9 Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

transitive Inference pg.693

A classification skill in which a child can infer the relationship between two objects by understanding each object's relationship to a third object.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder pg.743

A condition characterized by persistent difficulties with attention and/or impulsivity that interfere with performance and behavior in school and daily life. Note: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed disorder in children, diagnosed in about 10% of schoolchildren in the United States

Body Mass Index (BMI) pg.684

A measure of body fat based on weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared (kg/m2).

Elaboration

A memory strategy in which one imagines a scene or story to link the material to be remembered.

Rehearsal pg.703

A mnemonic strategy that involves systematically repeating information to retain it in working memory.

Immersion pg.737

A strategy in which all instruction occurs in the majority language; children learn a second language, such as English, and course content simultaneously.

Intelligence Tests (IQ Tests) pg. 707

A test designed to measure the aptitude to learn at school, intellectual aptitude.

Seriation pg. 694

A type of classification that involves ordering objects in a series according to a physical dimension such as height, weight, or color.

Dual-Language Learning

Also known as two-way immersion; an approach in which children are taught and develop skills in two languages.

Phonics Instruction pg.731

An approach to reading instruction that emphasizes teaching children to sound out words and connect sounds to written symbols.

Metamemory pg.702

An aspect of metacognition that refers to the understanding of memory and how to use strategies to enhance memory.

Intellectual Disability pg.740

Characterized by deficits in cognitive functioning and age-appropriate adaptive behavior, such as social, communication, and self-care skills that begin before 18 years of age; formerly known as mental retardation.

Note: parents and teachers are most helpful when they understand that learning disabilities are not a matter of intelligence or laziness but rather a function of brain differences and when they help children to learn to monitor their behavior. pg.746

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Body Image Dissatisfaction Pg.686

Dissatisfaction with one's physical appearance as shown by a discrepancy between one's ideal body figure and actual body figure.

Multiple Intelligences Theory Pg.712

Gardner's proposition that human intelligence is composed of a varied set of abilities.

Obesity

In children, defined as having a body mass index at or above the 95th percentile for height and age.

Class Inclusion

Involves understanding hierarchical relationships among items.

Dyscalculia pg.744

Mathematics disability; difficulty learning and understanding mathematical concepts such as counting, addition, and subtraction.

Organization

Memory strategy in which items to remember are categorized or grouped by theme or type.

Memory Strategies pg.703

Note: Advances in executive function, working memory, and attention enable children to use memory strategies—cognitive activities ("tricks") that make them more likely to remember Note: Common memory strategies include rehearsal, organization, and elaboration.

Note: Development of the prefrontal cortex leads to advances in response inhibition, the ability to withhold a behavioral response inappropriate in the current context. pg.702 Note: These advances improve children's capacity for self-regulation, controlling their thoughts and behavior.

Note: Advances in working memory and executive function are associated with language, reading, writing, and mathematics skills Note: Age changes in performance on working memory tasks are also influenced by context. see pg.702 for Ex.

Alternative Views of Intelligence pg.711

Note: Arguments about the cultural bias of IQ tests have led some researchers to reconsider what it means to be intelligent. Howard Gardner and Robert Sternberg propose that intelligence entails more than academics. Their theories link intelligence to everyday problems and situations. Note: see Table 9.2 chart on intelligence/Description pg.711

Note: With advances in cognitive development, children can consider multiple perspectives and become better able to consider the situation and weigh a variety of variables in making decisions. Note: They discriminate social conventions that have a purpose from those with no obvious purpose.

Note: As children grow older they are more likely to view relational agression as morally wrong and comparable to physical aggression. pg.721 Note: Everyday social interactions can advance moral reasoning. When children engage in issue-focused discussions involving reasoning that is slightly more advanced than their own, it may prompt them to reconsider their own thinking. Note: As a result, they often internalize the new reasoning, advancing their moral thinking to a new level. Moral development is also thought to be influenced by brain development, as discussed in the Brain and Biological Influences on Development feature. pg.722

Context and Cognition pg.703

Note: As children learn more about a topic, their knowledge structures become more elaborate and organized, while the information becomes more familiar and meaningful Note: During middle childhood, children develop vast knowledge bases and organize information into elaborate hierarchical networks that enable them to apply strategies in more complex ways and remember more material than ever before —and more easily than ever before. see pg.704 for Ex

Moral Reasoning: Piaget's Theory pg.717

Note: As elementary school children spend more time with peers and become better at taking their friends' perspectives, their understanding of rules becomes more flexible.

