• What the New Brain Research Tells Us: How Everyday Experiences Affect Children
• What the new Brain Research Tells Us: Implications for Child Care in Maine
• Start ME Right
• Child Health Care Access Project: Maine's Crisis In Access To Dental Care
• Child Health Care Access Project: Who are the Uninsured in Maine?
• Infant and Toddler Language Development

Issue Papers

What the new Brain Research Tells Us: Implications for Child Care in Maine

A mother and her little boy are making a quick stop at the grocery store. As the mother wheels her shopping cart through the produce section, the little boy spots a strange fruit on a display table. He reaches over, grabs the fruit and holds it up to his mother. "Whad dat?" he asks. Angrily, she snatches the fruit away from him and places it back on the display table. In a loud voice she tells him to be quiet and not to touch anything. He pulls back, as if afraid she might hit him, and becomes quiet.

At the other end of the store, another mother is shopping with her small daughter. The baby is riding in an infant seat attached to their shopping cart. The mother stops her shopping rounds, transfixed by her daughter"s face as the baby gazes up at her. She begins to imitate the expressions the baby makes and a soft cooing between them begins. Soon they are both exchanging smiles and sounds in a loving duet.

Witnessing these scenes, we worry about the little boy and wonder what he is thinking about himself when his curiosity is rejected so summarily. Yet it"s a vague anxiety that we feel. We"re not quite sure what the impact is on him and we feel helpless in not knowing what can be done to ease the obvious pressure his mom is feeling. We just hope that what we witnessed is not typical, that his mom is simply having a bad day. The harshness of this exchange makes us want to look away but we feel drawn into the other scene. The sweet give and take between the other mother and her daughter gives us a sense of peace; a feeling that all is right with that child and with the world. Watching them makes us smile and relax.

We can see the same contrasts when we visit child care programs and compare the quality of the care given to the children.

In one center, a care giver is rocking a baby boy in her arms and gazing into his eyes as she gives him his bottle. The care giver smiles at him and we can hear her saying very quietly, "You"re a hungry boy today! Does this taste good, Michael? The care giver strokes the baby"s arm while he sucks and gently holds the bottle for him when he shows her he needs to stop to take a breath.

In another center, a baby is propped up in an infant seat inside a playpen. It"s obvious that she"s been crying for some time. The care giver finally goes over and picks the baby up while talking to an older child about not throwing his toy. Without looking at the baby or speaking to her, the care giver gets the baby"s bottle out of the refrigerator, sits down and begins to feed her. The baby looks up at the care giver but she is too busy watching the other children to notice. Finally, in order to take a breath, the baby moves her head to one side and the bottle falls on the ground, squirting milk on the rug. Sighing, the care giver picks the bottle up, washes off the nipple, sticks it back in the baby"s mouth, and resumes feeding her. She doesn"t say anything to the baby and continues to watch the other children.

In both situations, the children"s basic physical needs are being met. Standards of hygiene are being observed, the children seem reasonably safe and they are being fed. Yet our reactions to each couldn"t be more different. At the first center, we"re drawn into the exchanges between the staff and the children. We leave the program feeling relaxed and happy about the attention the children are receiving and the obvious affection being displayed. At the second center, we feel anxious and upset. We hurry to our car, yet we are anxious for the children left behind. We do not fully understand what the repercussions may be for the children there. We just hope that what we witnessed isn"t typical.

While we may know almost instinctively which interactions with young children seem right, that knowledge is hard to convey. Words like "warm", "responsive", "nurturing" and "developmentally appropriate" seem too vague and subjective. Even though, on an almost subconscious level, great importance is attached to these qualities, there is often a lack of understanding of how public policy can affect these overtly less tangible aspects of a child"s world. By contrast, the benefits of immunizations, regular health check ups and good nutrition seem far easier to evaluate and measure and the role of government in insuring that those benefits are provided to children seems so much clearer.

