PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

CHAPTER 9

Learning Objectives

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

The Growing Body

Slow but steady…•Height changes

•Weight changes

•Only time in lifespan when average girls taller than boys

•Variation in heights up to 6 inches not unusual

Cultural Patterns of Growth

Influences•Sufficient or insufficient nutrition

•Disease

•Genetic inheritance

•Familial stress

Should hormones be used to make short children grow?

Artificial Hormones: Points to Consider

• Currently taken by thousands of children with insufficient natural growth hormones

• Costly

• Some side effects

• Long-term studies of usage not available

Nutritional Benefits

• Children who received higher levels of nutrients had more energy and felt more self-confident than those whose nutritional intake was lower.

(Source: Based on Barrett & Radke-Yarrow, 1985.)

• Where is obesity in this chart?

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•(See Guatemalan study, Barrett & Frank, 1987)•skipping breakfast had an adverse influence problem-solving test performance

Consequences of Inadequate Nutrition

Undernutrition is implicated in more than half of all child deaths worldwide

Undernourished children•Lowered resistance to infection

•More likely to die from common childhood ailments and respiratory infections

•Frequent illness that impacts growth •No data on relationship to “under nourishment and vitamin consumption

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

Obesity

• concern about weight can border on an obsession, particularly among girls.

• many 6-year-old girls worry about becoming “fat” • Some 40 percent of 9- and 10-year-olds are trying to lose

weight. • Why? Their concern is most often the result of the U.S.

preoccupation with being slim, which permeates every sector of society

• Children become overweight for a variety of reasons: genetic and social

• In the United States over the past 20 years, obesity has increased by 54 percent in 6 to 11 year old children and by 39 percent among 12 to 17 year olds.

Costs of Childhood Obesity

• Obese children– More likely to be

overweight as adults– Greater risk of heart

disease, diabetes, and other diseases

Book says” In fact, some scientists believe that an epidemic of obesity may be leading to a decline in life span in the U.S.” But, research shows being slightly overweight as an older adult increases life span!“

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

Fat consumption and Obesity

• A few studies have suggested that total dietary fat intake is linked to an increased risk of obesity[91][92] and diabetes.[93][94]

• However, a number of very large studies, including the Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial, an eight-year study of 49,000 women, the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, revealed no such links.[95][96][97]

• None of these studies suggested any connection between percentage of calories from fat and risk of cancer, heart disease, or weight gain.

Fat consumption and Obesity

• The Nutrition Source, a website maintained by the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, summarizes the current evidence on the impact of dietary fat: "Detailed research—much of it done at Harvard—shows that the total amount of fat in the diet isn't really linked with weight or disease."[98]

• Weight gain is most likely the result of excessive carbohydrate consumption– Cereal, bread, and junk food – Beer – To a lesser extent soda pop and sugars

• And lack of exercise!

Balanced Diet?

USDA’s View

• Recent studies have found that the diet of children is almost the opposite of that recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture

• a situation that can lead to an increase in obesity.• The typical 10-year-old is 10 pounds heavier than a

decade ago.• (Source: USDA, 1999; NPD Group, 2004.)

USDA Food Pyramid• Insufficient Protein• Far too much

carbohydrate• Not enough good

fats & oils

• Causes Obesity• Low energy• Increases allergies• May be related to:

• Mental illness• Immune system

dysfunction

New USDA Pyramid

Completely meaninglessStill no mention of vitamins

Grains were not a food source for primates until late in farming stage.

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

Gross Motor Skills

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

•Physical activities prohibited esp. “contact sports”•Tag outlawed in some schools

Fine Motor Development

• Necessary for wide range of school-related tasks• Influenced by increase in amount of myelin speeds up

electrical impulses between neurons• Myelin, which insulates nerve fibers, contains only 18%

protein and 76% lipid.• USDA Diet does not provide adequate lipids• Six- and 7-year-olds are able to tie their shoes and

fasten buttons• by age 8, they can use each hand independently• by 11 and 12, they can manipulate objects with almost

as much capability as they will show in adulthood.

