Early exposure to adverse experiences and stressors, such as poverty, unstable home environments, violence, and a lack of access to quality early education, can negatively affect a child’s development and long-term health and well-being. These experiences, especially within the first three years of life, transform the architecture of the developing brain and have lifelong impacts on a child’s cognitive and emotional development.
Tested policy approaches, such as evidence-based home visiting and maternal depression screening, can buffer the effects of adverse experiences and help shape the social environments in which children grow up and build a strong foundation for their health and wellness. ASTHO’s Early Brain Development project identifies and shares evidence and strategies to help states and territories foster healthy early childhood brain development.
Featured

Promising Pathways for Public Health Leaders Infographic
The first in a two-part infographic series for public health leadership on early brain development.
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Approaches Public Health Leaders Can Use to Make a Difference
Part two of the infographic series.
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Breastfeeding for Healthy Early Brain Development
This brief discusses how home visiting programs provide breastfeeding support, foster healthy early brain development, and improve overall child health and well-being.
View the briefLatest Resources

Improving Youth Behavioral Health Through School-Based Strategies
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Some Early Childhood Development Programs Stalled, Others Flourished During Pandemic
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Recent Federal Actions Spur Changes to Children's Blood Lead Level Screenings and Response
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