By Dr. S. H. Jacob
www.shjacob.io
Author, Your Baby’s Brain, Intellect, and Yo
Content Writer, SmartBabies App
The Importance of the Early Years
in a Child’s Development
Each year is important for a child, but when it comes to cognitive development, no one can outthink the first two years. The first two years are the most critical period in your child’s development. From learning things to establishing a passion for exploring, discovering, and inventing new ways of doing things, it all starts and ends in the first two years of life.
Many kids, however, are missing out on these crucial skills because their parents are focused on teaching them vocabulary, names of things, and other verbal skills when they should be concentrating on active play. Dr. S. H. Jacob, the author of Your Baby’s Brain, Intellect, and You, explains how critically important play is in a child’s intellectual development. He also shows you exactly what play activities nourish what skills, and which activities are appropriate for which stages of your baby’s development.
Early Intellectual Development
The first 2 years are the most important in your child’s development and set the foundation
for everything to follow. Activity is the building block of intelligence and the act of knowing.
Activity is the engine of brain growth. Activity helps build brain cells and, of course, the connections between them. Children’s play — especially stage-appropriate, guided, interactive play — has a positive effect on scientific thinking, decision-making, language, as well as social and emotional development.
Through guided, interactive, and stage-appropriate play, a child can truly reach her intellectual potential. Research clearly shows that this type of play has a significant, positive impact on language, mathematical and spatial relations, decision-making, scientific thinking as well as social and emotional development.
The foundation for lifelong learning, curiosity, exploration, discovery, and the invention is laid during early childhood development. Early life experiences shape a child’s brain and ability to learn, get along with others, and respond to daily learning opportunities and challenges. While many new parents already know about the attention and role they require to ensure a competent and intelligent child, many still need to learn a lot. That’s why it is essential to know the importance of the early years, both in terms of brain growth and intellectual development.
The early years are critical, and what happens during these years, can have long-term consequences for children. One can achieve that by engaging their baby in stage-appropriate activities that promote problem-solving, creativity, and inventiveness. Guided and interactive play activities, as described in Your Baby’s Brain, Intellect, and You, will naturally strengthen areas of the brain responsible for shaping these domains. Practicing the activities illustrated in the book will help your child develop and grow more intelligent. By understanding the basic concepts of intellectual development, and applying them with their children, parents can maximize their children’s chances to succeed in school and thrive for years to come.
Early Brain Development
The times when a child’s brain is most receptive to certain types of experiences are what we refer to as “sensitive periods.” Appropriate experiences during these sensitive periods result in maximum growth; a lack of appropriate experiences during these times has a slowing effect
on development. Research has definitively shown that early intervention or experience dramatically affects a baby’s future development, IQ, and academic success.
Here’s a snapshot of the incredible importance of very early intervention:
• Gains in IQ resulting from intervention beginning in kindergarten tend to fade rapidly upon entry into elementary school. However, gains realized from intervention beginning at least in the first year of life tend to persist well into adolescence.
• In contrast to IQ scores, the effects of early intervention on achievement scores do not fade out; they tend to persist well into the high school years.
• Early intervention shows a uniformly positive effect on school success, as measured by grade, need for special education, and rate of high school graduation.
Brain pathways are generated by developing new connections, at birth that need proper care and attention to develop and grow. You can create an intellectual powerhouse by nurturing your child’s mind, and Dr. S. H. Jacob’s book Your Baby’s Brain, Intellect, and You can help you to achieve that. The book has over 200 plus illustrated play activities that match your child’s stage of development to assist your child in maximizing their period of explosive growth. It will support the development of your child’s critical thinking abilities, including curiosity, imagination, learning, memory, understanding, problem-solving, discovery, and invention, to prosper today and tomorrow.
The Role of Parents
Parents can make a huge difference in their child’s development. Parent-child interactions are key to a child’s overall development. The enrichment that parents can provide as a parent cannot be overstated. Your baby is born ready to learn, discover, and invent. The best time to start is right away!
A review of the literature points to these 4 important observations:
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A healthy parent-child relationship can lead to better outcomes for children. This type of relationship nurtures the physical, social-emotional, and cognitive development of the child.
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Parents who know more about how their baby’s brain develops, are more likely to provide an environment that fosters social and intellectual development.
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Certain parental attributes contribute to improved interaction with infants. Parents who are aware of a child’s goals and needs in a problem situation; have a developmentally sensitive understanding of the child and developmentally appropriate childrearing responses; responsiveness to cues from the child; and provide opportunities for the child to be self-directive.
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Parenting programs that focus on improving parents’ ability to understand their children often help parents learn to use observation and comparison to understand their children.
Parents have a crucial role to play when it comes to their babies’ potential to thrive. There’s no substitute for knowledge when it comes to caring for babies and young children. Understanding basic concepts and facts about early development and how best to nurture it is key to bringing up a healthy, happy, and smart baby. This is where a book like Your Baby’s Brain Intellect, and You can come in handy. Early development and interaction with the world and, most specifically with parents who are knowledgeable, loving, and caring have a positive impact on their children’s ability to learn. This carries on to eidolon academic achievement, which will help your children to learn and lead successfully in school and afterward.
Children are motivated to make new connections and learn new skills by their interests and curiosities more profoundly in the early years of development. They develop and learn new skills and abilities built on a skill already learned. That is why parents must promote responsive, nurturing, and stimulating experiences to establish the wiring of brain connections.
Children who receive adequate physical, emotional, social, and intellectual support and nurturing from an early age will most likely form neural connections that will be useful to them throughout their lives.
