InBrief: The Science of Neglect

Summary

The video 'InBrief: The Science of Neglect' by the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University explores the vital role of adult-child interactions in shaping the brain architecture of young children. The concept of 'serve and return' is crucial for healthy brain development, as a lack of responsive engagement can lead to stress and developmental issues. Neglect comes in various forms, from occasional inattention to severe neglect in families or institutional settings, each with distinct impacts on a child's development. The film emphasizes the importance of interventions and community involvement to support children and ensure the foundations of a healthy next generation.

Highlights

• The brain needs responsive interactions to develop properly. 🧠
• Serve and return is like a game of tennis between a child and adult. 🎾
• Experimental studies show stress from lack of interaction. 📊
• Neglect is more common than other forms of maltreatment in the US. 🇺🇸
• Institutional neglect impacts brain development significantly. 🏥

Key Takeaways

• Serve and return interactions are crucial for child brain development. 🤱
• Neglect can lead to stress and hinder brain architecture growth. 🤯
• Four categories of neglect: occasional inattention, chronic under-stimulation, severe neglect in families, and severe institutional neglect. 🗂
• Interventions can profoundly change children's developmental trajectories. 🚀
• The community bears the consequences of child neglect in the long term. 🚸

Overview

Did you know that how we engage with our children literally shapes their brains? In the video 'InBrief: The Science of Neglect,' we learn about the essential 'serve and return' interactions between adults and children. These exchanges are foundational, like a captivating match of tennis, in forging the robust architecture of a child's developing brain.

Alarmingly, neglect takes on many faces, each damaging in its own way. From simple, occasional inattention, which could unintentionally pose minor benefits, to the severe neglect found in impoverished homes and even institutional settings like orphanages. Each category of neglect chips away at the healthy growth of a child’s brain building blocks, stressing the vital importance of responsive caregiving.

The heartwarming takeaway? Interventions are powerful and can change everything. Whether it's through attentive parenting, supportive childcare environments, or community-based programs, we are reminded that by investing in our children's well-being today, we are building the foundations of a thriving society tomorrow. Let's rally together for our future adults!

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Importance of Community in Child Development The introduction emphasizes the critical role of community in a child's development. It argues that every individual in a community benefits from the proper upbringing of children, as they represent the future adult population that will contribute to society's success. Shonkoff highlights the biological necessity for children to have responsive interactions with adults for proper development. Mayes adds to this by defining neglect as the absence of such crucial interactions that are necessary for brain growth.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Serve and Return Interaction in Brain Development This chapter explores the 'serve and return' interaction, a vital process in brain development. It is based on the natural expectation and biological preparedness of children to receive input from their surroundings. This interactive back-and-forth shapes the brain's architecture. The process begins when a child makes a gesture, like looking at or observing something, which serves as the 'serve'. The parent or caregiver's response to this is the 'return'. Dr. Shonkoff and Dr. Fisher emphasize the essential role these interactions play in healthy brain development.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Disruption of Serve and Return and its Effects The chapter titled 'Disruption of Serve and Return and its Effects' discusses the importance of the serve and return interaction in the development of human brain architecture. Serve and return refers to the back-and-forth interactions between a caregiver and a child, such as cooing and smiling. When these interactions are disrupted, it can hinder brain development. The chapter mentions a series of experiments that involved videotaping mothers and their babies engaging in these interactions to highlight their significance.
• 01:30 - 02:00: The Effects of Stress and Neglect on Brain Development The chapter discusses the impact of stress and neglect on brain development, emphasizing how a lack of attention or response to a baby can trigger stress responses biologically. This continual exposure to stress hormones affects the brain development process, as opposed to normal development characterized by periodic fluctuations of these hormones.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Categories of Neglect The chapter discusses how neglect affects brain development, particularly in young children. Key synapses, or nerve connections, may fail to form in critical brain regions due to a lack of stimulation. This neglect is not only detrimental to the development of the brain's architecture, but it also activates the stress biology of a child, creating a 'double whammy' effect. Additionally, the chapter highlights that there are four categories within the spectrum of neglect, as identified by science.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Occasional Inattention The chapter titled 'Occasional Inattention' discusses a category of child development where children mostly receive responsive interaction but occasionally experience periods where adults do not respond. It is emphasized that this occasional inattention causes no harm and potentially has benefits. For instance, it provides children with opportunities to learn self-soothing and environmental exploration, contributing to building brain architecture. The transcript also briefly introduces a second category called 'chronic under-stimulation.'
• 03:00 - 03:30: Chronic Under-stimulation This chapter discusses chronic under-stimulation in children, a condition characterized by insufficient interaction with adults which is necessary for healthy development. It mentions that children experiencing this can often catch up developmentally if provided with enriched learning opportunities and normal levels of engagement, known as 'serve and return'. The chapter also touches on severe neglect in a family context, where there are extended periods of inattention and lack of responsiveness.
• 03:30 - 04:00: Severe Neglect in a Family Setting The chapter titled 'Severe Neglect in a Family Setting' discusses the critical issue of child neglect in the United States. Neglect is characterized by the failure to meet a child's basic needs, such as proper nutrition and hygiene. It is highlighted as a more prevalent form of maltreatment compared to others, posing significant risks for long-term emotional and developmental deficits. Experts like JONES-HARDEN emphasize the enormity of the problem, while FISHER points out the challenges in addressing the severe impacts on neglected children's well-being.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Severe Neglect in Institutional Settings The chapter discusses severe neglect in institutional settings where children are raised in warehouse-type environments, such as orphanages. It highlights the need for complex and intensive strategies to counteract these adverse effects. Notably, these settings of severe neglect aren't limited to orphanages but can also occur in various parts of the country.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Interventions and Societal Impact of Neglect This chapter discusses the impact of institutional and residential care on children, particularly infants. The frequent change in caregivers, as is common in such settings, can have negative effects on the brain architecture and overall development of a child. The chapter also highlights the potential to alter and improve the developmental trajectories of children through targeted interventions.

