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Chapter 7. Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood. Growth and Motor Development . Changes in height and weight happen more slowly during early childhood 2 – 3 inches and 6 pounds per year Steady progress in major locomotor skills Running , jumping, skipping .
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Chapter 7 Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood
Growth and Motor Development • Changes in height and weight happen more slowly during early childhood • 2 – 3 inches and 6 pounds per year • Steady progress in major locomotor skills • Running, jumping, skipping
Body Growth • Norms – standards of what is “typical” at different ages • Wider individual differences in early childhood • BMI shows whether child’s weight is appropriate for height. Rise in childhood obesity 1963-2002 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Obesity in Childhood • Lowering risk of obesity • Variety of healthy food choices • Food is not a bribe, punishment, or entertainment • Encouraging active play • Serving as a good role model
Brain Development • Synaptogenesis peaks at age 1, continues through childhood • Synaptic pruning begins in first years, continues through young adulthood • Lateralization: • The localization of a function to one of the hemispheres of the brain • Corpus callosum: • The connection between the two halves of the hemispheres of the brain
The Brain and Nervous System Lateralization • At this stage there is growth of the corpus callosum • Helps create functional specialization of left and right hemispheres
Brain Plasticity • Degree to which the brain can be altered by experience • Sensitive period—example—language development • A time in development during which the organism is especially open to environmental influence
Motor Development • Gross motor skills • Abilities required to control large movements of the arms, legs, and feet, or the whole body • Must be studied in cultural context • Fine motor skills • Involves smaller movements of the hand and fingers • Depend on culture and experience
Table 7.1: Some Milestones in Normative Gross Motor Development
Table 7.2: Some Milestones in Normative Fine Motor Development in the United States
Physical Development and Well-Being • Injuries and illnesses in early childhood • Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death in the U.S. • Drowning, automobile accidents, fire and burns, airway obstruction • Successful immunization has decreased death. • Minor illnesses • Reducing childhood mortality rates • Oral rehydration therapy • Immunization • Mosquito nets • Education
Health and Wellness Illnesses and Accidents • Each year, 4 – 6 bouts of brief sickness • High levels of family stress more likely to produce sick children • 25% of U.S. children under 5 have one accident in any one year requiring medical treatment • More common among boys
Physical Development • Sleep and sleep problems • Promoting sleep: • Regular bedtime rituals • Consistent sleep schedules • Quiet time before lights out
Advances/Limitations in Cognition in Early Childhood Advances in cognition Immature aspects of cognition—according to Piaget—as shown on conservation tasks • Understanding of cause and effect • Ability to classify • Empathy (Piaget thinks this enters during middle childhood) • Understanding of identity (superficial changes don’t change the nature of things) • Symbolic representation • Language • Pretend play • Numbers • Preoperational period—2-7—still have trouble thinking logically • Centration • Irreversibility • Fooled by appearances—focus on end states rather than transformations • Egocentrism • Animism • Transductive reasoning
The Preoperational Period—Can Parents Accelerate Logical Thinking in Preschoolers? • Piaget would have answered • “No”—children develop logical thinking through their own explorations and actions • Peers might promote cognitive development • Contemporary challenges to Piaget • Cognitive development is better described as a series of overlapping waves. • Young children understand more than Piaget credited them for
Challenges to Piaget’s Views • Young children do understand others’ emotions • Can regulate their own emotions • Appearance and reality • Older children understand the same object can be represented differently, depending on point of view
Theory of Mind • Children’s awareness of their own and other people’s thought processes and mental states • Cognitive and language abilities are important to development of theory of mind, as are experiences with adults and older children. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hLubgpY2_w&feature=related
Vygotsky’sSociocultural Theory • Child embedded in a social context and focused on increasing abilities with assistance of others • Scaffolding: • Providing learning opportunities, materials, hints, and clues when a child has difficulty with a task • Zone of proximal development--From actual performance to potential performance.
Piaget vs. Vygotsky • Piaget: Change comes from within • Vygotsky: Change comes from outside, then you internalize it
Guided Participation • Rogoff expanded Vygotsky’ssociocultural theory to examine varied ways children learn their society’s values and practices through participation in family and community activities
Language and Thought • Relationship between language and thought • Piaget – thought precedes language development; thought evident in sensorimotor period • Vygotsky– language and thought develop together • First attempts to speak are efforts to establish and maintain social contact – social speech • 3 – 4 years old—children use language as a tool to organize thoughts • Self-directed talk becomes private speech
Attention • Focusing on some information while ignoring other information • If you don’t attend you can’t learn
Language Development • Vocabulary • Fast mapping • Telegraphic speech • Overregulation • Semantics • Meaning of words and sentences or the content of speech • Specialized knowledge accelerates development of concepts in particular areas
Emergent Literacy • Foundations for literacy emerge in early childhood. • Changing expectations for literacy milestones • Exposure to books and language, and parent-child communication, is crucial
Early Mathematical Thinking • During early childhood, children master a number of mathematical concepts: • Magnitude • Numbers • Counting • Addition and subtraction
Child Care and Early Education Programs • Widespread use of child care • In-home care • Child-care homes • Child-care centers • Quality of child care linked to cognitive and social development. • Structural quality: • Characteristics of child-care settings, such as group size, child/adult ratios, and caregiver education and training • Process quality: • An assessment of children’s interactions and experiences in child-care settings
Figure 7.11: Common Child-Care Arrangements in the United States
Early Education Programs • Perry Preschool Project • Abecedarian Project • Chicago Parent-Child Centers • Head Start • Pre-kindergarten programs
