Early Relationships: The Key Ingredient of Brain Development

Presented by: Mary Ann Marchel, Ph D.University of Minnesota Duluth Unified

Early Childhood Studies

Agenda: Monday AM

9:00-9:30 –Introductions and Icebreaker9:30-10-:30 Early Relationships: The Key Ingredient of Brain Development10:30-Break10:45-11:30 Autism11:30-1:00 Make it Take It Part I1:00-2:00 Lunch2:00-4:00 Make it Take it Part II

A Bit About Our Purpose:

• To create a safe learning environment that nourishes and promotes your thinking about “you” in the context of your relationships with children, families, and staff.

• As facilitators, we are committed to supporting creative and open exploration of relationship-based work as it applies to your setting.

• We hope to create a “holding” environment that furthers your journey in this important work.

• Take advantage of the “Wondering Wall”.

It’s all about the bricks and mortar:

Infant Mental Health as the “Context” for Robust Early Intervention Services.

The Hierarchy of Well-Being

What do we know about the relationship between early relationships and brain development?

• Infants develop in the context of relationships• Their brains develop neural connections in

response to their experience• The quality of the relationship between parent

and child matters most, as they need experience with an effective “relational partner” in order for the parts to organize into a “self”

Key Ingredients: Emotions…

• Emotions organize behavior……. and lay the foundation for sense of self (inner working model).

Key Ingredients: Social

• Infants are biologically predisposed to interact with others.

• Originates with survival need. • Harlow’s work with rhesus monkeys

demonstrates the critical role of contact with others in development.

• “There is no such thing as an infant….If you set out to describe a baby you will find you are describing a baby and someone. A baby cannot exist alone, but is essentially part of a relationship.”

D.W. Winnicott, 1966

Ingredients: Relational

• Relationships provide the framework and context in which behaviors are organized.

• The Still Face Procedure by Ed Tronick provides an example of the opportunities that exist in each interaction.

The Importance of Relationships

• Relationship is the fuel that drives development, affecting basic capacities such as self-regulation, exploration and learning, identity, and interpersonal understanding

• The parent (relational partner) is the organizer of the child’s psychological experience

• Relationship can be stressed by internal and external factors

Relationships

• Effect virtually all aspects of development:Intellectual

Social Emotional Physical Behavioral Moral

Bidrectional Process

Infant regulates and refines careGiver’s behavior in the service of herOwn adaptation (Sander, 1979; Vgotsky, 1987)

Caregiver, in turn provides the scaffolding to help promote the infant’s successful adaptation

Taken together, these ingredients comprise the key components of infant mental health.

How do we as professionals who work with young children and their families Activate and nourish the growth of these ingredients to create robust programs?

What are some key ingredients of Early Intervention programs?

• Attachment• Brain Development• Parent-Child Relationship• Intervention Skills• Self-Awareness

• An integrated understanding of attachment and how it affects development

• An understanding of the attachment system and the relationship between security and exploration

• Can a child form different attachments to different people?

• How does attachment affect self-regulation, exploration, peer relationships?

• An understanding of the importance of organized stimulation in the early years

• An awareness of the role of relationship in brain development as well as the role of the environment

• An awareness of the effects of environmental stress on brain development

• An understanding of the complex and long-lasting factors that affect the relationship between parent and child

• An understanding of the effects of the parent-child relationship on development

• An appreciation for the deeply PERSONAL history and convictions that every parent brings to parenting

• A sensitivity to the nuances of cultural and familial differences in parenting

• Relationally-based intervention with parent and child

• Skills of observation, regulation, reflection, translation

• Professional use of self: noticing, feeling, containing, assessing – learning to promote strengths by “being with”

• Helping parent learn new skills for self and child: think about, feel for, act on behalf of, derive pleasure from

A bit of basic information about brain development

• Mechanisms by which we become and stay attached to others are biologically primed and increasingly discernable in the basic structure of the brain.

• Nurturing environments, or the lack of them, affect the development of brain circuitry.

• Nurturing touch promotes growth and alertness in babies.

• Presence of a secure attachment protects toddlers from biochemical effects of stress.

Field, 1986; 1995Gunnar, 1989; 1996

Hardwired to Connect

Brain Development In Infants and Toddlers

Developed by Ronald J. Lally. © 2007, WestEd, The Program for Infant/Toddler Care. This document may be reproduced for educational purposes.

Intellect, Logic, Reasoning

Motor Area Sensory area

Taste

Language

Vision

Balance

Speech

Hearing

Emotional Regulation

Gene / Environment Interaction

• Environments can influence genes as they release. Their intensity can either reduce or increase genetically based risks.

• The Program for Infant/Toddler Care (Ron Lally, 2007). West Ed.

• National Science Council on the Developing Child

Following information taken from

Abstract ThoughtLogicReasoning

AttachmentContext MemorySexual BehaviorEmotion ReactivityAppetite/SatietyBlood PressureBody Temperature

Motor RegulationBalanceHeart RateBreathing

FOREBRAINCortex

“Executive Center”

MIDBRAINLimbic

“Emotional Center”

HINDBRAINCerebellum &

Brainstem“Alarm Center”

Hierarchy of Brain Development

Gene / Environment Interaction

• Environments can influence genes as they release. Their intensity can either reduce or increase genetically based risks.

• Brain development progresses in a hierarchical, “bottom-up” sequence, with advanced skills built on more basic capabilities.

• As it develops, the quality of brain architecture establishes a sturdy or weak foundation for learning and behavior.

• Brain circuits consolidate with increasing age, making them more difficult to rewire.

• The timetable of brain plasticity varies: it is narrow for basic sensory abilities, wider for language, and broadest for cognitive and social-emotional skills.

Brain Architecture is Built Over Time

• Brain development progresses in a hierarchical, “bottom-up” sequence, with advanced skills built on more basic capabilities.