Body Image Dissatisfaction Pg.689

Note: Body image dissatisfaction is often first seen in girls during middle childhood. Note:Up to half of elementary schoolchildren (6-12 years) are dissatisfied with some aspect of their body and shape Note: Body image dissatisfaction is associated with poor self-esteem, depression, unhealthy eating and exercise behaviors, and inadequate weight gain in childhood

Note: The WISC-V is composed of 10 subtests that comprise an overall measure of IQ as well as five indexes: verbal comprehension, visual spatial, fluid reasoning, working memory, and processing speed Note: Table 9.1 presents the subtests and sample items that comprise the WISC-V. pg. 708

Note: By carefully examining a child's pattern of subtest scores, a professional can determine whether a child has specific learning needs, whether gifted or challenged Note: The WISC is standardized on samples of children who are geographically and ethnically representative of the total population of the United States, creating norms that permit comparisons among children who are similar in age and ethnic background

Simultaneous Bilingualism pg.733

Note: Children who are exposed to two languages from birth are referred to as simultaneous bilinguals, or bilingual first-language learners Note: The rate of acquisition for two languages, like that for one language, depends on the quantity and quality of the input in each language

Note:Children who enter middle childhood with stunted growth and nutritional deficits often do not catch up. Instead, stunting often continues and worsens in middle childhood, especially if children remain in the same environments that caused malnourishment

Note: Children who enter middle childhood with stunted growth are likely to experience a variety of problems, including cognitive deficits, aggression, behavior problems, and a greater risk of chronic illnesses and other health problems

Note: Some children with ASD are intellectually disabled; others show average or above-average intelligence Note: Children with ASD often show difficulties with working memory, requiring additional time to process information

Note: Children with ASD often show difficulties with working memory, requiring additional time to process information

Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood pg.693

Note: Children's capacities to take in, process, and retain information all increase dramatically Note: They grasp the world around them in new, more adultlike ways and become capable of thinking logically, although their reasoning remains different from that of adults. Note: Children become faster, more efficient thinkers, and they develop more sophisticated perspectives on the nature of knowledge and how the mind works.

Working Memory and Executive Function pg.701

Note: Children's working memory expands rapidly but is more limited than that of adults. Note: Steady increases in working memory and executive function continue throughout childhood and are responsible for the cognitive changes seen during childhood.

Note: In addition, older children begin to understand that there is often a distinction between what people say and what they mean. Note: One example of pragmatics that develops in middle childhood is the use of irony, choosing a word or expression that conveys the opposite of its literal meaning. Note: Many contextual, 728 linguistic, and developmental factors influence the processing and comprehension of irony, such as the ability to interpret intonation and facial expressions as well as the capacity to evaluate how well a statement matches the situation

Note: Cognitive development permits children to detect the discrepancy between what the speaker says and what he or she believes.

Reading and Mathematics pg.731

Note: Cognitive development, especially advances in executive functioning and working memory, contribute to advances in math achievement and reading comprehension in elementary school Note: Schooling plays a key role in aiding children in mastering reading and math.

Note: Rising rates of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents are a problem not only in the United States but also in all other developed nations Note: Heredity plays a strong role in obesity, but contextual factors also place individuals at risk for obesity and interact with biology to determine whether genetic predispositions to weight gain are fulfilled see Pg. 686 Note: For example, children in low SES homes are at higher risk for obesity than their peers who live in high SES home

Note: Community-level influences on obesity include the lack of safe playgrounds with equipment that encourages activity and even the proximity of fast-food restaurants to schools Note: Screen time— time spent in front of a television, computer, or electronic device screen—is a sedentary activity that places children at risk for obesity Note: Screen time increases with age

