We learned a lot about brain development in babies and toddlers during the last few years, but the sheer volume of research sometimes could be more confusing than helpful to parents and teachers. On Wednesday, the Talaris Institute will help everyone make better sense of these reports and headlines in a free webcast.

The Seattle-based institute’s Elizabeth Nelson will lead a discussion on what moms and dads should know about their child’s development from birth to age five, and then answer questions.

“Brain science has answered many questions about development in the first years of life, but it always raises others. New findings, as reported by the media, may be confusing, misleading or offer contradictory conclusions,” Talaris said in a notice about its inaugural webcast. “This webcast will present an overview of important findings in early development, and what they tell us about what children need from their parents and caregivers.”

I am more than familiar with the bewildering nature of this research. When I was a journalist covering the parenting beat, I spent a lot of time simply trying to figure out what parents needed to know in the mountain of research that piled up on my desk every week. Does television make kids violent? Are baby DVDs helpful or maybe a little less than useful?

While those two reports were important, I learned much of the data didn’t relate to the daily work of parenting. So, I am glad to see experts such as Talaris’s Nelson step forward to help us understand what matters. (Talaris’s parenting products group, Parenting Counts is hosting the webcast.)

You can check out the session on Wednesday, Nov. 18. All you have to do is go to http://www.parentingcounts.org/webcast by 11 a.m.