Brain Development: The Diencephalon and Your Child
Jan 16, 2024Season 2Episode 2
Cal Farley's
Unlock the secrets of your child's developing mind as we navigate the complexities of the Diencephalon, the brain region instrumental from birth to age three. We share insights into how this area governs critical functions like sleep and appetite, while also laying the groundwork for emotional regulation and social interactions. Discover why a caregiver's attentive response to an infant's needs isn't just comforting—it's shaping the very architecture of their future selves.
Embark on a compelling exploration of physical milestones, as we discuss the significance of proprioception, spatial awareness, and balance in childhood activities. Learn the signs that may indicate a child's neurological growth is on track, or conversely, when there might be cause for concern. Our conversation will leave you equipped with knowledge and heartwarming anecdotes from our experiences at Cal Farley's Boys Ranch, as we break down the behavioral clues that signal a child's brain is flourishing or may need additional support. Join us on this enlightening journey, where we bridge the gap between science and the art of caring for our littlest ones.
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For More Information about Cal Farley's Boys Ranch: https://www.calfarley.org/
Unlock the secrets of your child's developing mind as we navigate the complexities of the Diencephalon, the brain region instrumental from birth to age three. We share insights into how this area governs critical functions like sleep and appetite, while also laying the groundwork for emotional regulation and social interactions. Discover why a caregiver's attentive response to an infant's needs isn't just comforting—it's shaping the very architecture of their future selves.
Embark on a compelling exploration of physical milestones, as we discuss the significance of proprioception, spatial awareness, and balance in childhood activities. Learn the signs that may indicate a child's neurological growth is on track, or conversely, when there might be cause for concern. Our conversation will leave you equipped with knowledge and heartwarming anecdotes from our experiences at Cal Farley's Boys Ranch, as we break down the behavioral clues that signal a child's brain is flourishing or may need additional support. Join us on this enlightening journey, where we bridge the gap between science and the art of caring for our littlest ones.
To Donate: https://secure.calfarley.org/site/Donation2?3358.donation=form1&df_id=3358&mfc_pref=T
To Apply: https://apply.workable.com/cal-farleys-boys-ranch/j/25E1226091/
For More Information about Cal Farley's Boys Ranch: https://www.calfarley.org/
Music: "Shine" -Newsboys CCS License No. 9402
Speaker 1:
Welcome to BrainBased Parenting, the Boys Ranch podcast for families. We all know how hard being a parent is and sometimes it feels like there are no good answers to the difficult questions families have when their kids are struggling. Our goal each week will be to try and answer some of those tough questions, utilizing the knowledge, experience and professional training Cal Farlies Boys Ranch has to offer. Now here is your host, cal Farlies staff development coordinator, joshua Sprott.
Speaker 2:
Hello again. This is Joshua Sprott. Last week we started our series on brain development and, as we mentioned last time, our discussion proved to have much more depth than we realized. So today we will pick up where we left off by venturing into the next stage of brain development, the Dianne Cephalon. So get ready for part two as we talk about how our kids brains develop. To do that, I'm joined today by Katherine Clay, our clinical supervisor. Hello, chloe Hewitt, assistant administrator over the residential communities. Hi and Erica Hawquahs Burrell, our clinical intervention specialist.
Speaker 4:
Hello.
Speaker 2:
Alright, let's move on to the next area of development, which is the Dianne Cephalon. When is it formed and what functions does it regulate?
Speaker 3:
So formed, between zero to three in charge of regulating sleep, being alert, arousal and appetite. And so that's again why we say zero to three is so critical, because of 85% of it being developed, the brain being developed by movement, balance and all that stuff.
Speaker 5:
Yeah, if you're thinking about kind of as we've watched our kids grow up, yeah, during that period of learning what's stable, what's not stable, stuff like that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, you really think about it. It's all the things that little kids in that time period are doing.
Speaker 1:
Yes.
Speaker 2:
So what role does the Diancephalon play in early childhood development of a child's emotional regulation and social interactions?
Speaker 3:
then, so you know I talked about that a minute ago when the baby cries, you have to meet that need, whether it's hunger, just calming down, or dirty diaper, like you're meeting all of those needs for it. So you're truly relying on your parents to regulate you by rocking, helping them sleep, touch all of those things.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I always think of this as the trust part of the brain that when you meet those needs, when the baby cries and you meet those needs, they learn that their caregiver can be trusted to set that template of need meeting.
Speaker 5:
Well, and it makes sense though, because I think if those needs, if those needs are not met, this is kind of the result of that would be like affect symptoms, like affect depressive symptoms, stuff like that. So it makes sense to connect those two. Yeah as a result of that not being met, I would bet.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, it always makes you think of the study which, josh, you'll probably have to point it out, but when the mom's in there and then leaves, and then the reaction to the baby's having a strange situation.
Speaker 2:
Yes, okay, so yeah, google that if you want to look. It's very fascinating.
Speaker 3:
It is a little bit heartbreaking. It is heartbreaking. It's hard as a mom.
Speaker 2:
So we talked about this being, you know, zero to three and just seeing all the different things that zero to three kids go through. What role does spatial awareness play in this part of the brain? So what about its role in spatial awareness and balance?
Speaker 4:
So the Dian Cephalon also is where movement is developing. So we see kids crawling, we see them walking and they're developing what's called proprioception, which is how they integrate their selves and their bodies into the physical world, and so they're awareness of, which is still developing at this time and will continue to develop, but their awareness of how close they are to something, depth perception, their ability to spin and not get dizzy or get dizzy all of that's developing at that time.
Speaker 3:
And now that we're talking about, I guess jumping is also a big one. I did not think that was a big one until I had kids, and then they were like can he jump or skip? Yes, skip is another one, and so recently at my five-year-old's appointment he had to his well child. They had to make him stand on one foot, balanced on both ones, and I thought, oh, I don't even know if he can do it, I've never watched him do it.
Speaker 3:
So it is one, did he do it, he did it, he did it. Wonderful.
Speaker 2:
So if they're struggling in areas like that they're not able to balance Might that be a warning sign that there might be a deficit in that part of the development of the brain?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, and I think we see that quite a bit out here actually, like the way that sometimes we'll notice the way they walk or the way that they even run. One of the kids specifically that I can think of when he runs on the football, we know it's his by his run, because it just looks a little different.
Speaker 5:
So I do think we see that quite a bit Well and we ask about when we were doing some of our work in the clinical department about the development of large motor skills and that being a lack of large motor skills or some kind of deficit or difference, kind of like what you've spoken to Chloe how that can lead backwards to this area of the brain having some type of insult to it or some type of trauma at that point. And so we see that in. Chloe said the gay and the walking. I think something I see a lot out here are kids that walk on the tips of their toes or have a very. Their walk is very slow or uncoordinated, things like that.
Speaker 2:
One thing I see a lot of times is kids who kind of have that walk you're talking about and then maybe they bump into someone. And then they either don't realize they bumped into someone or they have the over reactive response where it's a little cuckoo over the top.
Speaker 4:
And I think what's really endearing about kids at this age, when their brain is developing, at this time, like when their diencephalons really coming online is, their bodies, naturally, are seeking out. Their bodies want to develop normally and their brains want to develop normally, so they're seeking out those activities you know. They're hopping around, they're spinning, they're jumping, they're doing all the fun stuff that kids love to do.
Speaker 5:
Yeah, it's so funny you say that because on Friday nights, when we have football games here, there's like this little grassy area right by the football field that every child it's like you have to be there, but every child between I don't know one or two and six or seven are constantly rolling around and flipping this way, flipping that way, and I remember asking a friend like why is my child's always nearly always upside down? She's almost always upside down and it's this kind of stuff. It's just interesting to put it in perspective.
Speaker 3:
And we are the most dysregulated as the parent watching. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely, but it sounds like it's something that's necessary and needed. So, instead of. Some people may be tempted to shut that type of behavior down, but maybe in certain circumstances it might be encouraged.
Speaker 5:
Right, yeah, I think, as long as like for me it's, I let my kids do most things like that that look like horse play or look like play, as long as nobody's getting hurt, right.
Speaker 5:
Because I know that they are meeting a sensory need at that point and if it doesn't come out in this safe environment for example the football field, that little corner of grass where they're safe it's going to come out in a way that is not helpful or ideal for us as parents. So I just try to honor what their body's needing at that moment. Can't always do it, but it's nice when we can.
Speaker 2:
So one of the things I think I've seen older kids struggle with is sensory integration. So could you guys talk about what role the Dian Cephalon plays in sensory integration and why that's important?
Speaker 4:
The Dian Cephalons. It's the integrative epicenter for the majority of any of our sensory motor and even our limb impulses. So, as we've been talking about the, our sensory input comes in through the brainstem, gets filtered through the brainstem, then the next place it goes is the diencephalon, and so when we're looking at sensory integration, the diencephalon is integrating that piece of information as well. So if we're looking at like proprioception, where we are in space, or just movement, what our body's doing, even our appetite, if we have like any hunger cues, that's going to relay information to the next parts of our brain.
Speaker 3:
So listening to music, playing with different textures. I hate slime with a passion.
