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Why Early Intervention is Important: Neuroplasticity in Early Childhood

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Dana Asby at Teachers College
Dana Asby
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Abstract

Neuroplasticity is often cited as a saving grace for children facing adversity such as maltreatment or extreme poverty. Neuroplasticity is the forming and reforming of neural pathways and is most constant and rapid during the first five years of life. Because of this, young children can quickly unlearn negative habits and routines and replace them with more positive ones (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2014). However, without interventions to correct unhealthy thought patterns and behaviors, there can be permanent damage to the brain as harmful pathways are etched deep into the brain.
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7/30/2018 Why Early Intervention is Important: Neuroplasticity in Early Childhood - Center for Educational Improvement
http://www.edimprovement.org/2018/07/early-intervention/ 1/6
Posted on July 9, 2018
By Dana Asby, CEI Intern
Neuroplasticity is often cited as a saving grace for
children facing adversity such as maltreatment or
extreme poverty. Neuroplasticity is the forming
and reforming of neural pathways and is most
constant and rapid during the rst ve years of life.
Because of this, young children can quickly unlearn
negative habits and routines and replace them with
more positive ones (National Scientic Council on
the Developing Child, 2014). However, without
interventions to correct unhealthy thought
patterns and behaviors, there can be permanent damage to the brain as harmful pathways are
etched deep into the brain.
The importance of the rst ve years. Difculty with emotional regulation often results from an
absence of positive mental models for how to soothe extreme emotions by calming physiological
and emotional reactions to uncomfortable stimuli. Parents play a crucial role in this process.
Epigenetics, the way that early home environments turn on certain genes, plays a large role in
brain development. Maternal support in early childhood can predict the volume of the
hippocampus, an emotional control center in the brain, in later childhood (Luby et. al., 2012).
Childhood poverty is also associated with smaller white matter, cortical gray matter, and
hippocampal volume in adulthood (Luby et. al., 2013). The effects of poverty on hippocampal
volume remain years later in adulthood, even when controlling for various confounding factors,
indicating that childhood experiences can have lasting impacts on brain development during the
earliest years of life when critical brain structures are being formed (Staff et. al., 2012).
In certain cases of childhood abuse and neglect, the damage done to neural pathways can lead to
debilitating mental health issues such as Borderline Personality Disorder, a personality disorder
that typical presents in the teenage years with erratic behavior in interpersonal relationships and
extreme swings between depression and mania due to the lack of mental models for emotional
regulation (Cattrane et. al., 2017).
Intervening in the Socio-emotional Realm
Just as negative life events in early childhood can affect brain structure, positive experiences can
repair damage done to the brain and form new neural pathways that set the child onto a better
developmental trajectory (Parritz & Troy, 2017). Many of the most necessary interventions in the
early childhood years deal with socio-emotional problems, most commonly emotional regulation.
This is because the ability to regulate one’s emotions is highly correlated with various other
outcomes such as executive functioning, memory, and academic achievement (Raver & Blair,
Why Early Intervention is Important: Neuroplasticity in Early
Childhood
7/30/2018 Why Early Intervention is Important: Neuroplasticity in Early Childhood - Center for Educational Improvement
http://www.edimprovement.org/2018/07/early-intervention/ 2/6
2016). Students must have good executive functioning skills, which help
them plan, organize, pay attention, and multitask, to be able to perform
their schoolwork well. Memory is essential for academic achievement as
well, because students will not be able to perform well on tests and
homework if they cannot hold information in their brains for short and
long-term periods.
It is important to intervene early because of the ease with which new
neural pathways can be formed during the critical period of
neuroplasticity occurring between the ages of 0-5 (National Scientic
Council on the Developing Child, 2014). To lay a foundation for academic
interventions during the primary grades, early childhood educators and
administrators should support emotional regulation skills for students who are struggling.
Difculty regulating emotion in young children typically presents with extreme and sudden
emotional outbursts, a spiraling of emotions that cannot be stopped, and/or an inability to soothe
themselves when experiencing difcult emotions, for example temper tantrums that last more
than 30 minutes or occur every day or multiple times a day (Rettner, 2012).
Supporting Self-Regulation
Emotion Coaching allows educators, administrators, and clinicians to tear down ineffective neural
pathways and encourage the growth of new ones that support healthy emotional regulation. This
method validates a child’s feelings and provides an actionable pathway for them to manage
intense emotions. When mothers in a high-risk population used emotion coaching, there was a
mediation effect on the relationship between family risk and child emotional regulation (Ellis et.
al., 2014). Such an approach could also be used by educators.
Steps in emotional coaching include:
1. Acknowledge the child’s emotion.
2. Validate their feelings by using a statement that demonstrates empathy such as, “I
understand how Lola taking your truck must have made you angry.”
3. Explain calmly why their over-reaction is not appropriate: “But we do not hit our friends
when they make us upset, because that hurts their body and their feelings.”
4. Provide an alternative method of expressing and/or managing emotions, depending on
what methods you suspect will work best for this child. For example, “When you’re really
upset, you can take a deep breath and count to 5 and then decide what to do to x your
problem,” or “The next time that happens, you can use your words to tell Lola how upset she
made you.”
5. Give gentle reminders of techniques when other difcult situations arise.
School-based Interventions
7/30/2018 Why Early Intervention is Important: Neuroplasticity in Early Childhood - Center for Educational Improvement
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Other successful interventions to improve emotional regulation in preschoolers include
mindfulness-based socio-emotional focused programs such as The Kindness Curriculum, which
teaches children stress reduction techniques like
deep belly breathing and body scanning as well as
fostering compassion for others (Flook et. al.,
2015). One such exercise is “Spiderman Breaths,”
which helps children focus on their breath to calm
their bodies and minds in a fun way by having
children pair arm motions mimicking Spiderman
shooting webs out of his wrists as they do breath
work (Mahoney, 2016).
