Child Growth

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Child Growth Development

• Key Concepts
• Knowledge of growth development forms the
  foundation for effective teaching of R-7 children
  
• Body composition is affected by genetics
  environment, but especially by diet exercise
• Environment can facilitate or delay motor
  development

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Definitions

• Growth
• Is an increase in the SIZE of the body or its
  parts as we progress towards maturity

3
Definitions

• Development
• Is a broader concept involving an increase in
  the COMPLEXITY of functioning
• an improvement in the degree of competence

4
Definitions

• Maturation
• Is the EXTENT OF PROGRESS towards the adult or
  mature state

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Definitions

• Motor Learning
• Motor refers to movement, hence motor learning
  is the LEARNING INVOLVING BODY MOVEMENT
• Hence, improving catching performance would
  constitute motor learning

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Definitions

• Motor Skill
• Is the DEGREE OF PROFICIENCY
• in performing a motor task

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Child Physical Growth

• associated with increases in
• height
• weight
• muscle mass
• rate extent of growth affected by
  environmental and genetic factors

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Growth Patterns

• Physical growth follows a definite pattern
• Growth occurs at
• different rates
• different times
• in differing body systems

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Growth of Body Systems
of postnatal growth
Age (years)
Age (years)
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Growth Height weight

• Changes in height is taken as the typical index
  of growth in children
• 0-2 years ? rapid growth
• 2-911 years ? steady growth
• (girls 9 boys 11) ? rapid growth
• post puberty ? growth slows and
  ceases at maturity

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Growth Height weight

• 0-2 years
• bones originate as soft cartilage tissue but
  ossify from post natal to late adolescence
• more pliable less susceptible to breakage
• growth plates
• at birth,
• head is 1/4 size of whole body is 50 of its
  eventual adult size
• by 15 years of age it is virtually adult size

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Growth Height weight

• 2-911 years
• steady gains in height weight
• changes in body build are slight
• boys girls grow at about same rate
• time of lengthening filling out
• boys and girls approx. same height weight

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Growth Height weight

• Puberty
• girls generally start growth spurt about 2 years
  before boys
• for about 2 years, girls may be taller and
  heavier than boys of same age
• girls should be able to out-perform boys of same
  age (I.e. when girls have started their growth
  spurt but boys have not)

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Growth Height weight

• Puberty
• height increase mainly due to growth in long
  bones of arms legs
• growth spurt starts in the extremities (nose,
  hands, feet,) proceeds to trunk

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Growth Height weight

• Puberty
• girls reach about 98 final height by 16.5 years
• boys reach about 98 final height by 17.75 years

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Growth Height weight

• Puberty
• early lengthening followed by broadening
• clavicle (collar bone) is one of last to stop
  growing

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Growth Height weight

• Puberty
• Weight spurt occurs about 6 months after the
  height spurt continues for longer period
• Girls greatest wt. gain 12-13 years
• Boys about 2 years later

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Growth Height weight

• Puberty
• male hormones (testosterone androgen) allow
  them to gain more muscle mass, this together
  with greater ht. wt. after adolescence means
  they are able to outperform girls in basic motor
  capacities after their pubescent growth spurt
• (c.f. pre-adolescence performance 1992 Senate
  inquiry data in last lecture)

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Growth Height weight

• Puberty
• Late developers lag behind their peers in
  maturation development in early adolescence
• Late developers grow for longer than early
  developers

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Height
21
Weight
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GrowthImplications for Teaching

• Girls should perform at the same level as boys
  until puberty
• On average, girls should outperform boys in upper
  primary school
• Post puberty, boys on average will outperform
  girls in motor performances

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GrowthImplications for Teaching

• Have patience with late developers
• Late developers will be competing against
  stronger, more developed peers could get
  discouraged and injured
• Maintaining a ve attitude towards physical
  activity is key to development of later sporting
  abilities for late developers

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Factors Affecting Growth

• Nutrition
• Exercise
• Illness
• Lifestyle

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Development

• Proceeds in predictable manner
• Childhood is a critical period for learning motor
  skills

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Development

• Bones
• increase in number
• harder
• larger
• denser

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Development

• Muscles
• born with all the muscle fibres will ever have
• fibres increase in length
• fibres increase in thickness
• follow pattern of height growth
• progressively fine motor control

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Development

• Cardio-Respiratory
• grows develops in same way as skeletal tissue
• age 6 ave. heart rate of 90 beats/min and 20
  breaths/min. -Thus characteristically fatigue
  easily and recover quickly
• age 12, ave. heart rate about 70-72 15-20
  breaths/min. -Thus have more cardio-respiratory
  endurance. Girls entering puberty may tire
  earlier.

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Development

• Nerves
• brain growth
• 75 complete by age 3
• 90 by age 6
• neurons send messages
• myelination improves efficiency of neurons
  (myelinfatty substance around the neurons)
• no more neurons develop, but they grow more
  complex (more terminals to receive send
  messages)

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Development

• Body Spatial Awareness
• Kinesthetic sense (receive interpret intra body
  information) vestibular (balance), tendons,
  joints, muscles, vision etc. Provides feedback on
  movement body position
• Improves as children learn develop more
  effective ways of interpreting processing
  sensory-perceptual information

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Development

• Body Spatial Awareness
• Laterality not fully developed until age 7
• Labans analysis of movement is a good basis for
  movement education

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Factors Affecting Development

• Developmental Sequence
• Cephalocaudal
• head ? feet
• Proximodistal
• trunk ? outwards
• Individual readiness
• genetics
• environment

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Factors Affecting Motor Development

• Differentiation
• increasing specificity of physical reactions
  movements
• Integration
• coordination of
• opposing muscles
• sensory systems
• Timing and extent of play practice
  opportunities

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Motor Development Implications for Teaching

• developmentally appropriate activities (handout)
• skills in developmental progression
• remedial opportunities if necessary
• promote self reliance
• learn through active participation
• ethics
• taking turns fair play cheating losing
  winning

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Summary

• knowledge of child growth development will help
  you plan age appropriate movement experiences
• growth motor development occur in a sequential
  predictable process as children become
  progressively higher functioning individuals
• individual variations in rate and extent of
  acquired higher level functioning