School-Age: Positive Guidance | Virtual Lab School Using Brain Breaks to Restore Students Focus | Edutopia use the two links above alone with the chapters provided below.EarlyChildhood

Throughout this course, you have been creating a series of parent handouts focused on the various ages and stages of development. During this final week of class, you will create your final parent handout focused on the early childhood period of development. In your final reflection, you will draw upon the knowledge you have gained throughout the course to reflect on the course learning outcomes.

To prepare,

· Read Chapter 13: Emotional and Social Development in Middle Childhood

· Review Chapter 11: Physical Development in Middle Childhood

· Review Chapter 12: Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

· Read  School Age: Positive Guidance Links to an external site.

· Read  Using Brain Breaks to Restore Students’ Focus Links to an external site.

· Review the feedback you have received from your instructor during Weeks 1–4 on your handout assignments.

· Find and open your latest version of the  Parent Handout template on your computer. You will be adding on to this document.

 

For your assignment, complete the following:

· After reviewing the feedback from your instructor and considering additional information you have learned throughout the course, revise the handouts you created in Weeks 1–4.

 

Additionally, using the Week 5 portion of the template, complete the following:

· Discuss what resilience is and the important role it plays in social-emotional growth during early childhood.

· Explain how positive parenting supports social-emotional growth during early childhood.

· Describe how you will utilize brain breaks in your learning environment to support cognitive and social-emotional needs in early childhood.

· Explain three resources for families to support them during the early childhood stage (ages 6-8) of development. Be sure to include a link to each resource.

· One resource should be a quick read for families on the go.

· One resource should be more detailed for families who want to learn more.

· One resource should be user-friendly for diverse families (ELL, single parents, grandparents raising grandchildren, etc.).

 

 Reflection (on children birth – 8 years):

· Describe your role in helping families to understand the various influences on child development.

· Discuss how developmental theories provide the foundation for early learning, growth, and development.

· Explain, using an example, how you will ensure you are implementing developmentally appropriate practice to foster growth and development.

· Summarize how you will ensure your learning environment nurtures the physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive growth of diverse learners.

· Explain how you revised your handouts from Weeks 1–4 based on your instructor’s feedback and additional information you have learned throughout the course.

 

The Early Childhood Parent Handout project

· Must be three pages in length and formatted according to template. Your complete submission should include all pages of the handout you have completed throughout the entire course.

· Must utilize academic voice. See the  Academic Voice  Links to an external site. resource for additional guidance.

· Must use at least ten scholarly sources in addition to the course text. These scholarly resources should be different than the resources provided for families. Must follow  APA Style  Links to an external site. as outlined in the Writing Center.

· The  Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources  Links to an external site. table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.

· To assist you in completing the research required for this assignment, view the  Quick and Easy Library Research  Links to an external site. tutorial, which introduces the University of Arizona Global Campus Library and the research process, and provides some library search tips.

,

CHAPTER 11 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

Playing with Mum and Dad in the Pool

Ohmmar Coates, 9 years, New Zealand

Aided by gains in strength, flexibility, and agility, children at a community pool dive, swim, and toss beach balls. Chapter 11 takes up the diverse physical attainments of middle childhood and their close connection with other domains of development.

Reprinted with permission from The International Museum of Children’s Art, Oslo, Norway

WHAT’S AHEAD IN CHAPTER 11

11.1 Body Growth

Worldwide Variations in Body Size • Secular Trends in Physical Growth • Skeletal Growth • Brain Development

11.2 Health Issues

Nutrition • Overweight and Obesity • Vision and Hearing • Bedwetting • Illnesses • Unintentional Injuries

■ Social Issues: Health: Family Stressors and Childhood Obesity

11.3 Health Education

11.4 Motor Development and Play

Gross-Motor Development • Fine-Motor Development • Individual Differences in Motor Skills • Games with Rules • Adult-Organized Youth Sports • Shadows of Our Evolutionary Past • Physical Education

■ Social Issues: Education: School Recess—A Time to Play, a Time to Learn

I’m on my way, Mom!” hollered 10-year-old Joey as he stuffed the last bite of toast into his mouth, slung his book bag over his shoulder, dashed out the door, jumped on his bike, and headed down the street for school. Joey’s 8-year-old sister Lizzie followed, pedaling furiously until she caught up with Joey.

