Ch. 5-8

Early childhood and middle childhood

Myelination

brain maturation process where axonal bundles are wrapped by myelin sheaths, a process that is essential for proper functioning of the nervous system and speeds up neural signals.

Centration

the tendency to focus on one aspect of a situation to the exclusion of all others; a characteristic of pre-operational thought in which a young child focuses on one idea, excluding all others.

Egocentrism

“self-centeredness”; Piaget’s term for children’s tendency to think about the world entirely from their own perspective.

Static reasoning

a characteristics of pre-operational thought in which a child thinks that nothing changes.

Conservation

the principle that the amount of a substance stays the same even when its appearance changes.

Scaffolding

temporary support that is tailored to the learner’s needs and abilities and aims to help the learner master the next task in a given learning process.

Overimitation

when a person imitates an action that is irrelevant to the part of the behavior to be learn.

Zone of proximital development (ZPD)

describes skills that one can do only with assistance; an intellectual area in which new ideas and skills can be mastered

Private speech

the internal dialogue that occurs when people talk to themselves; when young children talk to themselves to help review, plan, or explain something to themselves

Social mediation

social interaction that expands and advanced understanding, often through words that one uses to help explain something to another.

Theory of Mind

a person’s theory of what other people might be thinking.

Executive function

the cognitive ability to prioritize and organize several thoughts that arise from various parts of the brain, it allows the individual to anticipate, strategize, and plan behavior.

Emotional regulation

the ability to control when and how emotions are expressed.

Fast-mapping

the speedy and sometimes imprecise way in which children learn new words by tentatively placing them in mental categories according to their perceived meaning.

Overregularization

the application of rules of grammar even when exceptions occur, making the language seem more “regular” than it actually is.

Pragmatics

the practical use of language that includes that ability to adjust language communication such as tone, words, and grammatical form according to audience and context.

Initiative vs Guilt

Erikson’s third psychosocial crisis, in which young children undertake new skills and activities and feel guilty when they do not succeed at them.

Intrinsic motivation

a drive, or reason to pursue a goal, that comes from inside a person, such as the joy of reading a good book.

Extrinsic motivation

a drive, or reason to pursue a goal, that arises from the wish to have external rewards, perhaps by earning money or praise.

Authoritarian

an approach to parenting that is characterized by high behavioral standards, strict punishment of misconduct, and little communication.

Permissive/indulgent

an approach to parenting that is characterized by high nurturance and communication but little discipline, guidance, or control.

Authoritative

an approach to parenting in which parents set limits and enforce rules but are flexible and listen to their children.

Neglectful/uninvolved

an approach to parenting in which the parents seem indifferent toward their children, now knowing or caring about their children’s lives.

Corporal punishment

discipline techniques that hurt the body of someone, from spanking to serious harm, including death.

Psychological control

a disciplinary technique that involved threatening to withdraw love and support, using a child’s feelings of guilt and gratitude to the parents.

Induction

a disciplinary technique in which the parent tries to get the child to understand why a certain behavior was wrong.

Empathy

the ability to understand the emotions and concerns of another person, especially when they differ from one’s own.

Prosocial behavior

actions that are helpful and kind but that are no obvious benefit to the person doing them.

Antipathy

feelings of dislike or even hatred for another person.

Instrumental aggression

hurtful behavior that is intended to get something that another person has and to keep it.

Reactive aggression

impulsive retaliation for another person's intentional or accidental action, verbal or physical.

Relational aggression

nonphysical acts, such as insults or social rejection, aimed at harming the social connection between the victim and other people.

Bullying aggression

unprovoked, repeated physical or verbal attack, especially on victims who are unlikely to defend themselves.

Early childhood

from birth to age 6

Middle childhood

ages 6 to 11

Childhood obesity

in a child, having a BMI above the 95% percentile.

Asthma

a chronic disease of the respiratory system in which inflammation narrows the airways from the nose and mouth to the lungs.

Concrete thinking

Piaget’s term for the ability to reason logically about direct experiences and perceptions.

Classification

the logical principle that things can be organized into groups according to some characteristics they have in common. Ie, family, toys, animals, and food.

Seriation

the concept that things can be arranged in a logical series, such as alphabet and number sequence.

Working memory

memory that is active at any given moment, conscious processing of information.

Knowledge base

a body of knowledge in a specific area that makes it easier to master new information in that area.

Immersion

a strategy in which a child’s instruction in all school subjects occurs in the child’s second language.

Hidden curriculum

the unofficial, unstated, or implicit patterns within a school that influence what children learn. Schedules, tracking, assumptions, teacher methods, cultural values — all influence the educational experience and cultural learning of a child.

School climate

the environment, values, and relationships in a school.

Fixed mindset

the belief that ability is determined early on, so failure is evidence of inborn inadequacy. Children with this mindset may realize they are bad at math and become discouraged enough to stop trying.

Growth mindset

the belief that ability develops with effort. Mistakes are learning opportunities.

ADHD

a condition characterized by a persistent pattern of inattention and/or by hyperactive or impulsive behaviors. Symptoms typically begin before age 12 and may calm down with maturation.

ASD

a developmental disorder marked by difficulty with social communication and interaction — including difficulty seeing things from another person’s point of view — and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities.

Specific learning disorder

a marked deficit in a particular area of learning that is not caused by an apparent physical disability, by unintellectual disability, or by an unusually stressful home environment.

Dyscalculia

unusual difficulty with math, probably originating from a distinct part of the brain.

Dysgraphia

unusual difficulty writing.

Least restrictive environment (LRE)

a legal requirement that children with special needs be assigned to the most general educational context in which they can be expected to learn.

Response to intervention (RTI)

a strategy intended to help children who demonstrate below-average achievement in early grades using special intervention such as individualized teaching. This method requires repeated data analysis and appropriate referrals, which is often lacking.

Individual education plan (IEP)

a document that specifies educational goals and plans for a child with special needs.