Photo: Bruna Saito from Pexels

It’s time to tell a new story about early childhood development, but first a little bit about the old story.

For more than 20 years, Dr. Jack Shonkoff, a pediatrician, has been explaining brain science to policymakers. Specifically, Shonkoff and his colleagues at Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child, have pointed to three crucial concepts:

• how children’s early experiences affect their “brain architecture”

• the importance of “serve and return” interactions between children and adults, and

• how “toxic stress” caused by poverty and other factors can impair health child development

“Over the past two decades, the ‘brain science story’ has made a powerful case for investing in the early childhood period,” the center explains on its website.

But it is current events – the pandemic and the renewed public focus on systemic racism – that have “intensified the demand for fresh thinking about the future of the early childhood field.”

So now, the center is rolling out a new way of thinking called Early Childhood Development 2.0. The goal is to spark “science-based innovation” that transforms early childhood policies and practices. Building on “the strong foundation” of brain architecture, serve and return, and toxic stress, the center is adding three new concepts:

• Connecting the brain to the rest of the body

Evidence shows that “excessive adversity” can take a toll “on multiple biological systems (e.g., neural, immune, metabolic), beginning early in life…” Two examples: Chronic stress can increase the risk of obesity; and “Chronic inflammation is associated with both heart disease and depression.” That’s why, “The time has come to leverage 21st-century science to integrate the health and education sectors across the early childhood ecosystem.” Investing in the health and wellbeing of children, can help reduce the cost of adult diseases. “Heart disease, depression, and diabetes alone account for more than $600B of annual U.S. health care spending, not including the indirect costs of lost productivity and personal hardship.”

• Supporting universal needs and individual variation 

“Science confirms what caregivers know—all children have similar basic needs but respond differently to adversity and support, even in the same family. These responses are shaped by complex interactions among environmental influences, individual genetic variation, and developmental timing.” That’s why it’s important to identify children who are struggling and “who might benefit from well-matched services.” This will mean focusing “less on average findings” and more on “differences in sensitivity to advance experiences.”

• Providing what young children need when they need it most

Sound public policy can do much more to protect children. The center notes: “Research on sensitive periods in developing immune and metabolic systems, as well as in brain circuits, calls for greater attention to the prenatal period and first 2-3 years after birth. The effects of toxic chemical exposures and poor nutrition on developing organs are particularly severe during these periods; maternal nutrition and mental health during pregnancy can also have lifelong impacts on offspring.”

 Lindsey Burghardt, a center fellow, and Corey Zimmerman, the center’s chief program officer, shared details about Early Childhood Development 2.0 on a recent Strategies for Children 9:30 Call.

They are turning this science into action by developing resources that pediatric health providers can share with parents and caregivers. They also want to share information with early educators who can help spread the word and with policymakers who can help change laws. Burghardt’s and Zimmerman’s slides are posted here.

To learn more about this work or to provide feedback, which the center welcomes, contact Corey Zimmerman at corey_zimmerman@harvard.edu.

Now is the time to act. As the center concludes:

“The early childhood field is at a critical inflection point in a changing world. The opportunity to align new science and the lived experiences of families and decision makers across a diversity of sectors, cultures, and political values offers a powerful pathway forward. The need for shared leadership along that path is urgent.”