Fortunately, the extraordinary surge in knowledge about brain development, together with new tools by which scientists can examine the physical structure of the brain, are now enabling us to more clearly define the significance of these less tangible qualities of care. While we have long known from psychological studies of the behavior and cognitive functioning of children what risk factors undermine healthy development, the new developments in neuroscience, in feeling at least, have changed that knowledge from "soft" science to "hard" science. For the first time, through new brain imaging techniques called PET scans, neuroscientists can provide visual images of the effects of deprivation, images that validate those instinctive feelings of concern we all feel when we see children who are being emotionally neglected or mistreated. As researchers learn more about the physical structure of the brain, particularly in the first years of life, they also are able to identify and treat developmental problems far earlier and far more effectively than was ever thought possible. While the study of the physical structure of the brain is still very much in its infancy, the discoveries that have been made should help encourage and guide the adoption of public policies that enhance the cognitive and emotional growth of our children.

How the Brain Develops:

The brain of a newborn baby is made up of trillions of brain cells or neurons. As the baby is stimulated by experiences in her environment, electrical impulses, called synapses, occur between these neurons. When repeated over and over, these connections form the permanent pathways through which we learn and process information throughout our lives. The degree to which these critical connections are made and repeated in a child"s brain is heavily dependent on the number and kind of experiences provided to that child, especially during the early years.

Throughout childhood and up to about age eleven, the brain goes through a process of organizing itself by shedding electrical connections that have not been repeated often enough to form permanent pathways. If a child has not been adequately stimulated, electrical connections critical to developing the skills and abilities necessary for success later in life are shed, thus limiting that child"s future. Early experiences whether negative or positive, heavily influence brain development and either enhance or undermine the innate ability of children to gain a healthy foundation for lifelong thinking, learning and social interaction. Dr. Stanley Greenspan, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at George Washington University Medical Center, describes the process of brain development as "an elaborate dance between biology and the environment."

The Importance of Stable Early Attachments in Effectively Coping with Stress:

Other research has focused on the acquiring of emotional skills by examining the role of certain hormones in the development of the brain. The findings from this research underscore the importance of the quality of the attachment between children and their parents and between children and their care givers. If a child experiences a stable, warm and nurturing relationship with the adults in her life, she will develop the capacity to control her own emotions, a skill critical for later success in life.

If on the other hand, a child"s relationship with adults causes her undue stress or if the child is exposed to chaotic, traumatic or unpredictable experiences with adults, the child"s brain will release excessive amounts of cortisol. This hormone, at higher levels, can lead to fewer electrical connections being made in the brain. The continued release of this hormone can cause a child to become "stuck" in a "high alert" or "fight or flight" state even when there is no danger. This state can lead to aggression and emotional and behavioral problems and can undermine the ability of children to take in the stimuli necessary to the development of critical cognitive and social skills. If, on the other hand, children experience healthy, loving relationships with adults, they are better able to deal with the normal stresses of every day life. They are also more resilient in recovering from major trauma.

Child Care and Early Education:

Among all the policy implications of this new research, and there are many, none is more compelling than the need to improve the quality of care being provided to our youngest citizens through our state"s child care system. Almost three-quarters of Maine"s children under age six live in families with parents who work outside the home, compared to 63% nationally. Child care is a critical issue for their families. Children who spend so much of their time in child care can be profoundly affected by the care provided to them. If children in child care are not given adequate opportunities for exploration, if appropriate toys are not provided, if they are rarely spoken to or touched and if the TV is used as a pacifier, they will be at greater risk for serious learning, emotional and behavioral problems.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that as a nation we have been the leader in the study of brain development, the quality of the care provided in our child care system has not reflected that research. National studies have found that between 12% and 21% of children in child care are in settings that are unsafe and compromise their development. Only 12% to 14% of kids are in settings that nurture their growth and learning. The findings are even more disturbing for infants and toddlers. Between 35% and 40% of these youngsters are in settings considered unsafe and harmful to their health and development.

