Lifespan Development Ch 7. Early Childhood
Artistic ability in early childhood
Fine motor skills imagination culture affects expression of art Western - kid distinction asian - One size - no facial features
Motor Skill Development in Early Childhood
Gross Motor Skills: Walking, running, jumping, hopping Catching, throwing, swinging, riding Fine Motor Skills pouring water in a container Self-help: dressing, eating Drawing: line and circle, tadpole image 2 year old can run better than 1 year old but can't ride trike as good as 3 year old 4 yo doesn't struggle putting on clothes anymore
Zone of Proximal Development
In Vygotsky's theory, the range between children's present level of knowledge and their potential knowledge state if they receive proper guidance and instruction
How does a child's vocabulary expand?
A child's vocabulary expands between the ages of two to six from about 200 words to over 10,000 word
the literal meaning of a word
Children can repeat words and phrases after having heard them only once or twice, but they do not always understand the meaning of the words or phrases. This is especially true of expressions or figures of speech which are taken literally. Piece of cake
Information Processing and early childhood
During this time period there are improvements in attention skills, changes in the capacity and the emergence of executive functions in working memory. Additionally, in early childhood memory strategies, memory accuracy, and autobiographical memory emerge. Early childhood is seen by many researchers as a crucial time period in memory development
Components of Theory of Mind
*Diverse-desires* Understanding that two people may have different desires regarding the same object. *Diverse-beliefs* Understanding that two people may hold different beliefs about an object. *Knowledge access (knowledge/ignorance)* Understanding that people may or may not have access to information. *False belief* Understanding that someone might hold a belief based on false information. *Hidden emotion* Understanding that people may not always express their true emotions
What is the Austism Spectrum Disorder?
1 - 88 children have ASD Children with this disorder show signs of significant disturbances in three main areas: (a) deficits in social interaction, (b) deficits in communication, and (c) repetitive patterns of behavior or interests. These disturbances appear early in life and cause serious impairments in functioning
fast mapping
10 - 20 words per week Words are easily learned by making connections between new words and concepts already known
What is believed to be the reason for the increase in ASD?
Although it is difficult to interpret this increase, it is possible that the rise in prevalence is the result of the broadening of the diagnosis, increased efforts to identify cases in the community, and greater awareness and acceptance of the diagnosis. In addition, mental health professionals are now more knowledgeable about autism spectrum disorder and are better equipped to make the diagnosis, even in subtle cases
What happens if there is damage in the cortex?
An individual can loose control of some specific bodily functions, such as movement, vision, and hearing
Overregularization
Applying a grammatical rule too widely and thereby creating incorrect forms. "ed" to the end of a word to indicate past tense. Then form a sentence such as "I goed there. I doed that."
attention in early childhood
Attention is not a unified function; it is comprised of sub-processes Divided attention Selective attention Sustained attention
Brain growth
Between ages 3 and 6, the left hemisphere of the brain grows dramatically. This side of the brain or hemisphere is typically involved in language skills. The right hemisphere continues to grow throughout early childhood and is involved in tasks that require spatial skills, such as recognizing shapes and patterns
Overall growth during childhood
Children between the ages of two and six years tend to grow about 3 inches in height and gain about 4 to 5 pounds in weight each year the average 2 year-old weighs between 23 and 28 pounds and stands between 33 and 35 inches tall. The average 6 year-old weighs between 40 and 50 pounds and is about 44 to 47 inches in height. The 3 year-old is still very similar to a toddler with a large head, large stomach, short arms and legs. By the time the child reaches age 6, however, the torso has lengthened and body proportions have become more like those of adults Growth rate is slower but continuous than in infancy
What are some exampled of deficits in communication?
Communication deficits can range from a complete lack of speech, to one word responses (e.g., saying "Yes" or "No" when replying to questions or statements that require additional elaboration), to echoed speech (e.g., parroting what another person says, either immediately or several hours or even days later), to difficulty maintaining conversation because of an inability to reciprocate others' comments. These deficits can also include problems in using and understanding nonverbal cues (e.g., facial expressions, gestures, and postures) that facilitate normal communication
What are some aspects of being illogical?
