- Working Papers
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NEW WORKING PAPER
The Science of Neglect:
The Persistent Absence of Responsive Care Disrupts the Developing Brain
Extensive biological and developmental research over the past 30 years has generated substantial evidence that young children who experience severe deprivation or significant neglect—defined broadly as the ongoing disruption or significant absence of caregiver responsiveness—bear the burdens of a range of adverse consequences. This new Working Paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child explains why significant deprivation is so harmful in the earliest years of life and why effective interventions are likely to pay significant dividends in better long-term outcomes in learning, health, and parenting of the next generation. Read more & download PDF >>
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Building the Brain's "Air Traffic Control" System
Being able to focus, hold, and work with information in mind, filter distractions, and switch gears is like having an air traffic control system at a busy airport to manage the arrivals and departures of dozens of planes on multiple runways. In the brain, this air traffic control mechanism is called executive functioning, a group of skills that helps us to focus on multiple streams of information at the same time, and revise plans as necessary. This Working Paper from the Council and the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs explains how these lifelong skills develop, what can disrupt their development, and how supporting them pays off in school and life.
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Early Experiences Can Alter Gene Expression and Affect Long-Term Development
New scientific research shows that environmental influences can actually affect whether and how genes are expressed. Thus, the old ideas that genes are "set in stone" or that they alone determine development have been disproven. In fact, scientists have discovered that early experiences can determine how genes are turned on and off and even whether some are expressed at all. This Working Paper summarizes why this growing scientific evidence supports the need for society to re-examine the way it thinks about the circumstances and experiences to which young children are exposed.
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Persistent Fear & Anxiety Can Affect Young Children's Learning and Development
Science shows that early exposure to circumstances that produce persistent fear and chronic anxiety can have lifelong consequences by disrupting the developing architecture of the brain. This Working Paper summarizes in clear language why, while some of these experiences are one-time events and others may reoccur or persist over time, all of them have the potential to affect how children learn, solve problems, and relate to others. Read more & download PDF >>
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- Multimedia
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EXECUTIVE FUNCTION RESOURCES
InBrief: Executive Function: Skills for Life and Learning
Being able to focus, hold, and work with information in mind, filter distractions, and switch gears is like having an air traffic control system at a busy airport to manage the arrivals and departures of dozens of planes on multiple runways. In the brain, this air traffic control mechanism is called executive functioning, a group of skills that helps us to focus on multiple streams of information at the same time, and revise plans as necessary. This edition of the InBrief series explains how these lifelong skills develop, what can disrupt their development, and how supporting them pays off in school and life. View video >>
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NEW VIDEO SERIES
Three Core Concepts in Early Development
1. Experiences Build Brain Architecture | 2. Serve & Return Interaction Shapes Brain Circuitry | 3. Toxic Stress Derails Healthy Development
This new, three-part video series from the Center and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child depicts how advances in neuroscience, molecular biology, and genomics now give us a much better understanding of how early experiences are built into our bodies and brains, for better or for worse. View videos & read more about this series >>
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Brain Hero
Following a two-year collaboration with the Interactive Media Division of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California to develop and test new ways of communicating the science of early childhood development, the Center on the Developing Child has released the collaboration’s first product, “Brain Hero.” This 3-minute video adapts the visual sensibility of interactive game models to a video format. View video & read more >>
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The Impact of Early Adversity on Children's Development
This edition of the InBrief series outlines basic concepts from the research on the biology of stress which show that major adversity can weaken developing brain architecture and permanently set the body's stress response system on high alert. Each of the videos in the InBrief series is also available for download as a brief in PDF format.
View video & read more >>
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- Reports
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The Foundations of Lifelong Health Are Built in Early Childhood
A vital and productive society with a prosperous and sustainable future is built on a foundation of healthy child development. Health in the earliest years—beginning with the future mother’s well-being before she becomes pregnant—lays the groundwork for a lifetime of vitality. This report was co-authored by the Council and the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs.
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A Science-Based Framework for Early Childhood Policy
This ground-breaking framework for using evidence to improve outcomes in learning, behavior, and health for vulnerable children, co-authored by the members of the Council and the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs. Combining knowledge from neuroscience, behavioral and developmental science, economics, and 40 years of early childhood program evaluation, the authors provide an informed, nonpartisan, pragmatic framework to guide policymakers toward science-based policies that improve the lives of young children and benefit society as a whole. Read more & download PDF >>
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- About the Council
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About the Council
Established in 2003, the National Scientific Council is a multi-disciplinary collaboration of scientists and scholars from universities across the U.S. and Canada designed to bring the science of early childhood and early brain development to bear on public policy decision-making. The mission of the Council is to synthesize and communicate science to help inform policies that promote successful learning, adaptive behavior, and sound physical and mental health for all young children. Central to this concept is the ongoing generation, analysis, and integration of knowledge and the critical task of educating policymakers, civic leaders, and the general public about the rapidly growing science of early childhood development and its underlying neurobiology. Read more about the Council's mission & history >>
Learn about the Council's members >>
View & download the Council's publications >>
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The Science of Early Childhood
A growing body of scientific evidence shows that early influences—whether positive or negative—are critical to the development of children’s brains and their lifelong health. Learn about key concepts in the science of early childhood development through a variety of print publications, videos and other multimedia. More >>
Journal Features Center Affiliates’ Work on Biology of Early Adversity
The developmental and biological consequences of early social adversity are explored in a special supplement of the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) published in print on Oct. 16, 2012. “Biological Embedding of Early Social Adversity: From Fruit Flies to Kindergartners” features articles by Center Director Jack P. Shonkoff and Center-affiliated Harvard faculty members Takao Hensch and Charles A. Nelson III. In addition to the work of Shonkoff and Nelson, who are also members of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, the supplement also contains articles by several other Council members: W. Thomas Boyce; Greg J. Duncan; Nathan A. Fox; Megan R. Gunnar; and Bruce McEwen.
Visit PNAS web site to access this issue >>
Toxic Stress Response: The Facts
Learning how to cope with adversity is an important part of healthy child development. However, when that adversity is severe, frequent, or prolonged - and occurs in the absence of supportive adult relationships - it can induce a potentially damaging toxic stress response in a child's body and brain. This feature describes toxic stress response; how it differs from two other stress responses, positive and tolerable; and how it can be prevented or even reversed. The page also answers frequently asked questions and provides a list of related reading.
Council Members
Learn about the Council's unique, multi-disciplinary, multi-university group of scientists and scholars. More >>
Council Publications
The Council has created a series of publications to marry the science of early childhood and brain development with state-of-the-art communications research designed to effectively translate that knowledge for non-scientific audiences. More >>
Major support for the Council has been provided by: the Birth to Five Policy Alliance, the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, Casey Family Programs, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Norlien Foundation, and the Pierre and Pamela Omidyar Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
