How does a child's brain develop?

Principals of Brain Development:

  • The outside world shapes the brain's wiring.
  • The outside world is experienced through the senses - seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting - enabling the brain to create or modify connections.
  • The brain operates on a use it or lose it principal.
  • Relationships with other people early in life are the major sources of development of the emotional and social parts.

For more details on brain development go to:

This report was made possible by grant number 90LO0071 from the Child Care Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views of the funding agency, nor does publication in any way constitute an endorsement by the funding agency.

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