Chapter 4: Middle Childhood

Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

Chapter 4: Middle Childhood

Module 4.1 Physical Development in

Middle Childhood



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD



See How We Grow!

Slow but steady…• Height changes• Weight changes• Only time in lifespan when on average girls

taller than boys• Variation in heights up to 6 inches not unusual

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Cultural Patterns of Growth

• Sufficient or insufficient nutrition• Disease• Genetic inheritance• Familial stress

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Should hormones be used to make short children grow?



Benefits of Adequate Nutrition

Relationship to social and emotional functioning

• More peer involvement• More positive emotions• Less anxiety• More eagerness to explore new environments• More persistent in frustrating situations• Generally higher energy levels

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What would Ugly Betty’s life be like in a real elementary school?



Obesity • Most common causes:

– Genetic factors– Lack of physical activity– Unhealthy eating patterns– Combination of these factors

• Only in rare cases is being overweight caused by a medical condition such as a hormonal problem

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Costs of Childhood Obesity

Obese children• More likely to be

overweight as adults• Greater risk of heart

disease, diabetes, and other diseases

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The other side of “fat”

• Even very young children are aware of society's fixation on thinness

• Lowered self-esteem has been associated with being overweight in girls as young as 5

• Attitude was closely correlated with parents' perceptions

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Review and ApplyREVIEW• In middle childhood, height and weight increase

gradually.

• Differences in height and weight are influenced by both genetic and social factors.

• Adequate nutrition promotes physical, and cognitive development, while overnutrition and a sedentary lifestyle may lead to obesity.

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Review and Apply

APPLY• What are some aspects of U.S. culture

that may contribute to obesity among school-age children?

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MOTOR DEVELOPMENT



Gross Motor Development

• Improved muscle coordination

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Do boys and girls differ in motor skills?

• Gender differences in gross motor skills became increasingly pronounced during middle childhood, – Boys outperform girls– Little or no difference when equal participation

in exercise/activities – Influenced by societal expectations

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Fine Motor Development

• Necessary for wide range of school-related tasks

• Influenced by increase in amount of myelin speeds up electrical impulses between neurons

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Health and School-agers

• Middle childhood is period of robust health• Routine immunizations have produced

considerably lower incidence of life-threatening illnesses

• More than 90 percent of children in middle childhood have at least one serious medical condition but most are short term illnesses

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Other Health Risks

• Accidents– Motor vehicles– Bikes– Fires and burns– Drowning– Gun-related deaths

• Reduced by use of seatbelts and helmets

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Safety in Cyberspace

• Newest threat to the safety of school-age children comes from Internet and the World Wide Web

• Parent and Caregiver Resources:– The Serious Risks of Cyberspace– Child Safety on the Information Highway

Risks Online– Safety Net for the Internet: A Parent's Guide

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http://www.protectkids.com/kidsonline/chapt.3.html



PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS



Identifying the Problem

• Psychological disorders in children overlooked for years– Incidence– Symptoms inconsistent from those of adults– Antidepressant drugs used for treatment have

never been approved by governmental regulators for use with children

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Drugs As Treatment

FOR• Depression and other

psychological disorders treated successfully using drug

• More traditional nondrug therapies that largely employ verbal methods simply are ineffective

AGAINST• Long-term effectiveness

of antidepressants with children not known

• Use of antidepressants on developing brains and long-term consequences more generally not known

• Correct dosages for children of given ages or sizes no known

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Depression

• Key defining features of major depressive disorder in children and adolescents are same as they are for adults

• Way symptoms are expressed varies with developmental stage of child

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Review and ApplyREVIEW• Gross motor skills continue to improve during

the school years.

• Muscular coordination and manipulative skills advance to near-adult levels.

• Threats to safety include accidents, a result of increased independence and mobility, and unsupervised access to cyberspace.

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Review and Apply

APPLY• How would you design an experiment to

examine the roots of gender differences in gross motor skills? What impediments would you encounter in doing so?

