Brain Development and Childhood Growth

These flashcards cover key concepts related to brain development, growth, motor skills, and various psychological conditions in early childhood.

Myelination

The process of forming a myelin sheath around a nerve to increase the speed of neural impulses.

Cerebral lateralization

The specialization of the left and right hemispheres of the brain to control different functions.

Neuroplasticity

The brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections.

Synaptic pruning

The process of eliminating weaker synaptic connections while strengthening others to improve neural communication.

Handedness

The preference for using one hand over the other, typically categorized as right-handed or left-handed.

Developmental coordination disorder

A condition characterized by difficulties in learning motor skills and coordinating movements.

Corpus callosum

A band of nerve fibers that connects the left and right hemispheres, facilitating communication between them.

Prefrontal Cortex

Part of the frontal lobe that is involved in complex behaviors, decision-making, and moderating social behavior.

Cerebellum

A structure at the back of the brain that plays an important role in balance and motor control.

Hormones

Chemical messengers produced by glands in the endocrine system that regulate various bodily functions.

Psychosocial dwarfism

A growth disorder caused by emotional deprivation or severe stress.

Prader-Willi Syndrome

A genetic disorder resulting in poor muscle tone, growth, and a constant feeling of hunger.

Gross motor skills

Physical skills that involve the large muscles of the body and include activities like walking and jumping.

Fine motor skills

Physical skills that involve the smaller muscles of the body and include actions like writing or buttoning clothes.

BMI (Body Mass Index)

A measure that uses height and weight to determine whether an individual is underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese.

Overnutrition

A term describing excessive food intake, leading to obesity and related health issues.

Child maltreatment

Any act of abuse or neglect against a child, which can have long-lasting effects on their development.

Emotional valence

The intrinsic attractiveness or averseness of an event, object, or situation, often related to emotions.

Attachment theory

A psychological model that describes the dynamics of long-term interpersonal relationships.

Theory of mind

The ability to understand that others have beliefs, desires, and intentions that are different from one's own.

Emergent literacy

The skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are precursors to reading and writing.

Morphology

The study of the structure and form of words in a language.

Pragmatics

The aspect of language concerned with the social aspects of communication and the rules that govern conversation.

Social-cognitive development

Understanding how children learn to interact socially by interpreting others' thoughts and intentions.

Commencement of puberty

The developmental stage where individuals experience physical and hormonal changes that mark the onset of adolescence.

False belief task

A test used to assess a child's understanding that others can hold beliefs that differ from their own.

Brain Growth and Development

Between age 2-6 yrs old, the brain increases to 90% of its adult weight, undergoes reshaping and refining, synaptic pruning and apoptosis of some neurons, connectivity of prefrontal cortex increases, and myelination increases in sensory and motor areas.

Corpus Callosum

Neurons connect the 2 hemispheres enabling coordination, with an increase in dendrites & synapses and myelination, corresponding to maturation in motor skills, gross and fine, balance, abilities to run, skip, jump, hop, ride trikes, bikes, scooters.

Increased Connectivity of the Hemispheres

Increases speed of integration of information, important in perception, attention, memory, language, problem analysis and solution, with hemispheric specialization/lateralization increasing dramatically as vocabulary grows.

Increased Connectivity, Speed and Plasticity

Increase in grey matter due to growth of dendrites and synapses in very active areas and circuits, with myelination driven developmentally and by experience.

Persistent Childhood Poverty

Poses profound risks to all domains of development, with brain structures governing cognitive and emotional abilities being especially vulnerable.

Impact of Poverty on Brain Development

Research results reveal that children and adolescents in the poorest families have gray matter volumes in the frontal lobes, temporal lobes, and hippocampus that are 8-10% below average.

Atypical Brain Development

Accounts for 15-20% of lower cognitive scores on multiple measures.

Body Change

Growth slows compared to infancy but still dramatically 2-3 inches per year and 5 pounds per year.

Growth Patterns

Child's shape becomes more streamlined, with individual differences in size becoming more apparent.

Growth Norms

Growth norms for one population are not good standards for children elsewhere in the world.

Height Statistics

Dutch are the tallest; in The Netherlands, people have been getting taller since 1858, with average heights increasing from 163 cm to 184 cm.

Nutrition and Health Impact

Changes in nutrition and health have increased height of children and adults.

Average Heights

Average Dutch 2-year-old girl is 88 cm tall (34.7 inches), while average American 2-year-old girl is 33.5 inches.

Factors Impeding Growth

Inadequate nutrition, illness, premature birth, chronic stress, endocrine disorders, inadequate parental care can all impede normal physical growth.

Skeletal Changes in Early Development

New epiphyses or epiphyseal plates (growth plates) appear, where new bone is formed, that will ultimately harden/calcify into bone that stops growing longer.

