The excitement about the BRAIN Initiative continues to grow! It is so exciting to know that each of you are contributing to creating greater awareness for the benefit of ALL children.
Have you sent in your nomination?
I invite you to nominate programs, schools, organizations, or agencies that would benefit from a donated brain activity packet in either English or Spanish. The winner for the donation from Week #3 is below!
Following is the Week #4 BRAIN insight to share:
BRAIN
Brains Require All Investing Now
A BRAIN Insight to share ~ Week #4
Opportunities to play and explore with real objects is the way strong brain connections and learning abilities are developed best.
Let's make this common knowledge! To share this brain fact just cut and paste or use the the share button!
You can simply post the insight on social network sites
You can also include the fact in organizational literature or newsletters, add to your signature on your e-mail, post on a bulletin board and implement it into what you do each week.
Additionally each week, e-mail the BRAIN Insight to 5 people you know. Encourage each person to share it with 5 people they know. If each person shares with 5 people each week... we will finally have EVERYONE knowing this incredibly important information!
Enjoy contributing to make this common knowledge!!
Spreading Brain Development Even Further .... Click here to send the name of a program, agency, school, organization or business that will benefit from a brain development packet. I will draw a name and donate a brain activity packet in the name of the person making the recommendation each week!!
The WINNER for WEEK #3:
St. Anthony Preschool, Costa Rica
A brain development packet for the age of their choice will be donated in the name of :Laura Oreamuno
Congratulations!!
THANK YOU to all that are participating the initiative already! Tell everyone you know about the difference we can make!
Wow, people are excited about the BRAIN Initiative. It is so exciting to know this information is being shared in so many ways! There are numerous people from all over the country (and world actually) sharing the BRAIN Insight in an effort to make the importance of the early years common knowledge. It is wonderful to have received messages from so many of you already. This is exciting and I am so thrilled to have you participating! It would be great if we had a way to track how many people are sharing the information. Let me know if you have suggestions for how we can get a real idea of how many people are involved.
I received a suggestion from a BRAIN Initiative participant to have nominations for Spanish packet donations as well as the English packets. I think this is a terrific idea. I invite you to also nominate programs, schools, organizations, or agencies that would benefit from brain activity packets in Spanish. The winner for the donation from Week #2 is below! Continue to send in your nominations.
Following is the Week #3 BRAIN insight to share.
BRAIN
Brains Require All Investing Now
A BRAIN Insight to share ~ Week #3
Brain pathways are wired based on repetition. The brain adapts based on either negative or positive experiences.
Let's make this common knowledge! To share this brain fact just cut and paste or use the the share button!
You can simply post the insight on social network sites
You can also include the fact in organizational literature or newsletters, add to your signature on your e-mail, post on a bulletin board and implement it into what you do each week.
Additionally each week, e-mail the BRAIN Insight to 5 people you know. Encourage each person to share it with 5 people they know. If each person shares with 5 people each week... we will finally have EVERYONE knowing this incredibly important information!
Enjoy contributing to make this common knowledge!!
Spreading Brain Development Even Further .... Click here to send the name of a program, agency, school, organization or business that will benefit from a brain development packet. I will draw a name and donate a brain activity packet in the name of the person making the recommendation each week!!
The WINNER for WEEK #2:
English:
St. Patrick Catholic School in Norfolk, VA A brain development packet for the age of their choice will be donated in the name of :Mrs. Sarah Betancourt, M.Ed
Spanish:
Milwaukee Health Department
Southside Health Center
A brain development packet for the age of their choice will be donated in the name of :Jenny Lazuardi, RN, BSN
Congratulations!!
THANK YOU to all that are participating the initiative already! Tell everyone you know about the difference we can make!
The braininsights Creating Great Connections Recognition is designed to bring attention to programs, schools, agencies, organizations, businesses or individuals that are making an impact on healthy brain development.
Creating Great Connections Recognition
goes to:
Wendy Young, LMSW, BCD Founder of:
Wendy's knowledge, dedication and sincerity are reflected in all she does to support and enrich the lives of the fortunate people that benefit from her work. She conducts trainings, writes articles, supports other professionals in the field, and has developed extremely valuable materials! The greatest thing about Wendy is......her heart shines through in ALL she does.
