NB3-6 - Human Development 2 Flashcards
List the trends in grey and white matter development that we need to know.
- Brainstem structures are myelinated first and before birth
- Most grey matter growth is seen in the first year and by age 6 we’ve reached 90% of adult brain mass
- Long range association fibers are what continue to myelinate throughout development
- Synpatic density increases beyond what you think it would based on grey matter growth until about puberty. Afterwards, pruning continues throughout adolescence and adulthood giving the “U-shaped trajectory of synaptic density.”
After birth, with regions of the brain are the first and last to myelinate?
Earliest - primary motor and sensory
Latest - prefrontal, temporal, and parietal
What age range is considered early childhood? What are the major physical development milestones that occur during this time period?
3-7 years of age
- Slow down in physical growth
- Decrease in appetite
- Sphincter control
- Improvements in gross and fine motor skills
- Handedness is established
What major cognitive development milestones are achieved during early childhood?
- Can count
- Working memory up to 4 things
- Visuospatial skills (can draw shapes)
- Episodic memories of past events
- Continued expansion of language skills
- uses 900 words
- can tell stories
- 90% intelligible
What major emotional development milestones are reached in early childhood?
- Struggle for autonomy (terrible twos)
- Development of secondary emotions (embarassment, jealousy, pride, etc)
- Development of emotional regulation
- Nightmares and monster fears
What major social development milestones are reached in early childhood?
- Gender identity
- Understanding social rules (turn taking, sharing, etc)
- Imaginary play and cooperative play
- Romantic feelings
- Social conformity
What age range is considered middle childhood? What major physical development milestones are achieved in middle childhood?
Ages 7-12
- Slow and steady height/weight (boys start to weight more than girls)
- Permanent teeth
- Refined motor dexterity, speed, and coordination
What major cognitive development milestones are achieved in middle childhood?
- Law of conservation understood
- Logical thinking
- Seriation - can quantify differences
- Transivity - understands transivite property
- Can use mnemonics
- Understands death
- More language development
- Shift from egocentric to social speech
- Massive vocabulary expansion
What major emotional development milestones are achieved in middle childhood?
- Begins to follow social “display rules” (ie - boys don’t show sadness, girls don’t show anger)
- Language development facilitates cognitive regulation of emotion
What major social development milestones are achieved in middle childhood?
- Participation in organized sport
- Competency and competition
- Understands fairness and generosity
- Can understand other perspectives
What major physical developmental milestones are achieved in adolescence?
- Hormonal increase
- Development of secondary sex characteristics
- Growth spurt
- Change in sleep rhythms
- Phase delay (go to bed later)
- Reduced slow wave (restorative) sleep
What major cognitive developmental milestones are achieved in adolescence?
- Enhanced complexity is added to the “Formal Operational Stage” of thinking. Child can consider theories, devise hypotheses, and examine cause and effect relationships
- Problem-solving, planning, and multi-tasking
- Can inhibit inappropriate behaviors in favor of goal-oriented behaviors
What major social/emotional developmental milestones are achieved in adolescence?
- Highly motivated by emotional incentives
What factors are associated with slower language acquistion?
- Male sex
- Prematuritiy
- Multiple gestation
- Bilingualism
- Low socioeconomic status
What other disorders could be implicated by a language delay?
- Hearing Impairment
- Intellectual Disability
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Language Disorders
Why are adolescents typically reward seeking and highly motivated by emotional incentives?
Because the emotional system (amygdala) and reward center (nucleus accumbens) matures earlier than the prefrontal pathways (regulation) connecting to these centers.
What are the predominant health issues in toddlers?
- Accidental injury
- Poisoning
- Drowning
- Maltreatment/Abuse
What are the predominant health issues in children ages 3-6? 7-12?
- Ages 3-6
- Injury due to trauma
- Exposure to communicable diseases
- Ages 7-12
- Chronic medical conditions
- Exposure to communicable diseases
- Injuries
- Learning or attention disorders
What are the leading causes of infant and child mortality?
Infants (< 1yo) - congenital abnormalities, low birth weight/preterm, maternal birth complications, SIDS, and unintentional injuries
Ages 1-4 - unintentional injuries, congenital abnormalities, homicide, malignant neoplasms, heart diseases
What is the single most powerful predictor of health for young children? Why
Poverty, because child poverty is associated with:
- Poor nutrition
- Higher risk for chronic conditions
- Increased exposure to toxins
- Hazardous housing conditions
- Increased stress
- Increased exposure to drugs and violence
- Lack of access to health options
- Lack of access to health care
Why does child poverty often lead to academic delays?
Children from families with limited financial resources show reduced grey matter in the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and hippocampus.
What are the special challenges to adolescent health?
- BMI
- Early Sexual Activity
- Mental Health Concerns - Depression
- Tobacco and Drugs
- Risk-taking behavior
- Weapons
- Violence
What are the leading causes of adolescent mortality in the US? The World?
- USA
- Accidents
- Suicide
- Homicide
- Globally
- Road Injury
- HIV
- Suicide
- Lower Respiratory Infections
- Interpersonal Violence
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