When children in southcentral Kentucky start kindergarten, as many as 50 percent are deemed “not ready,” according to research from United Way of Southern Kentucky.

That problem, along with a drive to solve it, was what brought more than 150 business and community leaders to United Way’s Early Childhood Education Breakfast on Thursday at Sloan Convention Center.

“At birth, a child’s brain has all of its parts, but they’re not yet put together,” said keynote speaker Nicki Patton Rowe, noting that parents can play a huge role in preparing their children for school success.

Rowe, an early childhood education advocate, is the daughter of former Gov. Paul Patton and has chaired the state’s Early Childhood Task Force and Early Childhood Professional Council. She’s an early childhood trainer and one of five master trainers working across Kentucky, according to a United Way news release.

Because brain development mostly happens in a child’s first five years, Rowe said parents can help guide development through quality education experiences before school.

“Reading is probably the absolute No. 1,” said Rowe, noting that it helps develop language and conceptual knowledge.

Rowe also stressed the importance of parents playing with their children and counting together. Often, Rowe said, kindergarten students rattle off their numbers one through 10 but can’t understand how many blocks are before them.

“Just getting parents to count with children, I can’t tell you how important that is,” she said.

A big danger for children, Rowe said, is too much time with tablets, cellphones and computers.

“A little bit is not going to hurt them,” she said, stressing that extensive use can cause them to miss out on using their different senses to learn. “We’ve got a lot of research now that is saying that too much screen (time) too soon will literally cause permanent structural damage to the brain, and it impacts things like vocabulary (and) concentration.”

Frequent exposure to strong and prolonged stress – such as physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, caregiver substance abuse or mental illness and family hardship – can also impair brain and organ system development. This is because stress causes the release of the hormone called cortisol, which can damage the developing brain if stress is prolonged.

“It’s a little bit like dumping acid in your brain,” Rowe said. “What we know is it is literally toxic to a young child’s developing brain, and what it ends up doing is it damages the developing brain architecture.”

Warren County Public Schools Superintendent Rob Clayton said he’s often seen that effect on children who live in stressful homes.

“Her presentation was spot on in terms of increasing the awareness,” he said.

Bowling Green Independent School District Superintendent Gary Fields said more parents are beginning to realize the importance of early childhood education.

“We have finally got out of that mindset that education begins in kindergarten,” he said.

After launching an 18-month research campaign to study kindergarten readiness locally, United Way aims to increase the number of children who are kindergarten ready to 75 percent by 2020, according to its release. The organization has diverted 20 percent of its annual funding to finance readiness programs and partnered with U.S. Bank to launch an awareness campaign this past year.

United Way is also raising money for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which mails age-appropriate books to children. More information is available at www.unitedwaydayofcaring.com under the “what we do” tab. Parents can also check their child’s kindergarten readiness through www.uwsk.org/what-we-do/is-my-child-ready.html.

Cory Curl, associate executive director with the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, thanked the United Way for partnering with the committee to host the breakfast.

She said she values the partnership the two groups have to help improve early childhood education across the state. “We hope to bring this to other communities as well,” she said.

Amy Duvall, a member of the county school district’s board of education, is also a member of Kentucky’s Early Childhood Advisory Council. She described Rowe’s presentation as easy to understand and memorable.

“It’s important to start early,” she said. “It’s too late if you wait until when they start kindergarten.”

– Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @BGDN_edbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.