Re-Envisioning Early Childhood Policy and Practice

In a statement on Re-Envisioning Early Childhood Policy and Practice in a World of Striking Inequality and Uncertainty, the Center for the Developing Child at Harvard has reframed the three core concepts of their existing framework focused on the impact of early experiences on brain architecture;  "serve and return" interactions; and toxic stress as ECD 1.0.

"Building on this strong foundation, advances in the biological sciences now underscore three additional concepts that, together with the original core story of development, offer a new framework for science-informed investment in a post-pandemic world. The addition of these three concepts completes ECD 2.0." These are:

1. Connecting the brain to the rest of the body.
2. Supporting universal needs and individual variation.
3. Providing what young children need when they need it most.

Taken together, these ECD 2.0 concepts connect the science with early childhood policy and practice.

Holly Elissa Bruno offers a personal angle on healing from toxic stress in her book Happiness is Running through the Streets to Find You, "I invite you not to use irreparable when speaking of traumatized children. If that child experiences a loving relationship at any point in her life, she can heal. Her process is more difficult and painstaking; however, she can heal. We cannot rob a child of hope."

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