Welcome to Your Child's Brain: How the Mind Grows From Conception to College

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

FOREWORD by Ellen Galinsky

QUIZ How Well Do You Know Your Child’s Brain?

INTRODUCTION The Brain That Builds Itself

PART 1 – MEET YOUR CHILD’S BRAIN

CHAPTER 1 The Five Hidden Talents of Your Baby’s Brain

Myth: If anything goes wrong, Mom is to blame

CHAPTER 2 In the Beginning: Prenatal Development

Practical tip: Less stress, fewer problems

Practical tip: Eat fish during pregnancy

CHAPTER 3 Baby, You Were Born to Learn

Myth: Breast-feeding increases intelligence

Practical tip: Guided practice can accelerate motor development

CHAPTER 4 Beyond Nature Versus Nurture

Footprints on the genome

Culture can drive evolution

PART 2 – GROWING THROUGH A STAGE

CHAPTER 5 Once in a Lifetime: Sensitive Periods

Brain food

The limits of brain plasticity

CHAPTER 6 Born Linguists

Practical tip: Teach foreign languages early in life

CHAPTER 7 Beautiful Dreamer

Practical tip: How to get your baby to sleep

What children dream about

CHAPTER 8 It’s a Girl! Gender Differences

Practical tip: Broadening your child’s abilities

CHAPTER 9 Adolescence: It’s Not Just About Sex

Myth: Adolescents have a longer day-night cycle

PART 3 – START MAKING SENSE

CHAPTER 10 Learning to See

Practical tip: Outdoor play improves vision

Speculation: Modern life is changing our brains

CHAPTER 11 Connect with Your Baby Through Hearing and Touch

Practical tip: Protect your child from noise, starting before birth

The neuroscience of snuggle

CHAPTER 12 Eat Dessert First: Flavor Preferences

Practical tip: Getting your child to eat spinach

Practical tip: Worried about your child’s weight?

PART 4 – THE SERIOUS BUSINESS OF PLAY

CHAPTER 13 The Best Gift You Can Give: Self-Control

Practical tip: Imaginary friends, real skills

Practical tip: Learning two languages improves cognitive control

CHAPTER 14 Playing for Keeps

Play in adult life

CHAPTER 15 Moving the Body and Brain Along

Practical tip: Protect your child from head injuries

CHAPTER 16 Electronic Entertainment and the Multitasking Myth

Speculation: Does Internet use reduce empathy?

Practical tip: Baby videos do more harm than good

PART 5 – YOUR CHILD AS AN INDIVIDUAL

CHAPTER 17 Nice to Meet You: Temperament

Why you’re turning into your mother

Myth: Birth order influences personality

CHAPTER 18 Emotions in the Driver’s Seat

Myth: The right hemisphere is the emotional side

Self-control promotes empathy

CHAPTER 19 Empathy and Theory of Mind

Older siblings speed a child’s theory-of-mind development

Imitation in the brain

CHAPTER 20 Playing Nicely with Others

Stereotyping and socialization

Practical tip: Promoting conscience

PART 6 – YOUR CHILD’S BRAIN AT SCHOOL

CHAPTER 21 Starting to Write the Life Story

Practical tip: The best study habits

Babies forget faster

CHAPTER 22 Learning to Solve Problems

Practical tip: Social rejection reduces IQ

CHAPTER 23 Take It from the Top: Music

Myth: The Mozart effect

Practical tip: The benefits of music and drama

CHAPTER 24 Go Figure: Learning About Math

Practical tip: Stereotypes and test performance

CHAPTER 25 The Many Roads to Reading

Practical tip: Reading at home

The causes of dyslexia

PART 7 – BUMPS IN THE ROAD

CHAPTER 26 Hang in There, Baby: Stress and Resilience

Practical tip: Dandelion and orchid children

CHAPTER 27 Mind-Blindness: Autism

Speculation: Are feral children autistic?

Practical tip: Behavioral therapy is helpful if started early

CHAPTER 28 Old Genes Meet the Modern World: ADHD

Practical tip: Spotting untrustworthy treatments

Myth: The all-powerful brain scan

CHAPTER 29 Catch Your Child Being Good: Behavior Modification

Practical tip: Getting to good

Myth: Praise builds self-esteem

CHAPTER 30 A Tough Road to Travel: Growing Up in Poverty

Epidemiology is hard to interpret

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

GLOSSARY

NOTES

REFERENCES

By the Same Authors

Imprint

From Sandra, to my parents, of course

From Sam, to Vita, Becca, Rita, and Dad

FOREWORD

In 1994, the Carnegie Corporation of New York released a seminal report, “Starting Points: Meeting the Needs of Our Youngest Children.” Although it included only a few sentences about the brain development of young children, the ensuing media attention was all about brain development—all the time and everywhere.

Two years later, prompted by this unprecedented attention, the organization I lead, the Families and Work Institute—as well as the Carnegie Corporation, the Harris Foundation, and others—convened a conference at the University of Chicago titled “Brain Development of Young Children: New Frontiers for Research, Policy, and Practice.” We brought together 150 neuroscientists with researchers who study children’s social, emotional, and intellectual development, and asked: Are the findings from neuroscience similar to or different from the findings from other child development studies? How can these findings promote the healthy development and learning of all young children?

When the report from our conference was released, public interest and media attention were once again off the charts. In the months that followed, a public engagement campaign on children from birth to age three was launched, a White House conference was held, a
Newsweek
magazine special edition was published, sessions at the National Governors Association were held, and special series on the brain development of young children were produced on the
Today
show and
Good Morning America
.

In the more than a decade and a half since, public interest in the brain has continued to increase. But along with that interest, a great deal of misinformation has been promulgated. Toy creators, media developers, and marketers have stepped in “where angels fear to tread,” producing programs and creating materials with claims of building bigger and better brains.