Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

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Chapter 7

• Physical and Cognitive Development in Early
  Childhood

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In this chapter
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Physical ChangesGrowth and Motor Development

• In early childhood
• Changes in height and weight happen more slowly
  during early childhood than infancy
• Impressive gains in major locomotor skills
• Manipulative skills improve but less so than
  major motor skills

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Physical ChangesChildrens Drawing

• Early training can accelerate rate children
  learn school-related fine-motor skills
• Older children benefit more from training more
  than younger
• Learning to write letters aids in letter
  understanding

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Figure 7.1 Stages in Childrens Drawing
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The Brain and Nervous SystemLateralization

• Lateralization left and right halves of the
  brain's cerebral cortex execute different
  functional specializations
• Contributes to important neurological milestones
  in early childhood

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The Brain and the Nervous System

• Basic outline of lateralization is genetically
  determined
• Genes dictate functions to be lateralized
• Experience shapes pace of lateralization

Figure 7.2 Lateralization of Brain Function
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The Brain and Nervous SystemMyelinization

• Myelinization protective, fatty material wraps
  around nerve cells in the peripheral and central
  nervous system
• Reticular formation
• Hippocampus

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The Brain and Nervous SystemHandedness

• Right or LeftNot right or wrong!
• 83 right-handed
• 14 left-handed
• 3 ambidextrous
• Appears very early in life
• Research suggests genetic link

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Health and WellnessEating patterns

• Preschoolers
• Often eat less than when babies
• May not consume the majority of daily calories at
  mealtime
• Challenges
• Food aversions may surface
• Eating behaviors bring on family conflicts

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Health and WellnessIllnesses and Accidents

• Illness
• Each year, 4 6 bouts of brief sickness
• High levels of family stress more likely to
  produce sick children

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Health and WellnessIllnesses and Accidents

• Accidents
• 25 of U.S. children under 5 have one accident
  in any one year requiring medical attention
• Most occur in home
• Major cause of death in preschoolers
• More common among boys

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Abuse and NeglectChild abuse

• What is child abuse?
• Child Abuse Physical or psychological injury
  resulting from adults intentional exposure of
  child to potentially harmful stimuli, sexual
  acts, or neglect

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Abuse and NeglectChild Abuse Prevalence

• Prevalence
• Responsible for about 10 of emergency room
  visits
• Between 1 and 5 of children suffer physical
  abuse
• 2000 infants and children die each year as result
  of child abuse

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Abuse and NeglectRisk factors

• Overview Sociocultural factors
• Personal or cultural values that regard physical
  abuse as morally acceptable
• Cultural traditions that view children as
  property
• Communities that support these beliefs

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True or False?

• Episodes of abuse are typically precipitated by
  everyday interactions between parent and child.

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Abuse and NeglectRisk factors Child
Characteristics

• Characteristics of child
• Physical or mental disabilities
• Difficult temperaments
• Age

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Abuse and NeglectRisk factors Abuser
Characteristics

• Characteristics of abuser
• Depressed
• Lacking in parenting skills and knowledge
• History of abuse themselves
• Substance abusers
• Live-in male partners

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Abuse and NeglectRisk factors Family Stress

• Family stress
• Poverty
• Unemployment
• Inter-parental conflicts
• The presence of several factors in combination
  increases likelihood of abuse

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Abuse and NeglectConsequences of Abuse

• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Delays in all developmental domains
• Children removed from the abusive situation
  typically appear to catch up within 1 year.

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Abuse and NeglectPrevention

• Preventing abuse begins with education!
• Inform parents about consequences
• Parenting classes
• Identify families at risk
• Protect children from further injury

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Cognitive ChangesPiagets Preoperational Stage
Overview

• Preoperational Stage

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Cognitive ChangesPiagets Preoperational Stage
Centration

• Centration tendency to think of world one
  variable at a time
• Use of animism or belief that inanimate objects
  are alive

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Cognitive ChangesPiagets Preoperational Stage
Egocentrism

• Egocentrism childs tendency to view things from
  own perspective
• Guided by object appearance
• May create frustration in communication
• Piaget Three-mountain task (See Figure 7.3)

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Figure 7.3 Piagets Three Mountain Task
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Cognitive ChangesPiagets Preoperational Stage
Conservation

• Conservation understanding that change in
  appearance can occur without change in quantity

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Figure 7.4 Piagets Conservation Tasks
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Cognitive ChangesChildrens Play and Cognitive
Development
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Challenges to Piagets ViewsDo you agree or
disagree?