“They’re branching out,” Rena, the children’s mother and one of my colleagues at the university, commented to me over lunch that day as she described the children’s expanding activities and relationships. Homework, household chores, soccer teams, music lessons, scouting, and friends at school and in the neighborhood were all part of the children’s routine. “It seems the basics are all there; I don’t have to monitor Joey and Lizzie so constantly anymore. Being a parent is still challenging, but it’s more a matter of refinements—helping them become independent, competent, and productive individuals.”

Joey and Lizzie have entered middle childhood—the years from 6 to 11. Around the world, children of this age are assigned new responsibilities. For children in industrialized nations, middle childhood is often called the “school years” because its onset is marked by the start of formal schooling. In village and tribal cultures, the school may be a field or a jungle. But universally, mature members of society guide children of this age period toward real-world tasks that increasingly resemble those they will perform as adults.

This chapter focuses on physical growth in middle childhood—changes less spectacular than those of earlier years. By age 6, the brain has reached 90 percent of its adult weight, and the body continues to grow slowly. In this way, nature gives school-age children the mental powers to master challenging tasks as well as added time—before reaching physical maturity—to acquire the knowledge and skills essential for life in a complex social world.

We begin by reviewing typical growth trends and special health concerns. Then we turn to rapid gains in motor abilities, which support practical everyday activities, athletic skills, and participation in organized games. We will see that each of these attainments is affected by and also contributes to cognitive, emotional, and social development. Our discussion will echo a familiar theme—that all domains are interrelated. ■

11.1 BODY GROWTH

11.1a Describe changes in body size, proportions, and skeletal maturity during middle childhood.

11.1b Describe brain development in middle childhood.

Physical growth during the school years continues at the slow, regular pace of early childhood. At age 6, the average North American child weighs about 45 pounds and is 3½ feet tall. Over the next few years, children will add about 2 to 3 inches in height and 5 pounds in weight each year (see Figure 11.1 on page 406). Between ages 6 and 8, girls are slightly shorter and lighter than boys. By age 9, this trend reverses. Already, Rena noticed, Lizzie was starting to catch up with Joey in physical size as she approached the dramatic adolescent growth spurt, which occurs two years earlier in girls than in boys.

Because the lower portion of the body is growing fastest, Joey and Lizzie appeared longer-legged than they had in early childhood. They grew out of their jeans more quickly than their jackets and frequently needed larger shoes. As in early childhood, girls have slightly more body fat and boys more muscle. After age 8, girls begin accumulating fat at a faster rate, and they will add even more during adolescence (Hauspie & Roelants, 2012).

Figure 11.1 Body growth during middle childhood. Mai and Henry continue the slow, regular pattern of growth they showed in early childhood. Around age 9, girls begin to grow at a faster rate than boys as the adolescent growth spurt draws near.

Photos of mai: © LAURA DWIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY. PHOTOS OF HENRY: ChrisSteer/Getty Images; klaus tiedge/Getty Images; fotostorm/Getty Images

11.1.1 Worldwide Variations in Body Size

Glance into any elementary school classroom, and you will see wide individual differences in body growth. Diversity in physical size is especially apparent when we travel to different nations. Worldwide, a 9-inch gap separates the shortest and tallest 8-year-olds. The shortest children are found among populations in parts of South America, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and parts of Africa, and the tallest among populations in Australia, North America, northern and central Europe, and, again, Africa (Meredith, 1978; Ruff, 2002). These findings remind us that growth norms (age-related averages for height and weight) must be applied cautiously, especially in countries with high immigration rates and many ethnic minorities.

What accounts for these large differences in physical size? Both heredity and environment are involved. Body size sometimes reflects evolutionary adaptations to a particular climate. Long, lean physiques are typical in hot, tropical regions and short, stocky ones in cold, Arctic areas (Katzmarzyk & Leonard, 1998; Stulp & Barrett, 2016).

Body size sometimes results from evolutionary adaptations to a particular climate. These boys live near the equator on Kenya’s tropical coast. Their long, lean physiques permit their bodies to cool easily.

© THOMAS COCKREM/ALAMY Stock Photo

Also, children who grow tallest usually live in developed countries, where food is plentiful and infectious diseases are largely controlled. Physically small children tend to live in less developed regions, where poverty, hunger, inadequate health care, and disease are common (Karra, Subramanian, & Fink, 2017). When families move from poor to wealthy nations, their children not only grow taller but also change to a longer-legged body shape. (Recall that during childhood, the legs are growing fastest.) For example, U.S.-born school-age children of immigrant Guatemalan Mayan parents are, on average, 4½ inches taller, with legs nearly 3 inches longer, than their agemates in Guatemalan Mayan villages (Bogin & Varela-Silva, 2010; Bogin, Hermanussen, & Scheffler, 2018).