Note: There are many causes of intellectual disability. It is estimated that genetic causes may be responsible for approximately one fourth to one half of identified intellectual disability cases Note: Other biological influences include Down syndrome, metabolic disorders such as phenylketonuria, and mutations

Note: Contextual factors include neglect, childbirth trauma, and factors associated with poverty, such as lack of access to health care and poor nutrition Note: Furthermore, many cases of intellectual disability have no identifiable cause. pg.742

Note: Growth of the cerebellum (responsible for balance, coordination, and some aspects of emotion and reasoning) and myelination of its connections to the cortex contribute to advances in gross and fine motor skills and speed Note: Brain development improves children's ability to inhibit actions, which enables children to carry out more sophisticated motor activities that require the use of one hand while controlling the other see Pg.679 for example

Note: Contextual influences, such as nutrition, opportunities to practice motor skills, and health, also influence motor development. see pg.679 for Ex. Note: Figure 9.2 Death Rates for Children Ages 1 to 19 (deaths per 100,000) in the United States, 1980-2014 pg.680

Note: The strategies that children use to tackle cognitive tasks vary with culture. In fact, daily tasks themselves vary with our cultural context see pg. 704 for Ex

Note: Culture and contextual demands influence the cognitive strategies that we learn and prefer, as well as how we use our information processing system to gather, manipulate, and store knowledge. Children of all cultures amass a great deal of information, and as they get older, they organize it in more sophisticated ways and encode and retrieve it more efficiently and with less effort.

Transition to First Grade pg.739

Note: Easing children's transition to first grade is important because adjustment and behavior during the first year of elementary school influence teachers' perceptions as well as children's views of themselves, their academic performance, and class involvement Note: High-quality, sensitive, responsive, and positive interactions with teachers are associated with greater student motivation and academic achievement and fewer problems with anxiety and poor behavior throughout elementary school

Distributive Justice Reasoning pg.719

Note: Every day, children are confronted with moral issues of distributive justice—how to divide goods fairly see pg.719 for Ex. Note: As with moral reasoning, children progress from self-serving reasons for sharing, expressed in early childhood (e.g., "I get more candy because I want it" or "I share candy so that Mikey will play with me"), to more sophisticated and mature conceptions of distributive justice in middle childhood Note: Culture subtly influences children's ideas about distributive justice see pg.720 for Ex.

Note: Analytical intelligence refers to information processing capacities, such as how efficiently people acquire knowledge, process information, engage in metacognition, and generate and apply strategies to solve problems—much like Bourne's ability to process information quickly and consider different solutions. Note: Creative intelligence taps insight and the ability to deal with novelty. People who are high in creative intelligence, like Bourne, respond to new tasks quickly and efficiently. They learn easily, compare information with what is already known, come up with new ways of organizing information, and display original thinking Note: Applied intelligence influences how people deal with their surroundings: how well they evaluate their environment, selecting and modifying it, and adapting it to fit their own needs and external demands

Note: Figure 9.5 Triarchic Theory of Intelligence see pg.714 for chart Note: Traditional IQ tests measure analytical ability, which is thought to be associated with school success. However, IQ tests do not measure creative and practical intelligence, which predict success outside of school. Note: Some people are successful in everyday settings but less so in school settings and therefore may obtain low scores on traditional IQ tests despite being successful in their careers and personal lives. Note: In this way, traditional IQ tests can underestimate the intellectual strengths of some children.

Note: Because children who are exposed to two languages will tend to hear less of either language than their monolingual peers, their rate of growth in each language tends to be slower than those who are exposed to and acquire a single language. Note: Bilingual children tend to lag behind monolingual children in vocabulary and grammar in each language

Note: However, bilingual children's combined vocabularies for both languages tend to be similar in size to the vocabulary of monolingual children Note: The gap in language development between monolingual and bilingual children narrows with age, and bilingual children tend to catch up to monolingual peers by the age of 10 years

Note: Advanced executive function capacities enable older children to control their attention and deploy it selectively, focusing on the relevant information and ignoring other information, compared with younger children, who are easily distracted and fidget Note: Children not only get better at attending to and manipulating information, but they get better at storing it in long-term memory, organizing it in more sophisticated ways and encoding and retrieving it more efficiently and with less effort. pg.701

