Human Development - Chapter 7

What is middle childhood?

• Period between early childhood and early adolescence (6-10).

An average child gains _ inches and _ pounds a year.

2 inches; 5 pounds.

What is the annual death rate from the ages of 6 to 11 in the U.S.?

1 in 10,000.

Why are there more deaths during adolescence than middle childhood?

Dangerous risk-taking and drug abuse.

T or F: By age 7, some kids need encouragement to be active; this can be neglected by adults.

True.

What allows team games and sports in middle childhood?

Cognitive advances and emotional regulation.

What portion of the world’s children between the ages of 6-11 exercise often?

1/3.

What is the recommended exercise time for children given by the WHO?

1 hour.

T or F: The children of today are stronger, faster, and have more endurance than those of previous cohorts.

False.

Why is criticism during play counterproductive?

It can discourage a child from playing and moving; which they all enjoy.

Why is encouraging children to engage in developmentally unsafe sports or other activities unsafe?

It can result in concussions and later-life consequences.

How is exercise viewed differently by cultures?

The idea that exercise improves the brain is prevalent in some cultures, but not in others.

How does the brain and brawn and “dumb jock” stereotype in American culture differ in other cultures?

In Japan, jocks are not necessarily viewed as dumb.

China has no sports teams, so the “dumb jock” stereotype does not exist.

• Academic pursuits are seperate from sports.

What is selective attention?

Focus on a specific task rather than dozens of distractions, develops at age 7; crucial for sports, “keep your eyes on the ball.”

How do fine and gross motor skills enable learning?

Penmanship → reading, planning, deep thinking.

Writing → brain synchrony.

Sports → cognitive abilities.

What are some direct benefits from exercise?

• Better cerebral blood flow.

• Increased sized of hippocampus.

• Fueling brain tissue and neurotransmitters.

• Increasing BDNF which neurons need for growth.

What are some indirect benefits from exercise?

Movement improves mood → mood affects thought.

Piaget coined the term “concrete operational thought.” What does it describe?

The ability to reason logically about direct experiences and perceptions.

• Beyond egocentrism.

What characteristics make up concrete operational thought?

Conservation: changing an object’s appearance does not change quantity, mass, volume, or weight.

Reversibility: actions can be undone or reversed.

Decentration: children can pay attention to multiple details at once instead of just one.

Classification: children can group objects into hierarchies.

Inductive logic: children can use observations or experiences to draw conclusions.

What is classification? (Piaget).

Logical principle that things can be organized into groups according to a characteristic they have in common.

What is seriation? (Piaget).

Things can be arranged in a series. Crucial for understanding number sequences and logical series.

What did Vygotsky say about middle childhood?

It is the prime time for learning; mentors are important, children dependent on family, school, and culture.

• Children become more logical.

According to Vygotsky, how should schools and educators instruct children?

• Education: should consider though processes, not just outcomes.

  • ZPD.

• Educators: provide direct instruction and scaffold between potential and knowledge.

What does neuroscience provide us?

Innovations that allow much more detailed data and analysis of brain activity.

• Advice for teachers to build on what has been learned before.

• Suggest children advance dramatically from 6-10.

T or F: During middle childhood, kids become quite capable of following adults’ instructions.

True.

What is rapid automated naming (RAN)?

A brain-based ability measured by how fast kids can name a series of colors, objects, etc.

What is reaction time?

The time it takes to respond to a stimulus, either physically (eye blink) or cognitively (thought).

T or F: Brain connections become stronger with practice with RAN.

True.

What is automatization?

Sequence of thoughts and actions that is repeated until no conscious thought is required.

What does automatization help with?

Academic skills, habits, and routine sin childhood.

What does neuroidiversity describe?

How each human is neurologically distinct from other humans.

• Ea. brain has particular connections among thousands of neurons.

What does the theory of multiple intelligences describe?

How genes, age, and culture endow each person w/ diverse intellectual abilities; cognitive abilities vary by age from one person to another.

What are Howard Gardner’s nine intelligences?

• Linguistic.

• Logical-mathematical.

• Musical.

• Spatial.

• Bodily-kinesthetic.

• Interpersonal.

• Intrapersonal.

• Naturalistic.

• Spiritual/existential intellegence.

Every one has a unique combination of _____

intelligences.

What does Howard Garnder’s theory of intelligences thtreaten?

The traditional emphasis on logical-mathematical intellegence; intelligence is braoder and diverse, we must acknowledge and support each child’s strengths.

Why do some highly creative children frustrate their parents and teachers?

They resist conventional demands.

T or F: Children in middle child have an astonishing ability to expand their language (fast-mapping, over-regularize grammar, mix languages, etc.).

True.

T or F: Language proficiency correlates with school learning in every subject, even math and science.

True.

When do children start using slang, proper speech, and phrases?

Middle childhood.

What are codes and pragmatics?

Pragmatics is the ability to understand and use language appropriately in different social situations, including metaphors, jokes, and puns.

Pragmatics allows children to use language appropriately in different situations depending on the audience. What are the two linguistic codes children learn to use through pragmatics?

• Formal code.

• Informal code.

Past policies enforced in English schools → English-only language environments. What is this called?

Monolingualism.

Enforced English-only environments force children to assimilate, what happens if they do not?

