chapter 5: preschoolers Flashcards
nutritional needs and issues
calories/ kilogram need decreases as growth slows
-many kids become picky eaters, but they still eat enough for growth and health
sleep for preschoolers
most trade their afternoon nap for nightime sleep at about 4yr
-about 20-35% have sleep issues (some have sleep disturbances, but some cant settle down if they dont have a normal routine
sleep problems for preschoolers: nightmares
vivid, frightening dreams occuring toward morning, that usually wake the dreamer (occasional nightmares are normal)
sleep problems for preschoolers: night terrors
a byproduct of wakening too rapidly from deep sleep, iin which the child appears to wake in a panicked state, then goes back to sleep right away and doesnt remember anything in the morning
sleep problems for preschoolers: sleepwalking
when kids are in a deep sleep and get up and walk around. still asleep.
-it is best to wake them up and put them back into bed
sleep problems for preschoolers: bedwetting
happens with about 10-15% of 5yr olds
- it is important to eliminate feelings of guilt and shame
- a conditioning alarm system is often helpful treatment
gross motor skills: beyond walking
in early childhood kids:
- start walking with more ease
- running, with the ability to easily change direction
- skipping
- hopping
fine motor skills development
at 2 or 3: can put on simple clothing and use zippers
at 3 or 4: can use buttons
at 5: can dress and undress, except for shoes
at 6: they can tie shoes
handedness
the cause of handedness is unclear
- environment plays a role
- many suspect a genetic contribution
- hand preference becomes stronger in preschool years
handedness: lateralization
certain cognitive functions are located on one side of the brain more than the other
-because motor skills are controlled by the opposite hemisphere, some researchers believe in a link between handedness and lateralization
preoperational thinking
this is the first stage of piagets theory, in which symbolic thought becomes possible
-the preoperational child can form mental representations
preoperational thinking: egocentrism
this is difficulty in seeing the world from another’s point of view; typical of children in the preoperational period (piaget used the “three mountains test” as a way to test egocentrism)
preoperational thinking: animism
crediting an inanimate object with life and lifelike properties such as feelings (seen as an offshoot of egocentrism; if the child has feelings and thoughts, everything must)
preoperational: centration
according to piaget, narrowly focused type of thought charictaristic of preoperational children (usually can only focus on one part of a situation at a time)
-it is seen as the reason that preoperational kids cant understand that if the appearance of something changes it does not mean that the quantity changes (they often confuse appearance with reality)
what does piaget’s theory tell us (3)
- cognitive growth occurs as children construct their own understanding of the world
- children profit from experience only when they can interpret this experience within their current cognitive structures
- cognitive growth can be partially rapid when children discover inconsistencies and errors in their own thinking
criticisms of piaget’s thoery (3)
- does not account for variability in children’s performance
- cognitive development is probably not nearly as stagelike as he suggested
- undervalues the influence of the sociocultural environment
naive biology: teleological explanations
children believe that living things and parts of living things exist for a purpose (probs because they think that the inanimate objects are built with someone in mind)
naive biology: essentialism
kids believe that all living things have an essence that cant be seem, but it is what makes something that thing
naive biology: things that kids believe that arent true
-plants arent living things
-body parts have intentions
(these are both believed until about 7-8)
information processing: mental hardware
mental and neural structures that are built in and that allow the mind to operate
information processing: mental software
like mental “programs” that are the basis for performing particular tasks
attention span
in preschoolers the attention span is better than infants, but still not as good as adults or older kids
(this can be helped by limiting distractions, and reminding them to pay attention)
growth of the body
is faster in infancy
-as we grow we become less top heavy
bandura: leaning by immitation
this is the social learning theory, it is the idea that as children we learn some things just by watching others
autobiographical memory
these are memories of signifigant events in your own life
-believed to emerge in early childhood
why would preschoolers not be good as eyewitnesses
because they arent good at source monitoring, so they may not know where the memory came (if you were to tell them about an event that didnt occur they may confuse it with actual events)
if using a preschooler as an eyewitness it is important to: (7)
- interview them ASAP after the event
- encourage the truth, even if it means that they dont know, and correct the interviewer if wrong
- start by asking the kid to describe event in their own words
- use open-ended questions
- dont use as many specific questions
- get them comfortable by beginning with asking about a neutral event
- ask questions that consider alternative explanations
gelman and meck
they said that kids have mastered three basic principles of numbers and counting by the age of 3
gelman and meck: one to one principle
the idea that there must be, and can only be one name for each thing counted
gelman and meck: stable order principle
idea that number names must always be counted in the same order
gelman and meck: cardinality principle
idea that the last number name denotes the number of items being counted
what helps kids learn number names more easily? (3)
- when they are frequently exposed to it at home
- when they learn languages that use plural nouns
