Tuesday, June 14, 2022
Session Schedule:

10:00 am –12:00 pm – Session 1
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm – Lunch Break
12:45 pm – 2:15 pm – Session 2
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm – Session 3

Foundational Mechanisms of Brain and Child Development

Featured Speaker — Pat Levitt, PhD

The presentation will elaborate several key neuroscience-based concepts of early brain and child development. 1) The core ingredients of healthy child development lie in the building of healthy brain architecture, which is established through a combination of a genetic blueprint to establish fundamental organization that is advanced through a child’s experiences – whether positive or negative; 2) Neuroscience principles from basic science and clinical research guide a basic understanding of how fundamental social, emotional and cognitive skills in children are established, and that these are inextricably entwined; 3) Risks that early adversity pose for later mental and physical health challenges will be presented, and the mechanisms through which these ‘get under the skin’ will be elaborated; 4) Data will be presented that reflect the challenges and promises of modeling neurodevelopmental disorders in relation to bringing a better understanding of clinical heterogeneity.

Learner objectives
Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to:

• Describe fundamental mechanisms of brain development that are involved in the wiring up of circuits related to social, emotional and cognitive functions
• Explain the role of experience and critical periods in brain circuit maturation, and the factors that regulate timing of maturation in relation to neurodevelopmental disorder
• Describe the impact of early life stress on brain and child development
• Describe novel model system approaches to study neurodevelopmental disorder heterogeneity

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