Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Brain Development
What Kinds of Changes Are Occurring Within the Brain During the First 2 Years of Life?"
There are several kinds of changes that occur within the brain during the first 2 years of life (Bornstein & Lamb, 89). In fact, some developmental specialists believe that if first two years of life periods in brain development are not utilized, opportunities for brain development can never be regained because in later years the flexibility of using brain is lost. By the time a baby is born, she will have l00 billion brain cells, but these cells are not connected in circuits the way they will be, when the brain begins to mature. In the first two years of life, the brain rapidly forms connections between brain cells and ultimately a single cell can connect with as many as 15,000 other cells (Bruer, 75-81).
During the first year of life, the brain goes through a series of large changes. Starting just after birth, a baby's brain produces trillions more connections between neurons than it can possibly use. By the time a child is two years, the brain has formed about l000 trillion connections, more than it will ever need...
So finally a pruning process occurs through which millions of neurons and their connections are eliminated. The parts of the brain that are stimulated and used will develop and those that are not used will be lost (Dawson & Fishcer, 126).
It's the baby's early experiences that determine which connections will be kept and which would not survive. It is theorized that when a connection is used it becomes permanent, but when it is not used it is unlikely to survive (Flavell, Miller, & Miller, 56-61). So the absence of experiences that will stimulate the brain during critical periods can have a lasting impact. Critical periods are times when the brain is most ripe for the learning and acquisition of new skills. Let us take an example of vision that requires a large number of nerve cells to fire for focusing the eyes on the object. If a child does not focus one eye appropriately during the critical period of visual development, the child will never achieve normal vision in that eye. This happens because the brain was not stimulated during the critical period of visual development (Dawson & Fishcer, 87).
Deprived…
References
Bornstein, M.H. & Lamb, M.E. Development in Infancy: An Introduction. NY: McGraw-Hill, 1992
Bruer, J.T. The Myth of the First Three Years: A New Understanding of Early Brain Development and Lifelong Learning. NY: Free Press, 1999.
Campbell, F.A. & Ramey, C.T. Cognitive and school outcomes for high-risk African-American students at middle adolescence: Positive effects of early intervention. American Educational Research Journal, 1995, 32(4): 742-772.
Dawson, G & Fishcer, K. Human Behavior and the Developing Brain. NY: Guilford, 1994.
Health -- Nursing Piaget Theoretical Perspective On Human Development Piaget's Theoretical Perspective on Human Development Piaget's Theoretical Perspective on Human Development The theory of cognitive development by Piaget presents a comprehensive approach in evaluating human intelligence development and nature in developmental psychology. Piaget shares that children play active roles in growing of intelligence through learning by doing and by examples. The intellectual development theory involves a focus on believing, reasoning, perceiving and remembering the
health care strategies and skills for Zoe to improve in her decision-making, communication, introspection, and problem-solving. The strategies will focus on using and developing various ground rules for health care discussions. The interventions will also assess independence of attitudes and knowledge in relation to Zoe's content. Recognizing and reflecting on Zoe's personal feelings and emotional negotiations is essential in this study. The paper encourages stakeholders such as Mrs. Flynn
Cognitive Development Jean Piage is a luminary as far as cognitive development theory goes. This is because of his contributions in his intellectual development theory. According to Piaget, intellectual development is a continuation of innate biological processes. He emphasizes that children go through four sequential processes of development. These four stages also occur with sub stages within them. The sensory motor stage: 0 to 2 years; intuitive stage: 2 to 7 years;
Depression, Diabetes and Obesity This is a case study on a 58-year-old male, Mr. H.Y. who worked at a supermarket and is now retired. He has a supportive wife who works full time and children who are all independent .He has a history of smoking, but quit 10 years ago and drinks alcohol twice a week. He is obese and a known case of diabetes for one year. He has gained
Alcohol abuse was once considered a problem of willpower. Now, it is widely recognized as a medical problem with three primary roots causes: biological factors, psychological factors, and socio-cultural factors. This paper examines the three root causes, beginning with the foundation that genetic predisposition plays a tremendous role in substance abuse and alcoholism. If examines the biological factors impacting alcohol abuse, but goes beyond genetics to discuss brain changes that
The complex dynamic processes that underlie the development of the various functionalities of the infant brain and its maturation into an adult brain continue to be studied by researchers working to uncover the pattern of brain development. Earlier, there was a battle between the role of nature and nurture in brain development of a Child. Today, neurologists have concurred that both nature and nurture play a significant role during