11.1.2 Secular Trends in Physical Growth

In industrialized nations, height has been increasing for 150 years (Fudvoye & Parent, 2017). This secular trend in physical growth—systematic change from one generation to the next in body size and in the timing of the attainment of growth milestones—appears in the first two years, expands during childhood and early adolescence, and then pulls back as mature body size is reached. The pattern suggests that the larger size of today’s children is mostly due to a faster rate of physical development.

Although varying considerably in physical size, these fourth graders are taller than previous generations were at the same age. Improved health and nutrition account for this secular trend.

© MYRLEEN PEARSON/ALAMY Stock Photo

Once again, improved nutrition and health are largely responsible for these growth gains. As developing nations make socioeconomic progress, they also show secular gains (Ji & Chen, 2008). Secular increases are smaller for low-income children, who have poorer diets and are more likely to suffer from growth-stunting illnesses. And in regions with widespread poverty, famine, and disease, either no secular change or a secular decrease in body size has occurred (Bogin, 2013). In most industrialized nations, the secular gain in height has slowed in recent decades. But as we will see later, overweight and obesity have reached epic proportions.

11.1.3 Skeletal Growth

During middle childhood, the bones of the body lengthen and broaden. However, ligaments are not yet firmly attached to bones. This, combined with increasing muscle strength, gives children unusual flexibility of movement. School-age children often seem like “physical contortionists,” turning cartwheels and doing splits and handstands. As their bodies become stronger, many children experience a greater desire for physical exercise. Early evening or nighttime “growing pains”—stiffness and aches in the legs—are common (Lehman & Carl, 2017). These subside as bones strengthen to accommodate increased physical activity and as muscles adapt to an enlarging skeleton.

Between ages 6 and 12, all 20 primary teeth are lost and replaced by permanent ones, with girls losing their teeth slightly earlier than boys. The first teeth to go are the lower and then upper front teeth, giving many first and second graders a “toothless” smile. For a while, the permanent teeth seem much too large. Gradually, growth of the facial bones, especially those of the jaw and chin, causes the child’s face to lengthen and the mouth to widen, accommodating the newly erupting teeth.

Care of the teeth is essential during the school years because dental health affects the child’s appearance, speech, and ability to chew properly. Parents need to remind children to brush their teeth thoroughly, and most children need help with flossing until about 9 years of age. More than 50 percent of U.S. school-age children have at least some tooth decay. Low-SES children have especially high levels, with one-fourth having at least one untreated decayed tooth (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019a). As decay progresses, children experience pain, embarrassment at damaged teeth, distraction from play and learning, and school absences due to dental-related illnesses.

Malocclusion, a condition in which the upper and lower teeth do not meet properly, occurs in one-third of school-age children. In about 14 percent of cases, serious difficulties in biting and chewing result. Malocclusion can be caused by thumb sucking after permanent teeth erupt. School-age children who continue to engage in the habit may require gentle but persistent encouragement to give it up (Garde et al., 2014). A more frequent cause of malocclusion is crowding of permanent teeth. In some children, this problem clears up as the jaw grows. Others need braces, a common sight by the end of elementary school.

11.1.4 Brain Development

The weight of the brain increases by only 10 percent during middle childhood and adolescence. Nevertheless, considerable growth occurs in certain brain structures. Using fMRI, researchers can detect the volume of two general types of brain tissue: white matter, consisting largely of myelinated nerve fibers, and gray matter, consisting mostly of neurons and their connective fibers. White matter rises steadily throughout childhood and adolescence, especially in the prefrontal cortex (responsible for complex thought), in the parietal lobes (supporting spatial abilities), and in the corpus callosum (leading to more efficient communication between the two cortical hemispheres) (Genc et al., 2018; Giedd et al., 2009; Smit et al., 2012). Because interconnectivity among distant regions of the cerebral cortex increases, the prefrontal cortex becomes a more effective “executive”—coordinating the integrated functioning of various areas.

As children acquire more complex abilities, stimulated neurons increase in synaptic connections, and their neural fibers become more elaborate and myelinated. As a result, gray matter peaks in middle childhood and then declines as synaptic pruning (reduction of unused synapses) and death of surrounding neurons proceed (Markant & Thomas, 2013; Silk & Wood, 2011). Recall from Chapter 5 that about 50 percent of synapses are pruned during childhood and adolescence. Pruning and accompanying reorganization and selection of brain circuits lead to more optimized functioning of specific brain regions and, thus, to more effective information processing. In particular, children gain in executive function, including sustained attention, inhibition, working memory capacity, and organized, flexible thinking.