Note: Improvements in memory, attention, and processing speed are possible because of brain development, particularly myelination and pruning in the prefrontal cortex and corpus callosum pg. 702 Note: Neural systems for visuospatial working memory, auditory working memory, and response inhibition differentiate into separate parts to enable faster and more efficient processing of these critical cognitive functions

Special Education pg.744

Note: In the United States and Canada, legislation mandates that children with disabilities are to be placed in the "least restrictive" environment, or classrooms that are as similar as possible to classrooms for children without learning disabilities. Note: Whenever possible, children are to be educated in the general classroom, with their peers, for all or part of the day. This is known as mainstreaming

Note: Genes appear to play a large role in determining IQ scores of children from high SES homes but play less of a role in determining IQ scores for children in low SES homes pg. 710 Note: Because high SES homes tend to provide consistent support, such as cognitive stimulation, to help children achieve their genetic potential, differences in IQ among children reared in high SES homes are more likely due to genetics. Children from impoverished homes, however, often lack consistent access to the basic support needed for intellectual development, such as nutrition, health care, and stimulating environments and activities

Note: In these cases, IQ scores are often heavily influenced by the context and opportunities that children have experienced see pg.710 for study Note: Socioeconomic status contributes to IQ through differences in culture, nutrition, living conditions, school resources, intellectual stimulation, and life circumstances such as the experience of discrimination. pg. 710

Note: The assumption is that when children are placed in regular classrooms with peers of all abilities, they are better prepared to function in society pg.745 Note: Some mainstreamed children benefit academically and socially, but others do not. Children's responses to mainstreaming vary with the severity of their disabilities as well as the quality and quantity of support provided in the classroom

Note: Inclusion is different from mainstreaming in that it entails additional educational support tailored to the learning disabled students' special needs Note: With an inclusion arrangement, students with learning disabilities are placed in the regular classroom, but for part of the day, they are taught separately in a resource room

Note: Although less well researched, boys also are vulnerable to body dissatisfaction, often desiring a taller and more muscular physique Note: Peer interactions play a role in body image dissatisfaction.

Note: Individuals' perceptions of body ideals and their own bodies are influenced by multiple contextual factors. Exposure to media images of thin models has often been associated with dieting awareness, weight concerns, and body dissatisfaction in girls and women Note: Effective programs emphasize providing children with alternative ways of thinking about beauty and body ideals Pg.690

Bilingualism and Learning a Second Language Pg. 733

Note: It is estimated that more than 50% of the world's children are exposed to more than one language . An estimated 350 languages, including 150 native North American languages, are spoken in U.S. homes

Children's Conceptions of Justice: Kohlberg's CognitiveDevelopmental Perspective pg.717-719

Note: Kohlberg proposed that moral reasoning reflects cognitive development and is organized into stages and levels. Each level of moral reasoning is composed of two stages. Note: preconventional reasoning. Similar to Piaget, Kohlberg argued that young children's behavior is governed by self-interest, the desire to gain rewards and avoid punishments see pg.717 for more info Note: Moral behavior is a response to external pressure, and children's reasoning illustrates their difficulty in taking another person's perspective. Instead, young children's moral reasoning is motivated by their desires.

Learning Disabilities pg.743-744

Note: Learning disabilities are diagnosed in children who demonstrate a measurable discrepancy between aptitude and achievement in a particular academic area given their age, intelligence, and amount of schooling Note: Children with learning disabilities have difficulty with academic achievement despite having normal intelligence and sensory function

Contextual Influences on IQ pg.709-711

Note: Like all facets of development, intelligence is influenced by dynamic interactions among genetic or biological factors and context. pg.709 Note: Heredity is thought to play a role in intelligence, but to date, researchers have not identified any specific genes that are responsible for IQ Note: Genes likely do not act independently but instead in conjunction with the environment

Note: How is morality represented in the brain? Most of the research on the neural correlates of morality is conducted with adults. These studies suggest that activity in the frontal cortex, especially the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), is central to making moral decisions Note: The vmPFC plays a role in planning, responding to decision uncertainty, response inhibition, and directing the emotions that arise while solving moral problems.

