Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

1. Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood Chapter 7

2. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

3. Body Growth • By age 2, 25-30 pounds, 36 inches tall • Slower growth rate than during infancy • Baby fat burns off • 2 to 3 inches in height and about 5 pounds in weight each year • Boys slightly larger than girls • By end of preschool years children begin to lose primary “baby” teeth • Important to care for teeth

4. Changes in proportions of the human body during growth

5. 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 Lunch menu Lunch menu

6. Nutrition: Eating the Right Foods • Slower growth = less caloric requirements • Children can maintain appropriate intake of food, if provided with nutritious meals • Inappropriate encouragement to increase food intake beyond an appropriate level may cause obesity

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. Pill-Popping Preschoolers? • Increasing number of children being treated with drugs for emotional disorders such as depression • Use of drugs such as antidepressants and stimulants has grown significantly

11. Figure 7-2: Numbers of Preschool Children Taking Medication for Behavioral Problems Antipsychotics High blood pressure

12. Injury During the Preschool Years • Accidents are greatest risk • Danger of injuries • High levels of physical activity • Curiosity • Lack of judgment • Individual differences • Gender • Cultural • Socioeconomic

13. Range of Preschool Dangers • Falls • Burns • Drowning • Suffocation • Auto accidents • Poisons

14. Brazelton Flexible approach advocating waiting until signs of readiness appear Rosemond Rigid approach advocating quick and early training Potty Wars: Opposing Views

15. Dry at least 2 hours during day or after nap Regular, predictable bowel movements Indications that bowel movement or urination is about to occur Ability to follow simple directions Ability to get to bathroom and undress on time Discomfort with soiled diapers Asking to use toilet Desire to wear underwear Begin only when children are ready American Academy of PediatricsCurrent Guidelines

16. Fine Motor Skills • Involve more delicate, smaller body movements • Require much practice • Show clear developmental pattern

17. Handedness • Preference by end of preschool years • No scientific basis of myths that suggest there is something with being left-handed

18. Cognitive Development in preschool years

19. Cognitive Development Preoperational Stage-Piaget • Piaget’s preoperational stage- children are not capable of mental actions that obey logical rules • (2-7 yrs)

20. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development • Egocentrism-Inability to imagine the perspectives of others and reflect on their own thinking • Animism- belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities • Artificialism-the child’s belief that natural objects are manmade

21. Has not achieved conservation – the awareness that as something changes in physical qualities, the quantity does not change • Centration-they only have the ability to focus on one aspect of a problem at a time • Irreversibility-they are unable to envision reversing an action that has already been done

22. Figure 7-6: Which Row Contains More Buttons? Does one row of pennies have more than the other or are there the same amount??

23. Figure 7-7: Which Glass Contains More?

24. Literalism-takes the spoken word seriously “wipe that look off your face” Piaget

25. Emergence of Intuitive Thought • Curiosity blossoms and answers to wide variety of questions sought • Often act as authorities on particular topics • Leads preschoolers to believe that they know answers to all kinds of questions, but there is little or no logical basis for this confidence

26. Late Stages of Intuitive Thought • Slowly certain qualities prepare children for more sophisticated forms of reasoning • Begin to understand the notion of functionality • Begin to show an awareness of the concept of identity

27. Positive Masterful observer Useful way to consider progressive advances in child cognition Negative More recent experimental work suggests higher child performance on tasks involving conservation, reversibility, transformation, and ability to count Contentions about continuity of development as theorized in Piaget’s stages Evaluating Piaget’s Approach

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

29. 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

30. 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

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

32. INFORMATION PROCESSING APPOACHES TO COGNITVE DEVELOPMENT

33. You must remember this…maybe! • Recollections of events are sometimes, but not always, accurate • Typically accurate in responses to open-ended questions • Partly determined by how soon memories are assessed • Affected by cultural factors • Autobiographical memory • Largely inaccurate before age 3 • Not all last into later life

34. Preschoolers’ memories of familiar events often organized in scripts Scripts become more elaborate with age Frequently repeated events meld into scripts Particular instances of scripted event are recalled with less accuracy than those that are unscripted in memory Why are some preschool memories inaccurate?

35. Any other causes of inaccuracies? • Difficulty describing certain kinds of information, such as complex causal relationships, may oversimplify recollections

36. SHE did it…I think!!Children’s Eyewitness Testimony • Forensic developmental psychology • Embellishment characteristic of fragility, impressionability, and inaccuracy of memory • Memories susceptible to suggestions of adults asking them questions, especially repeatedly • Children more prone to make inaccurate inferences about reasons behind others’ behavior and are less able to draw appropriate conclusions based on their knowledge of a situation • Error rate is heightened when same question is asked repeatedly

37. 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’s memory can be assisted by discussing past events, asking questions, and providing elaborate information

38. 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

39. 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

40. 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

41. 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

42. 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

43. Grammar • 2 and 3 yrs old English speakers use simple sentences- subject verb order (telegraphic speech) • Overregularization- by about 3.5 children learn many grammar rules and may use them in error (“I boughted something at the store)

44. Overgeneralization (overextension) – using a word for one thing to describe other things that seem similar

45. 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

46. 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?