Early Development

Early childhood experiences from birth to age 8 affect the development of the brain’s architecture, which provides the foundation for all future learning,
behavior and health. A strong foundation helps children develop the skills they need to become well-functioning adults.

The time between birth and age 3 is a period of rapid brain development when billions of connections between individual neurons are established. Mechanisms and interventions to support that development must be accessible and available beginning at birth.

ECPAC partners know when children enter kindergarten behind, they are likely to stay behind. Research shows that children who enter kindergarten with strong early literacy, social emotional, math, and other academic skills are more likely to be successful in school.

• Research also shows that children living in low-income families have a 30 million word gap by the age of 3 compared to their more affluent peers.  Elementary students in Adams County have significantly lower reading scores than the Colorado average year after year.
• Kindergarten Readiness scores in Adams County over the past few years have shown a significant number of children are not meeting expectations in social emotional, language/literacy, and early math development.

ECPAC monitors this data and works to provide early care and education programs with resources to help provide an environment that enriches children’s development.

1. Increasing the availability of parenting classes based on best practices for early development.
   1. Families – for resources and information (including child development information (Spanish) or Classes for Parents/Families (Spanish)- please visit our Family Roadmap: ecpac.org/parents-families or click on the Roadmap picture in the top right hand corner of the website.
2. Increasing the ability of Early Care and Education providers to offer developmentally rich environments through professional development in best practices.
3. Increasing the public awareness of the importance of supporting early developmental skills in young children.

Early Development Resources:

• Help families enroll to receive a free book every month: Imagination Library Enrollment; Imagination Library Enrollment – Spanish
• CO Early Learning Dev Guidelines: Off to a great start – Colorado Early Learning & Development Guidelines (earlylearningco.org); Hacia un Gran Inicio – Colorado Early Learning & Development Guidelines (earlylearningco.org)
• CO Playbook: Children are learning all the time, especially when they are playing. You can be a trusted guide for a child’s learning. Learn more about play at bit.ly/PLAYBook in Enligsh and in Spanish  bit.ly/ManualDeJuegos
• Social Emotional: CSEFEL: Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (vanderbilt.edu)
• Early Literacy: http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/early-language-literacy/; http://www.readingrockets.org/audience/professionals/preschool/
• Early Math: Let’s Talk About Math: Early Math Video Series • ZERO TO THREE