1,000,000 neural connections every second
By age 5, a child’s brain reaches 90% of its adult capacity, developing over 1 million neural connections every second.
Early experiences lay the foundation of the brain’s architecture that will develop into deep or shallow roots for learning, health, and lifelong success.
3 times more likely to graduate high school
Children who attend high-quality pre-k programs do better in school from the first day of kindergarten through their post-secondary years. Compared with peers who have not had pre-k, they are:
3 times more likely to enter kindergarten on target
3 times more likely graduate high school
more likely to attend college
70% more likely to be arrested for a violent crime
Children that have negative early experiences and don’t receive a high-quality early childhood education are:
25% more likely to dropout of school
40% more likely to become a teen parent
50% more likely to be placed in special education
60% more likely to never attend college
70% more likely to be arrested for a violent crime
Source: Pat Levitt (2009)
As the maturing brain becomes more specialized to assume more complex functions, it is less capable of reorganizing and adapting. For example, by the first year, the parts of the brain that differentiate vocal sounds are becoming specialized to the language the baby has been exposed to and are already starting to lose the ability to recognize important sound distinctions found in other languages.
As the brain prunes away the circuits that are not used, those that are used become stronger and increasingly difficult to alter over time. Declining plasticity means it’s easier and more effective to influence a baby’s developing brain architecture than it is to rewire parts of its circuitry in the adult years. In other words, we can invest now by ensuring positive conditions for healthy development, or pay more later in the form of costly remediation, health care, mental health services, and increased rates of incarceration.