How do government policies affect those intangible yet critically important aspects of quality of care that involve the interactions between care givers and children? How can policy makers help to insure that children develop close bonds with their care givers, and that the care givers stay in their jobs long enough to provide a stability to that relationship? How can they insure that the stimulation and simple give and take so crucial to brain development takes place in a child care setting? While the connection between government policy and these less tangible aspects of quality of care may seem tenuous to policy makers, researchers have found that public policies can directly influence quality and, in turn, enhance the capacity of children to learn critical cognitive and social skills. In nationwide studies assessing the quality of child care, children in states with tougher regulation of such aspects of quality as staff/child ratios and staff training requirements, were more securely attached, had better cognitive, social and language skills and fewer behavior problems than children in states with weaker controls.

Public funding of child care is another crucial issue. In our market driven, patchwork system of child care, a lack of public funding to subsidize child care programs has meant enormous inequities in the quality of care based on the ability of parents to pay. A lack of adequate resources can lead to poor staff/child ratios and lower pay for workers. Higher income families have more child care options and are more likely to be able to afford the fees necessary to insure good staff /child ratios and adequate worker compensation. Low-income families have fewer options and, indeed, many cannot even afford regulated care.

Centers serving predominantly low and moderate-income families, unless heavily subsidized, cannot afford to pay their staff well or have the same ratios of staff to children. Low pay leads to high turnover, which has been found to be particularly deleterious to children, because of their need for stability in their relationships with adults during the early years. The National Child Care Staffing Study found that children in centers with high rates of turnover spent less time interacting with each other and scored lower on tests for language development than children from centers with more consistent care givers.

While Maine"s average hourly wage for child care workers ($6.79) is higher than the national average, it is still far below the average hourly wage ($9.64) of workers in Maine. Yet they are entrusted with a responsibility that, based on the new research on the brain, should be considered absolutely critical to Maine"s economy and the future well being of all Maine residents. Providing substantial additional public subsidization of child care services is key to improving the quality of care. Programs must be able to pay child care teachers adequately, they must be able to provide adequate staff training, and they must be able to maintain ratios of staff to children that enable children to get the individual attention they need.

While 31% of the children nationwide who are in out of home care are cared for in centers, 14% receive care in family child care homes. Studies of the quality of care provided in these settings have found that the children who do best cognitively and emotionally are cared for by family child care providers who share certain characteristics, many of which can be influenced directly by public policies. These characteristics include being committed to and wanting to do child care rather than doing it solely to earn income, as well as seeking out opportunities for training and the company of other providers. Additional characteristics found in the study were being subject to regulation, being able to charge higher fees or receive adequate subsidies to maintain good ratios of adults to children, and following good business and safety practices. Strong government regulation and enforcement, funding for provider training and technical assistance and for the creation of family child care "hubs", as well as greater government subsidies to supplement parents" fees all can improve the quality of care provided in family child care homes.

Expanding Head Start is another avenue for the nurturing and stimulation of young children in order to help them overcome the disadvantages of poverty. Yet we now know that the benefits of Head Start may not be maximized unless the enriched care these programs offer is provided earlier in life - beginning in infancy. Head Start and Early Head Start need to be made available to all eligible children in Maine.

Policy makers directly responsible for setting policy regarding our welfare system need to be especially cognizant of the implications of this new research. It is particularly important that policy makers be aware of the new research on brain development as they consider how to address the new pressures on the child care system created by recent reforms in the welfare system. As the number of children from low-income families, who need child care swells, policy makers need to resist the temptation to weaken regulation in order to meet the demand. Rather, they need to see the increase in the number of low income children being placed in child care as an opportunity to initiate a "two generation strategy" to address the needs of disadvantaged youngsters by expanding the availability of high quality, enriched care.

The factors which place children at risk of cognitive, emotional and behavioral problems - maternal depression, inadequate nutrition, lack of knowledge about child development, lack of access to stimulating toys and activities, the stresses of trying to survive that sap the energy of parents - all are closely associated with poverty. While child neglect and excessive stress can occur in families at all income levels, children living in poverty are especially at risk. The good news is that comprehensive programs of intervention can make a major difference in offsetting the disadvantages low-income children face. And a key ingredient of these efforts is high quality child care, beginning in infancy.

