BRAIN DEVELOPMENT STARTS EARLY ... BE THERE!

Encased in the shell of your skull is a three-pound command center that makes the most sophisticated computer in the world seem like a TinkerToy . In this command center are more than 100 billion energy cells that tell you who you are, what you've done (and how to do it), who you love, and how to walk, talk, hear, see, eat, laugh and cry.

This command center sends signals to remote parts of your body at more than 200 miles an hour. It orders your eyelids to blink a split second before danger strikes. Place a hand on a hot stove, and this center will jerk your hand away before you're even aware you've been burned. It reminds your heart to beat and your lungs to breathe. To top all that, this center rivals the largest database in the world, where it stores and accesses languages, mathematics, music, science, sports, literature and drama.

This command center, of course, is your brain. And most people only get 10 years or so to build and wire it.

"Research tells us that most of a person's brain development takes place before the age of 10," says Dr. Karen DeBord, child development specialist at North Carolina State University. "In infancy and early childhood the brain is most receptive to amassing lifelong skills such as language, music, mathematics. Some functional development, such as vision, actually peak long before the age of 10 within the first eight months of life. Still other areas develop within the womb. Parents and caregivers can do a tremendous amount to help children reach their fullest potential. The key is to act early and knowledgeably."

DeBord says that the human brain actually builds new neural networks, called synapses, in response to stimulation. If a child is exposed to music, language and other skills early on, the brain installs special wiring to accommodate this influx of information. While learning is a lifelong process that serves us into old age, the network that forms the foundation is set down in childhood. While early action does not guarantee that your child will become the next Einstein or Mozart, you can be confident that you are paving the way for children to achieve their fullest potential.

So, what can you do to help your child get "hot wired" for learning? DeBord, who is also a specialist in the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, offers these tips:

• Mothers should avoid alcohol, drugs and tobacco during pregnancy. Proper prenatal nutrition is also very important, as is infant and child nutrition. Check with your physician.

• Expose your child to classical or other soothing, complex music. Studies show that children experiencing such music early in life will develop and exercise the same neurons used for mathematics. Appreciation of music is an added advantage.

• It is important to touch infants. Newborns especially premature babies gained more weight, were more alert and cried less when they received loving touch in the form of gentle massage and voice contact. Additionally, low lighting, skin-to-skin holding and exposure to the mother's heartbeat can help the infant feel safe and therefore open to both intellectual and emotional growth.

• Monitor hearing and language. Talk to the baby so that he or she will begin forming sounds. Always check for ear infections or defects that can hamper language development; babies and children cannot repeat or learn what they cannot hear.

• The same care should be given toward a child's eyesight to assure that the child can absorb colors, faces and shapes around him. Each neuron is attaching to 15,000 other neurons during the first months; make those pathways easier to forge.

• Make sure that your child's emotional wiring is sound and born of nurturing. A child raised in a hyper, violent environment will develop those traits as part of his or her permanent personality. Conversely, a child raised in a stable, quiet, loving environment will reflect those qualities in his or her personality throughout life.

So ... parents and caregivers, take heed. Open up your "Brain Development Tool Box," and get to work. Start wiring and building up your child's command center while it is still in the formative stages. Your child -- and their brain -- will thank you for it later. Society will, too.