Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

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Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle
Childhood
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Body Growth

• girls are slightly shorter than boys from 6 to 8
  then trend reverses
• girls have slightly more body fat
• lowest portion of body growing the fastest during
  this time frame
• between 6 and 12 years, all 20 primary teeth are
  replaced with permanent teeth

3
Physical Development

• 9 10-year-olds beginning of growth spurt for
  girls
• 11-year-olds beginning of growth spurt for boys
• Growth is influenced by activity level,
  exercise, nutrition, gender, and genetic factors

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Health Problems

• common vision problem-myopia-nearsightedness
  nearly 25 children affected
• Myopia is affected by heredity and experience
• less ear infections-Eustachian tube becomes
  longer and narrower
• malnutrition-prolonged affects can cause physical
  growth problems, low test scores, poor motor
  coordination, inattention and distractibility

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Bedwetting

• Nocturnal enuresis -bedwetting that occurs during
  the night
• most cases cause is failure of muscular responses
  that inhibit urination or hormonal imbalance that
  permits too much urine to accumulate during the
  night
• treatment-urine alarm special pants (underwear)

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Obesity

• Is defined as body weight that is more than 20
  above the average for a person of a given height
  and weight.
• 15 of children are obese.
• 70 of children who are obese at ages 10 to 13
  will continue to be seriously overweight as
  adults.
• Obesity can lead to high blood pressure,
  diabetes, and other medical problems

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Causes of Obesity

• Genetic Factors a child with one obese parent
  has a 40 chance of becoming obese, and the
  proportion leaps to 80 if both parents are
  obese.

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Causes for Obesity

• Environmental Factors
• The proportion of obesity has risen 54 since the
  1960.
• Television viewing
• Lack of exercise
• Parental encouragement
• Low-cost, high fat foods, and family stress
• School food
• Food as a reward system

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Obesity

• children that are obese have lower self-esteem,
  report feeling more depressed and display more
  behavioral problems than their peers
• There is an increase in type II diabetes in
  children in recent years
• Treatment for obesity should be a family program
  and focus on changing behaviors

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(Nutrition and physical development during
middle childhood, continued)

• Despite growing rates of obesity, American
  society places a strong emphasis on thinness.
• Concern about weight increasingly borders on
  obsession in the United States (especially for
  girls)
• Research indicates that a substantial number of 6
  year old girls worry about becoming fat
• 40 of 9 10 year olds are trying to
  lose weight!
• WHY? Mostly due to our societys preoccupation
  with being slim

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Life expectancy affected?

• Obesity
• Hypertension, heart disease, diabetes
• Stress
• Too much pressure on children-school, sports,
  activities?
• Lack of sleep
• Children should get about 10-13 hours of sleep
  per night

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Illnesses

• higher range of illnesses during the first 2
  years of elementary school exposure to more sick
  children and immune system is still developing
• Asthma-most frequent cause of school absence
• boys, African American children and children that
  were low birth weight, smoking parents, parents
  that have had asthma and children that live in
  poverty have the greatest risk

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Injuries

• Common in middle childhood
• auto and bicycle accidents very common
• school-based safety programs are a must at this
  age
• be careful of toy related injuries i.e.,
  skateboards, bicycles

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Health during middle childhood Psychological
Disorders

• It is important that psychological disorders
  not be ignored in school age children (which
  often occurs because symptoms are different than
  those of adults)
• Childhood depression is one psychological issue
  often overlooked by teachers and parents.
• 2-5 of school age children suffer from
  depression
• For 1 depression is severe (express suicidal
  ideas)

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Health during middle childhood Psychological
Disorders

• All kids are sad sometimes. This is different
  than depression (depth of sadness, length
  distinguish)
• Childhood depression is also characterized by the
  expression of exaggerated fears, clinginess, or
  avoidance of everyday activities.
• In older children it may produce sulking, school
  problems, and acts of delinquency.

