By Jim Mustard for J Fraser Mustard The Founders’ Network Founding Chairman

1. Socioeconomic Determinants of Health, Learning, and Behaviour: How Do Societies Achieve Equity from the Start? Evolving Perspectives in Immersion Education in the Global Village Winnipeg, Manitoba By Jim Mustard for J Fraser Mustard The Founders’ Network Founding Chairman Council for Early Child Development February 6, 2009

2. How do diverse populations with different cultures and language communicate with each other?

3. Canada set a target of being a bilingual country.

4. What is the best time to learn two or more languages?

5. World Health Organization Michael Marmot Inequalities in Health and Development Closing the Gap in a Generation WHO, August 2008

6. Chapter 5 Equity From the Start Hertzman and Marmot Equity: actions, treatment of others, or a general condition characterized by justice, fairness, and impartiality WHO, August 2008

7. Science of Early Child Development “The science of ECD shows that brain development is highly sensitive to external influences in early childhood starting in utero with life long effects.” WHO, 2008

8. Developmental Neurobiology

9. Experience-Based Brain development in the early years of life sets neurological and biological pathways that affect throughout life: 03-080 Health Learning (literacy) Behaviour

10. 08-039 Why do we care about brains? You are your brain. BUT Your brain is not just produced by your genes. Your brain is sculpted by a lifetime of experiences. The most important time in brain development is the first few years of life. Kolb, U Lethbridge

11. 08-026 What is experience? Everything that you encounter both pre- and postnatally as well as in adulthood… Examples: sounds, touch, vision, smell, food, thoughts, drugs, injury, disease… Kolb, U Lethbridge

12. 08-029 Does Experience have the Same Effects on Brain Development at Different Times in Life? No ! There are qualitative differences at different stages of life. There is something fundamentally different prenatally vs infancy vs juvenile vs adult. One difference is gene expression. Kolb, U Lethbridge

13. 08-081 All the neurons have the same DNA. How do they differentiate for their diverse functions?

14. “The nerve cell, or neuron resembles a miniature tree…”A newborn has @100 billion neurons when they are born and form 1 trillion connections by the time they are 3 Diamond & Hopson, 1998

15. 04-039 Two Neurons RECIPIENT NEURON Axon Synapse SIGNAL-SENDING NEURON Dendrite

16. Synaptic Density 03-012 At Birth 6 Years Old 14 Years Old Rethinking the Brain, Families and Work Institute, Rima Shore, 1997.

17. The Fear Response or Stress Pathway 02-066 Visual Thalamus Visual Cortex Amygdala Scientific American The Hidden Mind, 2002, Volume 12, Number 1

18. Amygdala and Hippocampus

20. 03-002 Sensory Stimuli Prefrontal Cortex Amygdala Hippocampus - + - + Hypothalamus PVN Cortisol Cortisol CRF PIT ACTH Adrenal Cortex LeDoux, Synaptic Self

21. 05-212 Limbic HPA Pathway - Stress Cortisol – Over Production Behaviour (ADHD, violence), depression, diabetes, malnutrition, cardiovascular disease, memory, immune system, drug and alcohol addiction Cortisol – Under Production Chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, immune system (autoimmune disorders) rheumatoid arthritis, allergies, asthma

22. 01-012 Early Learning and Criminal Behaviour "Significant correlation with registered criminality (teenage) appeared for language development at 6, 18, and 24 months.” Early verbal skill development depends upon language exposure which requires holding the infant and toddler (touch). Stattin, H. et al Journal of Abnormal Psychology 102; 369, 1993

23. 08-031 A “Natural” Experiment: Romanian Orphan Adoption • Children adopted into middle class homes after 8 months in the orphanages show at 11 years in contrast to children adopted early: • Abnormal brain development (small brain, low metabolic activity, abnormal EEG) • Social and cognitive problems (IQ loss) • 3. High vulnerability to behavioural problems (ADHD, aggression) Kolb, U Lethbridge

24. 08-014 Epigenetics (nature and nurture) The process by which normal gene expression is altered by experience. Genotype vs Phenotype

25. The Brain and Literacy

26. 07-123 Brain Pathways “Higher levels of brain circuits depend on precise, reliable information from lower levels in order to accomplish their function. Sensitive periods for development of lower level circuits ends early in life. High level circuits remain plastic for a longer period.” Knudsen 2004

27. 04-200 Early Child Development and Language Starts early – first 7 months Sets capability for mastering multiple languages Sets literacy and language learning trajectory

28. Human Brain Development – Language and Cognition 01-003 Language Sensing Pathways Higher (vision, hearing) Cognitive Function 9 -3 3 1 0 6 4 8 12 16 -6 Months Years Conception AGE C. Nelson, in From Neurons to Neighborhoods, 2000.