The focus of Kidlutions is on the behavioral and mental health concerns of childhood. Wendy is dedicated to helping caregivers and teachers with behavior management, the impact of temperament on behavior, and infant and maternal mental health. She is effective in helping adults deal more effectively with challenging and difficult behaviors.
Wendy states in the Kidlutions mission: "We know that in life, success is not the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with them." The products she has developed are designed to contribute to this critically important mission. All of this leads to the healthy development of the highest areas of the brain, which leads to optimal learning, success, and happiness in life.
I invite you to do yourself a favor and visit her website, connect with her on social network sites, purchase her materials and invite her to speak in your community! Go to the Kidlutions website here.
Once you visit her site and see all the wonderful work she is doing for children and families. You will very quickly see why she deserves the Creating Great Connections Recognition.
The brain wires based on the environment and the repeated experiences it is exposed to
early in life.
Let's make this common knowledge! To share this brain fact just cut and paste or use the the share button!
You can simply post the insight on social network sites
You can also include the fact in organizational literature or newsletters, add to your signature on your e-mail, post on a bulletin board and implement it into what you do each week.
Additionally each week,e-mail the BRAIN Insight to 5 people you know. Encourage each person to share it with 5 people they know. If each person shares with 5 people each week... we will finally have EVERYONE knowing this incredibly important information!
Spreading Brain Development Even Further .... Click here to send the name of a program, agency, school, organization or business that will benefit from a brain development packet. I will draw a name and donate a brain activity packet in the name of the person making the recommendation each week!!
I will announce the winner the following week!
Enjoy contributing to make this common knowledge!!
THANK YOU to all that have joined the initiative already!
I am thrilled to announce a new way to promote this important initiative! This new initiative is designed to spread the incredibly valuable knowledge that.... Early Brain Development is NOT complicated and it makes an impact that affects every one of us! We can make a real difference through working together!
Every adult needs to know the impact early experiences have on the developing brain. When every parent, grandparent, educator, judge, medical professional, foster parent, social worker, community leader, policy maker, business owner, and voter becomes aware..... real and positive
change can occur.
It is very easy to become part of theBRAIN initiative.
What is the BRAIN Initiative?
An innovative brain development awareness campaign that can make a dramatic impact!
An easy way for everyone to support our children!
A simple way to create needed understanding!
Why Do We Need the BRAIN Initiative?
Because we ALL benefit from ALL children having well developed brains.
Most people do not yet know that 90% of the brain physically develops in the first 5 years, and 85% in the first 3 years.
The brain adapts and grows primarily based on the experiences a child has in the years before they enter school!
The majority of people do not realize the long range impact the early years have on the physical development of the brain and ultimately learning, relationships, and behaviors in later life.
Economists have demonstrated that it is cost beneficial to develop brains optimally from the beginning rather than spending greater amounts on problems later.
Due to advances in technology, scientist have gained valuable information on what developing brains need most.
We can all easily contribute to making a dramatic impact simply through creating awareness and understanding.
We can not afford to ignore the potential of every child.
Every child deserves the opportunity for healthy development!
How does the BRAIN Initiative Work?
A BRAIN Insight will be posted here each week.
Each "BRAIN insight" will be a very simple and interesting piece of basic brain information for you to share.
You can simply post the insight on social network sites, (twitter, Linkedin, FaceBook, etc.)
You can also include the fact in organizational literature or newsletters, add to your signature on your e-mail, post on a bulletin board and implement it into what you do each week.
Additionally each week, you can e-mail the BRAIN Insight to 5 people you know. Encourage each person to share it with 5 people they know. If each person shares with 5 people each week... we will finally have EVERYONE knowing this incredibly important information!
Spreading Brain Development Even Further .... Send me the name of a program, agency, school, organization or business that will benefit from a brain development packet. I will draw a name and donate a brain activity packet in the name of the person making the recommendation each week!!
Let's make this even more effective... simply post a comment to say you are a part of creating awareness! If you would like you could also post the ways you are promoting optimal brain development. It will be a wonderful way for you to make connections with everyone that is a part of the BRAIN initiative!