The Carolina Abecedarian Project is just such an example. Beginning at six weeks and ending at age five, participating children attended a full-time early education program of high quality and their parents participated in a parent involvement program. At age twelve the children in the program had significantly higher IQs and even more impressively, only 13% of the program group scored in the "borderline" category of cognitive functioning compared with 44% of the control group. Program children were less likely to repeat a grade or to need special education services and they scored higher on tests of reading and mathematics. Based on results like these, policy makers should take advantage of an important opportunity to enrich the lives of disadvantaged children by making improvements in the quality of child care for this population the second pillar of true welfare reform.

Conclusion:

The physical pictures now available to us of the development of the human brain provide us with tangible proof of the complex interaction between heredity and environment that we now know determines the emotional and cognitive abilities of children. Once exposed to these pictures, they remain with us as we consider our own parenting and as we consider the impact on children of the child and family policies we adopt as a state and as a nation.

In many ways children living in Maine are fortunate. We are a small state in which a sense of community is still comparatively strong. Violence has not reached the levels that cause so much stress for children in other states. Many of Maine"s children have extended families living nearby from which their parents can derive support. While we are not a wealthy state, our size and traditions provide us with greater opportunities to make a difference for our children through community-wide efforts to enrich the lives of our youngest citizens.

By applying this new research, in a comprehensive way, to the child and family policies we adopt as a state, we can serve as an extraordinary model of commitment and vision for the rest of the nation. Improving our child care system is a critical first step in that effort. Our children will be stronger and our future more secure if we take bold action now to nurture our smallest citizens and enrich the environment in which they live.

May 1998

 

1. Child Care Vignettes Adapted from Zero to Three: The National Center for Infants and Toddlers, Caring for Infants and Toddlers in Groups, Developmentally Appropriate Practice (Washington, D.C.: Zero to Three: The National Center for Infants and Toddlers, 1995) 59.
2. The primary source for this discussion of the new research on brain development is Rima Shore, Rethinking the Brain, New Insights into Early Development (New York, New York: Families and Work Institute, 1997).
3. Ibid., 63.
4. Lieberman, A.F. and C.H. Zeanah, " Disorders of Attachment in Infancy", Infant Psychiatry, 4 (1995) 571-587 cited in Ounce of Prevention Fund, Starting Smart: How Early Experiences Affect Brain Development (Chicago, Illinois: Ounce of Prevention Fund, 1996).
5. Data on child care in Maine from Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1998 KIDS COUNT Data Book, (Washington D.C.: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1998).
6. Greenough, W.T., "Experiences and Brain Development", Child Development, 58 (1987) 539-559 cited in Ounce of Prevention, Starting Smart.
7. .Shore, Rethinking, 59. See studies cited in sources for her discussion of child care quality.
8. Ibid.
9. Whitebrook, M., C. Howes, and D.A. Phillips, Who Cares? Child Care Teachers and the Quality of Care in America, Final Report of the National Child Care Staffing Study, (Oakland, CA.: Child Care Employee Project 1990). See also Whitebrook, M., D.A. Phillips, and C. Howes, National Child Care Staffing Study Revisited: Four Years in the Life of Center-Based Child Care, (Oakland, CA.: Child Care Employee Project,.1993).
10. Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1998 KIDS COUNT.
11. West, J., D. Wright and E.G. Hausken, Child Care and Early Education Program Participation of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Eductaion, 1995) cited in Hofferth, Sandra L., "Child Care in the United States Today", The Future of Children, 6 (Summer/Fall, 1995) 44.
12. Shore, Rethinking, 60.
13. Shore, Rethinking, 47.
14. Campbell. F.A. and C.T. Ramey, "Effects of Early Intervention on Intellectual and Academic Achievement: A Follow-up Study of Children from Low Income Families", Child Development. 65 (1994) 684-698 cited in Ounce of Prevention, Starting Smart.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE E-MAIL THE MAINE CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE AT bcolfer@mekids.org

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