“Learning is important because we are changed by what we learn, even if the facts are later forgotten. Learning changes values, attitudes, and concepts that don’t change in time.”

“They can add before they can count.”

“They can understand a hundred words before they can speak.”

“At three months their powers of memory are far greater than we ever imagined.” 

Wiring Language

“The high-pitched, sing-song speech style (known as Parentese) helps babies connect objects with words.” 

“From birth, a baby’s brain cells make connections that may shape a lifetime of experiences.”

“The first three years are critical.”

“Children come pre-programmed to learn.”

“The baby’s brain is bigger than the sum of its parts.”

The Baby’s Brain

“When a baby is born, primitive structures in the brain – those controlling respiration, reflexes and heartbeat – are already wired. But in higher regions of the cortex, neural circuits are rudimentary at best; the vast majority of the 1,000 trillion connections (synapses) that the newborn’s billions of neurons will eventually make are therefore determined by early experience. 

“Connections that are reinforced by a baby’s exposure to language, images, sounds, facial expressions and even lessons in cause and effect (Baby smiles, Mommy smiles back) become permanent. Tentative connections that are not reinforced by early experience are eliminated.”

“You Can Raise Your Child’s IQ”

by Edwin Keisten Jr. and Sally Valente Keisten

“The first two years of life are an explosion of brain growth and connections. By age two the brain has more than 300 trillion connections. At the same time, cells that aren’t being connected or used are being discarded.”

“The neurons governing vision undergo a growth spurt in the first half year of life and are connected to 15,000 others by eight months.”

Example:

“Japanese and American infants both readily distinguish between “r” and “l” during the first half-year of life, according to Dr. Patricia Kuhl, a congnitive neuro scientist who studies language development at the University of Washington. Since there is no “l” sound       in the Japanese language, Japanese infants generally fail to retain connections for that sound. As a result, a Japanese baby not exposed to the difference between “r” And “l” before age two will usually have trouble discriminating between the two sounds as an adult.”

What to do: (paraphrase)