In middle childhood, the prefrontal cortex becomes a more effective “executive,” coordinating integrated functioning of various brain regions. These changes support the sustained attention and motor coordination this novice skater needs to become proficient at his new sport.

© KEN GILLESPIE PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY Stock Photo

Additional brain development likely takes place at the level of neurotransmitters, chemicals that permit neurons to communicate across synapses (see page 156 in Chapter 5). Over time, neurons become increasingly selective, responding only to certain chemical messages. This change may add to school-age children’s more efficient thinking. Secretions of particular neurotransmitters are related to cognitive performance, social and emotional adjustment, and ability to withstand stress. When neurotransmitters are not present in appropriate balances, children may suffer serious developmental problems, such as inattention and overactivity, emotional disturbance, and epilepsy (an illness involving brain seizures and loss of motor control) (Brooks et al., 2006; Kurian et al., 2011; Weller, Kloos, & Weller, 2006).

Researchers also believe that brain functioning may change in middle childhood because of the influence of hormones. Around age 7 to 8, an increase in androgens (male sex hormones), secreted by the adrenal glands (located on top of the kidneys), occurs in children of both sexes. Androgens will rise further among boys at puberty, when the testes release them in large amounts. Androgens affect brain organization and behavior in many animal species, including humans (Stark & Gibb, 2018). Recall from Chapter 10 that androgens contribute to boys’ higher activity level and physical aggression. They may also promote social dominance and play-fighting, topics we will take up at the end of this chapter.

Ask Yourself

Connect ■ Relate secular trends in physical growth to the concept of cohort effects, discussed on page 41 in Chapter 1.

Apply ■ Joey complained to his mother that it wasn’t fair that his younger sister Lizzie was almost as tall as he was. He worried that he wasn’t growing fast enough. How should Rena respond to Joey’s concern?

Reflect ■ How does your height compare with that of your parents and grandparents when they were your age? Do your observations illustrate secular trends?

11.2 HEALTH ISSUES

11.2a Describe the causes and consequences of serious nutritional problems in middle childhood, giving special attention to obesity.

11.2b List factors that contribute to illness during the school years, and explain how these health challenges can be reduced.

11.2c Describe changes in the occurrence of unintentional injuries during middle childhood, and cite effective interventions.

Children from economically advantaged homes, like Joey and Lizzie, are at their healthiest in middle childhood, full of energy and play. Growth in lung size permits more air to be exchanged with each breath, so children are better able to exercise vigorously without tiring. The cumulative effects of good nutrition, combined with rapid development of the body’s immune system, offer greater protection against disease. In fact, children who spent much time in child-care centers during infancy and early childhood, and therefore experienced more respiratory, ear, and intestinal infections, are sick less often than their agemates later on (Côté et al., 2010; de Hoog et al., 2014; Hullegie et al., 2016). Their increased immunity may grant them a learning advantage because they miss fewer days of school.

Not surprisingly, poverty continues to be a powerful predictor of poor health during middle childhood. Because economically disadvantaged U.S. children often lack health insurance or are publicly insured (see page 76 in Chapter 2), they generally receive a lower standard of care, and many do not have regular access to a doctor. A substantial number also lack such basic necessities as a comfortable home and regular meals.

11.2.1 Nutrition

Children need a well-balanced, plentiful diet to provide energy for successful learning in school and greater physical activity. With their increasing focus on play, friendships, and new activities, many children spend little time at the table. Joey’s hurried breakfast, described at the beginning of this chapter, is a common event in middle childhood. The percentage of U.S. children who eat meals with their families drops sharply between ages 9 and 14. Family dinnertimes have waned in general over the past two decades. Yet eating an evening meal with parents leads to a diet higher in fruits, vegetables, grains, and milk products and lower in soft drinks and fast foods (Hammons & Fiese, 2011; Lopez et al., 2018).

School-age children report that they “feel better” and “focus better” after eating healthy foods and that they feel sluggish, “like a blob,” after eating junk foods. In longitudinal studies of large samples of preschool children, a parent-reported diet high in sugar, salt, fat, and processed foods in early childhood predicted slightly lower IQ at middle childhood, after many factors that might otherwise account for this association were controlled (Leventakou et al., 2016; Northstone et al., 2012). Even mild nutritional deficits can affect cognitive functioning. Among school-age children from middle- to high-SES families, insufficient dietary iron and folate are related to poorer concentration and mental test performance (Arija et al., 2006; Low et al., 2013). Children say that a major barrier to healthy eating is the ready availability of unhealthy options, even in their homes. As one sixth grader commented, “When I get home from school, I think, ‘I’ll have an apple,’ but then I see the bag of chips.”

