This is information is very similar to the Brainwave trust information which I’ve lost but am trying to find again…its telling us how important our attachment is to our children from birth and how this attachment affects our children’s life….click here to pop over to the site and read the full artical 

“…Windows of Development
Because the different systems in the brain develop at different times, specific parts of a child’s brain must be stimulated within a specific span of time in order to develop normally. If the crucial environmental cues are not present during these periods, the parts of the brain that regulate those functions may not develop appropriately.

The window of opportunity for vision, for example, takes place from birth to about six months. Children who are deprived of visual stimulation during this time will not develop the necessary neural connections, and may end up visually impaired.

For speech and vocabulary development, the critical window is open between birth and 3 years of age. The sounds a child hears in those years will largely determine the size of his/her adult vocabulary. In addition, children who are not spoken to regularly early in life do not learn to think conceptually as well as those who are exposed to a lot of spoken language.

A great deal of emotional development takes place during a child’s first 18 months. Infants need loving care from a consistent caregiver. There is no substitute for a nurturing environment. Without it, a child will not attain emotional stability.

Between the ages of 1 and 4, children develop the capacity to understand logic and mathematical concepts. There is also a great deal of evidence suggesting that experience with music at an early age may enhance a child’s mathematical ability. Children whose math and logic capabilities are not exercised during this stage may have more difficulty learning those skills throughout life….”

Please also see the interview with Megan Gunner on the affects of cortisol to the brain and its development. 

“… GERALDINE DAWSON, Psychologist: What we’re learning is that very early in life there are these periods when certain parts of the brain are being wired and that later in life that then these patterns will be very difficult to change.

LEE HOCHBERG: Scientists had thought the brain’s wiring was complete at birth. But neurobiologists now believe this crackling noise inside the brains of infants is the sound of some 10 billion nerve cells connecting with each other, as in this animation; they’re making the synapses that promote thought, emotion, and physical movement. Scientists now say the capability of those neural connections depends on whether the young child receives proper stimulation. It’s a scientific confirmation of what seems like common sense. It’s important what the baby sees, what the baby hears, even, says psychologist Dawson, whether the emotions he repeatedly feels are happy or unhappy.

GERALD DAWSON: What we believe is that by experiencing different emotions that you’re stimulating different parts of the brain and that this then leads to connections between the synapses.

LEE HOCHBERG: Dawson studied the difference between the brains of infants whose mothers are happy and the brains of those whose mothers are depressed and unlikely to project happiness. She found that in the children of happy mothers the region of the brain specialized for joy showed considerable neural activity. But the brains of children with depressed mothers looked different.

GERALD DAWSON: What we found was that the area of the brain that was specialized for positive emotion showed less activity and the area of the brain that specialized for negative emotion showed more brain activity. In later life an individual like this will be more apt to respond negatively when they’re stressed or they experience a negative event. They’ll be less likely to feel positive about positive events in their environment…”

Its a bit all over the place but you could read more here

This information is very simlar to the Brainwave trust in NZ

I really love video’s it kind of sinks in more

These are like the PDFs I talked about before but with Elizabeth talking about them.

People like David and myself often need to hear or see what others are doing.

Here is an interview done with Tracy and Noah Wyle
In an excerpt from Dr. Jay Gordon (who is in Pediatrics) as he interviews Tracy and Noah Wyle (star of “ER”) about their views on attachment parenting, breastfeeding, and the family bed.

Meredith F. Small is the Author of Our Babies Ourselves and this is a short little interview she has had.

Please remember that each person has their own area which they are good/educated in. I love Meredith’s book and I totally recommend it to anyone even if you are not a parent but I felt that she talked very little about the psychological side of each parenting style…meaning did the parenting styles which each culture imposed on their children give them the type of child they (the parents) wanted? Be it integrated be it distant be it what ever.

Each person who has studied in one or a few areas extensively (like Meredith) can offer us a part of the puzzle…then we as parents can put them all together creating…using Meredith’s words as a “care-package” that we want for our children.