5 Key Benefits of Early Childhood Education

By |Published On: February 27th, 2019|

A child’s early years are perhaps the most important, because they lay the foundation for the rest of their life. Research shows that early childhood education is highly beneficial because the human brain is the most receptive to learning between birth and three years of age. Early education has been linked to both cognitive and socio-emotional gains.

Early childhood education relates to the teaching of children, both formally and informally, from birth up to the age of eight. Education at an early age doesn’t just help them excel academically, either. There are a number of benefits to early childhood education, including:

  1. Social skills – Even young children need a diverse social life. Access to early education gives kids the ability to be entertained, happier, and more communicative. The earlier that children are introduced to others their age, the quicker they can overcome shyness and gain self-confidence.
  2. Personal development – Relationships are an essential part of personal development. Parents are the first teacher to help babies develop emotional intelligence, showing examples of healthy behavioral and emotional connections.
  3. Vocabulary development and cognitive abilities – Familiarizing children with words and their meanings is a huge benefit of early childhood education. It also creates higher levels of cognitive ability and IQ levels.
  4. Economic benefits in the community – Early childhood education benefits the child and immediate family, but according to research, it also benefits the community. Educated children are less likely to need special education and more likely to finish high school and go to college. Overall, studies have found that every dollar invested in early care and education programs generates $17 in the future.
  5. Exposure to diversity – A child’s ability to value differences can be taught in the first few years of life. Through early childhood education, children will learn that everyone is unique and special in their own way.

GoMo Health is helping to further the impacts of early childhood education by creating GoMo EarlyCare. GoMo EarlyCare delivers personalized guidance to women and caregivers throughout their pregnancy and baby’s early childhood. With no application to download, GoMo EarlyCare acts as a virtual coach for moms and families, GoMo EarlyCare provides age-specific guidance to care for baby and encourage physical and emotional health and wellness, and “language nutrition” to support nurturing of literacy and brain development.

In just one year, the GoMo Health Baby's First Program showed a dramatic reduction in cost of care per member per month for enrolled patients. Download the report today to read how the program is helping rural Medicaid babies in Nebraska.