MIDDLE AND LATE CHILDHOOD

Learning Disability

Has difficulty in learning that involves understanding or using spoken or written language, and the difficulty can appear in listening, thinking, reading, writing, and spelling. One may also have difficulty in mathematics

Dyslexia

a category reserved for individuals who have a severe impairment in their ability to read and spell

Dysgraphia

a learning disability that involves difficulty in handwriting. Their writing products may be virtually illegible, and they make numerous spelling errors because of their inability to match sounds and letters

Dyscalculia

developmental arithmetic disorder, is a learning disability that involves difficulty in math computation

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

a disability in which children consistently show one or more of the characteristics over a period of time: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity

Inattentive Children

have such difficulty focusing on any one thing that they may get bored with a task after only a few minutes—or even seconds.

Hyperactive Children

show high levels of physical activity, seeming to be almost constantly in motion.

Impulsive Children

have difficulty curbing their reactions; they do not do a good job of thinking before they act.

• ADHD with predominantly inattention

• ADHD with predominantly hyperactivity/impulsivity

• ADHD with both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity

ADHD Diagnoses

Stimulant medication such as Ritalin or Adderall

medication that is effective in improving the attention of many children with ADHD

Emotional and behavioral disorders

consist of serious, persistent problems that involve relationships, aggression, depression, and fears associated with personal or school matters, as well as other inappropriate socioemotional characteristics

Autism spectrum disorders

are characterized by problems in social interaction, problems in verbal and nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors

Autistic disorder

is a severe developmental autism spectrum disorder that has its onset during the first three years of life and includes deficiencies in social relationships, abnormalities in communication, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior.

Asperger syndrome

A relatively mild autism spectrum disorder in which the child has relatively good verbal language skills, milder nonverbal language problems, and a restricted range of interests and relationships

individualized education plan (IEP)

is a written statement that spells out a program that is specifically tailored for the student with a disability

least restrictive environment (LRE)

A setting that is as similar as possible to the one in which children who do not have a disability are educated.

Operations

mental actions that are reversible

Concrete Operations

are operations that are applied to real, concrete objects

seriation

children who have reached the concrete operational stage are also capable of _____ which is the ability to order stimuli along a quantitative dimension

classification

children in concrete operational stage can classify or divide things into different sets or subsets and to consider their relationships

transitivity

children in concrete operational stage can logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions, for example consider three sticks (A, B, and C) of differing lengths. A is the longest, B is intermediate in length, and C is the shortest. Does the child understand that if A is longer than B and B is longer than C, then A is longer than C? In Piaget’s theory, concrete operational thinkers do, while preoperational thinkers do not.

reversibility

children in concrete operational stage develop the ability to mentally reverse actions and understand that some changes can be undone

neo-Piagetians

Developmentalists who argue that Piaget got some things right but that his theory needs considerable revision. They have elaborated on Piaget’s theory, giving more emphasis to information processing, strategies, and precise cognitive steps.

working memory

as a kind of mental “work bench” where individuals manipulate and assemble information when they make decisions, solve problems, and comprehend written and spoken language

central executive

supervises and controls the flow of information. The ______ is especially involved in selective attention and inhibition, planning and decision making, and troubleshooting.

long-term memory

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

autobiographical memory

which involves memory of significant events and experiences in one’s life

fuzzy trace theory

states that memory is best understood by considering two types of memory representations: (1) verbatim memory trace, and (2) gist.

verbatim memory trace

consists of the precise details about the information

gist

central idea of the information

creative thinking

The ability to think in novel and unusual ways and to come up with unique solutions to problems.

convergent thinking

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

divergent thinking

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

metacognition

Cognition about cognition, or knowing about knowing

intelligence

Problem-solving skills and the ability to learn from and adapt to the experiences of everyday life.

Individual differences

are the stable, consistent ways in which people differ from each other

mental age (MA)

Binet’s measure of an individual’s level of mental development compared with that of others.

intelligence quotient (IQ)

A person’s mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100

normal distribution

A symmetrical distribution with most scores falling in the middle of the possible range of scores and a few scores appearing toward the extremes of the range

intelligence quotient (IQ)

a person’s mental age divided by chronological age (CA), multiplied by 100

Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence—Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV)

test children from 2.5 years to 7.25 years of age

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fifth Edition (WISC-V)

children and adolescents 6 to 16 years of age;

Verbal Comprehension, Working Memory, Processing Speed, Fluid Reasoning, and Visual Spatial

WISC-V now not only provides an overall IQ score but also yields f ive composite scores

triarchic theory of intelligence

intelligence comes in three forms: (1) analytical intelligence, which refers to the ability to analyze, judge, evaluate, compare, and contrast; (2) creative intelligence, which consists of the ability to create, design, invent, originate, and imagine; and (3) practical intelligence, which involves the ability to use, apply, implement, and put ideas into practice

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale— Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV)

Wechsler for adults

analytical intelligence

refers to the ability to analyze, judge, evaluate, compare, and contrast

creative intelligence

consists of the ability to create, design, invent, originate, and imagine

Culture-fair tests

are tests of intelligence that are intended to be free of cultural bias. Two types of culture-fair tests have been devised.

stereotype threat

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

Intellectual disability

is a condition of limited mental ability in which the individual (1) has a low IQ, usually below 70 on a traditional intelligence test; (2) has difficulty adapting to the demands of everyday life; and (3) first exhibits these characteristics by age 18

gifted

Having above-average intelligence (an IQ of 130 or higher) and/or superior talent for something

metalinguistic awareness

Knowledge about language, such as understanding what a preposition is or being able to discuss the sounds of a language.

phonics approach

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

whole-language approach

stresses that reading instruction should parallel children’s natural language learning, beginning readers are taught to recognize whole words or even entire sentences, and to use the context of what they are reading to guess at the meaning of words

perspective taking

The social cognitive process involved in assuming the perspective of others and understanding their thoughts and feelings.

Self-esteem

refers to global evaluations of the self; it is also called self worth or self-image

Self-concept

refers to domain-specific evaluations of the self. Children can make self-evaluations in many domains of their lives—academic, athletic, appearance, and so on.

self-efficacy

The belief that one can master a situation and produce favorable outcomes

constructivist approach .

teachers should not attempt to simply pour information into children’s minds. Rather, children should be encouraged to explore their world, discover knowledge, reflect, and think critically with careful monitoring and meaningful guidance from the teacher