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Children with Special Needs

• Auditory impairments are sometimes accompanied by
  SPEECH IMPAIRMENTS, speech that is impaired when
  it deviates so much from the speech of others
  that it calls attention to itself, interferes
  with communication, or produces maladjustments in
  the speaker.
• 3 to 5 of school-age children have speech
  impairments.
• STUTTERING, a substantial disruption in the
  rhythm and fluency of speech is the most common
  speech impairment.

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(Children with Special Needs, continued)

• Some 2.3 million school-age children in the U.S.
  are officially labeled as having LEARNING
  DISABILITIES, difficulties in the acquisition and
  use of listening, speaking, reading, writing,
  reasoning, or mathematical abilities.
• Some suffer from dyslexia, a reading disability
  that can result in the reversal of letters during
  reading and writing, confusion between left and
  right, and difficulties in spelling

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Approaches to treating childhood depression

• Drugs
• Controversial
• About 200,000 Prozac prescriptions written in
  1996 for kids aged 6-12 (a 300 increase over the
  previous year!)
• Criticisms not approved for use with children
  and teens lack of long term effectiveness of the
  drug consequences to developing brains lead in
  for further drug use
• SSRIs and suicide

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ADHD

• Diagnostic Criteria for inattentive type
• Often does not give close attention to details or
  makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, or
  other activities.
• Often has trouble keeping attention on tasks or
  play activities.
• Often does not seem to listen when spoken to
  directly.
• Often does not follow instructions and fails to
  finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the
  workplace (not due to oppositional behavior or
  failure to understand instructions).
• Often has trouble organizing activities.
• Often avoids, dislikes, or doesn't want to do
  things that take a lot of mental effort for a
  long period of time (such as schoolwork or
  homework).
• Often loses things needed for tasks and
  activities (e.g. toys, school assignments,
  pencils, books, or tools).
• Is often easily distracted.
• Is often forgetful in daily activities.
• Six or more of the following symptoms of
  hyperactivity-impulsivity have been present for
  at least 6 months to an extent that is disruptive
  and inappropriate for developmental level

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ADHD

• Diagnostic Criteria for Hyperactive type
• Hyperactivity
• Often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in
  seat.
• Often gets up from seat when remaining in seat is
  expected.
• Often runs about or climbs when and where it is
  not appropriate (adolescents or adults may feel
  very restless).
• Often has trouble playing or enjoying leisure
  activities quietly.
• Is often "on the go" or often acts as if "driven
  by a motor".
• Often talks excessively.

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• Impulsivity
• Often blurts out answers before questions have
  been finished.
• Often has trouble waiting one's turn.
• Often interrupts or intrudes on others (e.g.,
  butts into conversations or games).
• Some symptoms that cause impairment were present
  before age 7 years.
• Some impairment from the symptoms is present in
  two or more settings (e.g. at school/work and at
  home).
• There must be clear evidence of significant
  impairment in social, school, or work
  functioning.
• The symptoms do not happen only during the course
  of a Pervasive Developmental Disorder,
  Schizophrenia, or other Psychotic Disorder. The
  symptoms are not better accounted for by another
  mental disorder (e.g. Mood Disorder, Anxiety
  Disorder, Dissociative Disorder, or a Personality
  Disorder).

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Treatments for ADHD

• Drug therapy
• Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, Strattera
• About 1 out of every 8 children may take some
  form of stimulant
• Behavior therapy
• Token economy
• Self-reinforcement
• Negative consequences

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The Medicated Child
Overprescribing Ritalin?
U.S. doctors prescribe Ritalin for ADHD more
frequently. Some experts argue the drug is
overprescribed.
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Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)

• Diagnostic Criteria
• A pattern of negativistic, hostile, and defiant
  behavior lasting at least 6 months, during which
  four (or more) of the following are present
• often loses temper
• often argues with adults
• often actively defies or refuses to comply with
  adults' requests or rules
• often deliberately annoys people
• often blames others for his or her mistakes or
  misbehavior
• is often touchy or easily annoyed by others
• is often angry and resentful
• is often spiteful or vindictive

