Update: The Early Childhood Development Forum of SVPI

By: Bob Wood

The Early Childhood Development Forum of SVPI had its second teleconference on January 12, 2011. Leading the discussion was Dr. Gina Lebedeva, from Seattle who presented on the infant brain development research taking place at I-LABS (Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences) at the University of Washington. Young children are geniuses at learning multiple languages, while adults struggle. Studies at I-Labs are beginning to help us to understand whether similar “windows of opportunity” exist for other content areas, such as social-emotional and cognitive development. Is there a critical time to learn compassion, impulse control, self-esteem or mindfulness of self and others? We focused on and were exposed to the very latest findings on windows of opportunity for language development.

Dr. Lebedeva is charged with “translating” the scientific findings of I-LABS into language understandable by policy makers such as legislators, business community and philanthropists. We witnessed first-hand her skill and knowledge as she masterfully led the discussion.

Three “takeaways” fascinated me:
1. The window for optimal language learning is extremely small (and early). The ability of Japanese and American infants to distinguish “la” from “ra” diverged rapidly between ages 8-10 months.
2. Learning uses both the computational and social aspects of the brain. Infants were exposed to the exact same language sessions, some live and some presented by video screen. Only live exposure infants learned!
3. There is no dichotomy between learning and play before age three and , because of 2 above, YOU are the best toy in the room!

It is never too late to learn. If an optimum window is missed, it is simply more difficult and less efficient.

As with all the information contributed to the Forum, slides and audio from the presentation are archived on the SVPI intranet and available to all SVP partners and investees on the site created for the ECD Forum at https://intranet.svpi.org/crossnetwork/earlychildhood/default.aspx. If you need help accessing the site, please email Rona Pryor on rona@svpi.org.

You can also click here to read more about I-LABS work.


There were about 28 people on the January call representing at least nine different cities. If you are interested in issues involving early childhood development, mark your calendar for noon on April 20 for the next SVPI ECD Forum teleconference. Details will come out well in advance of the call. There is a great chance that Dallas will be leading the discussion on a vocational Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Infant Mental Health.