Child & Adolescent Psychology - Chapter 11: Middle Childhood, Physical Development

PSYC 3370

cisgender

people whose gender corresponds with their assigned sex

growth pattern in middle childhood

gradual during 6-12 until growth spurt occurs

• 2 inches a year

• 5-7 pounds a year

• individual differences still matter a lot more

• growing pains from skeleton, loss of primary teeth and growth of permanent teeth

growth spurt

period where growth advances very quickly compared to other periods, occurs at the adolescent age

girls: 9-10

boys: 13-14

males and females growth patterns in middle childhood

steady overall

• males are heavier and taller until 9-10

• girls hit their growth spurt and become heavier and taller until 13-14 where boys hit theirs

• at 11, boys develop more muscle and girls develop more adipose

brain development in middle childhood

continues but weight and volume growth slows a lot

• executive functioning of the frontal lobe develops at 7-9 especially → planning, self-regulation, attention, goals, ifnormation processing, fluid reasoning → relatively mature at 12

vision in middle childhood

25% are myopic/nearsighted, require glasses/contacts (but contacts give more confidence)

laser surgery for extreme cases

hearing in middle childhood

6-12 develop less ear infections than younger children due to the eustachian tube (inner ear to throat) lengthening

nutrition in middle childhood

body weight doubles + physical activities → need to eat much more than they did during preschool

fruits, vegetables, fish, poultry w/o skin, whole grains > fats, sugars, starches

• 4-8

  • girls: 1,200-1,800

  • boys: 1,200-2,000

• 9-13

  • girls: 1,400-2,200

  • boys: 1,600-2,600

obesity in middle childhood

1/3 of american children are overweight and do not outgrow their baby fat → health problems, self-image issues

• factors: socioeconomic status, heredity, sedentary habits, media, amount of fat cells, school offerings

• fixes: knowledge of the food groups, eating by color

asthma

allergy-type respiratory disorder characterized by lung spasms, difficulty breathing, wheezing, coughing, chest tightness

some symptoms disappear/lessen at adolescence and young adulthood

• more common in affluent nations, more serious in poorer nations/communities

• factors: previous respiratory or allergy problem, family history, lower socioeconomic status

• fixes: medicine, removing respiratory irritations, inhalers

gross motor skills in middle childhood

improvement due to stronger muscles and myelination of the cerebellum and cerebral cortex

• reaction time improves here as well, plays into athletic performance

reaction time

amount of time required to respond to a stimulus

improves from early childhood to 18 and can still increase again as an adult

fine motor skills in middle childhood

6-7 can tie shoeleaces and hold pencils properly, etc

sex differences and motor development in middle childhood

perform about the same, though boys have more overall strength while girls have better limb coordination and flexibility

puberty → motor performances favoring boys becomes greater, likely due to social and environmental factors

physical fitness in the US in middle childhood

despite the mental and physical health benefits, 2/3 of children do not meet standards

• factors: sedentary lifetstyle, reduction of physical activity

• fixes: engage in family outdoor activites, reduce time being sedentary, encourage outdoor play

neurodevelopmental disorders

affect the nervous system, especially the brain

• ex: autism spectrum disorder, ADHD

neurodiverse

displaying autistic or other neurologically atypical patterns of thought or behavior

attention-deficity/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

a behavior disorder; excessive inattention, impulsiveness, hyperactivity that impairs function

onset at 7

• factors: genetic, processing of dopamine and serotonin, other psych disorders, failure to inhibit impulses

• fixes: stimulants like ritalin to block the reuptake of dopamine and noradrenaline to keep them active to control pimritive areas of th ebrain, CBT

stimulants

increase the activity of the nervous system

hyperactivity

excessive restlessness and overactivity, not misbehavior or common levels of activity during childhood

dyslexia

reading disorder, letter reversals, mirror reading, slow reading, reduced comprehension

5% to 17.5% of american children

• treatment: remediation by giving highly structured exercises, and later on accommodation

• factors: family history, genetics, impaired left hemisphere or sound processing

double-deficit hypothesis

theory of dyslexia, biological deficits in

• phonological processing: interpreting sounds

• naming speed: identifying letters

schizophrenia

severe psych disorder, break with reality, hallucinations (seeing/hearing things that are not there), delusions (fixed irrational beliefs) and disordered thinking

communication disorders

persistent problems in understanding or producing language

language disorder

impairment in the use of spoken language

• slow vocabulary development

• errors in tense

• difficulty recalling words

• problems producing appropriately lengthy and complex sentences

speech-sound disorder

difficulty articulating the sounds of speech, may omit, substitute, or mispronounce certain sounds

childhood-onset fluency disorder/suttering

disturbance in the ability to speka fluently wth appropriate timing of speech sounds, lack of normal fluency at their age

onset at 2-7, 1/100 children

maintstreaming

placing children with neurodevelopmental disorders in classrooms with neurotypical children

• today, most do at least partially

• provides broader educational opportunities and fostering social interactions, reduction of stigma