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•But some parents who fail to immunize their children (religious reasons, fear of materials, illegals) place community at increased risk.

Asthma

About asthma•15 million US children•Periodic attacks of wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath

•Theories about increased incidence•Increased air pollution •More accurate diagnosis•Exposure to “asthma triggers”•Poverty (Ha Ha)

Asthma

•Other Theories about increased incidence•air pollution has decreased enormously •Too clean•Lack of animal exposure•Plastic solvent outgassing (rugs, electronics, paints)

Other Health Risks

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

• Reduced by use of seatbelts and helmets

More PropagandaUSA Today say 180 0-12 year olds in 2010~20M 0-10 year olds => 0.0009%

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

Identifying the Problem

• Psychological disorders in children long overlooked Incidence

– Symptoms inconsistent from those of adults

– Antidepressant drugs used for treatment have never been approved by governmental regulators for use with children

• One in five children and adolescents has psychological disorder that produces at least some impairment.

• About 5% of preteens suffer from childhood depression• 13% of “children” between 9 & 17 have anxiety disorder• Really?

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 not known•Suicide Risk •Aggression when stoppedUntrueUntrue

Does change

bran physically

Does change

bran physically

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

• Symptom expression of depression also gender linked

Children with Special NeedsSensory Difficulties: Visual, Auditory, and Speech

Problems

Not equal incidence

Do you see what I see?

Difficulties in seeing •Blindness (20/200 after correction)

•Partial sightedness (20/70 after correction)

•the legal criterion pertains solely to distance vision

•one student in a thousand requires special education services related to vision

Say what?

• Loss of hearing or some aspect of hearing

• Affects 2 percent of school-age children

• Varies across number of dimensions

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

severe speech-language impairment

May result in one or more of the following: •The child not being able to speak

•Having speech that is very hard to understand

•The child having great difficulty making sense of speech sounds

•The child not always being able to understand others

•The child not being able to say what he or she wants.

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•Language impairment may be manifested by one or more of the following components of language: morphology, syntax, semantics, phonology, and pragmatics

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– Genetics– Neurophysiology– Child development– Family dynamics

• Feedback hypothesis

Learning Disabilities Discrepancies Between Achievement and Capacity

to Learn

• is a disorder that affects people's ability to either interpret what they see and hear or to link information from different parts of the brain.

• Difficulties in acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical abilities

• 2.8 million children in US

• Dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia– impede learning to read, write, or do math. – ADD/ADHD

The Brains of Children With ADHD

The brains of children with ADHD (in the top row) show less thickening of the cortex compared to the brains of typical children at the same age.

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

“Learning disability” = umbrella term

Learning Disability

• DISORDERS INCLUDED- Such term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

• DISORDERS NOT INCLUDED- Such term does not include a learning problem that is primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

Developmental Reading Disability

Dyslexia affects 2 to 8% of elementary school children•Reading difficulties

•Inability to separate sounds in words

•Problems sounding out words

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

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

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

ADHD – all boys?

• Because there is no simple test to identify whether a child has ADHD, it is hard to know for sure how many children have the disorder. Most estimates put the number between 3 to 7% of those under the age of 18.

• Only a trained clinician can make an accurate diagnosis following an extensive evaluation of the child and interviews with parents and teachers

• Reading entrails also helps…

• The new Schizophrenia?

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

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

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•No idea how adults will behave•Kids scam system, sell their drugs, overdosing common, stopping treatment associated with psychological effects

Overprescribing Ritalin?

The number of children being given drugs for psychological disorders has increased significantly over the last decade.

(Source: U.S. Surgeon General, 2000.)

Are there other treatments for ADD/ADHD?

Treatments•Behavioral therapy

•Diet

•Other?

Keeping Children Fit

• Make exercise fun. Gear activities to the child's physical level and motor skills.

• 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.

Is this course about Development or an instruction book on raising children?

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT

What are advances and limitations, in thinking during childhood?

