What You Can Do to Support Babies’ Brain Development

This week we’re featuring a series of articles from our friends at Zero to Three. They’re all about “What You Can Do to Support Babies’ Brain Development,” and are divided up by the age of the baby:

Each handout is subdivided into sections about the various domains of development pertinent to each age group and offers tips and helpful hints about what you can do to support babies’ growth.

Check them out and let us know in the comments below which handout you found the most useful. We love hearing from you.

The ICC-Recommended Early Start Personnel Manual (ESPM) describes core knowledge and role-specific competencies needed for early intervention service provision, incorporating current research and evidence in the field of early intervention. To access the ESPM, CLICK HERE.

This resource is related to the following ESPM knowledge-level competencies:

Core Knowledge (CK):

CK6: The sequences of development and the interrelationships among developmental areas/factors

Individualized Family Service Plan Development and Review (IFSP-DR):

IFSP-DR5 (EIS): Understands the rationale for the identification and selection of intervention strategies used in everyday routines, relationships, activities, places and partnerships for early intervention activities (or justification of the extent to which some outcomes cannot be achieved in a natural environment).

Individualized Family Service Plan Implementation (IFSP-i):

IFSP-i2 (EIS): Understands the individual nature of child learning styles and the importance of adapting intervention strategies.
IFSP-i3 (EIS): Knows generic and specific evidence-based early intervention strategies to support all areas of development.
IFSP-i6 (EIS): Understands the need for developmentally appropriate strategies (for example, hands-on, experiential, child-centered, play-based activities within daily routines), adaptations, assistive technologies and other supports that maximize the child’s learning opportunities.
IFSP-i10 (EIS): Knows strategies that support parents in providing basic health, nutrition, and safety for infants and toddlers in natural environments.
IFSP-i11 (EIS): Knows strategies that support parents in adapting the natural environment to meet infant/toddler developmental needs.