Academic failure resulting less from heritage and more from SES, school quality, and social prejudice.

What factors can result in smaller vocabularies and less complex language usage in children?

• Low SES → worse education.

• Poverty, correlated w/ slower language development and learning.

• Low language exposure in infancy & early childhood.

T or F: Recent generations are much more educated than prior one’s, with most people over the age of 18 being able to read.

True.

What does social-emotional learning (SEL) help with?

Helps children to cooperate with each other and advance their emotional intelligence.

What is a hidden cirriculum?

Unofficial patterns within school that influence what children learn.

• School shooting drills.

• Schedules, rules.

• School, district, state.

  • Based on funding.

  • Class organization, sports, student gov., ec’s.

• Teacher demographics and diversity.

  • Attitudes, discipline, teaching methods.

What do IQ tests measure?

A child’s potential for learning; indicative of their capacity to learn.

• Validated by school performance.

• IQ results from social conditions and genes.

What is the Flynn effect?

The consistent rise in avg, IQ scores throughout the twentieth century.

• Led to revisions of IQ scoring systems over time.

What causes the Flynn effect?

Causes are debated; possibly increased cognitive abilities from improved education, nutrition, health care, and information access.

Social conditions and educational practices can result in the reverse flynn effect, like in Europe. What is that?

Consistent decrease in average IQ scores.

What is the national assessment of educational progress (NAEP)

The nation’s report card; given in every state to measure achievements.

• Improvements from 1970s-2012.

• No improvement from 2012-2020.

• Dip for all ages from 2020-2022 (harsh for low SES, wifi accessibility).

What are the four general principles for distinct educational needs?

• Abnormality is normal.

• Disability changes year by year.

• Plasticity makes compensation possible.

• Diagnosis and treatment reflect the social context.

What does morbid mean in psychopathology?

A diagnosed disorder.

What are comorbid and premorbid psychopathology disorders?

Comorbid: many disorders; morbidites may change with age.

Premorbid: conditions that may become morbid.

A child that falls short of an ADHD diagnosis but is very distractable is _____.

Premorbid.

As it related to morbidity, describe what equifinality and multifinality mean.

Equifinality: one manifestation (outcome) can result from many causes.

Multifinality: one cause can lead to many manifestations (outcomes).

Characteristics of children with ADHD?

• Inattention, impulsive, and active.

• Symptoms start before age 12; impact daily life.

• Intense emotions; difficult emotional regulation.

Why has the rate of ADHD increased worldwide?

Partly because the definition now includes older children.

Why is ADHD medication controversal with experts?

• It does not significantly impact academic achievements.

• Potential harms like misdiagnosis or drug misuse.

Why is finding proper medication and dosage for ADHD a complex process?

• Individual variations in body chemistry.

• Changing nature of weight and metabolism over time.

What are the main problems with medication for ADHD?

• Misdiagnosis.

  • Psychoactive drugs alter moods.

  • Harmful if wrong mood-changing drug prescribed.

• Drug misuse.

  • Long-term use → drug abuse in adolescence.

• Typical behavior considered pathological.

  • If activity, impulses, and curiosity are diagnosed as ADHD → needless medication / depression.

Nations have cutoffs for schooling. How can this affect ADHD rates?

Some students can be months or a whole year younger than the older students in the class, slower to mature → misdiagnosed ADHD.

Gender differences with ADHD?

Boys outnumber girls 3-1 in community samples; 9-1 in clinical samples.

• 14% of boys 4-17.

• 6% of girls 4-17.

Is there possible sexism in ADHD diagnosis?

Yes, girls’ main symptom is inattentiveness and impaired emotional regulation, not hyperactivity.

What is a specific learning disorder?

Marked deficit in particular area in learning; not caused by physical disabilities or stressful home environments.

• Often comorbid w/ other disorders.

Children with specific learning disorders have difficulty _____, and require targeted help from _____.

Mastering skills that most children acquire easily; parents and teachers.

What is dyslexia (SLD)?

• Unusual difficulty w/ reading; may be the result of neurological underdevelopment.

  • Correlates with speech and hearing deficits.

What is dyscalulia (SLD)?

• Unusual difficult w/ math; originates from distinct part of brain.

  • Often comorbid w/ dyslexia.

What is dysgraphia (SLD)?

Difficulty in writing.

What is autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)?

Developmental disorder marked by difficulty w/ social communication; repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities.

• Theory of mind developed later.

What is the cause of autisim?

Comes from nature, not nurture. Biology such as genes, copy number of anomalies, birth complications, etc.) is crucial.

Why is treatment so hard for ASD?

• Interventions that help others are useless for some.

What are some behavioral signs that lead to diagnosis of ASD?

No social smile or gazing less at faces and eyes.

Why is ASD more common than before?

True: Toxic chemicals, maternal drug use/virus, as common as it ever was, recognition dependent on parents and schools.

False: Refrigerator mothers and vaccinations.

Neurodiversity means that education must be _____, considering special strengths and needs.

individualized.

What are IEPs and RTI in special education?

• Individualized Education Plan (IEP): Individualized support for students with disabilities.

• Response to Intervention (RTI): Early intervention for students struggling academically, regardless of disability status.

T or F: Diagnosis and intervention for special education occurs early.

False, most of the time it occurs too late or does not happen at all.