Teach English in Beixiang Zhen - Yuncheng Shi

A child’s brain begins to develop before birth and continues into early childhood. Brain development begins in the third week of gestation with the differentiation of neural progenitor cells, and it continues to develop postnatally. The size of the brain increases four-fold during the preschool period and reaches to about 90% of that of an adult by age six. Therefore, understanding the factors that can affect brain development is important. During these early developmental stages, many factors are involved in developing a healthy brain. A few factors that affect brain development include both genetic and environmental factors. Genetic factors are inherited from parents and they play a vital role in brain development. Genes provide signals for cell migration and cell function. They serve as templates to make proteins, and proteins are the active agents in biological development. When a fetus inherits mutated genes, it can lead to various abnormal structures and functions. Parents can take the necessary precautions to prevent such problems from occurring. Precautions such as genetic screening prior to conception can provide parents with information of these influencing genetic factors, therefore they can seek solutions to prevent their child from inheriting the genetic disease. Therefore, normal gene expression is crucial in normal development of a child. Environmental factors vary tremendously because different children can have different types of exposures. These environmental factors are also important, and they include nutrition, exposure to toxins or infections, and the experiences a child encounters with people in the world. As mentioned earlier, the brain development of a child begins in the fetal stage, therefore supplementing nutrients before pregnancy, during pregnancy and after pregnancy is important. Besides providing proper nutrients, taking necessary precautions to protect a pregnant woman from infections is also very important. A child’s brain development can be affected by many types of toxins and infections, such as smoking, alcohol, or viruses. Such exposure can lead to premature birth and even fetal death. The mental health of a pregnant woman is also an important factor that can affect the fetus. Exposure to stress and trauma create a negative impact of the mother, which then can create long-term negative consequences for the child’s brain. Genetic and environmental factors affect child development. Parents and caregivers can support healthy brain growth of their children by giving them the necessary care and attention, and this includes speaking to, playing with, and caring for their child. Children can learn from their parents when talking and playing with each other, and they can strengthen children’s language and communication. These activities can also assist a child in developing new skills and interests. Caring for a child requires an understanding of their needs and responding accordingly to their needs. While giving children attention is good for development, giving too much attention however can result in negative effects, therefore parents and caregivers should adjust boundaries accordingly. By understanding the needs of their child, parents can build a healthy relationship with their child, and therefore strengthen the child’s ability to build relationships with future peers. In conclusion, there are many factors that can affect brain development. Parents should educate themselves and make judgements according to different stages in child development. While some factors are hard to control in brain development, there are many other factors that parents can control in assisting their child to develop healthily. References: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2989000/ https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/early-brain-development.html