Boost Your Baby’s Brain | Audrey van der Meer | TEDxTrondheim

Everybody knows that young children have an incredible capacity to learn. Kids learn new languages much more easily than adults, for example. We’re not telling you anything you didn’t know by now, right? What if we told you that they are like that since they’re born, and that with the right early stimulation they can develop sooner than what we’re used to seeing? Audrey van der Meer has been studying this for several years. Born in the Netherlands, her career took her to Scotland and then Norway. Currently a professor of neuropsychology at NTNU - Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Audrey has been working on behavior and brain research for around 25 years. She’s a specialist in infant development, with several publications about the subject and wide projection in the media. Not only a researcher, she also has five children of her own. Everybody knows that young children have an incredible capacity to learn. Kids learn new languages much more easily than adults, for example. We’re not telling you anything you didn’t know by now, right? What if we told you that they are like that since they’re born, and that with the right early stimulation they can develop sooner than what we’re used to seeing?

[alessandrofacciani]

I’ve been waiting so long for someone capable of talking about early development of babies competently..

[funkdrunk]

6:54 there might be a dangerous confusion about potty-training. A good guidance is voluntary assistance. The good aspect of potty training is motor independence. However, this all mutated in western cultures into a behavioral training ("you must do it on a potty"), and even bladder training ("you must wait"). The latter are harmful, esp. if "bad behavior" is penalized. Let us then clearly celebrate a baby who can move around and do stuff on her own without pushing her onto a potty. A good variant of "potty training" is to inspire a kid to use a standard western toilet (assuming size appropriate for safety ... we do not want to flush the baby :)

(fantastic lecture, by the way)

[lulapaloozah]

Wowww@!!! Most beneficial ted talk ever

[joenelson]

Very difficult to listen to someone who is clearly terrified.