Father Involvement and Children’s Brain Development

Tomás Reyes, PhDContent Manager

Head Start Knowledge & Information Management Services

Goals for this Session

• Share research-based information on father emgagement and brain development

• Explore father parental practices and their link to brain development

• Initiate action planning to support brain-based father engagement

Opening Activity

• To the sound of music participants will introduce to each other and discuss pre-formulated questions

• Facilitator will share a question for discussion each time the music stops

• Each participant will take 1-2 minutes to share

Father Involvement

Is a critical factor in child development as it provides a buffer against cognitive and academic performance issues, mental illness, the development of adverse personality, psychological maladjustment, delinquency, substance abuse, depression, and conduct problems.

Rohner, R.P. & Veneziano, R.A. (2001). The importance of father love: History and contemporary evidence. Review of General Psychology 5.4: 382-405.

Children of Involved Fathers

• Have a greater potential for achieving a more stable and positive future

• Are better able to gain a sense of independence and an identity outside the mother/child relationship

• Demonstrate higher self-esteem and grade point averages

What Fathers Bring to the Table

• Different parenting style• Different play style• Build confidence• Different communication

style• Different discipline style

• Prepare children for the real world

• Provide a window to the world of men

• Can teach respect for the other sex

• Connect children with job markets

Building Blocks for Father Involvement. Building Block 1: Appreciating how fathers give children a head start. HHS, Office of Head Start, 2004

Activity I: Father parental practices & brain development

• In small groups brainstorm father parental practices under posted infants/toddlers needs:– Role modeling– Quality time– Supportive behaviors– Expressions of love– Physical contact

• After time is called up, take a gallery walk and add to postings under other needs

The BrainBrain development begins before birth and continues through early adult years. The process is influenced by genes passed on from the parents to the child, by the environment of the mother’s womb, and by the world the child experiences during infancy and childhood, which can either weaken or strengthen the initial blueprint.

National Scientific Council on the developing Child, 2006

About Brain Development

• Brains are built over time, shaped by the interaction between genetics and experience

• Social, emotional, and cognitive development are highly interrelated

• Brain architecture and skills are built in a hierarchical “bottom-up” sequence

• Brain plasticity and the ability to change behavior decrease over time

Relationships are Key Ingredients of Brain Development

• Nurturing and responsive relationships build healthy brain architecture that provides a strong foundation for learning, behavior, and health

• When protective relationships are not provided, elevated levels of stress hormones (i.e. cortisol) disrupt brain architecture by impairing cell growth and interfering with the formation of healthy neural circuits

Brain Facts• MAKING CONNECTIONS - A child is born with over 100

billion neurons or brain cells. No more neurons will develop after birth. These neurons form connections, called synapses, which make up the wiring of the brain.

• EARLY EXPERIENCES - At age eight months an infant may have 1,000 trillion synapses. The final number of synapses is largely determined by a child's early experiences.

Tulsa Community Partnership for Early Childhood Success/JumpStart Tulsa, 2008

"USE IT OR LOSE IT!" - The brain operates on a "use it or lose it" principle: only those connections and pathways that are frequently activated are retained.

DEFINING LANGUAGE SKILLS - When an infant is three months old, his brain can distinguish several hundred different spoken sounds. During early childhood, the brain retains the ability to learn new languages easily and without an accent.

THE POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD - The power of early adult-child interactions is remarkable. Researchers found that when frequently spoken to, infants learned almost 300 more words by age two than did their peers who were rarely spoken to. Children need to hear people talk to them about what they are seeing and experiencing, in order for their brains to fully develop language skills.

THE LOVING TOUCH - Warm, responsive care giving meets an infant's basic, day-to-day needs for nourishment and warmth, and also responds to their preferences, moods and rhythms. Recent research suggests that this kind of consistent care giving plays a vital role in healthy development.

CREATING ONE STABLE BOND - Researchers who examine the life histories of children who have succeeded despite many challenges, have consistently found that these children have had at least one stable, supportive relationship with an adult early in life.

Effects of Substances & Neglect Toxic substances and neglect can disrupt the development of the body’s systems. The nature and severity of that disruption depend upon the type of substance and/or neglect, the level and duration of exposure, and on the timing during the developmental process. Early assaults can lead to a broad range of lifelong problems in physical and mental health that impose devastating human and financial costs.

Adversity & Lifelong Consequences

• Positive stress• Tolerable stress• Toxic stress

Activity II: Planning for brain-based father involvement

• Language Development• Literacy • Mathematics • Science

• Creative Arts• Social & Emotional

Development• Approaches to Learning• Physical Health &

Development

In small groups brainstorm father parental practices to support brain development for school readiness and life:

Ingredients of Success• Buy-in/support from agency leadership and top

management• Program philosophy that embraces fatherhood • Committed and gifted staff to work with fathers• Identification of fathers’ needs and interests• Programming and partnerships that address father

needs• Cultural and language sensibility• Sustaining of father initiative

ACF Region I, National Survey, 2006

Closing and Evaluations

Resources

Additional Resources• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)

– www.aacap.org • American Psychiatric Association (APA)

– www.HealthyMinds.org • Center for the Developing Child

– www.developingchild.net• Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder

(CHADD) – www.chadd.org

• Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center– http://www.eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov

• Mental Health America (formerly NMHA) – www.mentalhealthamerica.net

• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) – www.nami.org

• Taking a closer look: A guide to online resources on Family Involvement– http://ncpie.org/