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Chapter 7 PHYSICAL and cognitive Development in EARLY CHILDHOOD. Body Growth. Norms – standards of what is “typical” at different ages Growth curve tables WHO research finds similar patterns in diverse parts of the world. Wider individual differences in early childhood
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Chapter 7PHYSICAL and cognitive Development in EARLY CHILDHOOD
Body Growth • Norms – standards of what is “typical” at different ages • Growth curve tables • WHO research finds similar patterns in diverse parts of the world. • Wider individual differences in early childhood • BMI shows whether child’s weight is appropriate for height. • Obesity in childhood particularly troubling.
Figure 7.1: Growth in Height and Weight from Age 2 to Age 20
Figure 7.3: Body Mass Index (BMI) of Boys Who are Overweight, Healthy, and Underweight
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 • Myelination occurs sequentially. • Brain anatomy • Lateralization • Corpus callosum
Figure 7.5: Right Lateral and Top Views of Gray Matter Maturation from Ages 5 to 20
Brain Plasticity • Degree to which the brain can be altered by experience • Sensitive periods
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
Figure 7.6 and 7.7: Cultural Differences are Evident in Young Children’s Drawings
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
Physical Development • Sleep and sleep problems • Sleep problems common in young children • Promoting sleep hygiene • Regular bedtime rituals • Consistent sleep schedules • Quiet time before lights out
Physical Development • Physiological indicators of stress • Cortisol • Related to children’s temperament • Related to attachment security • Related to quality of child care setting
Physical Development • Physical abuse and neglect • Research with nonhuman animals indicate stress affects animal’s biological makeup. • Pollack studies of abused children • More sensitive to anger cues • May perceive anger in caring adults when not present • May react intensely to situations perceived as “dangerous” • Neglected children • Emotional impairment • Inability to identify emotions
Piaget’s Theory: The Preoperational Period • Preoperational Period: 2 to 7 years of age • Symbolic representation • Language • Pretend play • Gaps in preoperational thinking • Reversibility • Conservation • Egocentric • Animism
The Preoperational Period • Can parents and teachers 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.
Theory of Mind • Children’s awareness of their own and other people’s thought processes and mental states • Age 4, watershed in development of theory of mind • False belief task • Cognitive and language abilities are important to development of theory of mind, as are experiences with adults and older children.
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory • Child embedded in a social context and focused on increasing abilities with assistance of others • Zone of proximal development • Scaffolding
Video: Lev Vygotsky: The Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding
Guided Participation • Rogoff expanded Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory to examine varied ways children learn their society’s values and practices through participation in family and community activities. • Goes beyond instructional activities to include family and community interactions and stories • Rules for participation vary cross-culturally.
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 • Continuous Performance Task • Improvements in attention linked to maturation of the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia. • Also affected by child’s environment and experience with parents
Figure 7.10: Errors on Impulsivity and Attention Tasks by Age
Memory • Sensory memory and working memory • Short term memory • Long term memory • Generic memory • Episodic memory • Autobiographical memory • Development of memory in early childhood
Language Development • Vocabulary • Fast mapping • Telegraphic speech • Overregulaion • 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 • Process quality
Figure 7.11: Common Child-Care Arrangements in the United Sstates
Early Education Programs • Perry Preschool Project • Abecedarian Project • Chicago Parent-Child Centers • Head Start • Pre-kindergarten programs