Note: Longitudinal research suggests that the vmPFC increases in thickness from childhood into adolescence, and the thickening is associated with increased capacities for introspection, which has implications for moral reasoning Note: With age, participants showed greater activity in the vmPFC in response to intentional harm to people. They also showed greater connectivity between the vmPFC and the amygdala, a part of the brain responsible for emotion, suggesting that, with age, cognitive and emotional processing of moral problems becomes increasingly coordinated

Distinguishing Moral and Conventional Rules pg.720

Note: Moral rules are seen as less violable, less contingent on authority, and less alterable than social conventions Note: Children anticipate feeling positive emotions after following moral rules and are likely to label violations of moral rules as disgusting

Moral Development and the Brain pg.724

Note: Morality is multidimensional, influenced by cognition as well as by quick intuitive emotional responses. Moral decisions are frequently described as gut reactions.

Note: Individuals who have mastered two or more languages have higher scores on measures of memory, selective attention, analytical reasoning, concept formation, and cognitive flexibility Note: Bilingual children tend to score higher on measures of executive function, particularly the ability to control attention and ignore misleading information

Note: Moreover, when children are able to speak, read, and write in two languages, they are more cognitively and socially flexible and can participate in both cultures. pg.739

Note: Uppercase letters are usually mastered first; the lowercase alphabet requires smaller movements of the hand that require much practice. By third grade, most children can write in cursive. Note: Success in fine motor skills, particularly writing skills, may influence academic skills.Children who write with ease may be better able to express themselves in writing, for example.

Note: Motor skill advances are influenced by body maturation and brain development. Note: The pruning of unused synapses contributes to increases in motor speed and reaction time so that 11-year old children tend to respond twice as quickly as 5-year-old children

Note: A variety of individual and contextual influences place children at risk of injury. Poor parental and adult supervision is closely associated with childhood injury Note: Children who are impulsive, overactive, and difficult, as well as those diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), experience higher rates of unintentional injuries

Note: Neighborhood disadvantage, specifically low SES and lack of resources, is associated with higher rates of injuries and bone fractures in children in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom Pg.683 Note: children in disadvantaged neighborhoods often have inadequate access to sources of healthy nutrition; this combination of circumstances can interfere with the development of healthy, strong bodies.

Grammar pg.727

Note: Older children become increasingly aware of and knowledgeable about the nature and qualities of language, known as metalinguistic awareness Note: Despite these advances, school-age children often have difficulty understanding spoken sentences of which the meaning depends on subtle shifts in intonation

Children ' s Understanding of Illness Pg.700

Note: Older children can hold both biological and cultural explanations about the causes of illness Note: Cognitive development influences how children understand biology, their bodies, and the causes of illness Note: As children advance in cognitive maturity, they develop more mature conceptions of illness, distinguish specific symptoms and diseases, and appreciate the biological causes of illness and contagiousness

Note: Cultures vary in the specific skills thought to constitute intelligence, but the three mental abilities that underlie intelligent behavior—analytic, creative, and applied intelligenc—are recognized across cultures. see pg 714 for Ex. Note: Views of intelligence even vary within a given context see pg.715 for ex

Note: Once again, we see the complexity of context and culture as influences on development.

Culture and Concrete Operational Reasoning pg.695

Note: Piaget emphasized the universal nature of cognitive development, assuming that all children around the world progressed through the same stages. Today's researchers, however, find that the cultural context in which children are immersed plays a critical role in development Note: see pg.695 for studies shown

Note: At Stage 3, children uphold rules in order to please others, gain affection, and be a good person—honest, caring, and nice. The Golden Rule motivates their behavior: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Note: At Stage 4, which emerges in adolescence, perspective taking expands beyond individuals to include society's rules.

