How Early Intervention Can Alter Genetics Growth To Pave The Path For Your Child’s Academic, Behaviour And Developmental Growth
There is an increasing trend that parents are sending their children as young as 6 months old to classes for learning purposes. Would exposing your child to therapy be useful at such a young age? In this article, we looked into why early intervention is important and how it can have a lifelong effect for a child.
The Science behind Brain Development In Children
To understand why early intervention programs are crucial, we first need to know how the brain is formed in the early stages of child development. This is a continuous process that begins pre-birth and stretches into adulthood.
During the first few years of a child’s development, more than 1 million new neural connections (synapse) are formed via receiving and sending information in the brain every second. It grows twice in size in the first year and reaches 80 per cent of an adult's volume by the age of 3 years (Figure 1).
The incredible growth rate of these connections coupled with a child’s early experiences will determine how these connections are fine-tuned to improve the efficiency of the brain circuits. This process is called pruning.
FIGURE 1 <Neuron Growth & Connections Over Time>
Source: Corel, JL. The postnatal development of the human cerebral cortex. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1975
Research has shown that the first few years of a child’s development are the most important years accounting for long-term effects that last throughout his/her life.
Therefore, proper exposure and therapy to early childhood experiences will help create connections that will wire the neurons to establish the foundation for all learning, health and behaviour that follows.
To ensure the holistic development of a child, therapy should take these factors into consideration
Emotional well-being
Social interactions/social competence
Cognitive abilities
Physical health
Language development
How does Brain Connections affect Sensory Pathway, Language and Higher Cognitive Functions
The brain connections that are formed result in how the sensory pathways, language and higher cognitive functions work.
A child’s sensory pathways such as vision, hearing and touch start to develop as early as pre-birth to as old as 6 years of age. The sensory pathways are very sensitive to the effects of environmental stimulation.
Although the early stages of the brain development are affected by the genetic factors during the pregnancy phase, they can still be altered and shaped by experiences in the environment that a child is in.
From the diagram below (Figure 2), you can see that after the sensory pathways are being developed, the language skills and higher cognitive functions begin to form. The first 3 years of a child’s life has the highest growth rate for all 3 functions. Thus, it shows that by having early preventive interventions for a child, it can yield the maximum results compared to remediation in the later stages of life.
This clinical evidence further shows how fundamentally critical it is in the functionality of a child’s sensory ability. It will affect very much in the subsequent milestones of a child in terms of Speech, Language and Cognition, especially in the case of children with autistic or learning difficulties.
FIGURE 2 <Neural circuits mature at different times, occur in a sequential fashion, & are built upon previously established circuits>
Source: C.A. Nelson, in Neurons to Neighborhoods, 2000
How Early Intervention helps to alter these connections made
There are many therapy protocols one can adopt for all early intervention treatments.
However, it is important to note that a child’s experiences will shape the neurological changes and it takes place when an adaptive response is achieved.
To elaborate further, adaptive response is when a specific movement happens, a target desired response occurs for a child to achieve success. The objective is to promote a change in behaviour and confidence through a series of therapeutic settings to stimulate the brain to process information in a desired manner.
This helps the brain to be more organized in processing information and responding appropriately based on the situations. It encourages a child to react in a positive way to the stimuli of a child’s inner or outer environment.
To illustrate how a simple task can achieve a positive response via some adjustments in a child’s actions, refer below for an example.
A child attempts to put a bottle cap back on his water bottle.
He has made several attempts and has not succeeded in doing so.
Using a little assistance to adjust and fine-tune the bottle cap action, will help him achieve an adaptive response.
This action will be further developed and become part of his motor learning behaviours.
Repetitive exposure is important to get him to recognize and have more accurate feelings in his joints and muscles of his arms and hands.
It would also allow for modifications whenever deemed necessary.
With various exposures to different situations, it helps a child adapt and learn via these experiences.
Using the Inner Drive to motivate a child to increase the effectiveness
During therapy, play is occasionally used as an effective tool as part of the session. Keeping in mind the goals set for a child’s needs, by introducing a fun element in an activity, that particular activity activates the motivation within a child. While having fun, their motivation develops and he/she starts organizing their thoughts better. This is known as the inner drive. With the right environment and intervention, the inner drive can be brought out to further increase the effectiveness of the session.
Being emotionally engaged and involved in the activity, will help a child master the demands of the play. The therapist plays an important role to prescribe and tailor a most suited treatment for the development of a child’s nervous system to ensure motivation is in place and provide the right amount of challenge for a child.
We have seen that early intervention is crucial to mould a child’s academic, behaviour and developmental growth. At Assumption Learning, we customize the therapy based on the child as we believe that every child is unique and has their own needs. Reach out to us to find out more about how your child can start his/her journey with us :)