Early Childhood Development

Flashcards of key vocabulary from the Early Childhood Development lecture.

Early Childhood Overall Physical Growth

Tend to grow about 3 inches in height and gain about 4 to 5 pounds in weight each year between two and six years old.

Brain Weight in Early Childhood

Brain is about 75 percent its adult weight by three years of age and 95 percent by age six.

Myelination and Dendrite Development

Continues to occur in the cortex, leading to corresponding changes in a child's capabilities, impacting thinking, strategizing, attention, and emotional control.

Left Hemisphere of the Brain

Grows dramatically between ages 3 and 6, typically involved in language skills.

Right Hemisphere of the Brain

Continues to grow throughout early childhood and is involved in tasks requiring spatial skills.

Corpus Callosum

A dense band of fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres, undergoing a growth spurt between ages 3 and 6, improving coordination.

Motor Skill Development in Early Childhood

Time when most kids acquire basic locomotion skills plus object control skills

Children's Art Development

Drawings undergo several transformations, starting with scribbles at age 2, shapes by age 3, and recognizable images by age 4 or 5.

Tadpole Drawings

Appear around age 3 in children's drawings of self and others, varying culturally in size, facial features, and emotional expressions.

Toilet Training

Typically occurs during the first two years of early childhood (24-36 months).

Enuresis

Repeated voiding of urine into bed or clothes (involuntary or intentional)

Encopresis

The repeated passage of feces into inappropriate places (involuntary or intentional)

Sleep Duration in Early Childhood

Varies widely, with two-year-olds needing 15-16 hours per day, while a six-year-old may only need 7-8 hours.

Sexual Development in Early Childhood

Begins in childhood as a response to physical states and sensations, differing significantly from adult sexuality.

Just Right (Just-So) Phenomenon

A common phenomenon in early childhood where young children desire consistency and may be upset by slight changes to routines.

Piaget's Preoperational Stage

Occurs from ages 2 to 7, where children use symbols to represent words, images, and ideas, engaging in pretend play but lacking adult logic.

Symbolic Function Substage

Occurs between 2 and 4 years, characterized by mentally representing objects not present and dependence on perception in problem-solving.

Intuitive Thought Substage

Lasts from 4 to 7 years, marked by greater dependence on intuitive thinking rather than just perception.

Egocentrism in Early Childhood

The tendency of young children not to be able to take the perspective of others, viewing the world solely from their viewpoint.

Conservation

The ability to recognize that moving or rearranging matter does not change the quantity.

Centration

Focusing on only one characteristic of an object to the exclusion of others.

Transductive Reasoning

Faulty inferences from one specific example to another.

Animism

Attributing life-like qualities to objects.

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

Argues that culture significantly impacts a child's cognitive development, emphasizing social interactions with adults and learned peers.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Occurs when children can almost perform a task but require assistance to complete it successfully.

Scaffolding

Temporary support given to a child to do a task.

Private Speech

Children talk to themselves to solve problems or clarify thoughts.

Divided Attention or Multitasking

The ability to switch our focus between tasks or external stimuli.

Selective Attention

The ability to focus on a single task or stimulus, while ignoring distracting information.

Sustained Attention

The ability to stay on task for long periods of time.

Sensory Memory or Sensory Register

Stores sensory input in its raw form for a very brief duration.

Short-Term or Working Memory

Component of memory in which current conscious mental activity occurs.

Executive Function (EF)

Self-regulatory processes enabling adaptive responses to new situations or to reach a specific goal.

Declarative Memories or Explicit Memories

Memories for facts or events that we can consciously recollect.

Non-Declarative Memories or Implicit Memories

Automated skills that do not require conscious recollection.

Semantic Memories

Memories for facts and knowledge not tied to a timeline.

Episodic Memories

Memories tied to specific events in time.

Autobiographical Memory

Our personal narrative.

Neo-Piagetians

Theorists who provide “new” interpretations of Piaget’s theory.

Theory-Theory

The tendency of children to generate theories to explain everything they encounter.

Theory of Mind

The ability to think about other people’s thoughts.

Fast-Mapping

Words are easily learned by making connections between new words and concepts already known.

Overregularization

Children learn rules of grammar as they learn language but may apply these rules inappropriately at first.

Bilingual

Understand and use two languages

Mutual-Exclusivity Bias

Assumption that an object has only a single name

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

Identifies 10 standards for designation as a high-quality preschool.

Head Start

Provides preschool education for children who live in poverty

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Shows signs of significant disturbances in social interaction, communication, and repetitive patterns of behavior or interests.

Erikson: Initiative vs. Guilt

A desire to take initiative or to think of ideas and initiative action

Self-Concept

Our self-description according to various categories, such as our external and internal qualities.

Self-Esteem

An evaluative judgment about who we are.

Categorical Self

A focus on external qualities

Self-Control

Includes response initiation, response inhibition, and delayed gratification.

Gender

The cultural, social and psychological meanings associated with masculinity and feminity.

Gender Identity

A person’s sense of self as a member of a particular gender.

Gender Socialization

Focuses on what young children learn about gender from society, including parents, peers, media, religious institutions, schools, and public policies.

Social Learning Theory

Argues that behavior is learned through observation, modeling, reinforcement, and punishment

Gender Schema Theory

Children develop their own conceptions of the attributes associated with maleness or femaleness

Developmental Intergroup Theory

Adults’ heavy focus on gender leads children to pay attention to gender as a key source of information about themselves and others

Transgender

Identifying with the gender opposite their natal sex

Gender Dysphoria

Distress accompanying a mismatch between one’s gender identity and biological sex

Cisgender children

Children and sex assignment at birth matched

Intersex

Born with either an absence or some combination of male and female reproductive organs, sex hormones, or sex chromosomes

Authoritative

Supportive and show interest in their kids’ activities but are not overbearing

Authoritarian

The traditional model of parenting in which parents make the rules and children are expected to be obedient

Permissive parenting

Involves holding expectations of children that are below what could be reasonably expected from them

Uninvolved parents

Disengaged from their children. They do not make demands on their children and are non-responsive

Classic Study of Social Class and Parenting Styles

Parents tend to emphasize qualities that are needed for their own survival when parenting their children

Child Abuse and Neglect

Includes neglect, physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, and sexual abuse

Childhood Sexual Abuse

Any sexual contact between a child and an adult or a much older child

Incest

Sexual contact between a child and family members

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

All types of abuse, neglect, and other potentially traumatic experiences that occur before the age of 18

Unoccupied Play

Children’s behavior seems more random and without a specific goal

Solitary Play

Children play by themselves, do not interact with others, nor are they engaging in similar activities as the children around them

Onlooker Play

Children are observing other children playing, they may comment on the activities and even make suggestions but will not directly join the play

Parallel Play

Children play alongside each other, using similar toys, but do not directly act with each other

Associative Play

Children will interact with each other and share toys but are not working toward a common goal

Cooperative Play

Children are interacting to achieve a common goal, children may take on different tasks to reach that goal