Coming Your Way:
The Effects of Environment and Biology on Brain Development
Alfred Healy, MD, Interim Director, Iowa University Affiliated Program,
Interim Director, Division of Developmental Disabilities, Department of Pediatrics,
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
Winter 1998

As our lead article, "Time is of the Essence: Early Stimulation and Brain Development," suggests, current research is dramatically expanding our understanding of brain development in the fetus and young child. Organizing the plethora of available information on brain development is a challenge, both to us as we prepare this newsletter, and to you as you apply this information, whether in the clinic or in the classroom. Viewing the brain as a relatively unlimited archive of data is helpful -- but it is also essential to realize that the brain requires careful nurturing to achieve its full potential. For this reason, it is critically important for us to understand the factors that can interfere with brain growth, maturation and, ultimately, function.

That is why two issues of this newsletter deal with the topic of brain development. This issue addresses lifestyle and behavioral factors that foster optimal brain development. In the next issue (Spring '98), Don Van Dyke, MD, and Dr. Andrea Sherbondy, MD, will discuss the ways pre- and post-natal brain development is influenced by environmental (nutrition, trauma, toxins, infection, etc.) and biologic (genetic) factors.