Understanding the Science 

We start life using movement to stimulate our learning processes. In the beginning of early childhood development all essential movements made by the newborn child are actually reflexes. Motor development occurs as children gain control over the movement of their bodies.

It is now scientifically accepted that children aren’t born coordinated; coordination develops through three primary levels:

1. Reflex-motor (automatic movement, e.g., sucking reflex)

2. Gross-motor (large muscle movement, e.g., throwing a ball)

3. Fine-motor (small muscle movement, e.g., writing, colouring)

From the time we are infants until school begins, we live in a three-dimensional world of exploration through movement and the senses. It is particularly important to recognize the fact that each of us is an accumulation of experiences with our brains constantly adapting to the unique world in which we live. Genes give a child a potential for mental skills, experience determines whether the skills actually develop.

We are born with almost as many cells as we’ll have, what changes are the connections between them. Our early developmental movements create new neurological connections, the foundation for our future learning experiences. Successful brain function requires efficient connections across the neural pathways located throughout the brain. Movement is the door to learning and movement enhances learning. As we move, we stimulated and myelinated each major area of our brain to promote efficient and cooperative communication between the brainstem, midbrain and neocortex.

It is now generally accepted that humans learn more in the first six years of life than they ever will again. These first few years are crucial to a child’s future intellect, physical fitness and general health.

Our Wiring System   

The Neuron – A Specialized Cell for Thinking

The neuron, commonly known as a nerve cell, is an extremely complicated unit. It not only generates its own electricity, but it also manufactures the sodium and potassium needed to speed the electrical impulse along. Different kinds of neurons carry out different assignments throughout the body, but the way each produces a nerve impulse is basically the same. All neurons are composed of three basic parts: the cell body, the axon, and the dendrites. They might be compared to the root system of a growing plant, with the seed being the cell body, and the stem and its branches being the axon and dendrites.

1. The cell body. This is the heart of the cell and contains a nucleus surrounded by cytoplasm. It is the headquarters of the neuron and it supervises the neuron’s smaller parts.

2. Dendrites. Around the cell body are a number of thick nerve fibres that spread out in many directions and that divide into many thin whiskery branches called dendrites, the ends of which branch out further into thousands of little sprouts. These sprouts form synapses, through which signals are transmitted from one neuron to another. The synapses are actually little gaps between the sprouts of one neuron and those of another. The signals are produced through chemical neurotransmitters that send electrical impulses between the neurons. When the signal is received, other electrical impulses are triggered to send it on to other neurons. A single neuron may have anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 contacts with other neurons and their cell bodies. Every neuron is, in fact, a tiny electrical power plant, a miniature chemical factory, and a busy message centre.

3. Axons. The cell body sends out its most important signals to the dendrites of other neurons through a long fibre called an axon. Axons vary in length depending on the function of the neuron. Some are several feet long. For example, the axons that control the toes extend from the motor portion of the brain through the body down to the bottom portion of the spinal column.

4. Myelin sheath. The axon of a neuron is covered with a myelin sheath. This is insulation much like that of electrical wires. It is a white,        fatty substance that wraps itself around the axon in rolls. Myelin allows impulses to travel faster through the axon. Myelination occurs with use. It is estimated that millions of neurons can be involved in a single experience; thus the more experiences we have, the more myelination occurs, and the more quickly signals will travel through the brain.

 Nerves

Nerves, made up of neurons, complete the wiring system of the body. A nerve is round, glistening, and flexible. It can be short and slender or long and thick. It can be a single neuron with a single long fibre or it can be a bundle of fibres. Most nerves split off into smaller and smaller branches of their course to outer parts of the body.