Approaches•Piaget

•Information-processing

•Vygotsky

Intellectual Development: Piaget

Concrete operational stage•7 and 12 years

•Characterized by active and appropriate use of logic– Logical operations applied to concrete problems– Conservation problems (ability to see that some

properties are conserved or invariant after an object undergoes physical transformation)

– reversibility– time and speed– decentering

Routes to Conservation

After being told that the two cars traveling on Routes 1 and 2 start and end their journeys in the same amount of time, children who are just entering the concrete operational period still reason that the cars are traveling at the same speed.

Later, at the end of the stage, they reach the correct conclusion: that the car traveling the longer route must be moving at a higher speed if it starts and ends its journey at the same time as the car traveling the shorter route.

How does preoperational thought emerge?

Shift from preoperational thought to concrete operational thought does not happen overnight •Children shift back and forth between preoperational and concrete operational thinking •Once concrete operational thinking is fully engaged, children show several cognitive advances •They attain the concept of reversibility, which is the notion that processes transforming a stimulus can be reversed, returning it to its original form. •Because they are less egocentric, they can take multiple aspects of a situation into account, an ability known as decentering. Only in later stage are they able to understand that

many processes are NOT reversible.

Conservation Training

Rural Australian Aborigine children trail their urban counterparts in the development of their understanding of conservation; with training, they later catch up. Without training,around half of 14-year-old Aborigines do not have an understanding of conservation.

These children are “locked” in the preoperational stage.

Are some US adults locked in this way of thinking?

(Source: Based on Dasen, Ngini, & Lavallee, 1979.)

Piaget Was Right…Piaget Was Wrong

Information Processing

Increasing ability to handle information•Memory (ability to encode, store, and retrieve information) improvement

•Short term memory (STM) capacity improvement

•Some developmental psychologists suggest that the difficulty children experience in solving conservation problems during the preschool period may stem from memory limitations.•I say that moving data in and out of STM is basis for ADD (destructive read)

Thinking about Memory: Metamemory

• Introspective knowledge of one’s own memory capabilities (and strategies that can aid memory), and the processes involved in memory self-monitoring

• Understanding about processes that underlie memory

• Improves during school age years

• Helps children use control strategies (conscious, intentional tactics to improve functioning)

Can children be trained to be more effective in use of control strategies?

• School-age children can be taught to use particular strategies– Keyword strategies (one word is paired with another

that sounds like it)

• See Center for Development and Learning (10 Strategies to Enhance Memory) for additional strategies

• http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/memory_strategies_May06.php?type=recent&id=Yes

Doesn’t this imply that traditional education practices should be changed?

“As adults, we have already acquired much of the knowledge and skills we need to function day to day. Although the knowledge base for some fields such as technology changes rapidly, the new information is generally highly specific and builds on existing knowledge. On the other hand, school children are constantly bombarded with new knowledge in multiple topic areas in which they may or may not be interested. Additionally, they are expected to both learn and demonstrate the mastery of this knowledge on a weekly basis.”

Vygotsky's Approach

Cognitive advances occur through exposure to information within zone of proximal development (ZPD)•Influential in development of classroom practices

•Cooperative learning

•Reciprocal teaching

Cooperative Learning Defined

Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement.

Cooperative Learning Results

• Improved academic achievement• Improved behavior and attendance (i.e. boys like it)• Increased self confidence & motivation• Increased liking of school & class mates• Easy to implement• Inexpensive

Reciprocal Teaching

Reciprocal teaching refers to an instructional activity that takes place in the form of a dialogue between teachers and students regarding segments of text. The dialogue is structured by the use of four strategies: summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting. The teacher and students take turns assuming the role of teacher in leading this dialogue.

•Works great for some kids•Traumatizing for others

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Mastering the Mechanics of Language in Middle Childhood

Metalinguistic Awareness

One of most significant developments in middle childhood is children's increasing understanding of their own use of language •By age 5 or 6

– Understand language is governed by set of rules

•By age 7 or 8– Realize that miscommunication be due to factors

attributable not only to themselves, but to person communicating with them

How does language promote self-control?