InBrief: The Science of Neglect Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 >> SHONKOFF: Everyone in a community has a vested interest in everyone else's children because everyone else's children determine the next adult population that makes for a successful society. Built into our biology is the need to have responsive interactions with adults. >> MAYES: Neglect for children is when they don't get what the brain is
• 00:30 - 01:00 expecting to get, what the child is expecting to get, what we are biologically prepared and waiting for, which is input from those around us. >> SHONKOFF: It's this back and forth "serve and return" interaction that literally shapes the architecture of the brain. >> FISHER: Serve and return begins when a child looks at something or observes something, makes an utterance, and that represents the serve, and the return is when the parent notices the child doing these things and responds to the child.
• 01:00 - 01:30 >> GUNNAR: Under conditions where serve and return is broken you literally are pulling away what is the essential ingredient of the development of human brain architecture. >> SHONKOFF: There was a really compelling series of experiments where they started by videotaping the mother and the baby engaging in cooing and smiling, and then they asked the mother
• 01:30 - 02:00 to basically put on a blank face and not respond at all. When a baby is not attended to that is a sign of danger to the baby biologically, so the stress systems become activated. >> MAYES: In a brain that is constantly bathed in stress hormones, not this up and down that comes with normal development,
• 02:00 - 02:30 certain key synapses, the connections between nerves, fail to form in critical regions of the brain >> GUNNAR: So neglect both fails to provide the stimulation that's needed to develop the basic architecture, and when it's at a certain level is one of the most potent activators of the stress biology of a young child. So you get a double whammy. >> SHONKOFF: Science points to 4 categories of the spectrum of neglect.
• 02:30 - 03:00 The first category would be what's called "occasional inattention," where children experience responsiveness most of the time, but occasionally adults don't respond. There's no harm in that and in fact there's probably some benefit. >> FOX: A child can learn to self-soothe and explore the environment and all of those opportunities build brain architecture. >> SHONKOFF: The second category, scientists would call "chronic under-stimulation,"
• 03:00 - 03:30 is where, on a regular basis, children have less interaction with the adults around them than is needed for healthy development. >> FISHER: Those children, typically, when provided with enriched learning opportunities and more typical levels of serve and return will show catch up. >> SHONKOFF: The third category is what science would call "severe neglect in a family" where not only are there prolonged periods of inattention and lack of responsiveness
• 03:30 - 04:00 but often also associated with not being fed enough, not being bathed enough, not having basic needs met. >> JONES-HARDEN: Neglect is a huge problem in the US. Children are much more likely to be neglected than they are to experience any other kind of maltreatment. >> FISHER: We see the child really being at risk for much more substantial kinds and deficits down the road that don't necessarily get easily fixed or ameliorated.
• 04:00 - 04:30 This is where we really need to think about more complicated and often more intensive strategies to help undo those effects. >> SHONKOFF: The fourth category, called "severe neglect generally found in institutional settings." is the result of children living in kind of warehoused-type situations in orphanages. >> MAYES: And it doesn't have to even be as extreme as orphanages. It can be experiences that are regretfully occurring in many, many parts of our country.
• 04:30 - 05:00 >> JONES HARDEN: Often institutional care in this country is under the euphemistic name of transitional care or temporary care or assessment facilities. >> FISHER: If you think about what institutional or residential care would look like for an infant where there's somebody new coming on to the shift every eight hours it really alters the development of the child's brain architecture and other aspects of the child's development. JONES-HARDEN: We have the potential to change children's developmental trajectories.
• 05:00 - 05:30 >> FISHER: Interventions can apply to parents, to foster parents or adoptive parents, childcare settings, Head Start settings, and other kinds of settings, and really what they're about is attuning people to the serve and return process. >> SHONKOFF: Neglecting young children is neglecting the foundations of a healthy next generation. The community pays a huge price later in terms of the
• 05:30 - 06:00 problems of the next generation, whether it be educational achievement, economic productivity, good citizenship, the ability to parent the next generation. All of the things that have to do with a healthy, prosperous society.