Infant education: the earlier, the better?

When is a baby ready for formal education? Chinese parents have begun to ask themselves this question as numerous infant education organizations offer varied training programs to their newborn babies. 

"Try it lest your baby fall behind others from the very beginning" is always the "open sesame" to the parents' wallets, as a large number of better-off Chinese parents are ready to do virtually anything possible to ensure a good future for their offspring. 

As a result, babies are encouraged to stand up, toddle and crawl with their parents' help shortly after they are born, and special exercises have been tailored to boost their muscle development at an early stage. 

Many toddlers, on the other hand, are taught to read and write, sometimes in several languages. 

"A proper early childhood education can facilitate a child's intellectual development and help him form good habits," said Wang Yuwei, a noted pediatrician in Jinan, capital of the eastern Shandong province. "But excessive expectations may hamper his development." 

Researchers in the northern port city of Tianjin have found that improper infant education can even lead to psychological problems. 

According to a recent survey conducted by the Tianjin Children's Hospital, 41 percent of its young patients who had problems concentrating on their work had been daunted by the high expectations from their parents during infancy. 

Miaomiao, an eight-year-old girl who had received diverse training since infancy and had an IQ of 124, proved a "problematic child" at school. Though she was still the same good, lovely girl at home, she had problems communicating with her peers and was scared of school life. 

And Miaomiao was just one example of improper infant education, said Prof. Sun Shaoqiang, a renowned specialist and vice president of the Tianjin Psychological Society. 

Early childhood education, Prof. Sun acknowledged, was more than reading, writing, reciting poems or playing a musical instrument and should be given in line with a child's age, innate talent and interest. 

"It's not right to make an infant do what older children are supposed to do," he said. 

Researchers from home and abroad have uncovered that 50 percent of a person's behaviors are picked up between his or her birth andthe ages up to four, so infant education, therefore, is crucial and should be given in an all-round manner. 

"Parents should help their children develop a pleasant personality, desire for knowledge, independence, confidence and perseverance -- things that are expected to benefit a child throughout his life and are therefore more important than literacy itself," said the psychologist. 

To that effect, a good way to boost a baby's brain development was to grasp and observe things "so that they can feel the different textures of different objects," said Wang Yuwei, the pediatrician in Jinan. 

Elder children should be encouraged to keep and observe their favorite animals, dismantle toys and make their own little toys out of plasticine, she said. 

"A child learns from his own experience -- by touching, crawling and capering in a carefree environment," she said. "Parents may actually impair their children's development by spoon-feeding them with book knowledge and keeping them from the joys ofinfancy.

A introduction to the acclaimed DVD work shop - Bringing Out the Brilliance In Your Infant : a practical guide for Montessori in the Home, by Montessori educator - Tamara Sheesley Balis.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200311/25/eng20031125_128932.shtml

Infant education: When and how to start educating your baby

The term “infant education” sounds intimidating, but, actually, infant education can be a wonderful interactive experience for you and your baby. This fancy term refers to the parents’ ability to stimulate thinking in their newborn. Experts agree that if parents start infant education early, the child will have better thinking and reasoning skills as he/she grows. Determining how and when to start infant education is the hardest part for parents.

Most specialists encourage parents to start educating an infant early. In fact, theAmerican Pregnancy Association states your new baby shows awareness of situations at 3 months and is able to make language connections between the 7th month and the 8thmonth. But, infant education does not have to start on a particular month in the baby’s life. You can begin to gradually working in techniques that will stimulate your baby.

How do you start educating your infant? When most people think of infant education, Baby Einstein and other types educational DVD’s usually come to mind. These programs have fallen under heavy criticism recently due to DVD’s being used for infant entertainment and distraction. However, studies have shown that learning DVD’s can work when used correctly; you can visit HowStuffWorks to see how to correctly use Baby Einstein with your infant. While throwing in a DVD seems like a pretty easy option to educate your baby, there are other techniques to promote your child’s learning potential.

