Physical Development

1
Physical Development

• Perception

2
Norms of Growth

• Average patterns of growth for children by age.
• Average ht/wt of a child of a given age
• Provides when usual growth spurts occur
• Considerable individual variation

3
Infant Vision

• Infant perception vision is poorer until 6
  months
• Distance is viewed as well as adults after that
• Depth perception present visual preferences
• Slightly far sighted until about 7 years old

4
Infant Hearing Acuity

• Equal to an adult by 2 years
• Have trouble ignoring distractions

5
Directionality of development

• Cephalocaudal-head to tail development.
• Proximodistal-center of body outward. Torso
  develops before extremities.
• Independent growth of body parts.

6
Preschool Large Muscle Dev

• Have basic locomotion control
• Are learning
• fundamental motor skills running, jumping,
  hopping, skipping, galloping
• LM manipulative skills catching, throwing,
  kicking, hitting ball w/ bat, racket

7
Large Muscle Dev

• Gender differences
• boys in general are stronger
• Girls in general have better coordination

8
Following LMD is SMD

• Fine motor hand-eye coordination
• Infants move from whole hand to palmer scoop to
  pincher grasp (9 mons)
• Preschool/school age-increase in dexterity,
  control, strength, fluidity

9
For teachers, 2 important things

• Scissors snip, cut on line, cut on curve, cut
  around corners. Placement of both hands as child
  cuts.
• Writing instruments grasp (3 pt grasp)
• early marks lines, crosses, circles
• Later marks specific pattern scribbles

10
Implications for Educators

• Motor development is tied to self-esteem
• If children get behind, they often dont practice
  and so dont get better
• Physical fitness is tied to ability to concentrate

11
Refinement of Skills

• Sensory-motor coordination improves-e.g. can move
  to music stay on beat for significant periods
  of time.
• becomes part of definition of self
  correlates with popularity
• More so for boys than girls

12
Secular Trend

• Change over generations (think like cohort
  effect)
• Ex. Children are taller than they were in other
  generations.
• Ex. Earlier menarche than before, now starting as
  early as 10.5.
• Average W12.6 B12.1

13
Adolescent Concerns

• Girls dont want others to know theyre having a
  period
• Young women who place emphasis on body
  image/appearance have more negative emotions
  toward cycle

14
What determines growth patterns?

• Biological determinants-genetic factors
• hormonal influences
• neural control

15
Two Other Factors

• Environmental factors-nutritional and health
  factors
• May also be influenced by seasons
• and altitude
• Socio-emotional factors-ex. Failure to thrive
  children

16
Socio-emotional consequences of growth patterns

• Height-positive social impressions for boys
• (tallcompetent)
• Rate of maturity-early vs. late. Positive
  consequences for boys girls depends on how early