Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood Chapter 7

Body Growth • Slower growth rate than during infancy • 2 to 3 inches in height and about 5 pounds in weight each year • Boys slightly larger than girls • Baby fat drops • By end of preschool years children begin to lose primary “baby” teeth • Important to care for teeth • Childhood tooth decay is high for low SES children (poor diet, lack of flouridation and inadequate health and dental care

Children and High Fat Foods • 34% of energy in America’s diet is derived from fat • In course of school day, most eaten foods (candy, potato chips, cheese, peanut butter) contains at least 50% of fat • Children’s food preferences are influenced by what adults eat • Certain foods (high in fat) should be discouraged as a means for rewards with children • Health foods as rewards may be viewed as something to endure not to enjoy

Brain Development • Between 2 and 6 years the brain increases from 70 to 90 percent of its adult weight • Left hemisphere- growth between 3 to 6 years and levels off-language skills • Right hemisphere- spatial skills (drawing, recognizing shapes) develops gradually over childhood and adolescence

Lateralization and Handedness • Dominant cerebral hemisphere- an individual’s strong hand preference reflecting the greater capacity of one side of the brain • Right handers- 90% of population- language and hand control in left side of brain • Lefties- 10% of population- language shared in both hemispheres • Ambidextrous- let preferred but can be skillful with right hand • Hand preference of twins relate to body position during prenatal period • Small number of lefties show developmental problems

Emotional Well-being • Preschoolers with very stressful home lives suffer more respiratory and intestinal illnesses and injuries do to accidents • Deprivation dwarfism- growth disorder that appears between 2 and 15 years of age and is caused by the interference with the production of the growth hormone due to emotional deprivation- short stature, low weight in relation to height, decrease hormone production (GH) • Removal from emotionally inadequate environment GH levels return to normal; delay in treatment can cause permanent dwarfism

Nutrition • Picky eaters and unpredictable eating pattern are not uncommon in preschool years • Decline in appetite is normal-slower growth • Wariness to new foods- adaptive skill in learning safety of foods • Preschoolers need high quality diet- fats, oils, sugars to a minimum • Common dietary deficiencies in preschool years- iron (anemia, calcium-bones and teeth; Vitamin A-eyes, skin and internal organs; Vitamin C- immune system, iron absorption and wound healing

Nutrition cont’d • Encouraging Good Nutrition in Children • Page 215

Immunizations • Childhood immunizations- polio, measles, mumps, rubella (German measles) pertussis (DTP) (whooping cough) diphteria, tetanus, hepatitis B, and chicken pox. • Infants- first 5 diphteria, tetanus, and DTP injections at 2 months • Polio vaccine in 3 injection series starting at 2 months • Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) given at 15 months- single shot • Hep B 3 shots starting at birth • Chicken pox as early as 12 months • Irritable, less energetic, low grade fever not beyond 24 hrs • 1% chance of serious side effects • 4 out of 10 people who get tetanus die; 1 out of 100 babies under 6 months who get pertussis dies

Cognitive Development Preoperational Stage-Piaget • Piaget’s preoperational stage- children are not capable of mental actions that obey logical rules

Make Believe Play • Increases in early childhood • Becomes increasing detached form real life situations associated with it • Less directed on self and begins to focus on objects • Gradually contains more complex scheme • Sociodramatic play- combines scheme and includes role playing of childrenn

Egocentrism • Inability to imagine the perspectives of others and reflect on their own thinking • Leads to illogical features of thought • Animistic thinking- belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities • Magical thinking • Rigid thinking and illogical nature of young children’s thinking

Conservation • Certain physical characteristics of objects remain the same even when their outward appearance changes • Preschoolers have not yet developed this concept • Understanding is centered (one aspect of situation • Perception- bound ( easily distracted by the appearance of objects) • Focus on states rather than transformations (focus on beginning and end states • Irreversibility- can not revise steps in a problem to get to the beginning

Conservation cont’d • Recently 2 year old Brooke’s father shaved off his thick beard and mustache. When Brooke saw him she was very upset. Using Piaget’s theory, explain why Brooke was upset by her father’s appearance

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory • Social context of cognitive development • Rapid growth in language in early childhood • Paritcipation in culturally meaningful tasks

Private Speech • Piaget called children’s utterances to themselves- egocentric speech • Vygotsky- children speak to themselves for self-guidance and self-direction (private speech) • Private speech is used more often when tasks are difficult or when a child is confused about how to proceed

Zone of Proximal Development • A range of tasks too difficult for the child to do alone but that can be accomplished with the help of others • Adults and more skilled peers can assist with development through dialogue

Zone of Proximal Development cont’d • Tanisha sees her 5 year old son Toby talking to himself when he plays. Should she discourage this behavior? Use Vygosky’s theory to support your answer.

Attention • Preschoolers spend short time on activities • Average time for single activity in preschool- 7 minutes • Attention more “planful” by end of preschool years

Memory • Age 2 recall is 1 to 2 items • Age 4 recall is 3 or 4 items • Recall is poorer than recognition • Young children are less able to use memory strategies- mental activities that improve chances of remembering • Children remember in terms of scripts • Children’s memory can be assisted by discussing past events, asking questions, and providing elaborate information

Language Affects Memory • First verbs in children’s vocabulary • Think, remember, and pretend • By age 4 children understand that beliefs and reality can differ- people can hold false beliefs • Young children believe that all events must be directly observed to be known

Literacy • Preschoolers understand a great deal about written language long before they learn to read or write in conventional ways • Preschoolers are aware of some ideas about symbols but may revise these ideas as their perceptual and cognitive capacities improve and as they encounter writing in many different contexts.

Mathematical Reasoning • Built on foundation of informally acquired knowledge • Early years- big, little, small, lots • Between 2 yrs and 3 yrs they begin to count- memorization • 3 yrs to 4 yrs- one to one correspondence • 4 yrs and 5 yrs- cardinality- last number in a counting sequence indicates the quantity of items in a set • By end of preschool- count on concept • Eventually later develop count down concept

Preschool and Daycare • Over 30 years the number of young children in preschool has increased steadily • Due to large number of women in workforce • Types of preschools- child centered preschools, academic programs

Early Intervention • Project Head Start- 1965 for children with Low SES • Encourages parental involvement • Children in Head Start scored higher in IQ and school achievement than controls during first 2 to 3 years of elementary school • Less likely to be placed in special education or retained a grade and a greater number graduated from high school • Good child care can reduce negative impact of an underprivileged home life

Important Factor For Good Childcare • Group size • Caregiver to child ratio • Caregiver’s educational preparation • Caregiver’s personal commitment to learning about and caring for children

Television • Sesame Street works as an academic tutor • TV can support cognitive development as long as children’s viewing is not excessive and programs meet developmental needs

Language • By age 2, 200 words • BY age 6, 10,000 words • Fast-mapping- connecting a new word with an underlying concept after only a brier encounter • Preschoolers extend language meanings through metaphor

Grammar • The way we combine meaningful phrases and sentences • 2 and 3 yrs old English speakers use simple sentences- subject verb order • Overregularization- by about 3.5 children learn many grammar rules and may use them in error • Difficulty with passive form

Pragmatics • Preschoolers are learning how to use appropriate communication tools effectively • By age 4 children know culturally accepted ways of adjusting speech to fit age, sex, and social status role of persons

Pragmatics cont’d • One day Sammy’s mother explained to him that the family would take a vacation in Miami. The next morning Sammy emerged from his room with his belongings spilled out of a suitcase and remarked, “I gotted my bag packed. When are we going to Your-ami?” What do Sammy’s error’s reveal about his approach to language?

Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood