Resource: Harvard Center on the Developing Child

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The Harvard University Center on the Developing Child website presents a range of information, especially scientific information, in a way that is designed to be accessible to a wide range of readers.

The Center on the Developing Child website at https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/ is searchable by media type or topic and includes a wide range of resources. The site also offers sign-up for their regular newsletter. Topics include:

• Adult Capabilities

• Brain Architecture

• Executive Function

• Lifelong Health

• Mental Health

• Neglect

• Play

• Program Effectiveness

• Resilience

• Serve and Return

• Toxic Stress

At https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resourcecategory/presentations/ the site also offers recordings of presentations by Center affiliates, including:

• PBS NewsHour Q&A: Childhood Trauma and COVID-19

• 2020 Pediatric Brain Health Summit

• 2020 National Prenatal-to-3 Research to Policy Summit

• Protecting Our Children: COVID-19’s Impact on Early Childhood and ACEs

• Protecting Brains, Stimulating Minds: The Early Life Roots of Success in School

• Social and Behavioral Determinants of Toxic Stress

• Why Do Some Children Respond to an Intervention and Others Don’t?

• Using Brain Science to Build a New 2Gen Intervention

• Parenting for Brain Development and Prosperity

• Using Brain Science to Create New Pathways out of Poverty

The Center presents regular webinars at https://developingchild.harvard.edu/news-and-events/webinars/ with recordings accessible on afterwards with YouTube links available on the website. Whilst many of these are directed at a USA audience, some have wider applications, such as Place Matters: The Environment We Create Shapes the Foundations of Heathy Development.

At https://developingchild.harvard.edu/guide/what-is-early-childhood-development-a-guide-to-the-science/ the site offers What is Early Childhood Development? A Guide to the Science (ECD 1.0) with a range of short videos and resources. The training is grouped around the following steps:

• Step 1: Why is Early Childhood Important?

• Step 2: How Does Early Child Development Happen?

• Step 3: What Can We Do to Support Child Development?

The page also includes a link to a follow-up training Introducing ECD 2.0 A New Framework for Science-Informed Investment in the Early Foundations of Health and Development, again in three sections:

Call to Action:

• Re-Envisioning Early Childhood Policy and Practice in a World of Striking Inequality and Uncertainty

Resources:

• Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined

• How Early Childhood Experiences Affect Lifelong Health and Learning

• InBrief: Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body

• Health and Learning Are Deeply Interconnected in the Body: An Action Guide for Policymakers

• Moving Upstream: Confronting Racism to Open Up Children’s Potential

• How Racism Can Affect Child Development

• Facts About Health That Are Often Misunderstood

Podcast Episodes:

• The Brain Architects Podcast: Connecting Health & Learning Part I: The Science

• The Brain Architects Podcast: Connecting Health & Learning Part II: The Implications

• The Brain Architects Podcast:COVID-19 Special Edition: How Do We Rebuild and Re-Envision Early Childhood Services?