References
Cattane, N., Rossi, R., Landfredi, M., & Cattaneo, A.
(2017). Borderline personality disorder and childhood trauma: exploring the affected biological
systems and mechanisms. BMCPsychiatry, 17(221).
Eiland, L., Ramroop, J., Hill, M.N., Manley, J., & McEwen, B.S. (2012). Chronic juvenile stress
produces corticolimbic dendritic architectural remodeling and modulates emotional behavior in
male and female rats.Psychoneuroendocrinology, 37, 39–47.
Ellis, B.H., Alisic, E., Reiss, A., Dishion, T., Fisher, P.A. (2014). Emotion regulation among
preschoolers on a continuum of risk: The role of maternal emotion coaching. Journal of Child and
Family Studies, 23, 965-974.
Flook, L., Goldberg, S.B., Pinger, L., & Davidson, R.J. (2015). Promoting prosocial behavior and self-
regulatory skills in preschool children through a mindfulness-based Kindness Curriculum.
Developmental Psychology, 51(1), 44-51.
Luby. J., Barch, D.M., Belden, A., Gaffrey, M.S., Tillman, R., Babb, C., Nishino, T., Suzuki, H., &
Botteron, K.N. (2012). Maternal support in early childhood predicts larger hippocampal volumes
at school age. PNAS, 109(8), 2854-2859.
Luby, J., Belden, A., Botteron, K., Marrus, N., Harms, M.P., Babb, C., Nishino, T., & Barch, D. (2013).
The effects of poverty on childhood brain development: The mediating effect of caregiving and
stressful life events. Journal of American Medical Association Pediatrics, 167(12), 1135-1142.
National Scientic Council on the Developing Child. (2005/2014). Excessive stress disrupts the
architecture of the developing brain: Working paper 3. Updated edition.
Mahoney, D. (2016). Spiderman breaths and mindfulness in Pre-K. Mindful Schools website.
7/30/2018 Why Early Intervention is Important: Neuroplasticity in Early Childhood - Center for Educational Improvement
http://www.edimprovement.org/2018/07/early-intervention/ 4/6
Forgiveness
Aim High: Leading
Expectations
Free Public
Education is the
Backbone of
Democracy
Parritz, R., & Troy, M. (2017). The models of child development, psychopathology, and treatment.
Disorders of Childhood: Development and Psychopathology. Third Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Cengage Learning.
Raver, C.C. & Blair, C. (2016). Neuroscientic insights: Attention, working memory, and inhibitory
control. Future of Children, 26(2), 95-118. Rettner, R. (2012). Normal tot or problem child? Temper
tantrum frequency holds clues. Live Science website.
Staff, R.T., Murray, A.D., Aheam, T.S., Mustafa, N., Fox, H.C., Wahlley, L.J. (2012). Childhood
socioeconomic status and adult brain size: Childhood socioeconomic status inuences adult
hippocampal size. American Neurological Assosiation, 71(5), 653-660.
Vyas, A., Mitra, R., Shankaranarayana, Rao, B.S., Chattarji, S. (2002). Chronic stress induces
contrasting patterns of dendritic remodeling in hippocampal and amygdaloid neurons. Journal of
Neuroscience, 22, 6810–6818.
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... attention and executive functioning) and social-emotional outcomes for primary and high school students. There is growing interest exploring the use of mindfulness with younger age groups, including pre-school, kindergarten and primary children as this is an essential time for early intervention given the plasticity of the brain during the first five years of life (Asby, 2018). Findings from neuropsychological research suggest attention networks may be more malleable before the age of nine, where early intervention may be most effective (Tao et al., 2017). ...
Exploring the use and delivery of school-based mindfulness programmes for young children
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  • Dec 2022
Aims This systematic literature review aimed to explore how school-based mindfulness programmes have been adapted for use with young children in education settings, from ages three to nine years old. Method School-based mindfulness interventions were assessed on quality using qualitative and quantitative frameworks. Important attitudinal principles and practical components of the school-based mindfulness interventions were analysed. Findings The results revealed vast heterogeneity across programme design and delivery. The majority of programmes used mindful movement, visuals/props, sensory activities, reflection on experiences and the use of metaphorical language to teach young children mindfulness. There appeared to be greater precedence for experiential practices than instructional practices such as attitudinal features. Mindfulness has been used mainly to support cognitive functioning, particularly attentional and executive functioning. Limitations The Covid-19 pandemic has delayed submission of this article, meaning that the most recent research findings might not be documented. The heterogeneity of the studies made drawing conclusions difficult. Conclusions Implications for educational psychology practice and areas for future research are considered, particularly in relation to how educational psychologists can work with teachers to deliver effective and sustainable mindfulness interventions.
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Borderline personality disorder and childhood trauma: Exploring the affected biological systems and mechanisms
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2017
  • BMC PSYCHIATRY
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Emotion Regulation Among Preschoolers on a Continuum of Risk: The Role of Maternal Emotion Coaching
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Chronic Juvenile Stress Produces Corticolimbic Dendritic Architectural Remodeling and Modulates Emotional Behavior in Male and Female Rats
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Excessive stress disrupts the architecture of the developing brain: Working paper 3
  • Jan 2005
National Scienti c Council on the Developing Child. (2005/2014). Excessive stress disrupts the architecture of the developing brain: Working paper 3. Updated edition.