Original subtitles

[Music]

the early childhood brain development

story

has been a powerful influence on the

growth of investments

in programs to promote early learning

and enhance school readiness

but the brain does not exist by itself

connecting the brain to the rest of the

body is critically important

early childhood experiences are as much

about lifelong physical and mental

health as they are

about early learning and readiness to

succeed in school

all biological systems all of them are

highly interconnected and

all of these systems are primed to adapt

to whatever the environment they throw

at us think about this

as a team of highly skilled athletes

each has a role to play but they depend

upon each other they influence each

other's responses

like any good team it's how they operate

together that

is the key to their success when we are

stressed

every cell in the body is working

overtime

the brain is the master control system

that detects

threat and then manages the response of

all of the different

systems it sends signals to the

cardiovascular system to increase heart

rate and blood pressure

signals are picked up by metabolic

systems to increase

the availability of blood sugar to

provide more energy stores for the body

the immune system is activated to be on

alert for the possibility of a wound

or the need to protect against infection

the neuroendocrine system is activated

to increase

levels of stress hormones in the

bloodstream all of these

also provide feedback to the brain the

stress response system

was designed to deal with an acute

threat or challenge

but when the stress continues at a very

high level

then these biological responses actually

start to have a wear and tear effect

on the body this is where stress

explains chronic disease the science is

really clear

the most costly chronic diseases in our

society

have their roots in early childhood

cardiovascular disease diabetes

and depression three of many diseases

that are associated with greater

adversity early in life

those three diseases together consume

more than 600 billion dollars

of health care costs a year so if we

want to think about

preventing disease and promoting health

it doesn't begin with exercising more

and eating better when you're 30 or 40

years old

health promotion and preventing disease

begins prenatally and it extends into

the early childhood period

connecting the brain to the rest of the

body has very important implications

for early childhood policy if we look at

the basic

science-based principles focused on

early learning

strengthening relationships building

skills reducing sources of stress

those are the same principles that

increase the likelihood

for lifelong physical and mental health

and when we think about the major

sources of adversity early in life

we talk about poverty discrimination

exposure to violence

maltreatment child abuse and neglect

although each of these

sources of adversity differ from each

other biologically

the effect on the body is the same

systemic racism

the dangers of implicit bias and

everyday

discrimination impose a level of stress

and adversity on families of color

raising children

that is present all the time it's never

too late to make things better

and we are biologically prepared to

adapt to whatever environment

we live in but we need to look upstream

at more systemic issues that are the

sources

of this enormous burden of threat

and hardship we have to connect policies

and resource allocations from the

educational sector and the health sector

and human

services sector

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pediatric primary care is the one domain

where almost all children are seen from

birth on and

provides a critical opportunity for

engagement with families

and developing relationships promoting

healthy development

and is the ideal frontline opportunity

to connect families to needed services

as early as possible when they can be

most

effective pediatrics alone

is not going to provide all of the

supports that many families need

the opportunity is to move away from

asking how do we connect

pediatric primary care to early

childhood programs and

in a different way change our mindset to

say how do we build

a new early childhood ecosystem in which

pediatrics is an integrated part

[Music]

the brain development story has been a

powerful

influence the same principles the same

concepts

are also affecting the early foundations

of physical and mental health that will

last for a lifetime

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