• As it develops, the quality of brain architecture establishes a sturdy or weak foundation for learning and behavior.

• Brain circuits consolidate with increasing age, making them more difficult to rewire.

• The timetable of brain plasticity varies: it is narrow for basic sensory abilities, wider for language, and broadest for cognitive and social-emotional skills.

Brain Architecture is Built Over Time

• Prenatal:– Poor nutrition– Pregnancy

complications– Alcohol– Prescription, O-T-C, &

illegal drugs– Exposure to toxins– Stress– Parental depression

• Birth & First Months– Poor Nutrition– Delivery complications– Neurological insult– Exposure to toxins – Difficult temperament/

hyperactivity/attention/impulsivity problems

– Stress– Parental depression

Early Risk Factors

Thompson, R. A., & Nelson, C. A. (2001). Developmental science and the media: Early brain development. American Psychologist, 56(1), 5-15.

Months Years Decades

Experiencecreates

Expectationwhich alters

Perception

“Culture influences every aspect of human development and is reflected in childrearing beliefs and practices designed to promote healthy adaptation.”

Core Concept #2 “From Neurons to Neighborhoods”National Academy of Sciences, 2000

Understanding and Dealing with Stress

Image: www.brainconnection.com

© 1999 Scientific Learning Corporation

Prenatal Development

(Elio

t, 1

999)

The nervous system begins to develop just before the third week of gestation.

Cell creation and movement to the right spots occur during the first five prenatal months.

Brain Size: 25% at Birth; 90% Age 5 Talking Reasonably and Responsibly about Early Brain Development, University of Minnesota

Positive Stress • Refers to moderate, short-lived stress responses, such as brief increases in heart rate or mild changes in stress hormone levels. Learning to adjust to it is an essential feature of healthy development. Examples: meeting new people, getting an immunization, entering child care.

• Events that provoke positive stress tend to be those that a child can learn to control and manage well with the support of caring adults and which occur against the backdrop of generally safe, warm, and positive relationships.

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, Excessive Stress Disrupts the Architecture of the Developing Brain. (2005). Working Paper No. 3., Summer 2005.

Tolerable Stress

• Refers to stress responses that could disrupt brain architecture, but generally occur within a time-limited period and are buffered by supportive relationships that facilitate adaptive coping. These conditions usually give the brain an opportunity to recover from potentially damaging effects.

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, Excessive Stress Disrupts the

Architecture of the Developing Brain. (2005). Working Paper No. 3., Summer 2005.

• Examples of stressors include death, a serious illness of a loved one, a frightening injury, divorce.

Toxic Stress

• Refers to strong and prolonged activation of the body’s stress management systems in the absence of the buffering protection of adult support, disrupts brain architecture and leads to stress management systems that respond at relatively lower thresholds, and increases the risk of stress-related physical and mental illness.

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, Excessive Stress Disrupts the Architecture of the Developing Brain. (2005). Working Paper No. 3., Summer 2005.

• Examples of stressors include extreme poverty, physical or emotional abuse, chronic and serious neglect, enduring maternal depression, family violence.

Tolerable and Toxic Stress

Alarm, Alarm

AlarmRelaxation

Persistent Stress Changes Brain Architecture

Source: C. Nelson (2008)

Normal

Chronic stress

Prefrontal Cortex andHippocampus

Bock et al Cer Cort 15:802 (2005)

Typical -neuron with many

connections

Neuron damaged by toxic stress – fewer connections

Under Any Type of Perceived Threat(physical, intellectual or emotional)

The Brain:loses ability to take in subtle clues

reverts to “tried & true” behaviors

becomes more automatic & over-reactive

is less able to use “higher order” thinking skills

loses some memory capacity

Increase in heart rate

Increase in blood pressure

Increase in breathing rate

Increase in muscle tone

Release of stored sugar

Hyper-vigilance

Tuning out of all non-critical information

The Body’s Response to Stress

• The capacity to deal with stress is controlled by a set of highly interrelated brain circuits and hormonal systems that are specifically designed to deal adaptively with environmental challenges. When an individual feels threatened, stress hormones are produced that convert the physical or emotional stress into chemical signals that are sent throughout the body as well as to the brain.

“Excessive stress disrupts the architecture of the developing brain” Working Paper #3 Summer 2005, National Scientific Council on the Developing Child.

Chemicals in the Brain

• Kills brain cells• Reduces number of cell connections• Shrinks hippocampus• Impairs selective attention• Impairs thinking• Creates anxious behavior

Cortisol

High levels trigger over-arousal and tendency toward impulsive, hot-blooded acts of violence.

Noradrenalin: An Alarm Hormone

Low levels = an adaptation to a threatening environment - impulsive, aggressive behavior

Normal levels = clear thinking, social success

Serotonin: An Impulse Modulator

1. How can child care programs help children cope with tolerable stress?

2. How can child care programs avoid exposing infants to toxic stress while in care?

3. How can your program support infants who are experiencing toxic stress outside the child care program?

Small Group Questions:

• Watch child’s cues for signs of interest

• Ask what the child wants

• Adapt your behavior to child’s signals

• Bathe child in language

• Concern yourself with identity messages

Responsive Care

What do you think would be most important for infant care teachers and families with infants and toddlers to know about early brain development?

What has worked for you?

Please share with your group a successful strategy you have used to teach about brain development of infants and toddlers.

Please write one statement about each.

Small Group Question:

• There are learning windows but for humans most windows never close completely

• Synapse loss is a natural occurrence based on the pruning of seldom used connections

• Early emotional and social experiences are as important to the wiring of the brain as intellectual experiences

• Healthy early development depends on nurturing and dependable relationships

• Experiences create expectations which alter perceptions

Points to Remember