Therapy Thursday: Early brain development

Within the first year of life, the brain triples in size, reaching 90% of its adult size by age six.

In this week's Therapy Thursday, therapist Kaydee Norton with Sunbeam Family Services discusses the importance of early brain development.

Norton says brain health starts before a baby is born. "Maternal care is so important because it can be one of the greatest outcomes of brain health and development," she said. "Making sure you take care of yourself prenatally through diet, exercise, ... low stress..., relaxation, can all impact our babies' development."

Parental and caregiver interactions play a big role in a child's brain development, Norton says.

"We have a thing we call serve and return, we do this every day... this is a really easy thing you can do with your child, baby... a child's gonna serve an interaction, so that be a little babble from a baby, or a cooing, or a kiddo pointing to something, then you as the caregiver you're going to return that to them."

For a teenager, serving and returning would be responding in a positive way to what they are saying.

Sunbeam offers multiple programs for postnatal resources. To learn more, click here.