Chapter 11: The School Years Biosocial Development

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Chapter 11 The School YearsBiosocial Development

• Dr. M. Davis-Brantley

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Context Changes

• Major influence on development during this time
  is the change in social context
• Also there is a higher self-reliance in that the
  child no longer needs the parent for self-care
  such as dressing, eating
• Independence is a large part of this aspect of
  the childs development

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The School Years Health

• Children during middle childhood (ages 7 to 11)
  are at their healthiest
• However, childhood obesity has become a deadly
  trend throughout recent years
• Almost 1/3 of American children are obese
• Obese means having a body weight composed of gt30
  of fat
• Obesity is likely to decrease the chance a child
  will exercise, thus increasing the childs body
  weight
• Obesity increases the risk of other serious
  health problems in adulthood such as heart
  disease, stroke, and diabetes
• Also psychological problems may result
• Genetics could play a significant role in obesity
• Adopted children whose biological parents were
  obese are more often overweight than other
  adoptees
• Cultural implications include
• Dictates type of food likely to be consumed by a
  member of said culture
• American food is causing obesity in other
  cultures
• What are schools doing about the problem?

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Brain Development

• By age 7, the basic areas of the sensory and
  motor cortexes as well as the more complex
  language, logic, memory, and spatial areas
• Emotional regulation, theory of mind, left-right
  coordination, the executive portion of the brain
  also are all becoming more efficient overall
• However there are many advances during this time
• The prefrontal cortex allows the child to analyze
  consequences before lashing out, throwing a
  tantrum, etc
• There is an advanced ability to attend to
  information from many areas at once and pay
  special attention to the most important elements
  of a situation
• This is referred to as selective attentionEx
  Paying attention to teacher and taking notes or
  watch a ball, run in the direction of the ball,
  and watch where the other teammates are running
• Automatization is also a significant advancement
  in the brain
• Automatization is a process by which thoughts and
  actions are repeated in sequences so often that
  they become automatic, or routine, and no longer
  require much conscious thought
• After many repetitions of the same behavior (with
  neurons firing together with a particular
  sequence), then less neuronal effort is needed,
  because firing one neuron leads to a chain
  reaction that fires an entire sequence

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The Brain and Intelligence

• Aptitude is the potential to learn, or master, a
  particular skill or body of knowledge
• In order to assess level of intelligence or
  aptitude we use certain IQ tests
• IQ are aptitude tests designed to measure a
  persons intellectual aptitude, or ability to
  learn in school.
• Achievement tests measures reading ability, math
  knowledge, science facts, writing skills, or any
  subject matter that has been mastered
• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
  is one of the most popular IQ test for school
  aged children
• WISC assesses vocabulary, general knowledge,
  memory, and spatial comprehension
• IQ tests are quite reliable in predicting school
  achievement and somewhat reliable predicting
  future abilities

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The Brain and Intelligence

• Criticisms of IQ testing include
• Cultural implications
• Score applies to individuals intelligence at
  that moment in time not the developing person
• Does not take into account a variety of areas of
  intelligence I.e., linguistic, logical-mathematica
  l, musical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic,
  interpersonal (social understanding),
  intrapersonal (self-understanding) and
  naturalistic (understanding of nature)

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Developmental Psychopathology

• Child with special needs is a child who requires
  extra help in order to learn due to a physical or
  mental disability
• Individual Education Plan a legally required
  document specifying a series of educational goals
  for a child with special needs
• Developmental Psychopathology is a field in which
  knowledge about normal development is applied to
  the study and treatment of various disorders
• Based on a variety of research, developmental
  psychopathologists have come up with 4 major
  lessons
• Abnormality is normal
• Disability changes over time
• Adolescence and adulthood may be better or worse
• Diagnosis depends on the social context

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Pervasive Developmental Disorders

• Pervasive Developmental DisordersSevere problems
  such as autism, that affect many aspects of a
  young childs psychological growth
• Autismis a PDD marked by an inability to relate
  to others in an ordinary way, by extreme
  self-absorption, and by an inability to learn
  normal speech
• inability to relate in an ordinary way to
  peopleand extreme aloneness that, whenever
  possible, disregards, ignores, shuts out anything
  that comes to the child from the outside
  (Kanner, 1943)
• Interesting Video on Autism and alleged
  low-functioning autistic--A voice all her own
• Genetics of Autism
• Teratogens are the primary known cause of
  Pervasive Developmental Disorders

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Attention-Deficit Disorders

• Attention-Deficit Disorder(ADD)A condition in
  which a child has great difficulty concentrating
• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)A
  condition in which a child has great difficulty
  concentrating for more than a few moments at a
  time and, as a result, is inattentive, impulsive,
  and overactive
• There is a need for distraction and diversion is
  accompanied by excitability and impulsivity
• Can be a result of neurological deficits, genetic
  vulnerability, prenatal teratogens, anoxia,
  postnatal damage, etc

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Learning Disabilities

• Learning DisabledHaving a marked delay in a
  particular area of learning that is not
  associated with any obvious physical handicap,
  overall mental retardation, or unusually
  stressful environment
• Review Educating Children with Special Needs
• Mainstreaming
• Least Restrictive Environment
• Inclusion