- after the number 9 since those number names are usually a conbination of names
Vygotsky:
suggested that kids learn through interactions with more competent others
Vygotsky: intersubjectivity
this is when everyone participating in the activity has the same understanding of the activity
Vygotsky: guided participation
this is when kids are involved in structured activities that are with people who are better at the activities than they are
Vygotsky: zone of proximal developement
this is the difference between what children can do with assistance and what they can do alone (so if a parent or someone gives guidence and encouragement, the kid could do something that they could not do alone)
Vygotsky: scaffolding
when the adult adjusts how much assistance they are giving based on how much they think the learner needs it
-in the states and turkey this is mainly based on verbal instruction, whereas in india and guatemala it is more non-verbal
Vygotsky: private speech
this is basically when a kid is talking to themselves, it serves the purpose of helping the kid regulate their behaviour
rules that kids apply to new words that they hear (2)
- if you already know the name of something then a new name presented belongs to something else (unless the new name definitely applies to the object, then it denotes a subcatagory of the original name)
- a name refers to the whole object, not its parts or its relation to other objects (also applies to all objects of the same type, and if the name is consistently applied to that object only, then it is a proper noun)
language: sentence cues
kids can also help to find out what kind of word it is by seeing how it is used in a sentance
cognitive factors in learning language
- with the development of intentions, there is more motivation to learn the language needed to express the intentions
- when their attention and perceptual skills improve they can learn more words, and notice the basis for generalization (words sre usually generalized to other objects of the same shape)
what happens with word learning at age 2
it gets significantly better, showing greater use of language cues and speakers social cues
errors when naming things
- the error that kids make is usually regarding boundaries of a word
- underextension: when children define words more narrowly than adults do
- overextention: when children define words more broadly than adults do
2 important factors in individual learning differences
- phonological memory: the ability to remember speech sounds briefly
- the childs language environment
common differences with bilingual children (3)
- they are often little slow in language process at first
- they do catch up quickly though
- usually have larger total vocabularies than monolingual children, but slightly smaller in each language
advantages with bilingualism (3)
- better understanding the symbolic and arbitrary nature of words
- better at switching back and forth between tasks
- better at inhibiting inappropriate responses
2 word learning styles
referential style: kids whose vocabularies consist mainly of words that name objects, people, or actions
-expressive style: kids whose vocabularies include some names, but also many social phrases
(most kids are somewhere inbetween these two)
how can parents encourage language growth
- by talking to children often (especially naming things that the kid is focusing on)
- by reading to children often (and getting them involved in the book)
do videos help preschoolers learn words?
- educational programs that ask children direct questions can help
- cartoons and non-educational videos do not help
do videos help infants learn words?
no kind of videos help, infants have difficulty relating what they see on tv to real life
telegraphic speech
this is speech used by young children that contains only the words that are necessary to get a message across (includes content words, but drops words or endings of words that make the sentence grammatically correct)
how do we know that kids are still learning grammatical rules and not just immitating things that their parents say?
- they apply grammatical rules to novel words
- they demonstrate overregularization: grammatical usage that results from applying rules to words that are exceptions to the rule (i runned)
how do children acquire grammar: the behaviourist answer
b.f. skinner and other theorists say that kids learn grammar through imitation and reinforcement (they imitate adults , and are reinforced when they say the right thing)
how do children acquire grammar: the linguistic answer
kids are born with mechanisms that help them process language, this idea is supported by:
- there are areas of the brain that activate when sentences break grammatical rules
- grammar cant be taught to non-humans (so the neural mechanisms are unique to humans)
- there is a critical period for language learning (birth-12)
- grammar mastery and vocabulary growth are related in a way that suggests they are part of a common, emerging language system
how do children acquire grammar: the cognitive answer
this is the idea that kids have powerful cognitive skills that help them to detect regularities in their environment
-including patterns in speech
how do children acquire grammar: the social interaction answer
idea that children learn because they are motivated to express themselves, and that parents are motivated to teach and understand their children
3 key elements for effective oral communication
- people should take turns (alternating as listener and speaker)
- when speaking, remarks should be clear
- when listening, pay attention and let the speaker know if they arent making sense
differences that preschool children exhibit when speaking
- they give more elaborate messages to people who lack critical information, as opposed to those who have the information
- adjust for the age of who they are talking to
- still have a little trouble with the clarity of the message
can children recognize ambiguity in sentences
-not really, but they eventually learn to monitor for clear and consistent messages during elementary school years