Note: Preconventional and conventional moral reasoning are compared in Table 9.3. on pg.719

Grade Retention pg.736

Note: Providing students and families with a variety of academic and support resources to promote student achievement may be more effective than the practice of grade retention. Note: Today, at least 16 U.S. states require students who fall a grade behind in reading achievement to be retained, or "left back"

Note: Parenting interventions that improve supervision and monitoring, teach parents about risks to safety, and model safe practices can help parents reduce injuries in their children

Note: School programs can help students learn and practice safety skills Note: At the community level, installing and maintaining safe playground equipment and protected floor surfaces can reduce the injuries that accompany falls. Disadvantaged communities, however, may lack the funding to provide safe play spaces, placing residing children at risk

Educating Children With Special Needs pg.740

Note: School systems must meet the needs of a diverse population of children, many with special educational needs. Children with intellectual and learning disabilities require assistance to help them overcome obstacles to learning.

Language Development in Middle Childhood pg.726

Note: School-age children expand their vocabulary and develop a more complex understanding of grammar, rules that permit combining words to express ideas and feelings. Children's understanding of pragmatics, how language is used in everyday contexts, grows and becomes more sophisticated during middle childhood.

Vocabulary pg.726

Note: School-age children's increases in vocabulary are not as noticeable to parents as the changes that occurred in infancy and early childhood. Note: Nevertheless, 6-year-old children's vocabularies expand by four times by the end of the elementary school years and six times by the end of formal schooling

Learning and Schooling in Middle Childhood pg.731

Note: Schoolchildren's growing cognitive abilities enable them to learn in more sophisticated ways. Note: However, their understanding of logic is concrete, oriented toward the tangible. Effective instruction helps older children grasp complex ideas by identifying connections between new material and prior knowledge, building on what they already know, and keeping pace with their growing abilities. Note: During the school years, older children become proficient at reading, writing, and mathematics.

Note: However, cultural differences in children's performance on tasks that measure concrete operational reasoning may be influenced by methodology (e.g., how questions are asked and the cultural identity of the experimenter) rather than children's abilities. see pg.695 for Ex Note: see pg.696 for examples

Note: Schooling influences the rate at which principles are understood. see pg.696 for Ex. Note: Likewise, Zimbabwean children's understanding of conservation is influenced by academic experience, age, and family socioeconomic status Note: School-age children's emerging capacities for reasoning influence their understanding of a variety of phenomena, including their conceptions of illness. pg.696

Note: ADHD has biological causes and is nearly 80% heritable Note: Environmental influences on ADHD include premature birth, maternal smoking, drug and alcohol use, lead exposure, and brain injuries

Note: Stimulant medication is the most common treatment for ADHD Note: Stimulant medication increases activity in the parts of the brain that are responsible for attention, self-control, and behavior inhibition Note: Behavioral interventions can help children learn strategies to manage impulses and hyperactivity, direct their attention, and monitor their behavior pg.743

Note: Similar to reading, in past generations, math was taught through rote learning activities such as drills, memorization of number facts (e.g., multiplication tables), and completion of workbooks.

Note: Teachers often use strategies that involve manipulatives, opportunities for students to interact physically with objects to learn target information, rather than relying solely on abstraction. Such strategies have been shown to be effective in enhancing problem solving and retention pg.733

Intelligence Tests pg. 707

Note: The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V), appropriate for children ages 6 through 16, is the most widely used individually administered intelligence test for children. Note: Wechsler tests for preschoolers (the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, or WPPSI) Note: adults (the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, or WAIS).

Moral Development in Middle Childhood pg.717

Note: The development of moral reasoning is influenced by childhood advances in cognitive development, social experience, and opportunities to consider issues of fairness. Specifically, children's reasoning about justice changes in middle childhood.

Note: Gardner's multiple intelligence theory proposes at least eight independent kinds of intelligence, shown in Table 9.2. Note: According to multiple intelligence theory, each person has a unique pattern of intellectual strengths and weaknesses. see pg.712 for Ex.

Note: The theory of multiple intelligences is an optimistic perspective that allows everyone to be intelligent in his or her own way, viewing intelligence as broader than book-learning and academic skills. Note: if intelligence is multidimensional, as Gardner suggests, perhaps school curricula should target the many forms that intelligence may take and help students to develop a range of talents Note: Although the theory of multiple intelligences has been criticized as not being grounded in research , neuroscientists have noted that each type of intelligence corresponds to specific neurological processes. The theory of multiple intelligences draws attention to the fact that IQ tests measure a specific set of mental abilities and ignore others.