Bone Growth

Bones grow mostly at night, in spurts, not continuously.

Skeletal Health

Depends on nutrition and movement, with adequate protein, calcium, and vitamin D being essential.

Dynamic Skeleton

The skeleton is living dynamic tissue that regulates its own growth and repair.

Bone Cells

Three kinds of bone cells have vital functions, including osteoblasts which produce osteocalcin.

Physical Activity and Bone Health

Physical activity beginning in early childhood improves bone mineralization and structure and has a greater impact on osteoporosis than adult weight-bearing exercise and medications.

Bone Strengthening Activities

Activities which apply large forces quickly convey optimal benefits to bone mass, size, and structure.

Optimal Bone Building Activities

Physical activities with considerable loading magnitude (weight bearing) applied at a rapid rate, such as jumping and running, have the greatest bone building effects.

Teeth Development

Primary or baby teeth are formed prenatally and emerge over several years, with children having their 20 primary teeth by age 3.

Dental Health Prediction

Dental health in early childhood predicts dental health later.

Habits to form

Brushing

Habits to avoid

Sugary drinks, candy

Regular dental care, fluoridated water, fluoride treatment

Reduce decay

Children's physical size and growth rate

Related to those of their biological parents and siblings

Growth hormone (GH)

A hormone that is necessary from birth on for development of almost all body tissues

Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)

A hormone that prompts the thyroid gland to release thyroxine, which is necessary for brain development and for GH to have its full impact on body size

Center of gravity shift

As children's bodies become less top-heavy, it improves balance and paves the way for new motor skills

Upper- and lower-body skills

Combine into more refined actions such as jumping, hopping, skipping, galloping

Self-help skills

Include using the toilet without help around age 3, dressing without supervision by age 4 to 5, and tying shoes by age 6

Drawing development

Scribbles begin during the second year, first representational forms appear around age 3, and more realistic drawings are done at ages 5 and 6

Children's writing

Begins to look like printing at age 4, often including picture-like devices

Motor skills mastery

Best mastered through everyday play, with formal lessons having little impact

Sleep difficulties

Associated with impaired cognitive performance

Predictable bedtime routines

Reduce sleep problems

Eating behavior around age 2

Many children become unpredictable picky eaters as appetites decline due to slowed growth

Poor diet effects

Depresses immune system, making children far more susceptible to disease

Widespread immunization

Led to a dramatic decline in childhood disease in industrialized nations

Middle ear infections

Highly contagious and can compromise language development

Unintentional injuries

Leading cause of childhood mortality in industrialized nations

Types of abuse

Include emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect

Dynamic systems in development

Interplay of child characteristics, parent behavior, family circumstance, and culture influences development

Developmental cascades

Cascades from under and over nutrition affect academic, social, and health outcomes

Piaget's theory

Standard against which all other theories are judged, depicting children as constructing knowledge for themselves

Characteristics of the preoperational stage

Include symbolic representation, egocentrism, centration, and lack of conservation

Symbolic Thinking

Improves understanding that one object can stand for another.

Dual Representation

Viewing a symbolic object as both an object in its own right and a symbol.

DeLoache's Work

Involves scale models to aid dual representation.

Changes Between 2.5-3 Years

Younger children can find hidden toys when a model represents a room.

Sociodramatic Play

Enacts scenarios with multiple roles assigned, facilitating language and cooperation.

Egocentrism

Limitation in understanding others' perspectives in preoperational cognition.

Centration

Focusing on one aspect of a situation while ignoring others.

Conservation Tasks

Tasks that assess understanding of transformations and reversals.

Animism

Attributing human traits to non-living things.

Categorization

Organizing knowledge into categories using perceptual information.

Hierarchical Classification

Organization of objects into classes and subclasses based on similarities and differences.

Magical Thinking

Flexible and appropriate beliefs about magic that decline with age.

Executive Function

Central to self-regulation of behavior, emotion, and thoughts.

Working Memory

The ability to hold and manipulate information in mind.

Inhibitory Control

The ability to suppress impulses and distractions.

Cognitive Flexibility

The ability to shift attention and adapt to new situations.

Private Speech

Self-directed utterances that support higher cognitive processes.

Vygotsky's Theory

Stresses the importance of play for cognitive development.

Discovery Learning

Opportunities for spontaneous interaction with the environment.

Interference Suppression

Inhibiting attention shift to distractions.

Gesturing

Facilitates reasoning by combining action and speech.

Piaget's Class Inclusion Problem

Demonstrates difficulties in hierarchical classification in preoperational children.

Cognitive Transition

Indicated by speech-gesture mismatches in children.

Stroop Test Variations

Lab tasks used to study executive function in young children.

Go/No Go Tasks

Tasks assessing impulse control and attention in children.

Cognitive Flexibility Study

Involves sorting pictures based on sounds rather than visual cues.