By Jennifer Imig Huffman, PhD, The ABLE Center
Does your child know about their brain and how it makes them unique? Many children know where the brain is located in their body, and they may quickly be able to point to it, but they often cannot describe what their brain is for or how it functions. Teaching children about their brain in understandable terms is an important part of their development. Just as they should learn about the importance of eating healthy, getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, and being kind to others, they should know about the importance of brain health. Children often benefit from learning that they can have an active role in taking care of their body and their brain.
As a child’s brain grows, they develop increased connections between parts of the brain. These connections between brain cells are referred to as dendrites. In fact, infants are born with all of their brain cells, and they will not produce more. It is the dendrite connections that change the brain during development. When a child is exposed to different experiences, dendrites make connections between brain cells which help them to sense, think about, remember, and understand those experiences. These connections are especially important during the initial critical periods of development when many sensory processes mature. Children and adolescents continue to have different critical periods throughout their development, with the brain continuing to modify itself based on experiences well into adulthood.
The young brain is a rapidly developing, highly complex, inter-connected system. Across a child’s life there is a fantastic amount of branching of dendritic “trees” that enhance connections among parts of the brain. The brain’s development is guided by genetics and shaped by experience.
A child’s brain, like the adult brain, is divided into two sections: the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere. In most people, the left hemisphere is specialized for verbal-based information, and the right hemisphere is specialized for non-verbal information. The left hemisphere, left side of the brain, is also associated with linear thoughts, logical thinking, mathematics, and language-based information. The right side of the brain is specialized for processing multiple streams of information at once (called simultaneous processing), spatial information, faces, music, and non-language-based information. The left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body. The two hemispheres communicate via the large bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres. When discussing these areas with your child, use brain pictures easily found on the internet. Use examples to talk about what things your child likes to do and whether those may be left brain or right brain tasks.
Brains are further divided into four lobes. The four lobes of the cerebral cortex include the occipital lobe, the parietal lobe, the temporal lobe, and the frontal lobe. The occipital lobe is dedicated to visual processing and includes the visual cortex. The parietal lobe processes sensory and spatial information and is important for language processing. The temporal lobe is responsible for language comprehension, memory functioning, and emotional processing. The frontal lobe is the “conductor” of the brain. It is responsible for executive functioning, planning, working memory, organization, motivation, reward, and problem solving. The frontal lobes are also responsible for emotional processing and comprise our personality. The cerebellum, which is in the back of the skull, is also an important part of the child’s brain. The cerebellum is important for complex motor control and also assists with attention, language, and sensory processing. Although the brain is divided into the many sections, many more than can be discussed in this article, research using neuroimaging has shown that brain areas work together to process, attend to, recall, and think about information.
Another important aspect to teach a child about the brain is that it is responsible for the processing of emotions. Many times children may not understand the concept of emotions because there is no tangible representation of a feeling. However, when children learn that the brain processes emotions, they seem to understand this concept better. Teaching children about emotions in this way often gives them greater feelings of control about those emotions and provides them an avenue to communicate about what they are experiencing.
Teaching children about the brain is an important first step in helping them understand how their body thinks about and remembers information. It also teaches them about emotions and how all of the parts of the brain work together to make us who we are. Learning about the brain can help a child take an active role in taking care of their body and their brain.
Dr. Jennifer Imig Huffman, founder of The ABLE Center, is a Board Certified Pediatric Neuropsychologist and Fellow of the American Board of Pediatric Neuropsychology. She is expertly trained in evaluation and treatment of childhood neurodevelopmental conditions, including, Autism, Asperger’s, ADHD, learning disabilities, TBI and concussion, tic disorders, giftedness, twice-exceptional profiles (gifted and disabled), and emotional conditions. For more information, including whether a neuropsychological evaluation is appropriate for your child, contact The ABLE Center in Bloomington, at 309-661-8046.
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