"Authoritative yet accessible... While technically informative, the book is welcoming and manageable for
parents of children in the most important developmental phases."
--Michigan Learning, March 2001
"Authoritative yet accessible ... While technically informative for policy makers and professional service
providers in the area of health, education, and welfare, the book is also an engaging read for parents interested
in finding out more about the most important early developmental years."
--National Investment for the Early Years, July 2001
"...this book is truly outstanding... Readers will get from this volume a broad and timely review of what
we now know about child development in the first years of life. ...impressively comprehensive."
--Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, April 2001
National Academy of Sciences Web Site, August, 2001
Summary
How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part
because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about
our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media.
How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well
as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture,
the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and
benefits of intervention, and other issues.
The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial
and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more.
Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring"
and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family,
child care, community-within which the child grows.
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
I SETTING THE STAGE
Introduction
Rethinking Nature and Nurture
The Challenge of Studying Culture
Making Causal Connections
II THE NATURE AND TASKS OF EARLY DEVELOPMENT
Acquiring Self-Regulation
Communicating and Learning
Making Friends and Getting Along with Peers
The Developing Brain
III THE CONTEXT FOR EARLY DEVELOPMENT
Nurturing Relationships
Family Resources
Growing Up in Child Care
Neighborhood and Community
Promoting Healthy Development Through Intervention
IV KNOWLEDGE INTO ACTION
Conclusions and Recommendations
References
APPENDIXES
A Related Reports from the National Academies
B Defining and Estimating Causal Effects
C Technologies for Studying the Developing Human Brain
D Biographical Sketches
