Chapter 9 Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood PSY 376 PDF

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Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

PSY 376

Body Growth Growth is slower in middle childhood as compared with infancy and early childhood. Children grow 2 to 3 inches and gain 5 to 8 pounds per year. – The average 10-year-old child weighs about 70 pounds and is about 4.5 feet tall. – Factors that Influence Growth Genes and nutrition – African American children grow faster and are taller and heavier than white children of the same age. – Children who are malnourished gain less weight and are at risk for stunted growth. Motor Development Rough-and-tumble play – Peaks in middle childhood – An important way that children test their bodies, learn new motor skills, play with friends, and develop social skills Motor skills from birth to age 4 predict school-age children’s motor abilities Gross Motor Skills Become more complex Increases in body size and strength contribute to advances in motor skills. – Includes advances in: • Flexibility • Balance • Agility • Strength Fine Motor Skills Allows for the development of new interests such as building models, braiding friendship bracelets, and playing musical instruments. School performance – Penmanship Girls tend to outperform boys in fine motor skills. Motor Skills and Brain Development The pruning of unused synapses contributes to increases in motor speed and reaction time. Growth of the cerebellum and myelination of its connections to the cortex contribute to advances in gross and fine motor skills and speed. Motor Skills and Contextual Influences Nutrition Opportunities to practice motor skills Health Common Health Issues in Middle Childhood Asthma – The most commonly experienced chronic illness in childhood

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Obesity – The most pressing and preventable health problem facing children today – Children today weigh more than ever before – Associated with short- and long-term health problems (heart disease, high blood pressure, orthopedic problems, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes) Asthma A chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways that causes wheezing and coughing Asthma affects about 15% of children and becomes more common with age Influenced by: – Genetics – Contextual factors Obesity Associated with short- and long-term health problems (heart disease, high blood pressure, orthopedic problems, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes). Obese children are at risk for peer rejection, depression, low-self-esteem, and body dissatisfaction. More than 17% of American youth are classified as obese. Influenced by: – Genetics – Contextual factors – Figure 9.4: Prevalence Rates of Obesity in Children and Adolescents Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Perspective: Concrete Operations Concrete operational stage of reasoning (age 6 or 7) involves children gaining the capacity to use logic to solve problems but still are unable to apply logic to abstract and hypothetical situations VIDEO CASE Piaget’s Conservation Tasks Concrete Operational Reasoning: Classification The ability to understand classification hierarchies; to simultaneously consider relations between a general category and more specific subcategories. Classification skills permit school-age children to categorize or organize objects based on physical dimensions. – Seriation – Transitive influence (emerges the earliest) – Class inclusion Concrete Operational Reasoning: Conservation Conservation of substance (age 7 or 8) Conservation of weight (age 9 or 10) Conservation of volume (about age 12) Object identity – The understanding that certain characteristics of an object do not change despite superficial changes to the object’s appearance Reversibility

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– An object can be returned to its original state – Culture and Concrete Operation Reasoning Non-Western cultures achieve conservation and other concrete operational tasks later but is mediated by language. – Cultural differences in children’s performance on tasks that measure concrete operational reasoning may be a result of methodology and how questions are asked. Information Processing Perspective School-age children can take in more information, process it more accurately and quickly, and retain it more effectively than younger children. Sensory memory does not appear to change much with development. Working memory shows steady increases in middle childhood, especially in executive function. Central Executive Function A control processor that regulates cognitive activities such as attention, action, and problem solving. Responsible for: – Coordinating performance on two separate tasks or operations – Quickly switching between tasks – Selectively attending to specific information and ignoring irrelevant information – Retrieving information from long-term memory Selective Attention Focusing on the relevant information and ignoring other information Improves between the ages of 6 and 10 Information Processing and Brain Development Myelination and pruning improve memory, attention, and processing speed. Neural systems for visiospatial working memory, auditory working memory, and response inhibition differentiate. Development of the prefrontal cortex leads to advances in response inhibition. – The ability to withhold a behavioral response inappropriate in the current context. Metamemory The understanding of one’s memory and ability to use strategies to enhance it Improves steadily throughout the elementary school years Mnemonic strategies – Tricks to aid memory • Rehearsal • Organization • Elaboration Intelligence Tests (IQ Tests) Versus Achievement Tests IQ tests measure intellectual aptitude, an individual’s capacity to learn Achievement tests measure what one has already learned about a given topic

