Key Points from Science Day Speakers

The purpose of this quick reference guide is to inform those who were unable to attend Science Day on April 11. Expert speakers covered the following key points at two sold-out events.

Richard Davidson   
Director, Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience
http://psyphz.psych.wisc.edu/web/personnel/director.html

• Brains change in response to experience.
• Exposure to negative experiences and emotions interferes with a child’s ability to think and reason.
• Social emotional learning leads to beneficial brain changes.

Karen Gordon   
Founder and Director, Whole Child International 
http://www.wholechild.org/home.html
http://members.forbes.com/global/2007/0212/070.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6xry5DO2Ys

• A secure emotional connection between caregiver and child leads to a positive outcome in physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development.
• Everyday childcare routines (feeding, bathing, diapering) provide opportunities for emotionally rich experiences.
• Consistency in caregiving is very important.

Mary Gordon    
Founder and President, Roots of Empathy    
http://www.rootsofempathy.org/Mary.html
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/globaltribe/voices/voi_gordon.html
http://ashoka.org/node/3005

• Love grows brains. Experiences are embedded biologically.
• Be compassionate with yourself and your child. Compassion begets compassion.
• Empathy and understanding precede compassion and action.

John Gottman
Author of How to Raise an Emotionally Intelligent Child   
http://www.gottman.com/
http://www.talaris.org/spotlight_gottman_bio.htm

• Healthy communication between parent(s) or primary caregivers is critical for the healthy development of a child.
• All parents, caregivers, and educators need to be emotion coaches.
• Children teach their caregivers just as caregivers teach the children.

Alicia Lieberman  
President, Board of Directors, Zero to Three
http://psych.ucsf.edu/faculty.aspx?id=322

• Seeds of compassion are sown and grow in the first months and years of life.
• Babies, from the moment they’re born, are profoundly shaped by how they are treated and by what they see, hear, and experience through their senses.
• Positive and negative experiences are translated into a child’s behavior. Kind and productive behavior vs. aggression or withdrawal.

Bob Marvin   
Co-Originator, Circle of Security
http://128.121.62.12/Marvin_Evid_Tx.htm

• Early bonding is a function of taking delight in your child and in yourselves as parents.
• It is important to understand and react to the inner life and motivations of a child rather than reacting to overt behaviors.  
• Through talking, parents can help their child learn effective ways to manage feelings and behavior.

Andrew Meltzoff
Co-Director, UW Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences         
http://ilabs.washington.edu/meltzoff/

• Infants are born learning and are social by nature.
• Infants learn by observation and imitation. We are their best role models and mentors.
• Recent discoveries have identified brain pathways or patterns that contain the human desire to empathize with (emotions) and imitate (actions) another.

Daniel Siegel  
Author of The Mindful Brain and Parenting from the Inside Out
http://drdansiegel.com/

• Know yourself—so you can better raise your child.
• To help a child feel safe, secure, and seen, we must relate to their inner world.
• Learning from your mistakes and apologizing to children is an important part of developing emotional and social intelligence.

Roger Weissberg  
President of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)  
http://www.uic.edu/depts/psch/weiss-1.html

• Well designed and implemented, teacher-taught social and emotional learning (SEL) programs can promote healthy development and positive social behavior.
• Students are likely to score higher on assessment tests when they have received a balance of SEL and academic learning.
• Effective SEL programming by school personnel must be supported by coordinated state and educational policies, leadership and training.

For more information about Science Day, please visit the Science Day Media Kit page or the Seeds of Compassion schedule of events.