The Developing Brain

What you’ll learn:

• How the brain develops — from the bottom up and inside out, with 100 billion neurons at birth and a brain designed for connection and learning
• The Triune Brain Model — the survival (reptilian) brain, the emotional (limbic) brain, and the thinking (neocortex) brain, and how all three work together
• How the thinking brain supports regulation — executive function, and the messages that calm the limbic brain
• The left-brain / right-brain myth — why children can feel things before they can explain them, and why regulation comes before reasoning
• The brain’s alarm system — how the amygdala, thalamus, hypothalamus and hippocampus detect threat, and the fight, flight or freeze response
• Lower brain vs. higher brain responses — what dysregulation looks like, and what it means to be calm, connected and ready to learn
• Neuroplasticity — “neurons that fire together, wire together” (Hebb), and how experience shapes strong or weak pathways
• Why early life experiences matter — the first 1000 days, sensitive periods, and how attachment forms internal working models
• The impact of stress on the developing brain — toxic stress vs. co-regulation, and how safe, consistent, responsive interactions build healthier pathways
• What children need for healthy brain development — safe and predictable relationships, supportive environments, positive role modelling, storytelling and play, and therapeutic experiences when needed

Format: Professional development training with practical, relationship-based strategies and downloadable resources included with the course.

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