Unit 4

• This is the obvious physical change that characterizes childhood

  1. Growth in height and weight
• Average child grows 2 and 1/2 inches in height and gains 5 to 10 pounds a year during early childhood.
• Growth patterns vary individually. Some were naturally taller, shorter, some fatter, some thinner, some stronger, some weaker. Much of the variation was due to heredity, but environmental experiences were also involved.
• Growth hormone deficiency is the absence or deficiency of growth hormone produced by the pituitary gland to stimulate the body to grow. This may occur during infancy or later in childhood.
• The brain holds one of the most important physical developments during early childhood.
• The brain continues to grow in early childhood, it does not grow as rapidly as it did in infancy.
• Myelination is an important process in the development of a number of abilities during childhood because it has the affect of increasing speed and efficiency of information traveling through nervous system.
• Girls are only slightly smaller and lighter than boys during these years, a differenece that continues until puberty.
• Girls have more fatty tissue than boys; boys have more muscle tissue
• A review of the height and weight of children around the world concluded that the two most important contributors to height differences are ethnic origin and nutrition
• Urban, middle-socioeconomic-status, and firstborn children were taller than rural, lower-socioeconomic-status, and later-born children.
• The primary contributing influences are congenital factors (genetic or prenatal problems), growth hormone deficiency, a physical problem that develops in childhood, maternal smoking during pregnancy, or an emotional difficulty
• Growth hormone deficiency is the absence or deficiency of growth hormone produced by the pituitary gland to stimulate the body to grow
• Growth hormone deficiency may occur during infancy or later in childhood
• Twice as many boys as girls are treated with growth hormone, likely because there is a greater stigma attached to boys being short.
• The brain holds one of the most important physical developments during early childhood .
• The brain continues to grow in early childhood, it does not grow as rapidly as it did in infancy
• Why are some children unusually short? The primary contributing influences are:

  1. Congenital factors
  2. Growth hormone deficiency
  3. Physical problem that develops in childhood
  4. Maternal smoking during pregnancy
  5. Emotional difficulty
• Much of the variation on growth in childhood was due to heredity, but environmental experiences were also involved.
• Without treatment, most children with growth hormone deficiency will not reach a height of five feet.
• A recent review concluded that accurate assessment of growth hormone deficiency is difficult and that many children diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency re-test normal later in childhood
• The brain of a 5-year-old is nearly the size it will be when the child reaches adulthood, but as we will see in later chapters, the development that occurs inside the brain continues through the remaining years of childhood and adolescence
• Has the effect of increasing the speed and efficiency of information traveling through the nervous system.

  • Myelination
• Researchers also have discovered that children’s brains undergo dramatic anatomical changes between the ages of 3 and 15
• By repeatedly obtaining brain scans of the same children for up to four years, they have found that children’s brains undergo rapid, distinct spurts of growth.
• The scientists have discovered that the overall size of the brain does not show dramatic growth in the 3- to 15-year age range. However, what does dramatically change are local patterns within the brain.
• Recently, researchers have found that contextual factors such as poverty and parenting quality are linked to the development of the brain
• True or False? In one study, children from the poorest homes had significant maturational lags in their frontal and temporal lobes at 4 years of age, and these lags were associated with lower attainment of school readiness skills

  • True
• Myelination. It makes their thinking and behavior faster, because it increases the neural connectivity
• Frontal lobe areas. Responsible for planning, organizing new action, maintaining attention (cognitive skills)
• Gross Motor Skills (Large muscle movements)

  Fine Motor Skills (Specific refined movement)
• According to recent studies, children who have higher motor proficiency was found to have higher levels of physical activity in adolescence.
• How can early childhood educators support young children’s motor development? Young children need to practice skills in order to learn them, so instruction should be followed with ample time for practice
• True or False? There can be short-term negative effects for children who fail to develop basic motor skills. These children will not be as able to join in group games or participate in sports during their school years and in adulthood.

  • False
• Children with a low level of motor competence had a lower motivation for sports participation and had lower global self-worth than their counterparts with a high level of motor competence
• Recent study found that higher motor proficiency in preschool was linked to higher levels of physical activity in adolescence
• What are the signs of vision problems in children?

  1. They include rubbing the eyes
  2. Blinking or squinting excessively
  3. Appearing irritable when playing games that require good distance vision
  4. Shutting or covering one eye
  5. Tilting the head or thrusting it forward when looking at something.
• Most young children sleep through the night and have one daytime nap, they should also be uninterrupted
• Children can experience a number of sleep problems including narcolepsy (extreme daytime sleepiness), insomnia (difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep), and nightmares.
• Why do children experience a number of sleep problems? Because of having a irregular patterns of sleep.