From Neurons to Neighborhoods - Jack P. Shonkoff, Deborah A. Phillips, Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development, National Research Council & Institute of Medicine

From Neurons to Neighborhoods

By Jack P. Shonkoff, Deborah A. Phillips, Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development, National Research Council & Institute of Medicine

  • Release Date: 2000-11-13
  • Genre: Social Science

Description

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media.

How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues.

The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more.

Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.