• Helps school-age children control and regulate behavior

• “Self-talk” used to help regulate behavior

• Effectiveness of self-control grows as linguistic capabilities increased

The Diversity of Language Other Than The Diversity of Language Other Than English Spoken in the United StatesEnglish Spoken in the United States

Long-term Bilingualism

• According to survey data, even Spanish, a language thought to be particularly enduring in the United States, seldom lasts beyond the second or third generation (Pease-Alveraz, 1993)

Why do you think this occurs?

Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism

• Greater cognitive flexibility

• Higher self-esteem

• Greater meta-linguistic awareness

• Potential improved IQ scores

• Longer life

Other Advantages

• If maintained, could lead to social and economic rewards• Balanced bilingualism (nearly equal levels of proficiency

in both languages) could lead to cognitive growth • Rich learning milieu (e.g., Moll & Greenberg, 1990;

Vasquez, Pease-Alvarez, &Shannon, in press). • Children who acquire two languages through their

contacts and interactions in their homes, schools, and neighborhoods have access to a range of resources that are largely unavailable to monolingual English speakers.

SCHOOLING: THE THREE Rs (AND MORE) OF MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

Schooling Around the World and Across Genders: Who Gets Educated?

• Primary school education universal right (?) and legal requirement?

• Children in developing countries may have less access

• Females in these countries receive less formal education than males– close to a billion individuals are illiterate throughout

their lives– two-thirds of them women

The Plague of Illiteracy

Reading: Learning to Decode Meaning Behind Words

• No other task that is more fundamental to schooling than learning to read

• Reading involves significant number of skills• Low-level cognitive skills

– the identification of single letters and associating letters with sounds

• higher level skills – matching written words with meanings located in long-

term memory – using context and background knowledge to

determine the meaning of a sentence

Development of Reading Skills

What does “reading aloud” mean?1.Group presentation2.Self reading3.Individual reading (like to mom)4.Other?

How Should We Teach Reading?

• Disagreement about nature of mechanisms by which information is processed during reading– Code-based approaches – Whole-language approaches

• National Reading Panel and National Research Council support reading instruction using code-based approaches

Code Based

• Emphasize the components of reading, such as the sounds of letters and their combinations—phonics—and how letters and sounds are combined to make words.

• They suggest that reading consists of – processing the individual components of words– combining them into words– using the words to derive the meaning of written

sentences and passages.

Whole-language

• reading is viewed as a natural process, similar to the acquisition of oral language.

• children should learn to read through exposure to complete writing—sentences, stories, poems, lists, charts, and other examples of actual uses of writing.

• Instead of being taught to sound out words, children are encouraged to make guesses about the meaning of words based on the context in which they appear.

• Through such a trial-and-error approach, children come to learn whole words and phrases at a time, gradually becoming proficient readers.

Completely missing

• Visual reading• Reading styles

– Speed– Skimming– Scanning– Etc.

Brain Changes and Reading

• Whatever approach is used to teach reading, reading produces significant changes in the wiring of the brain

• It boosts the organization of the visual cortex of the brain and it improves the processing of spoken language

Aloud

Silently

Educational Trends in the Next Millennium

• U.S. schools are experiencing return to educational fundamentals embodied in traditional three Rs

• Elementary school classrooms today stress individual accountability, both for teachers and students

• Elementary schools have also paid increased attention to issues involving student diversity and multiculturalism

Related to Developmental Psych how?

Cultural Assimilation or Pluralistic Society?

Multicultural education developed in part as a reaction to a cultural assimilation model in which the goal of education was to assimilate individual cultural identities into a unique, unified American culture

Cultural Assimilation or Pluralistic Society?

• Cultural assimilation model– in which the goal of education was to assimilate

individual cultural identities into a unique, unified American culture.

• Pluralistic society model– suggests that American society is made up of diverse,

coequal cultural groups that should preserve their individual cultural features.

