Early Childhood Development

Reviewed by Jane Resh Thomas

Since the White House Conference on Early Childhood Development and Learning in April 199 7, reporters have paid more attention to the brain research that scientifically verifies what common sense has always intuited: Experiences in infancy and early childhood establish the "wiring" of the human brain, thereby profoundly affecting one's ability to learn forever after. Children's vocabularies reflect how much their parents have talked to them. Adults must tailor their interactions to their infants' personality styles and moment-to-moment needs, lest stimulation overwhelm the babies.

Further, reading researchers demonstrate that children's fund of information influences their ability to understand text, as uninitiated adults learn for themselves whenever they try to decipher a computer manual. So Minnesota children grasp social differences in Timbuktu more easily if they have seen a world map and heard that the distance merely from Minneapolis to Chicago requires a day's drive. None of these conclusions is counter-intuitive, yet the media treat them as revolutionary insights and the public requires the imprimatur of social scientists to act on common sense.