With very young babies, infant education can involve techniques parents use everyday. Parents can stimulate a newborn’s senses to aid in development of muscle coordination, memory, and attention span. Connecting sound to certain objects is a learned skill; try shaking a rattle one side of the baby’s head, waiting until the baby follows with his/her eyes or head, and then, moving the rattle to the babies feet or to the other side of the head. You can also try heating a teether in the microwave until it is just a little warm, getting another teether out of your fridge, and letting the baby feel the difference between warm and cold. Think of your own ideas to stimulate your baby to learn through the senses!

Simply interacting with your baby can be the best education of all. Repeat the coos and sounds he/she makes; this will encourage an infant to understand how communication works. Sing to your young infant and read books to promote the learning of pitch and tones. Finally, play games that encourage movement and identification, such as, touching the baby's hand to your a body part on you, stating the body part’s name, touching the baby's hand to his/her same body part, and repeat the name.

Come up with your own ideas and games to play to create learning. As long as the game is interactive, even a very young infant can start the learning process.

Why is early learning So Important?

The period from birth to age eight - and especially, from birth to age three - is a critical time in baby brain development.

This is because the first years of life lay the neurological foundation for intellectual growth into adolescence and adulthood.

From the moment of conception, the neurons (nerve cells) of the brain multiply faster than any other cells in a baby's body.

The rapid pace of baby brain development continues into early childhood: at birth, the brain weighs 25 percent of its adult weight; by age one, 50 percent; by age two, 75 percent; and by age three, 90 percent.

The brain of an adult has over 100 billion neurons, the majority of which were formed during the first five months in the womb! Recent research suggests that new neurons can be created throughout life - but probably only in sufficient numbers to replace those that have died.

Each of the brain's neurons is connected to roughly 5,000 others. In general, the more dendrites (branches between neurons) and synapses (connections between neurons) the brain has, the greater its processing power. More pathways mean information can travel in a number of ways, opening the door to faster and more complex thinking.

This is true in the adult, but not in the infant. Your baby's brain actually has more synapses than yours - but only because it hasn't passed an important developmental stage, known as pruning, in which the brain deletes unneeded neural connections in the interests of organization and efficiency.

"Use it or lose it"

The process of pruning is illustrative of the high plasticity (adaptability) of young brains, which are literally sculpted by the environments in which they are raised. Scientific testing of how exactly experience shapes the brain has led to the theory of "critical periods" - specific time periods in which stimulation must occur, or the chance to develop normal functioning will be lost.

In a now-classic experiment, kittens blindfolded for several months after birth were left unable to see properly once the blindfolds were removed. Their brains had not had the opportunity to develop the neural pathways needed to process visual information. Likewise, babies with cataracts must have them removed within the first few months of life or suffer permanent visual impairment.

Nothing is more disastrous for baby brain development than a dearth of stimulation.

Likewise, a surfeit of appropriate stimulation will produce better-than-average neural circuitry.

In one study, rat pups were placed in one of two environments - an "enriched" one filled with toys and obstacles, or an "impoverished," empty one. After 80 days, the rats that had been stimulated were found to have brains with a heavier cerebral cortex (the part of the brain that controls memory and perception), larger neurons, and more intricate dendritic networks.

The same principle applies to baby brain development in humans. Scientists have discovered, for instance, that certain areas of the brain are larger and more developed in children who play musical instruments than in those who do not. These include the cerebellum, which processes rhythm and timing, and the corpus callosum, which acts as the conduit for communication between the brain's left and right hemispheres - vital for musicians coordinating their right and left hands.
 
Giving kids a Head Start

Education initiatives such as the US's Head Start and Early Head Start are producing measurable cognitive and emotional benefits in children - benefits that can last into middle and even high school. Some of the Head Start programs, which focus on helping disadvantaged children, have produced boosts in IQ equivalent to eight IQ points. In general, the younger intervention is staged, the more significant and long-lived the effects. Full-day Head Start programs for infants have been shown to produce IQ gains lasting into adolescence.

The question is: why limit such programs to disadvantaged children?

Waiting until school to begin providing consistent intellectual stimulation to a child is no disaster. But in doing so, we miss a unique opportunity to enhance baby brain development.