The site Better Brains for Babies: Recent Research on the Brain and Early Childhood Development at https://www.bbbgeorgia.org/ (Links to an external site.) has a great deal of information on the importance of brain development throughout life. The brain is something that is actually not been fully researched and has many myths surrounded with the development and the need for the brain.

The section which was of great importance was on negative experiences, as shown in the page:            

Negative experiences can damage brain development by slowing synaptogenesis, pruning, and myelination. Experiences such as poor nutrition, exposure to secondhand smoke, family stress, and child abuse or neglect may have profound, long-term effects on the development of a child’s brain.”

The research on the brain is profound and is useful for educators in the way that children are treated within the classroom and the positive reinforcements that should take place as opposed to punishing behaviors and fear which cultivates negative experiences and hence alters the brain in a negative way for children.

One of the horrifying factors on the brain are the effects on children in orphanages which are still happening today. See attached article from 2007 which is an untold story from CNN (CNN.com – World’s Untold Stories (Links to an external site.))

showcasing orphanages in Romania where babies have stopped crying due to mere inadequate circumstances in the orphanage. The language babies use is a cry to forecast the need to eat and be held. These negative experiences will inadvertently affect the makeup of the brains of these children and ultimately reflect in their future communication, bonding and the emotional connections these children will form in the later years of their life.