A mother and daughter prepare a healthy meal together. School-age children need a well-balanced, plentiful diet to provide energy for successful learning and greater physical activity. Even mild nutritional deficits can compromise cognitive functioning.

© LAURA DWIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Recall from Chapter 8 that food familiarity and food preferences are strongly linked: Children like best the foods they have eaten repeatedly in the past. Readily available, healthy between-meal snacks—such as fruit, raw vegetables, and peanut butter—can help meet school-age children’s nutritional needs and increase their liking for healthy foods.

As we saw in earlier chapters, many poverty-stricken children in developing countries and in the United States suffer from serious and prolonged malnutrition. By middle childhood, the effects are apparent in delayed physical growth, impaired motor coordination, inattention, and low IQ. The negative impact of malnutrition on learning and behavior may intensify as children encounter new academic and social challenges at school. First, as in earlier years, growth-stunted school-age children show greater stress reactivity, as indicated by a sharper rise in heart rate and in saliva levels of the stress hormone cortisol (Fernald et al., 2003). Second, a deficient diet alters the production of neurotransmitters in the brain—an effect that can disrupt all aspects of psychological functioning (Goyal, Iannotti, & Raichle, 2018).

Unfortunately, malnutrition that persists from infancy or early childhood into the school years usually results in lasting physical, cognitive, and mental health problems (Liu et al., 2003; Schoenmaker et al., 2015). Government-sponsored supplementary food programs from the early years through adolescence can prevent these effects.

11.2.2 Overweight and Obesity

Mona, a heavy child in Lizzie’s class, often watched from the sidelines during recess. When she did join in games, she was slow and clumsy, the target of unkind comments: “Move it, Tubs!” When Mona’s classmates chose partners for special activities, she was among the last to be selected. Most afternoons, she walked home alone while her schoolmates gathered in groups, talking, laughing, and chasing. At home, Mona sought comfort in high-calorie snacks.

Mona suffers from obesity, a greater-than-20-percent increase over healthy weight, based on body mass index (BMI)—a ratio of weight to height associated with body fat. A BMI above the 85th percentile for a child’s age and sex is considered overweight, and a BMI above the 95th percentile obese. During the past four decades, as adult overweight and obesity has climbed around the globe, so too has childhood overweight and obesity, which has risen ten-fold. The largest population weight gains have occurred in Canada, England, Mexico, and—the leading nation—the United States (see Figure 11.2). Today, 31 percent of U.S. children and adolescents are overweight, more than half of them extremely so: 17 percent are obese (Kann et al., 2018; Ogden et al., 2016). Other industrialized nations, including France, Switzerland, Italy, and South Korea, have seen smaller increases. Yet as Figure 11.2 reveals, without widespread effective intervention, obesity rates even in less-affected countries are expected to continue to rise until at least 2030 (OECD, 2017b).

Obesity rates have also risen in developing countries, where urbanization is shifting populations toward sedentary lifestyles and diets high in meats and energy-dense refined foods (NCD-RisC, 2017). In China, for example, where obesity was nearly nonexistent a generation ago, today 25 percent of children are overweight and 9 percent obese, with two to three times as many boys as girls affected (Jia et al., 2017). In addition to lifestyle changes, a prevailing belief in Chinese culture that excess body fat signifies prosperity and health—carried over from a half-century ago, when famine caused millions of deaths—has contributed to this alarming upsurge. High valuing of sons may induce Chinese parents and grandparents to offer boys especially generous portions of meat, dairy products, and other energy-dense foods that were once scarce but are now widely available.

Figure 11.2 Adult obesity rates (solid lines) and projected further increases (dashed lines) until 2030 in selected industrialized nations. At about 40 percent in 2020 and a projected 47 percent in 2030, the United States outranks all other developed nations in pervasiveness of obesity in the adult population, defined here according to the widely accepted adult standard of a BMI of 30 and above. Even in countries with relatively low rates, obesity is expected to increase until at least 2030. (From OECD, 2017b. Obesity Update. Copyright© 2017 OECD. Adapted by permission.)

As Figure 11.3 reveals, overweight rises with age, and more than half of U.S. overweight school-age children, adolescents, and adults are obese (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018d; Ogden et al., 2014). Overweight preschoolers are more than five times more likely than their normal-weight peers to be overweight at age 12 (Nader et al., 2006)

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