Middle and late childhood

• Tooth decay remains one of the most common chronic untreated conditions
• Access to proper dental care is important for young children
• Recommended calories per day for schoolchildren 9 to 13 years of range from 1,400 to 2,600 depending on gender and activity level
• Sleep: average of 10 hrs a day
• Factors that affect children's sleep

  • Exposure to media screens
  • Physical inactivity
  • Secondhand smoke
  • Poor housing
  • Vandalism
  • Lack of parks and playgrounds
• Persistent snoring, at least 3x a week, may indicate a child has sleep-disordered breathing, which is linked to behavioral and learning difficulties
• Body Image (how one believes one looks) becomes important early in middle childhood, especially for girls, which could lead to eating disorders during adolescence (may be influenced by playing unrealistic dolls such as barbie)
• Causes of obesity


  • Overweight parents or other relatives
  • Poor nutrition
  • Eating fast food
  • Sugar
  • Inactivity
• Acute Medical Conditions


  Occasional, short-term conditions, such as infections and warts
• Chronic Medical Conditions


  Physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional conditions that persists 3 months or more such as asthma and diabetes
• Asthma


  Chronic, allergy-based respiratory disease characterized by sudden attacks of coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing
• Asthma is caused by genetics, smoke exposure, low levels of vitamin D
• Diabetes


  One of the most common diseases in school aged children - Characterized by high levels of glucose in the blood as a result of defective insulin production, ineffective insulin action, or both
• Hypertension


  High blood pressure; children with hypertension are more likely to have learning disabilities and may have problems with executive functioning
• Accidental Injuries are the leading cause of accidental death among school-age US Children
• Intellectual Disability


  Significantly subnormal cognitive functioning
• Intervention programs have helped many of those mildly or moderately disabled and those considered borderline to hold jobs, live in the community, and function in society
• Learning Disabilities


  Difficulty in learning that involves understanding or using spoken or written language, and the difficulty can appear in listening, thinking, reading, writing, and spelling
• Types of Learning Disabilities

  • Dyslexia: most commonly diagnosed LD; severe impairment in their ability to read and spell
  • Dysgraphia: difficulty in handwriting
  • Dyscalculia: developmental arithmetic disorder
• ADHD


  Most common mental disorder in childhood
• Autism Spectrum Disorder


  • Autistic Disorder: severe developmental ASD that has onset during the first 3 yrs of life
  • Asperger Syndrome: mild ASD
• Bullying


  Aggression that is deliberately, persistently directed against a particular target
• Parenting Styles


  • Authoritarian – emphasizes control and unquestioning obedience, high control, low responsiveness
  • Permissive/Indulgent – make few demands, warm, noncontrolling, low control, high responsiveness
  • Authoritative – emphasizes child's individuality but also stress limits, high control, high responsiveness
  • Neglectful or Uninvolved – parents neglect children; low control, low responsiveness
• Altruism


  Motivation to help another person with no expectation of reward
• Prosocial Behavior


  Voluntary, positive actions to help others
• Instrumental Aggression


  Used aggression as a tool to gain access to a wanted object
• Overt (Direct) Aggression


  Boys; tend to openly direct aggressive acts at a target
• Relational Aggression


  More subtle; indirect social aggression