chapter 7 (middle childhood: body and mind)

concrete operational thought

Piaget's term for the ability to reason logically about direct experiences and perceptions.

whole-language approach

Teaching reading by encouraging early use of all language skills—talking and listening, reading and writing.

phonics approach

Teaching reading by first teaching the sounds of each letter and of various letter combinations.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR)

The American Psychiatric Association's official guide to the diagnosis (not treatment) of mental disorders. (IV-TR means "fourth edition, text revision." The fifth edition is scheduled to be published

selective attention

The ability to concentrate on some stimuli while ignoring others.

Transitive Inference

The ability to figure out (infer) the unspoken link (transfer) between one fact and another. Appears at about age 7.

metacognition

"Thinking about thinking"; the ability to evaluate a cognitive task in order to determine how best to accomplish it, and then to monitor and adjust one's performance on that task.

No Child Left Behind

A U.S. law enacted in 2001 that was intended to increase accountability in education by requiring states to qualify for federal educational funding by administering standardized tests to measure school achievement.

English-language learners (ELLs)

A child who is learning English as a second language.

asthma

A chronic disease of the respiratory system in which inflammation narrows the airways from the nose and mouth to the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing. Signs and symptoms include wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing.

autism

A developmental disorder marked by an inability to relate to other people normally, extreme self-absorption, and an inability to acquire normal speech.

learning disability

A marked delay in a particular area of learning that is not caused by an apparent physical disability, by mental retardation, or by an unusually stressful home environment.

achievement test

A measure of mastery or proficiency in reading, mathematics, writing, science, or some other subject.

information-processing theory

A perspective that compares human thinking processes, by analogy, to computer analysis of data, including sensory input, connections, stored memories, and output.

automatization

A process in which repetition of a sequence of thoughts and actions makes the sequence routine, so that it no longer requires conscious thought.

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (p. 258)

An IQ test designed for school-age children. The test assesses potential in many areas, including vocabulary, general knowledge, memory, and spatial comprehension.

Asperger syndrome

An autistic spectrum disorder characterized by extreme attention to details and deficient social understanding

Trends in Math and Science Study (TIMSS)

An international assessment of the math and science skills of fourth- and eighth-graders. Although the TIMSS is very useful, different countries' scores are not always comparable because sample selection, test administration, and content validity are hard to keep uniform.

autistic spectrum disorder

Any of several disorders characterized by impaired communication, inadequate social skills, and unusual patterns of play.

overweight

In an adult, having a BMI of 25 to 29. In a child, having a BMI over the 85th percentile, according to the US. Centers for disease control 1980 standards for children of a given age.

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)

Inaugurated in 2001, a planned five-year cycle of international trend studies in the reading ability of fourth-graders.

Vgotsky and School-Age Children

Instruction is essential. Other people provide the bridge between children's developmental potential and the skills and knowledge they need. In guiding each child through their ZPD, other people are crucial.

mental retardation

Literally, slow, or late, thinking. In practice, people are considered mentally retarded if they score below 70 on an IQ test and if they are markedly behind their peers in the ability to meet the basic requirements of daily life.

Piaget's Concrete Operational Thought

Piaget's term for the ability to reason logically about direct experiences and perceptions. Sometime between ages 5 and 7, children begin to apply logic in concrete situations - situations that deal with visible tangible things. They become more systematic, objective, and educable thinkers.

Body Changes

The average 7 to 11 year old gains about 2 in. and 5 lbs. per year. After age 6, the rate of growth slows as muscles strengthen, allowing children to master any motor skill.

sensory memory

The component of the information-processing system in which incoming stimulus information is stored for a split second to allow it to be processed. (Also called the sensory register.)

long-term memory

The component of the information-processing system in which virtually limitless amounts of information can be stored indefinitely.

working memory

The component of the information-processing system in which virtually limitless amounts of information can be stored indefinitely.

developmental psychopathology

The field that uses insights into typical development to understand and remediate developmental disorders, and vice versa.

classification

The logical principle that things can be organized into groups (or categories or classes) according to some characteristic they have in common.

Classification

The logical principle that things can be organized into groups according to some characteristic they have in common. Appears by age 8.

body mass index (BMI)

The ratio of weight to height, calculated by dividing a person's body weight in kilograms by the square of his or her height in meters.

Flynn effect

The rise in average IQ scores that has occurred over the decades in many nations.

hidden curriculum

The unofficial, unstated, or implicit rules and priorities that influence the academic curriculum and every other aspect of learning in school.

Stanford-Binet test

This test was originally developed by the French psychologist Alfred Binet to identify children who were mentally retarded, in the hope that they could be protected from being beaten, shamed, or otherwise punished because they did not learn as fast as other children.

dyslexia

Unusual difficulty with reading; thought to be the result of some neurological underdevelopment

attention-deficit

hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (p. 263)/A condition in which a person is inattentive, impulsive, and overactive and thus has great difficulty concentrating for more than a few moments.

obesity

n an adult, having a BMI of 30 or more. In a child, having a BMI above the 95th percentile, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's 1980 standards for children of a given age.

bilingual education

proves that children can become fluent in two languages before puberty (at which point learning a new language becomes more difficult