Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government

It has also provided useful insights into theways in which environmental influencescan impact upon the brain. Eliot (1999)describes the medical research intoenvironmental influences on the prenatalbrain. She reports that poor nutrition,substances and chemicals, alcohol,cigarettes, illegal drugs (includingmarijuana) and maternal emotion andstress can all have detrimental influencesupon the developing brain. Caffeine,sweeteners and MSG were also tested butno ill effects were found. Research byDrewett et al (2001) with malnourishedEthiopian children also found that earlymalnutrition does not have a permanentadverse effect on brain development.By contrast, neuroscience does not offerkeys to raising a super-intelligent child;indeed, Bruer (1997) argues thatneuroscience has been incorrectly appliedto devise cognitive developmentprogrammes that claim to boost a youngchild’s intelligence. Discussing criticalperiods in brain development, he statesthat, ‘experience-expectant brain plasticitydoes not depend on specific experiencesin specific environments, and for thisreason,does not provide much guidancein choosing toys, preschools, or earlychild-care policies. The experienceschildren need to develop fundamentalsensory-motor and language skills occur inany normal environment.’ (Bruer 1997:8).What is evident from neuroscience is that‘normal’ brain development in earlychildhood is dependent uponenvironmental input and, for parents andcarers, this means warm and loving,appropriate interaction with children whoare living in a safe context in which theyare nourished and nurtured and allowedopportunities to explore. Gopnik et al(1999) summarise evidence from researchin philosophy, psychology, neuroscience,linguistics and other disciplines to providean account of how babies and youngchildren learn about the world aroundthem,about people and relationships, andabout language, linking their discussion towhat is known about brain development.They assert that, ‘One thing that sciencetells us is that nature has designed us toteach babies, as much as it has designedbabies to learn…The scientific researchsays that we should do just what we dowhen we are with our babies – talk, play,m a ke funny face s, p ay at te nt i o n .We justneed time to do it.’ ( Gopnik et al 1999 : 202 ).So it would appear that babies and youngchildren need to play and interact withtheir parents and other significant peoplein their lives, because it is in theseenjoyable everyday exchanges andconversations that their brains develop –are ‘redesigned’ even – as a result oflearning. However, in a society whereparents (and other family members) mayhave less time to spend in the home, theirchildren could be losing out on the qualitytime that can be spent doing just thosevery simple activities on which their braindevelopment can thrive. Added to this arethe pressures of poverty and socioeconomicdisadvantage, which may giverise to depression in parents. Population113