Chapter 8 Flashcards
Body Growth
Growth tapers to an avg of 2-3 inches in height and 5lbs in weight annually
“Baby fat” declines
Posture & balance improves —> better motor control
Skeletal Growth
45 new epiphyses (growth centers in which cartilage hardens into bone)
Start to lose “baby” teeth
• U.S. children typically get 1st permanent tooth at 6.5yrs
Tooth health • Brushing • Avoiding sugar • Getting flouride treatments • Sealants • Reduce exposure to second-hand smoke which Reduces immune response against tooth bacteria
Brain Development
Brain increases from 70% to 90% of adult weight
Undergoes reshaping & refining:
• Age 4 -5 many parts of the cerebral cortex have overproduced synapses
• Brain plasticity
• Synaptic pruning
• Cognitive functions become increasingly localized
Growth in executive functioning
Handedness
not genetic, but by experience
Reflects greater capacity of dominant cerebral hemisphere to carry out skilled motor action
Begins as early as 10th prenatal week
Right handers: 90%; language is housed in left hemisphere with
hand control
Left handers: 10%; language is occasionally in right hemisphere but often it is shared
What factors influence physical growth and health?
- Heredity & Hormones
- Emotional Well-Being
- Sleep Habits & Problems
- Nutrition
- Infectious Disease
- Childhood Injuries
Heredity & Hormones
The production of hormones are controlled by genes
Growth Hormone
Necessary for development of all body tissues
Stimulates liver and the epiphyses of skeleton to release insulin-like growth factor 1
Thyroid-Stimulating Hormones
TSH —> Thyroxine
• Brain development
• GH to impact body size
Negative consequences for infants w/o thyroxine
Emotional Well-Being
The consequences of a high stress home environment:
• Respiratory & intestinal illness
• Unintentional injuries
• Suppression of GH,
Pyschosocial dwarfismSleep Habits
GH is released during sleeping hours
1/3 of children struggle to fall asleep – WHY?
Consequences of Poor Sleep
- Decreased attention
- Thinking speed
- Working memory
- Intelligence
- Achievement Test
- Internalizing & Externalizing
Nutrition
Preschoolers become more selective in food choices
Need high quality food; repeated exposure
Milk
Family emotional climate
Infectious Disease
Disease & Malnutrition
• Illnesses appear much earlier in non-industrialized nations
• Disease —> malnutrition
Immunization in U.S.:
! Industrialized nations = immunization programs
! Prevented 322 million illnesses and 700,000 deaths in past two decades
! Only 80% of children immunized
Childhood Injuries
Unintentional injuries = leading cause of childhood mortality in industrialized nations
Factors related to childhood injuries:
• Boys 2x likely
• Individual characteristics: activity level, impulsivity, risk-taking
• Temperament (inattentive, overactive, aggressive)
• Poverty
Preventing childhood injuries:
• Laws
• Teach safety rules
• Interventions aimed at parents
Motor Skill Development in Early Childhood
Gross-motor skills:
• Walking, running, jumping, hopping
• Catching, throwing, swinging, riding
Fine-motor skills:
• Self-help: dressing, eating
• Drawing: line and circle, tadpole image

Progression of Drawing Skills
Scribbles: during 2nd year
First representational forms:
• Around age 3: Labels already-made drawings.
• Age 3–4: Draws boundaries and tadpole-shaped people.
More realistic drawings:
preschool to school age
Early printing: ages 4–6
Development of Printing
Up to age 3:
• Scribbles
• Varied pencil grips
Ages 4–6:
• Gradual realization that writing stands for language
• Identification of individual letters
• Adult pencil grip by age 5
Individual Differences in Motor Skills
Body build:
Taller, more muscular bodies move more quickly, acquire skills earlier.
Sex:
• Boys are ahead in skills requiring power and force.
• Girls are advantaged in fine-motor skills and in skills requiring good balance and foot movement.
• Social pressures channel children into activities.
Enhancing Early Childhood Motor Development
Motor skills are best mastered through everyday play:
• Formal lessons have little added impact.
• Preschoolers should have at least 60 minutes a day of adult-structured play, plus several hours of child-directed play.
• Children need appropriate play spaces and equipment.
Daily routines support fine-motor development.
