Chapter 9 - Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle and Late Childhood

Slow, consistent growth is seen in middle and late childhood

Growth averages 2 to 3 inches per year

• Weight gain averages 5 to 7 pounds per year

Head circumference and waist circumference decrease in relation to body height

Bones continue to ossify during middle and late childhood but yield to pressure and pull more than mature bones

Brain changes

Total brain volume stabilizes

Cortical thickness increases

Brain pathways and circuitry involving the prefrontal cortex, the highest level in the brain, continue to increase

motor development

smoother and more coordinated in middle and late childhood

boys outperform girls in their use of gross motor skills and girls outperform boys in fine motor skills

second leading cause of death in children who are 5 to 14 years old

cancer

most common child cancer

leukemia

Scope of Disabilities

14% of 3- to 21-year-olds received special education or related services

Dyslexia

a severe impairment in the ability to read and spell

Dysgraphia

a difficulty in handwriting

Dyscalculia

a developmental arithmetic disorder

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

disability characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity

Possible causes of ADHD:

genetics, brain damage, cigarette/alcohol exposure or high maternal stress, during prenatal development, low birth weight

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)

range from autistic disorder to Asperger syndrome and may have a genetic basis

Autistic disorder is a severe developmental ASD

Has its onset in the first 3 years of life

Identified five times more often in boys than girls

Piaget's concrete operational stage

Piaget proposed that this stage encompasses the ages of 7 to 11

categorize things , perform operations, and reason logically

Seriation

the concrete operation the involves ordering stimuli along a quantitative dimension (e.g., length

Transitivity

the ability to logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions

Evaluating Piaget's concrete operational stage

• Concrete operational abilities do not appear in synchrony

• Education and culture exert strong influences on children's development

Neo-Piagetians

developmentalists who argue Piaget was partially correct, but his theory needs considerable revision

Long-term memory

relatively permanent type of memory that holds huge amounts of information for a long period of time

Increases with age during middle and late childhood

Working memory

a mental "workbench" where individuals manipulate and assemble information when making decisions, solving problems, and comprehending language (develops slow- 8 year old only store half of memory)

Strategies

deliberate mental activities that improve the processing of information for memory

executive function

Executive function is a better predictor of school readiness than general IQ

Critical thinking

involves thinking reflectively and productively, and evaluating evidence

mindfulness

being alert, mentally present, and cognitively flexible

Creative thinking

ability to think in novel and unusual ways

Convergent thinking

produces one correct answer and is characteristic of the kind of thinking tested by standardized intelligence tests

Divergent thinking

produces many answers to the same question and is characteristic of creativity

Metacognition

knowing about knowing

Metamemory

knowledge about memory

Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence states intelligence comes in three forms

• Analytical intelligence: the ability to evaluate, compare, and contrast

• Creative intelligence: the ability to invent, originate, and imagine

• Practical intelligence: the ability to ability to implement and put ideas into practice

Gardner's eight frames of mind:

• Verbal• Mathematical• Spatial• Bodily-kinesthetic• Musical• Interpersonal• Intrapersonal• Naturalist

everyone has these to varying degrees

Flynn effect

rapid increase in IQ scores worldwide, likely due to increasing levels of education, and factors such as the explosion of information to which people are now exposed

stereotype threat

the anxiety that one's behavior might confirm a negative stereotype about one's group

Organic intellectual disability caused by

a genetic disorder or brain damage

People who are gifted have above-average intelligence

an iq of >130

how can children be taught to read

Whole-language approach

phonics approach

whole language approach

stresses that reading instruction should parallel children's natural language learning

Phonics approach

reading instruction should teach the basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds

Research suggests children can benefit from both approaches, but instruction in phonics should be emphasized