Childhood Development

Last week we attended a very informative, stimulating presentation at Rio Salado Community College by Janet T. Johnson, Ph.D., Faculty Chair, Education.

We learned that during the early years of development it is experience that drives the formation of brain development. The more experiences...the more development. The experiences are simply: talking to, singing to, reading to and playing with the child, as well as touching and cuddling.

Often these experiences are not at a sufficient level in an orphanage, so it is even more important to focus on them when the child is brought home.

We talked about brain scans, synaptic density, bonding/attachment issues, vision and language development and the mental development benefits of the Mozart Effect (from listening to and performing classical music).

We especially welcomed this information, as we have been so focused on learning all we can to be successful with the Russian adoption process, that we have not had time to learn much about raising a child.

This tied in directly with a thinkingofadopting.com webinar this week with Todd Ochs, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine talking about his experiences as an adoption pediatrician and an adoptive parent. We learned more about what to look for and what to ask when we visit the orphanage.