Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood Body

Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

Body Growth n n n 2 to 3 inches in height 5 pounds in weight each year 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

Health Problems n n common vision problem-myopia-nearsightedness nearly 25% children affected Myopia is affected by heredity ad 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

Obesity n n n About 25% of American children greater than 20% over average body weight based on age, sex and physical build of child Causes u genetics u low-cost, high fat foods, and family stress u food as a reward system u lack of physical activity

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

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

Illnesses n n 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 u boys, African American children and children that were LBW, smoking parents, parents that have had asthma and children that live in poverty have the greatest risk

Injuries Common in middle childhood n auto and bicycle accidents very common n school-based safety programs a must at this age n be careful of toy related injuries n

Motor Development and Play n n n running, jumping, hopping, and ball skills more refined fine motor skills improve-writing (starts off larger ad gradually decreases in size) drawings show gains in organization, detail ad representation of depth games with rules are more common-children have a better concept of fairness, and justice PE classes very important-builds self esteem, and physical activity

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage n 7 to 11 years n thought process is more logical, flexible and organized that in early childhood n

Conservation n n 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

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

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

Limitations of Concrete Operational Thought Children still need concrete information for the most part n abstract concepts are still difficult n Horizontal decalage-conservation problems in certain order; number first than length than mass than liquid n