Ross A. Thompson, Ph.D.

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The Developmental Science of Early Childhood
Investments

• Ross A. Thompson, Ph.D.
• Department of Psychology
• University of California, Davis
• rathompson_at_ucdavis.edu

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• newborn 1 month 3
  months 6 months

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SES Differences in Early Vocabulary Growth
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• Before entering kindergarten, the average
  cognitive achievement scores of preschoolers in
  the highest SES are 60 higher than those of
  preschoolers in the lowest SES.
• Head Start teachers report that their children
  exhibit signs of serious emotional distress,
  including depression, withdrawal, and problems
  with aggression and antisocial behavior.
• In a national study of nearly 4,000
  prekindergarten teachers, more than 10 reported
  at least one expulsion of a child from their
  classes during the past 12 months.

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Early developing cognitive skills receptive
expressive language communication skills
number sense, classification, and spatial
relationships cause and effect reasoning,
simple problem solving memory attention
maintenance symbolic play and imitation
Development of ability is cumulative. Classroom
achievement builds on cognitive and academic
skills with early origins.

• Early developing academic skills
• impulse control and self-regulation
• recognition of ones identity
• awareness of abilities
• social skills with adults and peers
• emotion regulation
• social and emotional understanding
• curiosity

Cognitive, socioemotional, and self-regulatory
skills are deeply integrated in the brain and are
interdependent in development.
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• Stress can impair developing brain architecture
  and learning
• Neurobiological effects of stress
• Long-term release of stress hormones can
  damage brain structures associated with learning
  and memory
• Early chronic stress recalibrates biological
  stress systems and can make them hyperresponsive
  to threat or challenge
• Stress hormones mobilize energy but also
  suppress immune functions
• Stress can have these influences beginning
  prenatally (fetal programming research)

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Early childhood mental health is vulnerable to
stress

• Early signs of depression, PTSD, conduct
  disorders, anxiety disorders, ADHD in children as
  young as two, possibly earlier
• Vulnerability associated with family disruption
  and parental mental health difficulties
  socioeconomic distress temperamental
  vulnerability is also important
• These children are often first identified in
  early childhood programs as emotionally
  dysregulated and disruptive (expulsion findings)
• These children are at risk for academic failure

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• Prevention of learning and behavioral problems
  is more cost-effective -- biologically and
  economically -- than remediating problems after
  they emerge
• Biologically cost-effective
• Developing brain is significantly more
  plastic and adaptable at earlier than later
  ages
• Economically cost-effective
• Economic return on educational investments
  greater in early childhood than in adolescent or
  adult educational remediation
• Benefits of starting early (multiplier effect of
  self-productivity)

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How do we promote later educational achievement
in the earliest years of life?

• High-quality early child care and education
• Family support and parent assistance for families
  at greatest need, sometimes beginning prenatally
• Early developmental screening and targeted
  services for children with special needs
• Attention to poverty and socioeconomic
  disadvantage
• Health care
• Early childhood mental health consultation

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A Two-Tiered Approach
Basic health services and good quality early
care and education can promote healthy
development and early detection of problems in
all children.
TARGETED SERVICES
HEALTH SERVICES EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION
Targeted services for children experiencing
toxic stress can reduce disruptions of the
developing nervous and immune systems that lead
to later problems in learning, behavior, and
health.
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How is research on the developing brain relevant?

• Thinking, social-emotional functioning, and
  self-regulation are deeply integrated in the
  brain -- and interdependent in development
• Cognitive skills
• (literacy, numeracy, problem-solving, language)
• Noncognitive skills
• (attentional self-regulation, behavioral
  emotional self-control, motivation, persistence,
  curiosity, self-confidence, social skills, time
  preference)
• Cognitive and noncognitive skills are shaped
  early in life

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How is research on the developing brain relevant?

• Neurobiological and mental development occur
  through the brains activity
• Neurobiological networks strengthened through
  use memory and associative networks similarly
  strengthened through activation
• Learning activities best capitalize on
  developmentally appropriate activities and
  interests, and enlists active problem-solving
• A developmentally appropriate learning
  environment for younger children looks very
  different from a developmentally appropriate
  learning environment for older children

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High-Quality Early Childhood Programs Have
Documented Benefits for Children and for Society
(cost-benefit in dollars returned for every
dollar invested)