5 Things to Stimulate Your Child's Brain

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It has been a long known fact that the care, interaction, and stimulation in the first few years of life of a human being impacts intelligence, emotional well-being, and social skills.   I firmly believe that is even more important to children with significant special needs.

Infants and toddlers are a lot of work.  Our kids need our attention to eat, sleep, bathe, dress, medications, and treatments.  The truth is that a good number are dependent on someone else to initiate any interaction.

It is so easy to set our children in front of the TV so that we can get a few things done.  What is not to like about TV; it has bright pictures and constant sound?  If it entertains our kids, isn’t that stimulation enough?  Without any research to back up my view, I think TV is of very little value to children with significant special needs.  It requires nothing of the child or anyone else.  I think it is an invitation to enter a stupor state.

You maybe thinking, "Great another thing I need to do for my child's well-being! Does the list ever end?" 

Don't panic.  I am not suggesting anything that requires a lot of time or expense.  It is more about using the time already spent caring for your child to a greater benefit to both of you. 

So what does make a difference?   The answer is actually some very easy things.

1.  Attentive interaction:  This really requires nothing more than being attentive while performing personal cares.  Talking, engaging vision, and playing silly little games while doing daily cars is vastly different than just getting the task at hand done.   It doesn’t take any more time.  It is parent or caregiver multitasking at its best.

2.  Physical Stimulation:  Somewhere along the line a medical person told me that stimulating toes and feet increases blood flow to the brain.  I don’t know if that is true or not.  But what I do know is that massaging Maddie’s toes while I took a few minutes to sit (not a strong suit) was greatly enjoyed by both of us.  She was relaxed, more alert, and her toes warmer.  The simple motion helped me to relax, also.

3.  Play music:  Introduce your child to a variety of music.  There have been studies about the effects of classical music (especially child composers like Beethoven and Mozart.  It appears the music helps create brain paths that leads to higher intelligence. Depending on the type of music a child will be calmed, energized or even silly. 

4.  Read to your child:  I know you have heard this one a thousand times.  Reading to a child significantly impacts a child’s ability to focus, speak, and later to read.  Some of our kids may never be able to do those things but then again no one knows for sure.  Reading certainly is not going to hurt!  I am a firm believer in reading to all children under the age of 5 every single day. 

5.  Interact with other children:  Over and over again I watched one child get another child to do something.  Sometimes it is a good thing and sometimes it’s not.  Children motivate and influence each other in ways an adult cannot.  If you have other children, it happens naturally.  If you have one child, it will take more attention to arrange play dates with neighbors, cousins, preschool, or school mates.  It is worth the effort.

Note:  It is important to teach other children to play with your child rather than to “help.”  It is critical that your child have peers rather than helpers (more about that next week).