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Many developmental researchers argue that intelligence tests overlap with achievement tests and may not accurately reflect aptitude or potential Individually Administered Tests One-on-one setting Administered by professionally trained examiners The Wechsler tests are the most often used individually administered IQ tests for children and are used to identify children with special needs – Table 9.1: Sample Items Measuring the Four Wechsler Intelligence Scales Individual and Group Differences in IQ Consistent ethnic and socioeconomic group differences exist in IQ scores, leading some to argue that IQ tests are culturally biased. Schooling and cultural styles of communication impact IQ scores. Sociohistorical context influences intelligence. – The Flynn effect is the generational increase in IQ. Alternative Views of Intelligence Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory Robert Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence Table 9.2: Howard Gardiner’s Multiple Intelligences Triarchic Theory of Intelligence Three forms of intelligence: – Analytical • Information processing capacities • Included in traditional IQ tests – Creative • Insight and the ability to deal with novelty – Applied • How people deal with their surroundings Figure 9.6: Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence Moral Reasoning: Piaget’s Perspective Morality of contstraint (up to age 7) – Rigid view of rules Morality of cooperation (age 7+) – Autonomous morality – A more flexible view of rules as self chosen rather than simply imposed on children Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Reasoning Each level of moral reasoning is composed of two stages. Preconventional (early childhood – age 9) Conventional (age 9 or 10) Postconventional (after middle childhood) Table 9.3: Moral Development in Middle Childhood: Comparison of Piaget and Kohlberg’s Theories Distributive Justice Reasoning

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How to divide goods fairly Develops over early and middle childhood Children progress from self-serving reasons for sharing (early childhood) to more sophisticated and mature conceptions of distributive justice in middle childhood Moral Versus Conventional Rules Moral rules are seen as more absolute than conventional rules. Moral rules: – Less violable – Contingent on authority or rules – Less alterable Conventional rules: – Seen as more legitimate when created by adults Language Development: Vocabulary and Grammar Vocabulary expands by 4 times from 6 years of age to the end of the elementary school years (about 40,000 words). Schoolchildren learn that there are many words that can describe a given action. Schoolchildren become better able to understand complex grammatical structures – They begin to use the passive voice, complex constructions, and conditional sentences. Language Development: Pragmatics The practical application of language to communicate. Advances with age and perspective-taking skill allow children to change their speech in response to the needs of listeners. – Children speak to adults differently than to other children. Reading and Mathematics Fundamental to advancement in science and technology. Math achievement and reading comprehension are supported by executive functioning skills and working memory. Learning to Read Phonics – Based on memorizing rules and the sounds of each letter to sound out words. Whole-language approach – Literacy is viewed as an extension of language and children learn to read and write through trial and error discovery. – Consistent with cognitive-developmental theory. – Used more often in schools today. Mathematics Curriculum Improvements over the past two decades – Between 1990 and 2013, the proportion of fourth-grade students performing at or above the proficient level increased from 13% to 42%. – In 1990, 50% could not do math at their grade level, dropping to 17% in 2013. English Language Learners About 22% of school-age children in the U.S. speak a language other than English at home.

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VIDEO CASE Bilingual Education Strategies to Learn English Immersion approach (English as a second language, or ESL) – The most common approach used in the U.S. Bilingualism Dual language learning (two-way immersion) Children With Special Needs The most frequent causes for special education assistance are: – Intellectual disability – Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – Learning disabilities Intellectual Disability Occurs when children show cognitive and social functioning that is considerably below that of other children their age. – IQ of 70 or below. – Deficits in age-appropriate adaptive behavior, such as social, communication, and self-care skills, that begins before age 18. – Behavioral component – the inability to appropriately adapt or modify one’s behavior in light of situation demands. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder The most commonly diagnosed disorder in children (10% of schoolchildren in the U.S.). A neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent difficulties with attention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity that interferes with performance and behavior in school and daily life. Three Patterns of ADHD Predominantly Inattentive Presentation – Difficulties with attention and distractibility Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Presentation – Difficulties with impulsivity Combined Presentation – Symptoms of both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity Learning Disabilities A measurable discrepancy between aptitude and achievement in a particular academic area given their age, intelligence, and amount of schooling. Dyslexia – The most commonly diagnosed learning disability. – A neurologically based difficulty in processing speech sounds. • Educating Children With Disabilities Legislation mandates that children with learning disabilities are to be placed in the least restrictive environment, or classrooms that are as similar as possible to classrooms for children without learning disabilities. Mainstreaming Versus Inclusion Mainstreaming involves only one teacher in the classroom.

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Inclusion entails additional educational support within the regular classroom that is tailored to learning disabled students’ special needs....