[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 48 (Tuesday, April 22, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3410-S3412]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  BRAIN DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise to talk about a subject about which I 
know the Presiding Officer has a great deal of interest, and that is 
the attention that has most recently been focused on the breakthroughs 
in our understanding of the human brain and in the early development of 
children. In fact, Newsweek just released a special edition: ``From 
Birth to Three. What you need to know, how speech begins, a baby's 
brain, genes, emotions, what is normal, what is not.'' I commend 
Newsweek for dedicating a special issue to this subject matter. I think 
it is extremely worthwhile.

  Time magazine earlier did an issue on education, which I think was 
extremely helpful to millions and millions of Americans. I encourage 
everyone in this country to read this edition, particularly young 
families. It is very valuable information for people to have. We are 
gathering new information, almost on a daily basis, about the 
remarkable events that occur in the earliest days of a child's 
development, about how important it is that we do everything we can to 
maximize parental understanding and to provide whatever support we can 
so these earliest days turn out to be productive days in the 
development of a child's life.
  As we all know, last week the President and the First Lady hosted an 
important White House conference on this very topic, bringing together 
leading voices from around the country to discuss the early development 
of children and how we could better support that development. 
Scientists have now presented us with hard evidence of what many 
parents have long held true--have known, I think instinctively--that 
children whose lives are stimulated from birth by words, by affection, 
and by playful interactions with their parents and other devoted 
caregivers are far more likely to develop to their full intellectual 
and emotional potential than those who are not.
  All that we already knew about giving children a good start in life 
still holds true. Genetics, nutrition, whether a mother drinks or 
smokes--all these factors still play a role in a child's development. 
Now we also know that the environment that we provide to children, 
starting at the moment of birth and into their earliest years, has an 
astonishing impact on their potential to learn and to grow.
  I do not pretend to understand all of the scientific studies. In 
fact, just the language of it, the jargon of it, can be dazzling for 
those of us who are lay people in this area. But I am trying to gain a 
basic grasp of the facts. Scientists have now discovered, for instance, 
that the brain of a baby is wired to learn. Starting at the very first 
days, each time a parent holds, rocks, or talks to her child, 
connections are formed between the neurons of the child's brain. These 
connections, the building blocks of a child's cognitive and emotional 
development, grow exponentially in the earliest years.
  Just consider this. By the time a child is 3 years old, that child's 
brain has formed 1,000 trillion synapses, or connections between brain 
cells. Just to give some idea of the magnitude of this, this evening if 
you have a starry night and you look up at the stars, you should know 
that 1,000 trillion synapses is more than all the stars in the Milky 
Way. So, as you gaze at the heavens tonight and you look at the Milky 
Way with all its stars, know that just in 36 months of a child's life 
there are more synapses and more connections formed than all those 
stars. That will give you some idea of what is occurring in these 
earliest days of a child's life.

[[Page S3411]]

  Scientists have found that these connections in a child's brain only 
survive if they are reinforced, a sort of ``use-it-or-lose-it'' 
phenomenon. As an example, and I am very familiar with the one I am 
about to give you, studies have found that children who develop 
cataracts at an early age lose their ability to see, even after those 
cataracts are removed because the brain pathways for sight were not 
allowed to develop during the critical period for achieving sight. Why 
do I know about this? My oldest sister, Carolyn, a teacher in 
Connecticut, was born with cataracts many years ago. She is blind 
today. Had we known, had we had the information we have today, my 
parents might have been able to do something differently. She has been 
a wonderful teacher and an independent individual, but I was struck 
when I read of this particular fact by what we know now that we did not 
know then.

  So this particular discovery came racing home to me in relation to my 
oldest sister--what a difference the current advances of knowledge and 
information might have made in her life. Although she has been 
tremendously successful with her physical handicap, it struck me life 
might have been a little different for her had the information we know 
now about the development of the brain been available then.
  Other information shows that a baby who is not read to--the simple 
act of reading, even before a child can understand the words--that 
child may later struggle with language skills. Similarly, a child who 
does not get the chance to play may later have difficulty interacting 
with peers.
  As the Carnegie Corporation's seminal publication, ``Starting 
Points'' so succinctly states:

       How individuals function from preschool years all the way 
     through adolescence and even adulthood hinges, to a 
     significant extent, on the experiences children have in their 
     first three years.

