious Discipline training.  Among many other things, the training spent a great deal of time covering brain development in young children and its impact on child and adult outcomes. Brain development is improved by high quality adult/child interactions found in loving homes and high quality early childhood environments. Unfortunately, these high quality environments come at a high price in many areas making them inaccessible to some children. Consequently, children from lower income households are often being cared for in poor quality environments with negative adult/child interactions. These negative interactions cause poor brain development leading to decreased adult outcomes and perhaps contributing to the cycle of poverty.
       The Harvard website presents information on brain development and the importance of child/adult interactions. The website provides links to videos on brain development and the importance of positive interactions.

           
              How Brains are Built: Core Story of Brain Development
              http://www.albertafamilywellness.org/resources/video/how-brains-are-built-core-story-of-

              brain-development


                                   


              Brain Architecture Executive Function and Self Regulation 
              http://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/executive-function/

                                               
                                 

The information provided on the website makes it clear that high quality interactions are the key to brain development. Unfortunately, our most vulnerable children are exposed to high levels of negative interactions in the form of yelling, punishment, and abuse.  Many are being raised in homes with domestic violence or drug abuse. These interactions combined with parents with low executive function and self-regulation can create a perfect storm for future mental illness and developmental delays. The website contains links to several other organizations throughout the world including the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative. This organization focuses on healthy brain development to prevent addition and mental illness.

                                    

                                   

       In additional to the often poor quality of early learning environments for children in poverty, there is also a gap in mental health services. In the Northern Kentucky area, there are multiple mental health organizations that serve low income children. However, most of them do not fall into the "high quality" category.  The therapists are often reliant on medication based therapies because they do not know what to do with children that have experienced trauma and are now presenting with cognitive delays. I am acquainted with several of these therapists and they are able to recognize the issue but do not have the skills to treat it as effectively as they might like. Prevention is certainly a key strategy as we move forward. Organizations such as the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative provide and additional resource for families as well as therapists and educators.

                                                                 Resources

Alberta Family Wellness Initiative. (2017). How brains are built: core story of brain development.              Retrieved from  http://www.albertafamilywellness.org/resources/video/how-brains-are-built-                core-story-of-brain-development

Center For the Developing Child. (2017). Brain architecture executive function and self regulation.              Retrieved from  http://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/executive-function/