Chapter 7 - Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

Average growth is ___ inches and ____ pounds per year during early childhood

2.5 inches and 5-10 lbs

contributors to height differences in children

ethnic origin, nutrition, gender,

growth hormone deficiency

absence of growth hormone produced by the pituitary gland to stimulate the body to grow

brain growth in early childhood

slows down

reaches 95% of adult volume by 6 years

myelination

Insulating nerve cells with fatty material to increase signaling speed and efficiency.

how fast / periodic do childrens brains grow

Children's brains undergo rapid, distinct spurts of growth, especially in the frontal lobes

contextual factors affecting brain development

poverty and parenting quality

most preschool children are more ____ than they will ever be at any later period in their life span

active

gross motor skills require an effort to stay upright and move around. what should u be seeing at ages 3,4, and 5?

3: hopping, jumping, and running

4: athletic movements

5: adventurous stunts

fine motor skills at 3, 4, and 5

3: still clumsy

4: improved fine motor coordination

5: body cordination

perceptual development at 4/5 and 1st grade

4-5 : detection of boundaries between letters

1st grade: focus the eyes and sustain attention on close objects

Recommended sleep

10-13 hours without interruptions

Obesity prevention guidelines, daily, for young children:

• Five or more servings of fruits and vegetables

• Two hours or less of screen time

• Minimum of 1 hour of physical activity

• Zero sugar-sweetened beverages

common nutritional problem in young children

iron deficiency anemia

In 2017 in the United States, the leading causes of death in young children were:

Accidents congenital malformations, malignant neoplasms, homicide

Piaget's Preoperational Stage

2-7 years old , second stage

represent the world with words, images, and drawings form stable concepts and begin to reason

in the preooperational stage children do not yet

perform operations

Symbolic function substage

2-4 yrs

ability to mentally represent an object that is not present still limited by egocentrism and animism

egocentrism

inability to distinguish between one's own perspective and someone else's

Animism

belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action

Intuitive thought substage

4-7 years old

children use primitive reasoning and want to know the answers to many questions

Centration

a centering of attention on one characteristic to the exclusion of all others

Conservation

the awareness that altering an object or substance's appearance does not change its basic properties

Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

tasks too difficult for the child alone but that can be learned with guidance

what is scaffolding

Adjusting support as a child learns; gradually reducing help as skills improve.

Vygotsky's theory

emphasizes the social contexts of learning and asserts that knowledge is mutually built and constructed

Executive attention

Directing and regulating attention to achieve goals (planning, monitoring progress, and correcting errors)

Sustained attention

Maintaining focused attention on a task or activity for an extended period.

short-term memory

individuals can retain information up to 30 seconds with no rehearsal

Autobiographical memory

memory of significant events and experiences in one's life

Executive function

consists of higher-level cognitive processes linked to the development of the brain's prefrontal cortex

early childhood involves developmental advances in

cognitive inhibition, cognitive flexibility, goal-setting, delay of gratification

Mischel and colleagues' studies using the "marshmallow experiment" linked delay of gratification in preschool with

academic success, coping, and competence

Theory of mind

awareness of one's own mental processes and the mental processes of others

From 18 months to 3 years, children begin to understand three mental states

perceptions, emotions, desires

From 3 to 5 years, they come to understand

false beliefs - Not everybody has the same beliefs/ideas and sometime their beliefs can be false

At 5 to 7 years, children develop a

deepening appreciation of the mind itself rather than just mental states

Individual differences and factors that influence theory of mind

executive function and prefrontal cortex functioning, language development, ses

Children with __ have difficulty developing a theory of mind

autism

Vocabulary development is dramatic

18mo - 6yrs learn a new word every waking hour

abt 14k words by 1st grade

Fast mapping

make connection between a word and its referent quickly, only after limited exposure

around what age do children learn to change their speech style to suit the situation?

4-5 yrs old

Child-centered kindergarten

education of whole child- physical, cognitive and socioemotional development

Montessori approach

children are given freedom and spontaneity in choosing activities

Developmentally appropriate practice (DAP)

focuses on the typical developmental patterns of children and the uniqueness of each child