School-age Children

1. School-age Children Chapter 19 Page 457

2. Terms • School-age children – children between ages 6 and 12 • Middle childhood- another name for school-age years, the period of development from 6 to 12 years of age

3. Filled with fun, adventure, school, friends, family and other events • Physical changes happen • Fine and gross motor skills improve • Begin to think more logically • Mature a great deal socially • Adults are still important part of life

4. Physical Development of School-age Children • Changes may seem awkward as they happen but they become more coordinated

5. Body Growth & Development • Mainly girls begin to have a growth spurt (period of rapid growth) • Body proportions change and organ systems mature

6. Height & Weight • Height increases more steadily than weight • Genes determine height • Weight seems parallel to height • Shorter are lighter and vice versa • Boys are taller and heavier than girls until age 10 - 11

7. Body Proportions • Become even more adult like • Child’s waist and head are more in proportion • Trunk grows until it is two times as long and two times as wide

8. Bones & Teeth • Skeletal system continues to mature • Bones ossify and grow larger and longer • Lose baby teeth and get permanent ones • Girls often lose and replace teeth before boys • Losing teeth cause a more mature looking face

9. Terms • Permanent teeth (intended to last a lifetime) • Six-year molars ( first permanent teeth, which grow in behind the second set of deciduous molars) • Don’t replace any lost teeth

10. Teeth • First 2 teeth are often the bottom front teeth • Fall out during the late preschool years • See page 459, figure 19-2

11. Muscle Growth • Grow and become more firmly attached to bones • Orthopedic problem (problems relating to the bones and muscles) • Most common physical problem of this age • Skeleton grows more quickly than muscle • Growth pains (muscle aches that occur when muscles grow rapidly to catch up with increasing skeleton size)

12. Organ Growth • Brain growth slows during middle childhood • Reaches 95% of its adult weight by age 10 • From this time, rewiring the brain is difficult if not impossible • Other organs mature • Heart grows • Eyes mature for good visual acuity • Decrease in fat deposits

13. Motor Development • Enjoy most all motor activities • Motor skills continue to improve

14. Gross & Fine Motor Skills • More develop in large muscle coordination than small (6 – 8 yrs) • Enjoy running, jumping, climbing, etc • Develop interest in more specific motor skills (9 – 12 yrs) • Increased mental ability

15. Motor skills become better: • Faster reaction time • Improved precision (ability to perform motor skills accurately) • Greater speed and improved strength • Improved flexibility (ability to move, bend, and stretch easily

16. Skills Performance • Boys perform better than girls in task requiring power, force and speed • Girls begin to be equal after growth spurt • Girls better in flexibility and rhythm • Experts don’t know if its genes or environment • If highly skilled in one motor activity will likely excel in others

17. Providing for School-Age Children’s Physical Needs • Needs become more complex • Adults still important but so are peers, etc

18. Encouraging Health & Safety Practices • Diet and physical activity • Health habits affect their weight, posture, complexion, hair and energy levels

19. A Healthful Diet • Eating nutritious foods help body meet its growth and increased energy demands • Need to store nutrients for rapid growth that occurs in teen years • Use the Food Guide Pyramid • Schools publish menus to help parents plan other meals • Snacking is often unsupervised so have healthy snacks on hand

20. Physical Activity & Other Good Health Practices • Need moderate physical activity daily or at least 3 to 4 times a week • Physical activity major contributor to physical fitness • Parents need to see children are active • Need 8 to 9 hours of sleep • Need it for concentration and not be irritable

21. Safety Practices • Safety rules need to be modeled and practiced • Use seat belts, bicycle helmets • Other dangers include poisoning, drowning, firearms, and electricity

22. Selecting the Right Clothing • Clothing that fits and well constructed • Should have growth features and be able to withstand stress and strain • Self-dressing skills • Develop own prefernces for color and style • Concerned about how peers view them

23. Providing Needed Space & Furnishings • Want and need their own space • Planning for space: • Space used for many purchases • Storage space for clothes and shoes • Space that is attractive • Easy-to-clean • Furniture and accessories the child can use

24. Intellectual Development of School-age Children • Can think even more abstractly • Thinking depends more on logic and less on perception • Concrete operational stage (begin to think logically, but base their logic on past experiences ) (Piaget’s) • Formal operations (final stage of mental development, in which a person can reason abstractly)

