d. to your point "c." capella university. start your journey at capella.edu. welcome. we have a very special one for new york city. today we are talking about the science of success, investing in baby's minds. there is something a little intimidating about doing a panel on intelligence. it is hard to look at especially when you meet our guests in just a moment. before i introduce them i want you all to think about a couple of points. what is intelligence? what is the value of intelligence? how do we ensure that every child can reach their full potential? i'm a neurosurgeon and i am fascinated with what i think is the most complex biological system in the world. by the time a human embryo is

five weeks old it is the size of an apple seed but the brain has begun to grow. by eight weeks the central service system is in place. the network is spreading out and nerve signals traveling more than 150 miles per hour. at birth nearly all 100 billion neurones of the human brain are in place. the brain only weighs about 25% of what it will later on. it's about to embark on its fastest growing period, quadrupling in size by the time a child finishes preschool. by age 6 the brain is 90% of its adult size. during that burst of growth 700 new connections are formed every second as we gain the capacity to smile around 2 months, to talk usually around a year and to dress ourselves around the age of 3. in those early years and throughout our lives the brain

changes through experience, learning to speak, taking those first steps, understanding colors and shapes, forming novel thoughts. but as certain neurones are used more frequently other unused neurones go away. it is a process called pruning. almost anything can shape us in those baby and toddler years, first words, first ice cream, first tv show, first argument for better or worse. >> here with me now dr. rosemary, the vice president of education and research for the children's television work shop. that means she is responsible for developing the curriculum that you see on "sesame street." also pediatrician from oakland, california where she founded the center for youth wellness and an expert adviser for too small to

fail. and i think you may recognize the woman to my left. back about four years ago i think the book was called "beyond the best interest of the child." >> very precocious fifth grader. it is interesting because we looked at some of the research. when you talk about educational achievements we have made progress in some areas but over 40 years i think most people agree not nearly as much as we would have wanted as a country. do you point to any particular things and say here is where we sort of missed the boat? >> i think a couple of things. and no particular order. i think that life was not as fast paced or as stressful in many, many ways 40 years ago and certainly even before that. were there problems? did our parents and grandparents face difficulties? absolutely. people's economic futures don't

seem as predictable and stable as they did perhaps to a prior generation. and that kind of stress and anxiety does effect how you interact with your children and in particularly your youngest children. i think also with the increaskcg television and screens of all kinds in our homes i think too many people drew the wrong conclusion that talking, teaching your children words, singing to them, reading to them is great but that people are talking on tv so we put them there or if we give them access to a computer, ipad or whatever they are going to get that, too. what we now know from the brain research it doesn't work that way. it the human interaction and reenforcement. >> you talk about adverse childhood experiences. there are a lot of kids who have

tremendously tough lives. and they face a lot of adversity. how do you stratify who is going to be able to rise through that and maybe be better because of it? those who are just going to be really harmed by it? >> so the term adverse childhood experiences comes from the seminole study done by the cdc. and when they looked at 17,000 adults they found those with abuse and neglect or parental incarceration or domestic violence those folks had dramatically increased risk of chronic disease. when we look at individuals susceptibility to that science shows us that it is a combination between nature and nurture. it has to do with our biology but it also has to do with the

environment and we know that early detection makes a big difference. and particularly when thinking about young children we know that children's exposure to adversity, the earlier we intervene the better the outcome. >> you wrote the book "it takes a village." does it have to be a parent to provide buffers? >> i think as the doctor said there are other ways to provide that buffer. sometimes it is a grand parent or older sibling. every child needs a buffer or every child needs a champion. and that champion has to really invest in that child and to a certain extent buffer and protect that child from whatever the other stresses are. ♪

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things like divorce, single parents. some people thrive and do fine and some are affected by it. >> as a child i didn't know much about my mother's terrible upbringing. as i started learning more about what she had been through i was amazed. i thought how did she turn out to be a loving mother for us. i asked her one time with everything going on she had very young parents, 14 and 16. they divorced and sent her off to california. she had a miserable time in her grandparents home and had to leave when she was 13. she said at every point there was some adult that showed her kindness. so this is not just about the family and the pressure on the family. it is about the adult community. it is about the teacher she had.

she didn't have any money for lunch. she was like in first grade and would come every day and she had nothing to eat and the teacher noticed it. so the teacher started bringing extra milk and maybe an extra half a sandwich but not to embarrass my mother but to say i'm so full. i have too much food again would you like it. years later my mother realized that that teacher was feeding her. >> once you are a parent and you hear a story you are describing like that with your mother it is tough to imagine. it is happening still right now. when i had kids i didn't know what the right things were. the idea that parents should know sort of -- there is no rule book or guide book. this is part of what you do, i

think. sa "sesame street" is it a kids show or adult show? >> it is both. it brings adults into a co viewing situation. i urge parents of preschool children to watch the show because you are going to learn a lot about parenting because we are modeling, we are talking about and modeling how you can be interacting and how to scaffold learning. it is both. >> we are talking about investing in babies' minds. we will talk about screen time, when, what, how much and make a few tough calls on this. i will be right back.

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special sgmd in new york. we are talking about how to invest in baby's minds and how to make sure every child has a shot at success. have you heard of the marshmallow test? the basic premise is these are preschoolers put into a room and there is a marshmallow there. they are told if you wait 15 minutes and don't eat that marshmallow we will give you two instead. that was it and they wanted to see what the kids would do. they found the kids who waited tended to do better overall in life. they were more likely to go to college and have successful careers. it was the concept of self-control. self-control is something that "sesame street" tries to do as well and something they try to teach. for those who don't have young children in the house anymore i want to play a short clip to remind people what their work is about.

>> wait. >> why wait? >> this is the waiting game. if you wait to eat the cookie until i get back you get two cookies. >> there is no picture of cookie. it's a real cookie. ♪ good things come to those who wait ♪ >> you won the waiting game! ♪ good things come to those who wait ♪ >> me wait longer do we get three cookies? >> no. >> then what are we waiting for? >> i think -- [ applause ] >> well done. can self-control be taught? >> it is taught. when you are talking about

executive function which are the cognitive skills that underlie your ability to self-regulate, your ability to control your affect, your ability to have focused attention and more importantly your ability to shift your attention. so think about the children who have to go from home to school or different context there are different rules and regulations. you need to be able to know how to behave and process information in these various contexts. >> speaking of self-control i think you did a good job with chelsea. she is not finding out the sex of the baby. >> we have shown great executive function. >> i think our work here is done. you don't know if you are going to wind up as president. >> from toxic to really toxic. >> we don't know if you are running, do we? >> i think that is right. >> we do know you are going to be a grandmother. >> that is absolutely the case,

yes. >> do you think based on this discussion we are having or the things you would do, your role will be different, do you think you will do things differently now with this grand child versus how you helped raise chelsea? >> so interesting because on my book tour over the summer i must have shaken 70,000 hands and probably more than half of them mentioned something about being a grand parent. and often times it was sort of joking like it was so much better than being a parent. if i would have known how good it was i would have skipped the first part. i think you have just a different perspective in part because your time in life and all of that to enjoy a grand child. and most of us when we have our children we are still younger and still striving and still

pre-occupied about what will happen in our lives and what the future looks like. i think a lot of people say i did the best i could but maybe i could have spent more time or i wish i had or hadn't been so busy and all the rest of it. i think being a grand parent you just have that freedom, at least that is what i'm told and i'm anxious to find out whether that is true being a member of that club. today her doctor has her on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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at over 400 pounds she was revered in her culture. >> there is no strength in pain, in hurt, in living with uncontrolled diabetes. >> complications from her diabetes forced her to have all of her teeth removed. >> on that day i decided to be an activist against obesity and diabetes. >> to jump start her weight loss she joined the cnn fit nation team and began training for the malibu triathlon. on september 14 she became a triathlete. >> i feel like a new person. i feel like i have been rebirthed. >> she finished the race with her team by her side. more than 100 pounds lighter now she is not ready to stop. >> i will do it again. >> dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, malibu. ♪

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sgmd. our focus how to bring out the best in babies and toddlers. with me secretary hillary clinton, cindy mccain. toddlers learn words from their parents. in poor families 616. it is a huge difference. >> it is a huge gap. one of the things we were trying to figure out is why does that gap exist? why aren't poor families talking? and so we started something we call baby college where we are sitting with parents trying to teach them about what we know about brain development. and you know what, no one has said it was important. a lot of our parents think my kids are going to learn when i send them to school. i don't have a great education so i don't have much to offer. so they are waiting. as long as the kid is fed and healthy and clean they say i am doing a good job as a parent. the fact that you should be

talking with that child, they can't see what is happening with those neurones. we have found when we explain it in ways that our families understand how critical it is that they actually are great teachers and they are the first teacher and that silly singing thing that you do like i can't sing i feel silly, that actually is like taking your kid to college. a lot of this is that poor parents no one has sat down and explained that this is the most important thing they could give their child. >> next time i will sing to my daughter i will say it is like going to college. it is a good point. the message does seem to get across. we have looked at data and people are hearing the message. let me ask you, arizona in particular you have a lot of immigrants living there. secretary clinton alluded to this earlier. they don't speak english as first language often. are people less likely to be

speaking and reading to children that way? >> yes. the answer is absolutely yes. for the reasons that were mentioned they don't want to speak for their first language mostly in arizona in spanish. they don't want to reveal to the school or the neighborhood or to the community center that they don't know or they have questions or they are frightened. so what too small to fail has -- story tell the language, talk to your baby, talk to your baby. it doesn't matter what language it is in. it is so important. when you see these mothers eyes you give them the knowledge that it is okay to do that it is like a light bulb goes on. it is wonderful to watch it. it is enlightening and uplifting for the parents. >> i want to ask you something, as well, jeffrey about something you have talked about in the past. i can't help but ask in the wake

of what happened with adrian peterson recently, disciplining your child. first of all, there is no guide book on any of this stuff and it is obviously a provocative issue for a lot of people out there. what do you tell people you are helping council? >> one of the areas we cover in baby college has to do with discipline. and the most contentious issue we deal with is whether or not parents should use corporal punishment. you find a large set of beliefs around that is what is going to stop my child from ending up becoming a criminal or breaking the law that they hear this spare the rod and spoil the child. all of this is so deeply ingrained in lots of cultures. we took the time to have the debate with parents and say look there is another way that is more effective the science is clear that you can be more

effective and doing what you want. i will say this on the professional athlete issue. there is no excuse for that abuse. i don't excuse it from poor families who have no resources. i tell them if i see you injure your child i will call the authorities. you may not do that. we can't make allowances for folk who actually have means and money. i think it is a bad policy and we should just clamp down on that because if you injure a child you'll probably injure other people, too. this is like in america like enough with this hurting people. let's put an end to it. [ applause ] >> unfortunately, we have to leave it there. it has been an honor. i hope we are able to honor your perspectives today, as well. unfortunately, that is all the time we have for each of us here and everyone watching you have

the power to influence. i hope you have learned today. that will wrap things up. time to get you back into the cnn news room. > . you are in the cnn news room. we are tracking a dramatic and disturbing story out of oklahoma where a man is accused of beheading one of his co workers and severely injuring another. police say alten nole nd will be charged with first degree murder and assault and battery with a deadly weapon and may face federal charges. police say he had been trying to convert co workers to islam. we learned he woke up from sedation after being shot. he was