• Children as young as 2 and 3 have at least some
  ability to understand that another person sees
  things or experiences things differently than
  they do.

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Challenges to Piagets ViewsEmotions
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Challenges to Piagets ViewsFlavell

• Flavells perspective-taking ability levels
• Level One child knows that other people
  experience things differently begins at 2 3
  years
• Level Two child develops a series of complex
  rules to figure out precisely what the other
  person sees or experiences begins at 4 5 years

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Theories of Mind

• Theory of Mind understanding thoughts, desires,
  and beliefs of others

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Theories of Mind
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Theories of Mind
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Theories of Mind

• Influences on Development of a Theory of Mind
• Correlated with
• Performance on Piagets tasks
• Pretend play
• Shared pretense with other children
• Discussion of emotion-provoking events with
  parents
• Language skills and working memory
• Cross-cultural influences

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Alternative Theories of Early Childhood Thinking

• Neo-Piagetian Theories Robbie Case
• Short-term storage space (STSS)
• Operational efficiency
• Matrix Classification Task
• Lets take a closer look at this task.

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Figure 7.5 Neo-Piagetian Matrix Task
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Alternative Theories of Early Childhood
ThinkingInformation Processing Theories

• Metamemory Knowledge about and control of memory
  processes
• Metacognition Knowledge about and control of
  thought processes
• Scripts Cognitive structures underlie behavior
  and emerge during middle childhood

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Alternative Theories of Early Childhood
ThinkingVygotskys Socio-Cultural Theory

• Overview
• Emphasis on role of social factors in cognitive
  development
• Problem solutions socially generated and learned
• Key principles Zone of Proximal Development
  (ZPD) and scaffolding

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Alternative Theories of Early Childhood
ThinkingVygotskys Socio-Cultural Theory

• Stages of Cognitive Development

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Alternative Theories of Early Childhood
ThinkingVygotskys Socio-Cultural Theory

• How are Vygotskys stages related to the
  eventual development of adult thinking?
• Each stage represents a step toward childs
  internalization of ways of thinking used by
  adults around him or her.

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Changes in Language

• Fast-mapping Ability to categorically link new
  words to real word referents
• Occurs at about age 3
• Rapid formation of hypothesis about new words
  meaning
• Remember Word learning drives process of
  language development

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Changes in Language Grammar Explosion

• Grammar Explosion Period when grammatical
  features of child speech becomes more adultlike
• Inflections
• Questions and Negatives
• Overregularizations
• Complex sentences

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Changes in LanguagePhonological Awareness

• Phonological awareness Childs sensitivity to
  sound patterns that are specific to a language
• Awareness of sounds represented by letters
• Learned in school through formal instruction
• Primarily developed through word play
• Related to invented spelling

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Figure 7.6 Invented Spelling
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Differences in IntelligenceMeasuring Intelligence

• Alfred Binet
• Lewis Terman Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
• Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children

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Differences in IntelligenceSomething to Consider

• An important assumption in studying differences
  in intelligence is that these differences can be
  measured.

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The Normal Curve

• IQ scores form a normal distribution the famous
  bell curve with which you may be familiar.

Can you explain what this bell curvetells us
about IQ?
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Differences in Intelligence

• Stability and Predictive Value of IQ Scores
• Correlation between IQ score and future grades is
  about .50 .60.
• Consistent relationship are found within social
  classes and racial groups.
• IQ scores are quite stable BUT do not measure
  underlying competence.

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Stop and think!

• A high level of predictability masks an
  interesting fact about children being tested.
• Do you know what this is?

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Origins of Individual Differences in
IntelligenceEvidence of Heredity and Family
Influences

• Heredity
• Twin and adoption studies findings
• Family Influences
• Adoption studies findings
• Family demographics and learning environments

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Origins of Individual Differences in
IntelligenceEvidence for Preschool Influences

• Short- and long term outcomes from formal
  education programs
• Head Start outcomes
• Lets look at the relationship between some
  early education programs and IQ scores.

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Figure 7.8 Early Education and IQ Scores
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Questions To Ponder

• Piaget sees the child as the little scientist who
  works on her own to discover knowledge. Vygotsky
  suggests children learn from skilled social
  partners in a social setting. Which theory or
  combination describes children the best? Why?
• What makes Head Start a successful program?

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Group Differences in Intelligence Test ScoresCan
you hypothesize why these findings occur?

• Higher scores than white children
• Chinese and Japanese children
• Lower scores than white children
• African American children
• Higher scores in all groups over two centuries
• Flynn Effect