I am sure many of you may remember or know of this PSA clip...
It was one that was effective, because it made an impression!!
It got attention!
Every newborn baby needs this to also make a dramatic impression!!
This is a brain with experiences ....
this is a brain without!!!
In looking at the brain scans of these two three year old brains, you can see the dramatic difference in size! One child has had "normal" experiences, the other child experienced extreme neglect.
When children are provided with repeated experiences of good nutrition, nurturing touch, responsive interactions, direct language, opportunities to play and explore, time outdoors, predictability and LOVE ..... the brain physically grows in a healthy way. It is THAT simple......
The ability to self-regulate is critically important to success in school and in life. The full maturation of brain areas responsible for these abilities takes many years. However, experiences in the first months and early years of life have a dramatic impact on wiring the brain in ways that will lead to the capacity for self-control. Through the guidance and consistency of responsive parents and caregivers a child’s brain eventually gains an increased ability to pause, think, and plan, before reacting.
A recent report from Science Daily, shared the results of a long term study on the self-control of 1,000 children. The researchers looked at behaviors in childhood such as, "low frustration tolerance, lacks persistence in reaching goals, difficulty sticking with a task, over-active, acts before thinking, has difficulty waiting turn, restless, not conscientious."
The study followed these children into adulthood and found: “the kids scoring lowest on those measures scored highest for things like breathing problems, gum disease, sexually transmitted disease, inflammation, overweight, and high cholesterol and blood pressure. The impulsivity and relative inability to think about the long-term of the lower self-control individuals gave them more difficulty with finances, like savings, home ownership and credit card debt. They also were more likely to be single parents, have a criminal conviction record, and be dependent on alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and harder drugs."
The wonderful news is, self-control can be learned! The article quoted the researchers to say, “Self-control is something that can be taught, and doing so could save taxpayers a pile of money on health care, criminal justice and substance abuse problems down the road.”
The current newsletter from Bright Horizons includes a wonderful article on the importance of self control. This article provides valuable ideas and links on how to help develop this essential skill. Bright Horizons has given permission for me to share this information below:
A researcher in the 1960’s by the name of Walter Mischel, then at Stanford University and now at Columbia, studied self-control in young children. Working individually with four-year-olds in a laboratory setting, he put one marshmallow in front of each child. He told the child she could eat that one marshmallow, but if she wanted two marshmallows, she would have to wait longer. Those who chose to wait for two had to wait up until 15 minutes. Only 30% of children were able to exercise the self-control to wait for two marshmallows.
Mischel followed these children over time and found that those who waited for two marshmallows (demonstrated impulse control), had higher SAT scores when they were in high school and were more goal-oriented in academics and other pursuits, got along better with others and were more effective problem solvers. Apparently being able to delay gratification to achieve a greater goal is an important life skill.
It turns out there are ways to teach delayed gratification to children. For example:
·Give children ideas for things to do while they are waiting (hum a favorite song, tell a favorite story, etc.). You can help children learn distractions to keep from focusing only on eating the marshmallow or another activity they are waiting for.
·Use natural waiting times (riding in the car, waiting at the doctor’s office, etc.) to reinforce this life skill. Talk about how long you have to wait. “When the little hand on my watch gets to the 6, it will be time for us to go in.” Or, “I see you are looking at your book. That is a good thing to do while you are waiting.”
·Validate that it is hard to wait. “I know it is hard to wait, but you are doing a good job. I sometimes find it is hard to wait too.” Acknowledging your child’s feelings is a powerful way to strengthen a behavior. At the same time, don’t expect children to wait just for the sake of waiting. There will be plenty of natural opportunities to wait without creating opportunities.
·Help children develop their imagination during waiting times. “While you are waiting, can you think of a time you were really happy?” Or “If you could have any animal in the world for a pet, which would you choose? What do you think it would be like to have that kind of pet?”
If you try this with your child, don’t worry that their fate is sealed if they immediately eat the marshmallow! You can help build this important life skill of self-control.
The excitement about the BRAIN Initiative continues to grow! It is so exciting to know that each of you are contributing to creating greater awareness for the benefit of ALL children. 
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