ODD vs ADHD
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Treatments for ODD

• Drug therapy
• Ritalin appears to work well with those who have
  also been diagnosed with ADHD
• Strattera-non-stimulant ADHD med
• Divalproex (mood stabilizer for those who are
  prone to violence)
• Omega-3 and Vitamin E combo research is a bit
  iffy on this

ODD vs. Conduct Disorder
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Treatment for ODD

• Behavior therapy
• Parent management
• Give effective timeouts
• Avoid power struggles
• Remain calm and unemotional in the face of
  opposition
• Recognize and praise your child's good behaviors
  and positive characteristics
• Offer acceptable choices to your child, giving
  him or her a certain amount of control
• Establish a schedule for the family that includes
  specific meals that will be eaten at home
  together, and specific activities one or both
  parents will do with the child
• Limit consequences to those that can be
  consistently reinforced and if possible, last for
  a limited amount of time

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COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

• Piagets Concrete Operational Stage
• 7 to 11 years
• thought process is more logical, flexible and
  organized that in early childhood
• Able to see beyond here and now
• Less egocentric
• Can see cause and effect relationships

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Conservation

• children can conserve at this stage-one of the
  most important developments
• clear evidence of operations-mental actions that
  obey logical rules
• Decentration-focus on several aspects of problem
  at once and relate to them
• Reversibility-the ability to mentally go through
  the series of steps in a problem and then reverse
  the direction returning to the starting point

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Decentering Reversibility
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• Child achieves conservation of
• Number Age 6 to 7
• Mass Age 7 to 8
• Length Age 7 to 8
• Area Age 8-9

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At the beginning of the concrete operational
stage, kids reason that the 2 cars on these
routes are traveling the same speed even though
they arrive at the same time. Later, they realize
the correct relationship between speed distance.
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Hierarchical Classification

• now can group objects into hierarchies of classes
  and subclasses
• collections are common in middle childhood
• Seriation-order items in length and weight and
  height
• Transitive inference-ability to perform seriation
  mentally

Piaget interviews
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Spatial Reasoning

• 7 to 8 years-mental rotations-align selfs frame
  to match that of a person in a different
  orientation identity left and right for
  positions that they do not occupy
• 8 to 10 years-can give clear, well-organized
  directions for how to get from one place to
  another using mental walk strategies.

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Limitations of Concrete Operational Thought

• Children still need concrete information for the
  most part
• abstract concepts are still difficult
• Horizontal decalage-conservation problems in
  certain ordernumber first than length than mass
  than liquid

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Information Processing in Middle Childhood

• During middle childhood, short-term memory
  capacity improves significantly.
• META-MEMORY, an understanding about the processes
  that underlie memory emerge and improve during
  middle childhood.
• Children use control strategies, conscious,
  intentionally used tactics to improve cognitive
  functioning.
• Children can be trained to use control strategies
  and improve memory.

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Language Development During Middle Childhood

• Vocabulary continues to increase during the
  school years.
• School-age children's mastery of grammar
  improves.
• Children's understanding of syntax, the rules
  that indicate how words and phrases can be
  combined to form sentences, grows during
  childhood.
• Certain phonemes, units of sound, remain
  troublesome (j, v, h, zh).
• One of the most significant improvements
  metalinguistic awareness

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• Early on, children may be talking to each other,
  but not about the same subject
• Later, they develop the ability to actually
  communicate with another child that has meaning

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Reading

• Stage
• 0 recognize letters/sounds
• 1 sound out words
• 2 reading becomes easier, but there is not as
  much understanding of the meaning
• 3 reading becomes more meaningful
• 4 can understand multiple points of view

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When are kids ready for school?

• Recent research suggests that age is not a
  critical indicator of when children should start
  school.
• Some research suggests that delaying childrens
  entrance into school based on age may actually be
  harmful!
• Developmental readiness is a better measure
  (family support, etc.)

Soc and pers