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Children with Special Needs

• Visual impairments• Auditory impairments• Speech impairments• Learning disabilities

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Do you see what I see?

• Difficulties in seeing – Blindness (20/200 after correction)– Partial sightedness (20/70 after correction)

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Say what?

• Loss of hearing or some aspect of hearing

• Affects 2 percent of school-age children

• Varies across number of dimensions

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Children who do not hear• Children with speech-language impairment have an

impairment of their speech and/or language structures and functions

• Parts of the body used in speaking and understanding - the brain, nerves, mouth and throat - may be damaged or not developing or working properly

• Level of speech-language impairment can range from mild to severe

• Impairment may be obvious before school or not show itself until the child has difficulty learning at school

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I am talking to YOU!

Definition• Impairment of speech articulation, voice,

fluency, or the impairment or deviant development of language comprehension and/or expression

• Impairment of use of spoken or other symbol system that adversely affects educational performance

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Stuttering• Substantial disruption in rhythm and

fluency of speech

• Most common speech impairment; 20 percent of all children go through stage

• No clear-cut answers to the causes of stuttering

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Learning Disabilities Discrepancies Between Achievement

and Capacity to Learn

• Difficulties in acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical abilities– 2.8 million children in US– Dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia– ADD/ADHD

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The Basic Definition in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

• “Learning disability” = umbrella term

• IN GENERAL: – disorder is found in one or more of basic

psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or written

– disorder may manifest itself in imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations

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Developmental Reading Disability

• Dyslexia affects 2 to 8 percent of elementary school children

• Reading difficulties• Inability to separate sounds in words• Problems sounding out words

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Developmental Writing Disabilities

• Writing involves several brain areas and functions (dysgraphia)

• Brain networks for vocabulary, grammar, hand movement, and memory must all be in good working order

• Developmental writing disorder may result from problems in any of these areas

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Developmental Arithmetic Disability

• Arithmetic involves recognizing numbers and symbols, memorizing facts, aligning numbers, and understanding abstract concepts like place value and fractions

• Any of these may be difficult for children with developmental arithmetic disorders, also called dyscalculia

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What are the most common signs of ADHD?

• Persistent difficulty in finishing tasks, following instructions, and organizing work

• Inability to watch an entire television program• Frequent interruption of others or excessive

talking• Tendency to jump into a task before hearing all

the instructions. • Difficulty in waiting or remaining seated• Fidgeting, squirming

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Diagnostic Criteria

Behaviors must: • Be excessive, long-term, and pervasive• Appear before age 7, and continue for at least 6

months• Create a real handicap in at least two areas of a

person's life, such as school, home, work, or social settings

• Different than "normal" distractibility or overstressed lifestyle prevalent in our society

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ADHD Treatment Controversy

• Ritalin or Dexadrine reduce activity levels in hyperactive children and are routinely prescribe– Effective in increasing attention span and

compliance BUT side effects considerable and long-term health consequences unclear

– Help scholastic performance in short run BUT long-term evidence for continuing improvement is mixed

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Are there other treatments for ADD/ADHD?

• Behavioral therapy• Diet

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Informed Consumer of Development

Keeping Children Fit• Make exercise fun. Gear activities to the child’s physical

level and motor skills. • Be an exercise role model.• Encourage the child to find a partner. Start slowly.• Urge participation in organized sports activities, but do

not push too hard. • Don’t make physical activity, such as jumping jacks or

push-ups, a punishment for unwanted behavior. • Provide a healthy diet.

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Review and ApplyREVIEW• Many school-age children have special needs, relating to

vision, hearing, and speech that can impact their social relationships and school performance.

• Learning disabilities include difficulties in acquiring and using language, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical abilities.

• Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder poses attention, organization, and activity problems for 3% to 5% of school-age children.

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Review and Apply

APPLY• If hearing is associated with abstract

thinking, how do people who were born deaf think?

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Chapter 4: Middle Childhood