25. How School-age Children Think • Seeing from the Viewpoint of others • See others having ideas different from their own • Lead to question previous thoughts

26. Focusing on More than One Part • Can focus on more than one aspect of something at a time • Can see more than one change in an object at one time

27. Using Reversibility Logic • Better able to understand reversibility logic • Means knowing that one change, such as in height, can lead to another change, such as in width

28. Noting Transformations • Can mentally put together a series of events to see changes in an object • Helps children understand other concepts • Can accept their parents were children once also

29. Using Deductive & Inductive Reasoning • Deductive reasoning (reasoning from general to specific) • All fish live in water, so his or her guppies live in water too • Inductive reasoning ( reasoning from specific facts to general conclusions) • Or scientific reasoning ( form of logic commonly used by scientists • Can weigh several ideas they have tested and draw a conclusion

30. What School-age Children Learn • Logic helps them learn school subjects • Concepts are more advanced than toddlers

31. Physical Knowledge Concepts • Size, shape, color, texture, etc • More advanced • Perception: • Accurate perception aids physical knowledge concepts: • Do more in-depth exploring • What information to act upon or ignore • Correctly pair visual (seen) and auditory (heard) stimuli

32. Memory: • Develop methods to help them remember • Singing the alphabet • Logic: • Form better and more accurate physical knowledge concepts • Conservation (changing an object’s shape, direction, or position does not alter the quantities of that object

33. Logical Thinking Concepts • Classification • Hierarchical (having classes within other classes) • Include all objects that meet the attribute for that class

34. Order: • Can show relationships among objects putting them in order • Number: • Greater than, less than, equal to, and others

35. Space: • Tell whether objects are open or closed • Whether they are near or far • Distance, time, & Speed: • Time and distance are confused • Understand clock time and calendar time but calendar time is more difficult to grasp

36. Cause an Effect: • Begin to understand human do not cause natural happenings

37. Language Mastered • Vocabulary continues to grow • More exact definitions • Articulation • Mastered by age 8 • Grammar: • Age 9 have mastered grammar • Use their own set of rules

38. Helping School-Age Children Meet Their Intellectual Needs • Guiding intellectual development: • Provide opportunities to participate in activities that require effort over a longer period of time • Allow children to choose activities that are rewarding for them • Encourage children to learn

39. Show an interest in and support the school’s program • Show interest in their own activities

40. Preparing the Child to Enter School • Deal with new people (children & adults) • Stress may accompany the new hours and routines • Help by: • Develop a secure and trusting relationship • Allow children more independence • Teach children to accept authority • Help children overcome separation anxiety

41. Getting the Child To School • Make transportation plans clear • Reminded not to talk or go with strangers • School viewed as a natural course of events • Say goodbye at bus stop, schoolyard, • Warm but not clingy

42. Reinforcing School Tasks • Need daily encouragement and help • Responsibilities: • See children attend school regularly • Take an interest in what they are doing • Talk with children about home work and look at their papers

43. Guide Television Watching • Should limit viewing • Increased viewing, grades drop at same rate • Useful tool but in limited amounts

44. Assisting Computer Use • Good software and access to Internet children: • Access information • Communicate • Publish their work • Visit interactive sites

45. Social-Emotional Development of School-age Children • New social experience • New adjustments • Getting along with peers • Peer group become more and more important

46. Developing the Self-concept • Become aware of shortcomings (areas where a person wants or needs to improve) • Self evaluation becomes more complex: • Concerned with what others think • Abilities in reading, math, etc are more difficult to measure • Evaluated in comparison to other children’s work

47. Showing Social Awareness • Greater awareness of what is going on around them • Sense of work and Being Industrious: • Industry (joining other in striving to become a competent member of society) • Inferiority (feeling incompetent and less valuable as a member of society) • Erickson’s 4th Stage

48. Industry differs from initiative: • Industry involves drive to accomplish school tasks • Industry involves joining other and working as a team • Industry focuses on recognition from peers and important adults

49. If successful in this stage they feel confident and productive • Learn lifelong attitude toward work at this time • Like to learn to do things with and for others

50. Peers Become Important • Close friendships begin to develop • Peer groups are informal • See a friend as someone who helps them • Similar interests and tastes determine friendships