Speaker 3:
So, that is like the one thing. As a parent, I was like you can do play-doh, you can do the kinetic sand, but I can't do slime, just because it sticks on everything, or silly putty, which was a big when we were kids I don't know if it's as big now but smelling the different smells, because my kids love bugs and they love to smell the bug, like they love to do smell everything. And so in recently I'll talk a little bit my five year old in his class just did a taste example which I thought was the coolest thing. So they picked out something sour, something sweet, something bitter. So he comes home yesterday and he's like I don't like the sour. And I was like well, what was your sour? And he was like it was a lemon, mom, and it was so sour. And then the bitter they chose was a bitter chocolate because they thought the kids would love it but they wanted to try a bitter, so it was neat, like they talked to him about through it and I thought that was really neat.
Speaker 2:
So how can providing a sensory rich environment impact positive development for kids?
Speaker 4:
I just keep thinking about. I went on a walk recently with a friend and her two year old. And this friend and I go on walks frequently and this time she had her two year old with her and he really wanted to walk. He wanted to get out of his stroller and it was just so cool to. I mean, the walk took like twice as long but he was picking up every little twig and he was like look, mama, look at this, look at that showing us all these new things. And so even something so simple as going for a walk and being outside to see it through a two year old's eyes, or really young child's eyes, there's so much that they're taking in and they're really engaging all of their senses in that moment. It's like very cool to be able to have the time to pause and really look at that, because there's so much going on in the little brains at that moment.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, and I think it just. It gives the brain the ability to grow and change really ultimately and I think it's providing that sensory rich environment is what will ultimately change and help the child.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I wonder what the lack of a sensory rich environment might, what impact that might have on a brain.
Speaker 5:
Well, I think we said it a little bit earlier, if that piece of the brain is not activated, it's kind of a use it or lose it situation in a way, and then I think you'll find if a kid has all the. So I'm trying to think of how we see it here. So when we have kids here, usually we will begin to see if there's sensory issues. We will begin to see behaviors, usually at school, where there's something that's too loud, the lights are too bright, there's a certain smell or whatever, and they cannot stay in this system, this school, and so we'll usually see increased like principles and teachers and whatever sending emails and whatnot. And so I think a hard thing to understand is when a kid is older, like an adolescent, and they're still struggling with these sensory things, that maybe we can accept a little bit better when it's coming from a little kid. And we have plenty of adolescents who have our very sensory seeking and sensory avoided. And like Chloe I think you were talking about I don't know if you were talking about regulation, but same with sensory, it's so specific to each person and so it's either I really like loose clothing, or I really like tight clothing, or I really like silky clothing or I mean there's so many caveats to sensory seeking and avoidance and I think that makes it really hard for people teachers, whoever, parents to make sense of it.
Speaker 5:
I think it's always an area that I want to learn more about and be more educated about, because I think I see it in my own kids, you know, because it's like it doesn't matter if you've had a hard history or you've developed. Typically, you have said every single person has sensory sensitivities, seek certain sensory input or avoids it, and it's not necessarily about having a trauma history or whatever you want to say. So I just think it's an interesting topic that maybe we don't talk about enough.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I was real thankful our school here sensitive to that. My youngest daughter in elementary school she could not wear blue jeans at all and there was a time out here when the dress code was you had to wear blue jeans and thankfully they changed that before she got into elementary school. But I don't know what she would have done. Like her entire elementary school she would have a meltdown anytime we have to do anything to wear.
Speaker 5:
That's why my daughter calls jeans hard pants. Yeah, because they are hard. They are, and so I'm thinking the same. It would be a power struggle every single morning trying to get my daughter in hard pants. That's horrible. I don't want to wear hard pants.
Speaker 3:
I was thinking too, as we're talking about adolescents, because I think what we see is too, if we're taking them for regulation drive. So if I get a kid and he's super upset or she thinking, okay, I'm going to try and regulate them, let's go on a drive, but giving them the power of, hey, you want to put your music on, Even though it's gonna, you know, if you're calm and you're in a place, because some of them might be heavy metal, some of them it might be country, it could be rap, it can be whatever they prefer, but them getting that sensory of this is the music I like, this is what I enjoy. It's also helping with that regulation and gives them power, because as teenagers, we know they want that power.
Speaker 2:
All right. Thank you for spending some time developing your brains with us today. Until next time, remember you might have to loan out your frontal lobes today. Just remember you to make sure and get them back.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to Brain-Based Parenting. We hope you enjoyed this show. If you would like more information about Cal Farlies Boys Ranch are interested in employment, would like information about placing your child, or would like to help us help children by donating to our mission, please visit calfarlieorg. You can find us on all social media platforms by searching for Cal Farlies. Thank you for spending your time with us and have a blessed day.