29. 09-018 Brain Areas Activated by Language Tasks Kolb & Whishaw, 2009

30. 09-019 Neural Webs for Language Tasks Kolb & Whishaw, 2009

31. 07-001 Early Experience and Brain Architecture and Function Affects gene expression and neural pathways Shapes emotion, regulates temperament and social development Shapes perceptual and cognitive ability Shapes physical and mental health and behaviour in adult life Shapes physical activity (e.g. skiing, swimming, etc.) Shapes language and literacy capability

32. 07-105 The Brain and French Immersion

33. Levels of Literacy: A Reflection of ECD 01-040 Level 1: indicates persons with very poor skills. Level 2: people can deal with material that is simple. 42% of Canadians Level 3: is considered a suitable minimum for coping with the demands of everyday life. Level 4: people who demonstrate command of higher-order processing skills. Level 5: competence in sophisticated reading tasks, managing information and critical thinking skills.

34. 09-015 Enrollment in EFI and CE by SES Core English (CE) Early French Immersion (EFI) 88 82 76 68 59 41 32 24 18 12 Lower 20% Middle 20% Highest 20% SES Willms, 2008

35. 09-016 Assessment Results No French Immersion Early French Immersion N = 558 N = 358 % with scores below 1.0 % with scores below 1.0 General Knowledge 12 5.3 Behaviour 10 5.6 Cognition 15.1 3.9 Language and Communication 14.1 2.2 Physical 12.2 3.4 Willms, 2008

36. 09-017 Enrollment by Program (%) Grade 1 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 10 Grade 12 Core English 69 77 60 73 82 Late French Immersion -- -- 17 11 9 Early French Immersion 31 23 23 16 9 Willms, 2008

37. 04-153 Abecedarian Study – Reading Effect Size Primary Grades Preschool Preschool & Primary Grades 1.2 0.8 0.4 0 Age 8 Age 12 Age 15 Age 21 Age at Testing

38. Public Expenditures - Early Childhood ProgramsSelected OECD Countries (%), 2004

39. 03-074 Rates of Return to Human Development Investment Across all Ages 8 6 Pre-school Programs Return Per $ Invested School 4 R Job Training 2 Pre- School School Post School 0 6 18 Age Carneiro, Heckman, Human Capital Policy, 2003

40. Chaos Early intervention Health Education Family support Social services Local school authorities Public health Munici-palities Community services Parks & recreation Parenting centres Preschools Kindergartens Children’s mental health centres Child care

41. IT takes a Village to Raise a Child What does it take to raise a village?

42. Changing the Way we do things Whether the issue is early human development, childcare, french immersion, food security, youth engagement, literacy, suicide, global warming, poverty, employment, crime, civil societies….

43. All our governance systems must move towards an intersectoral/holistic approach. This is especially important at the local level where services, programs and relational supports need to be connected and integrated towards a communities vision

44. The Components to Raise the Village The Message: Critical importance of early human development - hope The Process: who to involve, where to start, questions to ask, steps to follow. The Content: What are the components that create a comprehensive and integrated system of programs and supports The Evidence: EDI, 18 month screening…

45. School communities are a natural place to start to engage the broader community with an inclusive and meaningful process.

46. Process

47. It’s all about relationships

48. Get the Message Out !Regional Leaders Retreats • The revitalization of community comes through citizen participation and through having communities that understand EHD and value all their families and children. • An important first step in mobilizing community is to foster and encourage the coming together of a new cross sectoral leadership - with the usual and unusual suspects - to share their knowledge, assess needs, determine priorities and then commit to act!

49. CARS-Communities Achieving Responsive Services- “Road Map” *Begins with what currently exists in the community and collectively plans the future-involves stakeholders. *Develops a common community vision, community values, and community action plan *Mobilizes community partners and resources. *Is ongoing, celebrates and revitalizes the “village” *Developing regional models of integration will help to provide evidence and to inform policy framework towards universality.

50. Content