  What does this exciting research mean to us as policymakers? I think 
it means that what we thought of as ``early interventions'' to help 
children learn may not have been early enough. It means that programs 
for school-age children and even for preschool children miss a window 
of opportunity, the extraordinary potential for learning that exists in 
a child's brain before the age of 3.
  It means we need to start even earlier, at the first day of a child's 
life with guaranteed parental leave, for instance, which the Chair was 
so instrumental in helping us pass a few years ago. Providing even 
those few months for parents who have to work to be with their children 
is a lot better than they used to have. As the Chair knows, I would 
like to lower the threshold from 50 employees to 25, so we can include 
13 million additional people in the country who today cannot take 
advantage of family leave. I am still going to try to persuade him to 
support this. I hope we will lower the threshold so more families can 
take advantage, even for 12 weeks, of the opportunity to stimulate a 
child's early development.
  In short, I think it means for us as policymakers that we need to 
think carefully and critically about what we are doing for children in 
their earliest years. I believe we in the Senate have an extraordinary 
opportunity to help families, to ensure that our Nation's children are 
able to grasp and reach the highest rungs of their potential.
  I have also joined with several of my colleagues to introduce the 
Working Family Child Care Act of 1997. Given these scientific findings, 
quality child care can no longer be considered a luxury. This bill will 
provide $500 million to meet supply shortages, including the acute 
shortage of high-quality infant care. Let's talk about the families who 
have no choice--not the families who have the choice of working or not. 
I have my own feelings about that issue--but, let's talk about the 
families who have no choice, they have to work. Or let's talk about the 
parent who is raising children on her own. The best thing is a caring 
parent, but if for whatever reason that caring parent cannot be with 
that child all the time, then we have to make sure that in child-care 
settings there are quality caregivers so these infants, in the earliest 
days, get the next best thing to a mom and dad.
  I am hopeful, as a result of this new information, we can develop 
broad-based, bipartisan support for quality child care. We have done a 
lot on the availability of child care, but the quality of the care has 
to be good as well. If a parent cannot be there with that child, then 
the child care provider has to know what they are doing. Hopefully, we 
will get support on this issue.
  Our chairman, Senator Jeffords of Vermont, is taking a leadership 
role in this area, and I commend him for it. I am soon going to 
introduce a bill that will put us on a path to fully funding Head 
Start. Again, this has been a controversial matter. We have authorized 
full funding, but we have never come up with the money. We know Head 
Start works and makes a difference in the lives of children. Hopefully, 
we can get broad-based support. It is expensive, I know it. But, we 
have to come up with a means to do it.
  We have to look at our priorities in light of this new information. 
Whether it is 5 years, 7 years, or 8 years, we need to say that at the 
end of that time, we will fully fund Head Start. I am willing to talk 
with anyone about the fastest possible way to do this.
  Recently, our colleague from Utah, Senator Hatch, with Senator 
Kennedy of Massachusetts, introduced legislation to insure our children 
and to thereby ensure that untreated injuries or illnesses do not 
impede a child's development in the most critical years. I commend them 
for their work.
  Mr. President, there are a lot of good things going on that our 
colleagues are working on. I urge, in light of some of these studies--I 
mentioned a moment ago this Newsweek article which I think will be very 
helpful--that we try to pull together here to figure out how we can 
support these families, these children, recognizing the economic 
pressures, all the things that make it more difficult today than in 
earlier days to raise families the way the Presiding Officer and I may 
have been raised. That is not possible for many people today. So we 
need to try to come up with support structures that will allow families 
to at least approximate that world that existed for many of us--not for 
ala--in a time when one parent worked and another stayed home and 
raised the family.

  I know the Presiding Officer cares about this very much. I have had 
the privilege of working with him on these issues. I look forward to 
being involved with him on this one as well. There are a lot of good 
things we can do to assist families. With this new information coming 
to us, not only is it desirous, but I think we have no other choice but 
to act and to see to it that these children get the best start they 
possibly can.
  Mr. President, I appreciate my colleague's indulgence in allowing me 
a little more time than I otherwise would have taken.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kempthorne). Without objection, it is so 
ordered. The Senator from West Virginia is recognized.
  Mr. BYRD. I thank the Chair. Mr. President, what is the question 
before the Senate?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. We are currently in morning business. Senators 
are allowed to speak for up to 5 minutes each.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may be 
permitted to speak for not to exceed 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BYRD. It will more than likely be 10 minutes, or thereabout.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia is recognized.
  Mr. BYRD. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. Byrd pertaining to the introduction of S. 630 are 
located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and 
Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.

[[Page S3412]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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