The quality and variety of sensory experiences your child encounters in her early years are critical to the "wiring" she will build in her brain. She must participate directly in these activities rather than observing them from a distance. Talk to your baby even before she can speak and let her explore a wide variety of sights, sounds, smells, textures and tastes in her earliest years. These are the building blocks for the architecture of your child's brain.
Influences
Your baby was born with over 100 billion brain cells, or neurons, and will not grow more during his lifetime. His brain will develop through the creation of pathways between these neurons, which form the architecture his brain will use to process and store information throughout his life. Factors that influence development of these connections include genetics, interaction with people and objects, nutrition, health and intellectual support.
Experience
Experiences from all five senses provide the input from which your child's brain builds neural connections. These experiences signal to the brain the location of sensory receptors and establish connections between brain cells. By eight months, your baby may build as many as 1,000 trillion synapses within her brain, according to Starting Smart. That's about twice as many as an adult. Her brain will maintain this dense network of connections for the first decade of her life.
Prime Times
While learning takes place throughout life, there are prime times when certain portions of the brain are more adept at absorbing new information---a sort of "growth spurt" for different brain functions. For example, the prime time for visual and auditory learning is between birth and age four or five. The first few months of your child's life are especially important. He needs to see a variety of colors and shapes and he needs to view objects at various distances to develop the ability to see. He also needs to hear a variety of sounds to develop the ability to process and respond to aural input.
Pruning
Starting at about age 11, your child's brain will get rid of extraneous connections through a process known as "pruning" that aims to increase the brain's efficiency. Pruning is based on use patterns, so repetition is important in the early years because it helps the brain decide which connections to keep. If your child is deprived of normal experiences in early childhood, her brain may dispose of connections that she needs, and she could have difficulty performing functions that otherwise would have come to her naturally.
Abuse and Neglect
An infant's first preoccupation is whether his needs are being met. If he cries and he is fed or changed, he will develop a sense of security that allows him to branch out and explore the world around him. He thus gains the kinds of varied experiences he needs to develop the neural connections within his brain. If, however, his needs are not met consistently or if he receives a negative response to his cries, he will focus more narrowly on ensuring his needs are met and will not interact with people and objects to the degree he needs for healthy cognitive development.