Note: A common characteristic of ASD is repetitive behavior, such as rocking, hand-flapping, twirling, and repeating sounds, words, or phrases. Note: Some children with ASD experience sensory dysfunction, feeling visual, auditory, and tactile stimulation as intense and even painful.

Note: There is evidence for a hereditary influence on ASD, but it is likely the result of multiple interacting genes rather than a single gene Note: Some research has suggested that prenatal exposure to toxins, particularly mercury and lead, maternal infections, advanced parental age, and traumatic birth complications, may heighten the risk of ASD

Note: In addition to state-mandated retention due to low achievement scores, students are retained for other reasons, such as frequent unexcused absences, social and cognitive immaturity, and the belief that an extra year of schooling will produce successful academic and socioemotional outcomes. Note: Does grade retention work?Some students show an improvement in grades and are less likely to take remedial courses... However, the cumulative evidence published to date shows that students who are retained in school, even in the first 2 years of elementary school, do not fare as well as promoted students.

Note: They later show poor performance in reading, mathematics, and language; poor school attendance; and more emotional and social difficulties. They also report a greater dislike for school than do their peers who were promoted Note: Retained students are more likely to drop out of high school by age 16 Note: Table 9.4, the National Association of School Psychologists (2003) recommends providing students and families with a variety of academic and support resources to promote student achievement and address school failure. Promoting students to the next grade, paired with interventions that target a student's specific needs in class and at home, can help students achieve at grade level and beyond. pg. 737

Note: Difficulty in adaptation—the inability to appropriately modify one's behavior in light of situational demands—is essential to a diagnosis of intellectual disability (American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2010) pg.741 Note: Children with intellectually disability are usually slower to use words and speak in complete sentences, their social development is sometimes delayed, and they may be slow to learn to dress and feed themselves

Note: They tend to experience more behavioral problems, such as explosive outbursts, temper tantrums, and physically aggressive or self-injurious behavior, because their ability to communicate, understand, and control their emotional impulses and frustrations is impaired Note: Students with learning disabilities learn more and demonstrate more social advancement in inclusion settings. pg.741

Note: As their vocabularies grow, children learn that some words can have more than one meaning, such as run ("The jogger runs down the street," "The clock runs fast," etc.) Note: They begin to appreciate that some words have psychological meanings as well as physical ones (e.g., a person can be smooth and a surface can be smooth)

Note: This understanding that words can be used in more than one way leads 8- to 10-year-old children to understand similes and metaphors (e.g., a person can be described as "cold as ice" or "sharp as a tack") Note: Words are often acquired incidentally from writing and verbal contexts rather than through explicit vocabulary instruction Note: Children's vocabulary expands and becomes more complex during the school years

Childhood Injuries Pg.681

Note: Unintentional injuries from accidents are the most common cause of death in children and adolescents in the United States, causing about one in five deaths Note: At all ages, males experience more injuries than females, likely due to their higher levels of activity and risk taking Note: The most common types of injuries also vary with age, as shown in Figure 9.3 on pg.682

Note: Beliefs about biology and the causes of illness may vary by cultural setting. see pg. 700 for research suggested Note: Cultural differences in beliefs about the causes of illness may arise from exposure to different explanations for illness. see pg. 700 for Ex.

Note: When exposed to biological concepts of illness, children of all cultures tend to incorporate them into their understanding see pg.701 for example Note: With age and across cultural groups, when individuals are exposed to biological explanations of illness, such explanations tend to be most frequently endorsed Note: Moreover, the coexistence of biological and nonbiological reasoning about causes of illness is not confined to specific cultures. see pg.701 for Ex.

Note: Difficulty with attention and distractibility may manifest such as failing to attend to details, making careless mistakes, not appearing to listen when spoken to directly, not following through on instructions, or difficulty organizing tasks or activities. Impulsivity may include frequent fidgeting, squirming in seat, and leaving seat in class; often running or climbing in situations where it is not appropriate; talking excessively, often blurting out an answer before a question is completed; and having trouble waiting a turn.

