Now, after more than 20 years of focused study, new brain research is confirming the merit of these activities. On the basis of this research, many pediatricians place such value on the stimulation children receive when read to at a young age that they have begun to prescribe reading to babies along with regular check-ups and vaccinations. Young children have a tremendous capacity to learn from the moment they are born, but optimal development hinges on the experiences provided for them by the adults who take care of them. Scientists have long believed that reading with children creates a context in which learning can occur. At birth children have most of the brain cells, or neurons, they will need for a lifetime of learning, but these brain cells are not yet linked with the complex networks that are needed for mature thought processes to take place.
Genes control some of the process, but experience is also a crucial ingredient.
Every time a caregiver or volunteer interacts with an infant or toddler, connections are formed. In the first years of life children form extra synapses. In the second decade of life, as children move toward adulthood, trillions of extra connections are eliminated. But this is not a random process. But in fact, the process of shedding excess synapses is perfectly natural and, in fact, beneficial for the human brain.