Early Childhood Development
Early
childhood is the most critical learning period in our lives. The human brain develops fastest as a child,
especially during early childhood. In
fact 85% of the brain develops by the age of 5.
This is when the majority of brain synapses are created. A child’s brain is literally like a sponge in
that soaks up and retains information much faster and better than that of an
adult. The more information a child is
exposed to, the more they can learn as well as increase potential capacity for
learning in the future. Early exposure
to language, numbers, shapes & colors is invaluable to a child’s
educational development, and early acquaintance with numbers assist children in
developing foundations in mathematics, time, and spatial comprehension.
Use it or lose it…
By 8
months, a child’s brain has around 1,000 trillion nerve connections. By the age of 10 this number is reduced to
around 500 trillion. As the brain
operates on a “use it or lose it” basis, early experiences are the defining
factor affecting the rate of reduction in nerve connections and brain
development. (ETL Learning)
Side by Side
Second
only to total cultural and language immersion, one of the best tactics for
learning another language is early exposure.
This is especially effective when learned alongside a child’s primary
language. Side by side comparison of
Latin based language early in a child’s development helps children better
understand and create linguistic & cultural connections with words in
multiple other languages. This process
builds language confidence and mastery skills, while making children better at
identifying and understanding the root meanings of the words themselves.
“The power to learn a language is so great in
the young child…they can learn as many spoken languages as you can allow them
to hear regularly.” - Dr. Susan Curtis, Professor of Linguistics, UCLA
