Ch. 8 Early Childhood: Biosocial

Growth Patterns

• children slim down

• lower body lengthens

• fat is replaced by muscle

During each year of early childhood, well-nourished children grow about inches, and gain almost __

3, 4 ½ pounds

By age 6, average child is

• at least 3 ½ feet tall

• weighs between 40 and 50 pounds

• looks lean

• has adult like body proportions

  • legs are half total height

Obesity among children

• correlation with other measures of adversity and is linked to depression

• increases risk of early death from heart disease, diabetes, strokes, and suicide

Preventing Overweight

• early childhood is best time for prevention because eating habits tend to endure here

Balanced Diet

• cultural shift

  • Michelle Obama made child nutrition and exercise major goal

• young children who eat more dark-green and orange vegetables and less fried food gain bone mass and less fat

• influenced by public awareness, corporate polices, and family action

Allergies

• ongoing allergies can make a balanced diet harder to maintain

• some are outgrown, and others appear at adulthood

• awareness not avoidance is best strategy

  • ex. peanut exposure

Brain Growth

• 6 year olds brain is 90% of adult weight

Myelination

• the process by which axons become coated with myelin, a fatty substance that speeds the transmission of nerve impulses from neuron to neuron

• especially evident in major link between left and right hemispheres of brain

• corpus callosum Is main connection between two hemispheres where myelination of millions of axons link left and right

Brain’s right half controls the body’s ___sides and areas dedicated to emotional and creative impulses

left

Brain’s left side controls the ___ side of the body and analysis, most language, and logic

right

Thought before action

• In stage six of sensorimotor development, toddlers begin to think before they act (between 2-6)

  • sleep becomes more regular

  • emotions become more nuanced and responsive

  • temper tantrums subside

  • uncontrollable laughter and tears are less common

Stress and the Brain

• too much stress and too little stress impair learning

Maltreatment and Stress

• repeated maltreatment causes shrinkage of regions of the brain and decreases in white matter

  • causes reduced connections and imbalanced brain

Gross motor skills

• 5 year olds can perform coordinated dance steps, tumbling tricks, or sport moves

• ride tricycle, climb a ladder, pump a swing, throw, catch, and kick a ball

• mastered quickly and faster than social skills

Fine motor skills

• children learn to use utensils, spoons, forks, knives, chopsticks

• influenced by gender differences

• fine motor skills improve in early childhood

Primary prevention

• considers the overall conditions that affect the likelihood of harm

• laws and customs reduce injury for people of every age

• most effective

  • ex. sidewalks, pedestriation overpasses, streetlights

Secondary prevention

• more targeted, averting harm in high-risk situations or for vulnerable individuals

  • ex. crossing guards, flashing lights

Tertiary prevention

• begins after an injury has occurred, limiting damage

• most visible

  • laws against hit-and-run drivers

  • speedy ambulances

Child maltreatment

• refers to all intentional harm to, or avoidable endangerment of, anyone under age 18

  • child abuse

    • deliberate action that harms. physical, emotional, or sexual well-being

  • child neglect

    • failure to meet essential needs

    • worse than abuse

Substantiated maltreatment

• means that a case has been reported, investigated, and verified

• rates decline as child ages

  • requires proof

  • screened out (jurisdictions)

  • each child is only counted once

  • report may be false

Reported maltreatment

• authorities have been informed

Signs of maltreatment

• delayed development

  • slow growth, immature communication, lack of curiosity, unusual social interactions

Consequences of maltreatment

• friendships are less likely

• social relationships are wrose

  • either hostile or withdrawn

• immediate impairment

  • impaired social skills

  • low self-esteem

Preventing harm

• parents often abusers

• also consider

  • neighborhood stability

  • parent education

  • income support

• get better care for the childhood

  • teach caregivers

  • securing better living quarters

  • special assistance

Long-term solutions

• foster care

  • taken from parents and entrusted to another adult

• kinship care

  • taken from parents to stranger or relative

• adoption