Why the Early Years Count 

A child’s experiences in early life have a profound effect on the architecture of their brain and this helps to customise each child’s brain to deal with the environment they grow up in. 

A new DVD, “Why the Early Years Count”,  from The Brainwave Trust.  The information is presented in a format that is suitable for people working with children and/or families with children. The viewer will gain an understanding of the latest findings from brain research and the important implications of this knowledge on our children’s physical, social, intellectual and emotional development.

This DVD is available now for a price of $30 incl. GST, packing & postage.         DVD Order Form
 

An impressive group of experts present knowledge from the past decade of research into brain development. The group includes:

• Dr. Bruce Perry, child psychiatrist, neuroscientist and internationally-recognised authority on children in crisis, who is the Senior Fellow of Child Trauma Academy, Houston, USA and adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at Northwestern University, School of Medicine in Chicago.

• Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister and founding director of the  Liggins Institute, University of Auckland.

 
• Dr Simon Rowley, neonatal paediatrician at Auckland City Hospital and in private pracitce in Auckland.

• Judy Bailey, journalist, writer and broadcaster, Brainwave founding and current Trustee.

• Lope Ginnen, Barrister and Chairperson of Brainwave.

The film is narrated by Mike McRoberts and produced by The Producers in association with Keirfilm Productions Ltd, TVNZ and expert input from Sue Younger.
Length: 18 minutes
Copyright: Brainwave Trust Aotearoa 2011
Acknowledgement: With grateful thanks to the Todd Foundation who supported Brainwave with funding to produce this DVD and to the families who took part in the film. 

Kathryn Ryan speaks to Russell Wills, Children’s Commissioner; and Graeme MacCormick, retired family court judge and former human rights commissioner who is calling for universal child monitoring of every baby born in NZ with follow ups at regular intervals into the teenage years.

This Insight programme related to the Government’s release of the Green Paper on how society can better protect children; and looked at some of the ideas being put forward to try to reduce the rates of abuse and neglect.  
Link to the PODCAST.

While TV viewing has been a common activity for several decades, the huge increase in TV and other media targeted at and watched by very young children has been described as “a large uncontrolled experiment on today’s infants and toddlers.” (Christakis & Zimmerman, 2009). 

The value of the baby DVD industry alone has been estimated at between $200 and $500M (US).   Research is yet to fully catch up with the efforts of this industry but a growing number of studies indicate this trend may be more harmful than the marketing campaigns would have us believe.  

Note: An abridged version of this article was published in the Winter 2011; No.77  Newsletter from the Office of the Children’s Commissioner.

View the full article here.

Download a one page flyer here

An article written for professionals entitled:
Resilience, Relationships and Routines: Responding to Trauma with Infants 0-3 years.

Introduction
Many believe that infants are immune and especially resilient to natural disasters and trauma because they are “too young to remember” so thereby not really affected. This couldn’t be more further from the truth.

Read the full article.

Introduction
People often believe that infants are not affected by natural disasters such as earthquakes because they are ,,too young to remember” so thereby not really affected. This couldn”t be further from the truth. The supreme importance of the first three years to the overall development of the brain (www.brainwave.org.nz) and the now clear link between early experience and who we become as adults means the infant and young child is especially vulnerable to the stress of an event such as an earthquake.  Read or print the full article.

Your child’s first two to three years will affect her whole life. But when it comes to creating that all-important loving bond, the pressures of modern life – to earn more money, keep up with the Jones’s and answer that endlessly beeping phone – can get in the way. Emily Simpson talks to teacher and children’s advocate Miriam McCaleb about love, science and loud espresso machines. 
Read or download a full copy of the Little Treasurers article here:  LT2011-MM Love Connection

If I had a dollar for every time I have heard about how resilient babies and young children are to the stresses in their lives, and those felt by their parents, this article would have been written somewhere much more tropical. However, scientific knowledge has shattered this myth. It may surprise many to realise that stress experienced by young children and their parents can affect a child’s brain development. Adverse effects may be seen in terms of brain function, coping ability, as well as mental and physical wellbeing throughout the child’s life. Being too young to talk about stress, does not mean being too young to be affected by it.  Read or print the full article

2011 Update:  Thanks to Auckland Airport Community Trust’s continuing funding we are continuing the schools programme in 2011.  To understand more about this programme listen to this excellent Radio New Zealand podcast from August 2010 when Wendy Nelson was presenting to the Year 7 students at De La Salle College. 

At the beginning of 2007 it was first introduced into 10 schools in Auckland.  In 2008, it expanded to Wellington with a total of 30 schools in the two cities.  In 2009, the program took place in 60 schools in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has been a strong supporter of Roots of Empathy. “Early interventions such as this one are key to improving children’s health and education, they reduce the likelihood of adult offending or long-term unemployment, and they help reduce family abuse or neglect,” she said of the program.

Roots of Empathy has now partnered with Barnardos New Zealand and  is now providing a fourth year of programming to children in New Zealand.  To read more follow this link to information on the Barnardos website.

The Roots of Empathy organization was excited to  receive unprecedented international media coverage recently.  TIME magazine published an article on Roots of Empathy on page 45 of the May 24 edition of TIME and it is also available online.