Your Baby’s Brain is Developing… first one part, then another…

What is TSK’s brain doing right this very minute?  Processing your every word?  Plotting how to make your life easier?  Or just planning the next poop? Well, we’ll never know… or will we?

Research is showing that one area of the brain may be really busy with all this processing, plotting and planning…months before TSK will be able to use that part of the brain!  That means that TSK may not be able to do something yet…BUT…hold on to your hats…’cuz when TSK gets it “all together”, with all that love and support YOU give… a new skill will explode on the scene and your TSK will be growing up to be more independent!

An article from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looked at infants 7 to 12 months of age in relation to which brain areas were activated when listening to others.  Brain scans looked at which areas were activated when babies listened.

They assumed that the input areas of hearing and the associated brain processing areas would light up, but they had a surprise; another area that lit up well when the infants were listening, was the motor cortex.  The motor cortex allows the body to do things, like move and talk.

So, it would seem that TSK already KNOWS that sharing and being part of a family takes several skills; listening, processing, then responding.  It’s that genetic thing, and TSK is working hard to make it all happen; TSK needs YOUR help for Brain Development!

So, WHAT TO DO: when TSK is babbling, even at a few months of age: look him/her in the eye, and listen attentively and quietly while the TSK babbles, then when TSK stops… It’s YOUR TURN talk back to TSK in that wonderful fun and respectful way you do SO well!

Often, several give-and-take sessions can be had at one sitting! You can talk about anything; the laundry, where you will go after lunch, a recent fact you just learned, etc. TSK is most interested in your tone of voice, and how the words flow. What you say isn’t as important as how you say it.

Of course, do remember that TSK is starting to remember words, so be sure what you say is something you wouldn’t be embarrassed to hear TSK say someday! But…don’t get too cocky, and think that “this is all there is to it”…. No, TSK is going to GROW and CHANGE!!

YOU will need to adjust and develop NEW ways to help and stimulate TSK’s new brain pathways.  Just remember that brain abilities develop at different rates and times, and one may be developing, but you can’t see any “results” for a while; just hang in there!

Give that brain a hug, no matter the age, and listen away!! Gene