Evaluation Study of the Impact of the New Brain Builders Parenting Class

Science demonstrates that the foundation of a person's ability to be innovative, creative, analytical and intellectual is established in the brain during the first few years of life. The brain controls every aspect of human life, from breathing to learning, behaving, adapting and thinking. Because the brain controls all aspects of human life, impaired brain function compromises physical, mental, and emotional health and overall productivity in society. The parent-child or caregiver-child relationship is one of the most important experiences for brain development and cognitive outcomes in young children. This relationship is vital for optimal brain development because of the dependency of neuronal connections on stimulating human interaction. Parental response to their child's verbal or nonverbal cues, frequently called "serve and return", influences whether neural connections are strengthened or eliminated. An example of a positive serve and return scenario is a caregiver or parent's attentive response to a young child's cries through eye contact, acknowledging the child, and meeting the child's need. This type of positive interaction fosters neural connections that are important for communication and social skills. Many parents do not know or understand the impact their responses have on their child's brain development. While there are many parenting programs that teach parenting skills and behaviors, there were no evidences of any programs that were culturally and economically sensitive to vulnerable families and also educated parents on the brain science as well as equip parents with the skills to be responsive parents Brain Builders Parenting Class will work with both inner city and rural WIC clinics with representative populations of pregnant women and women with children under 1 years old, to provide parenting programs, led by WIC staff focused on brain development. The study will evaluate the effectiveness of the parenting program in increasing positive parent-child interactions and increasing cognitive achievement in the children. The main goal of this evaluation study is to increase parents' self-efficacy by increasing their knowledge of brain development, improve their skills through observational learning and behavioral capability, provide reinforcement for positive interactions with baby and child, and increase their social support through the group parenting classes and shared experiences. The evaluation study will have two rounds. The first round will take place at recruitment in the WIC Centers. The second round will take place around the time that the child is between 22 and 26 months old. This visit will take place at the WIC clinic.