Unit 5: Development in Early Childhood(2-6 years) Flashcards
in preschool years which areas develop drastically and how?
Physical and cognitive development
P- growth and muscle maturation more lean and muscular
C- cognitive maturation allows more complex grammar and infinitely long sentences
how much do infants gain each year?(steady rate) from 2y-puberty
5.8cm and 2.5-3kg each year
30cm and 8kg in weight total(2-6y)
lowest BMI at what age than at another time in life?
5-6 years
average height and weight of a child by 6 years of age
> 110cm and 13-23kg
Physical development growth rate
legs(and arms) grow faster than the trunk
>60% of the increase in height by puberty
how do these changing proportions change the center of gravity?
- shift from chest to abdomen
- lower center= greater stability & more complex movement
factors influencing growth and maturation
- genetic inheritance
- exercise and daily physical activity
- social class
- Physical deficiencies/illnesses
- trauma and physical and/or psychological abuse
- nutrition(eating disorders/obesity)
what are the roles of the cerebral hemispheres?
Left cerebral hemisphere mainly receives sensory info from right side and controls movement from the right side of body
left hemisphere processes visual information from right visual field
vice versa
what provides access to all information between the hemispheres
corpus callosum
what is the corpus callosum made of and its function?
- nerve fibers aka axons
- allow communication between hemispheres
- show lateralisation of functions
- crucial for everyday function(coordinated movements, responding to stimuli)
how does increasing efficiency of the corpus callosum develop
- communication and coordination between the sides
what is myelinisation?
high rate(3-6y), slows down in adolescence
- responsible for increasing the efficiency of the corpus callosum
what is lateralisation of functions
each hemisphere becomes specialised for certain functions
left- speech production
right- perceiving emotions in others
why may lateralisation of functions not be the same for all?
eg speech comprehension more divided for both
depends on handedness; left more variable than right handed
what is handedness?
preference for using one hand over the other
90% prefer right hand for motor functions= left hemisphere is dominant in preforming motor functions
when is lateralisation of function established?
- signs from birth but well established by 2- 3 years and continues to increase in strength
- laterlise the child purposely if not established by age 5
Double lateralization hypothesis
- innate laterality, part of genetic inheritance and manifests in spontaneous gestures
- learned laterality related to use of objects in everyday life
Improved coordination= improved gross and motor skills
provide examples for each age
By 3y: G- jump with feet, walk downstairs, kick/throw ball F- copy simple shapes
By 4y: G- hop on either foot, catch ball F- brush teeth, copy most letters, use scissors
By 5y: G- skip/gallop in rhythm, climb trees, jump over obstacles F- knife to cut, copy difficult shapes and letter
By 6y: F- draw and paint recognizable images, catch small ball, write simple words, tie shoelaces
What is piagets preoperational thought stage from cognitive development theory
- not able to use logical operations and reasoning processes
- represent and describe objects and experiences that are not present
- show capacity for learning new words and the logical connections between new words develop (categorization/class logic)
what separates the preoperational children from sensorimotor beings?
- think in symbols not only senses and motor skills
symbolic function
ability to make one thing represent another
how can different manifestations of mental representations appear?(symbolic function)
Delayed imitation
Symbolic Play
Language
Drawing
Mental images
how can symbolic thought be seen in animism
preoperational children may believe inanimate objects are alive or non-human animals have human characteristic
why are they considered egocentric in this stage?
understand world from their own perspective and difficult to view from others point
- Three Mountains Study (Piaget and Inhelder, 1956)
results; when asked what the other person would see started describing their own view