Fostering a Bicultural Identity

• Today, most educators agree that minority children should be encouraged to develop a bicultural identity

• School systems encourage children to maintain their original cultural identities while they integrate themselves into dominant culture (nearly Impossible task)

• More contemporary approaches emphasize a bicultural strategy in which children are encouraged to maintain simultaneous membership in more than one culture (Impossible task)

• This view suggests that an individual can live as a member of two cultures, with two cultural identities, without having to choose one over the other.

Pluralistic Society Results

• Last 10 yrs, educators argue that presence of students from diverse cultures enriched and broadened the educational experience of all students.

• Pupils and teachers exposed to people from different backgrounds could better understand the world and gain greater sensitivity to the values and practices of others.

• Simple test of method: Look out outcomes.• Overall test scores down• Overall minority test scores down.• Hispanic youth employment down •

Intelligence: Determining Individual Strengths

How do you define intelligence?

One definition: is the capacity to understand the world, think with rationality, and use resources effectively when faced with challenges (Wechsler, 1975).

My definition: doing what you want to do in life.

Important note: Not just one kind of intelligence.

Intelligence Benchmarks: Differentiating the Intelligent from the Unintelligent

Measuring IQ: Present-day approaches to intelligence•Binet's Test

– Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SB5)

•Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fourth Edition (WISC-IV)

•Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, 2nd Edition (KABC-II)

Binet’s Legacies

• Binet's pioneering efforts in intelligence testing left three important legacies.

• The first was his pragmatic approach to the construction of intelligence tests. Binet's legacy extends to his linking intelligence and school success.

• Binet's procedure for constructing an intelligence test ensured that intelligence—defined as performance on the test—and school success would be virtually one and the same.

• Binet developed a procedure of linking each intelligence test score with a mental age, the age of the children taking the test who, on average, achieved that score.

Binet’s Legacies part 2

• Intelligence quotient, or IQ, a score that takes into account a student's mental and chronological age.

• Led to Eugenics movement• Led to Nazism

Measuring Intelligence

What IQ Tests Don't Tell: Alternative Conceptions of Intelligence

• Spearman's g• Catell: fluid and crystallize intelligence• Gardner: 8 intelligences• Vygotsky: dynamic assessment• Sternberg: triarchic theory of intelligence

Wow! So many tests…so little time.

Why do you think there are so many tests?

Group Differences in IQ

• Previous experiences of test-takers may have a substantial effect on their ability to answer questions

• Cultural background and experience have the potential to affect intelligence test scores

Racial Differences in IQ

• The question of how to interpret differences between intelligence scores of different cultural groups lies at the heart of one of the major controversies in child development

• Mean score of African Americans tends to be about 15 IQ points lower than the mean score of whites—although the measured difference varies a great deal depending on the particular IQ test employed

Nature or Nurture?

For Whom the Bell Told!!

The Bell Curve Controversy •Herrnstein and Murray: Average 15-point IQ difference between whites and African Americans is due primarily to heredity

• Most developmentalists and psychologists responded by arguing that the racial differences in measured IQ can be explained by environmental differences between the races

•Little evidence to suggest that IQ is a cause of poverty and other social ills

Below Intelligence Norms

Mental Retardation•Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act

– Least restrictive environment– Mainstreaming– Full inclusion

Benefits of Mainstreaming

• Ensure that all persons, regardless of ability or disability, have access to full range of educational opportunities, and fair share of life's rewards

How is intellectual disability identified?

American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities•Definition

– Familial intellectual disability– FAS– Down's Syndrome

•Levels– Mild– Moderate– Severe– Profound

Above Intelligence Norms

• Gifted– Federal government guideline (P.L. 97-35 Sec 582)

• Research suggests that highly intelligent people tend to be outgoing, well adjusted, and popular

Above Intelligence Norms:Educating the Gifted and Talented

• Acceleration• Enrichment

• How do the needs of children with higher abilities compare with children with lower abilities?

• What consequences might your decision have if funding for education is very limited?