Note: While most children show one or two symptoms of inattention or hyperactivity at some point in their development, a diagnosis of ADHD requires consistent display of a minimum number of specific symptoms over a 6-month period, and the symptoms must interfere with behavior in daily life

Note: Recent theorists link children's success on conservation tasks with the development of information processing capacities, such as working memory and the ability to control impulses pg. 695 Note: In response to conservation of number tasks, for example, older children show more activity in parts of the temporal and prefrontal cortex as well as other parts of the brain associated with working memory, inhibitory control, and executive control

Note: With practice, the cognitive abilities tested in Piagetian tasks become automatic and require less attention and fewer processing resources, enabling children to think in more complex ways Note: For example, once a child solves a conservation task, the problem becomes routine and requires less attention and mental resources than before, enabling the child to tackle more complex problems

Common Health Issues in Middle Childhood pg.681

Note: children from low socioeconomic status (SES) homes have higher rates of mortality than do other children because of poor access to health care, poor nutrition, and stressful home and neighborhood environments

Note: Conversely, teacher-child conflict is associated with aggression, poor social competence, and underachievement throughout elementary school

Note: children's performance in each grade is documented into a cumulative file that follows them from year to year, influencing teachers' perceptions and expectations of them, which, in turn, influences their educational success. pg.740

Information Processing pg.697

Note: information processing perspective describes development as entailing changes in the efficiency of cognition rather than qualitative changes in reasoning. Note: School-age children can take in more information, process it more accurately and quickly, and retain it more effectively than younger children Note: They are better able to determine what information is important, attend to it, and use their understanding of how memory works to choose among strategies to retain information more effectively.

Motor Development pg.677-679

Note: motor development advances gradually throughout childhood. Note: Motor skills from birth to age 4 predict school-age children's motor abilities

Conservation pg.694

Note: see pg.694 for examples Note: The ability to conserve develops slowly, and children show inconsistencies in their ability to solve different types of conservation problems.

Individual and Group Differences in IQ pg.709

Note: see pg.709 for race study Note: It is important to remember, however, that emphasizing differences between groups overlooks important facts. Note: For one thing, individuals of all races and ethnicities show a wide range of functioning, from severely disabled to exceptionally gifted. In addition, the IQ scores of children of all races and ethnicities overlap. see pg.709 for Ex.

Note: Increases in body size and strength contribute to advances in motor skills, which are accompanied by advances in flexibility, balance, agility, and strength. Note: Children also show advances in fine motor control that allow them to develop new interests. Note: School-age children build model cars, braid friendship bracelets, and learn to play musical instruments—all tasks that depend on fine motor control.

Note:Fine motor development is particularly important for penmanship. Note:Most 6-year-old children can write the alphabet, their names, and numbers in large print, making strokes with their entire arm Note:With development, children become able to use their wrists and fingers to write.

Body Growth pg.677

Note:Growth slows considerably in middle childhood. Note:Genes and nutrition influence the rate of children's growth.

Autonomous Morality pg.717

Piaget's second stage of morality in which children have a more flexible view of rules as they begin to value fairness and equality and account for factors like act, intent, and situation.

Concrete Operational Stage of Reasoning Pg.693

Piaget's third stage of reasoning, from about 6 to 11, in which thought becomes logical and is applied to direct tangible experiences but not to abstract problems.

Autistic Spectrum Disorder pg.742

Refers to a family of disorders that range in severity and are marked by social and communication deficits, often accompanied by restrictive and repetitive behaviors. Note: About 1 in 68 U.S. children are diagnosed with ASD, with males about four times as likely to be diagnosed than females

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence pg.712-715

Sternberg's theory positing three independent forms of intelligence: analytical, creative, and applied.

Classification Pg.693

The ability to organize things into groups based on similar characteristics.

Developmental Dyslexia pg.744

The most commonly diagnosed learning disability characterized by unusual difficulty in matching letters to sounds and difficulty with word recognition and spelling despite adequate instruction and intelligence and intact sensory abilities.

Pragmatics pg.728

The practical application of language for everyday communication.

Flynn Effect pg.711

The rise in IQ scores over generations in many nations.

Conventional Moral Reasoning

The second level of Kohlberg's theory in which moral decisions are based on conforming to social rules.