Egocentricism Animism Classification Errors Conservation Errors
Sexual Development in Early Childhood
Infancy: Boys and girls are capable of erections and vaginal lubrication even before birth. Arousal can signal overall physical contentment and stimulation that accompanies feeding or warmth. Infants begin to explore their bodies and touch their genitals as soon as they have the sufficient motor skills. This stimulation is for comfort or to relieve tension rather than to reach orgasm Early Childhood: Self-stimulation is common in early childhood for both boys and girls. Curiosity about the body and about others' bodies is a natural part of early childhood as well. As children grow, they are more likely to show their genitals to siblings or peers, and to take off their clothes and touch each other. Masturbation is common for both boys and girls. Boys are often shown by other boys how to masturbate, but girls tend to find out accidentally. Additionally, boys masturbate more often and touch themselves more openly than do girls
What does spectrum mean in the ASD?
It is used to indicate that individuals with the disorder can show a range, or spectrum, of symptoms that vary in their magnitude and severity: Some severe, others less severe
What is thought to cause ASD?
Many different genes and gene mutations have been implicated in autism. Among the genes involved are those important in the formation of synaptic circuits that facilitate communication between different areas of the brain. A number of environmental factors are also thought to be associated with increased risk for autism spectrum disorder, at least in part, because they contribute to new mutations. These factors include exposure to pollutants, such as plant emissions and mercury, urban versus rural residence, and vitamin D deficiency no scientific evidence that a link exists between autism and vaccinations
What do older children use to improve their memory?
Mental strategies. simple rote rehearsal may be used to commit information to memory. Young children often do not rehearse unless reminded to do so Kindergartners use no mental strategies
episodic memory (explicit) Declarative memories
Our own personal life experience
What are some critiques of Piaget?
Piaget also underestimated the intellectual capabilities of the preoperational child. For example, children's specific experiences can influence when they are able to conserve. Children of pottery makers in Mexican villages know that reshaping clay does not change the amount of clay at much younger ages than children who do not have similar experiences Children are not as egocentric as Piaget thought
What is the difference between Piaget and Vygotsky view on learning?
Piaget thought that children must be given opportunities to discover concepts on their own. Vygotsky did not believe children could reach a higher cognitive level without instruction from more learned individuals.
Classification Errors
Preoperational children have difficulty understanding that an object can be classified in more than one way. For example, if shown three white buttons and four black buttons and asked whether there are more black buttons or buttons, the child is likely to respond that there are more black buttons. They do not consider the general class of buttons As the child's vocabulary improves and more schemata are developed, the ability to classify objects improves
What are some ways to develop healthy eating habits?
Recognize that appetite varies Keep it pleasant. No short order chefs Limit choices Serve balanced meals Don't bribe.
divided attention or multitasking
The ability to switch our focus between tasks or external stimuli Young children (age 3-4) have considerable difficulties in dividing their attention between two tasks, and often perform at levels equivalent to our closest relative, the chimpanzee, but by age five they have surpassed the chimp
Brain weight
The brain is about 75 percent its adult weight by three years of age. By age 6, it is at 95 percent its adult weight Myelination and the development of dendrites continue to occur in the cortex and as it does, we see a corresponding change in what the child is capable of doing. Greater development in the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain behind the forehead that helps us to think, strategize, and control attention and emotion, makes it increasingly possible to inhibit emotional outbursts and understand how to play games. Understanding the game, thinking ahead, and coordinating movement improve with practice and myelination.
What is Piaget's classic experiment with conservation?
The child is shown two glasses which are filled to the same level and asked if they have the same amount. Usually the child agrees they have the same amount. The experimenter then pours the liquid in one glass to a taller and thinner glass. The child is again asked if the two glasses have the same amount of liquid. The preoperational child will typically say the taller glass now has more liquid because it is taller. The child has centrated on the height of the glass and fails to conserve
What are some exampled of repetitive behaviors?
The child might engage in stereotyped, repetitive movements (rocking, head-banging, or repeatedly dropping an object and then picking it up), or she might show great distress at small changes in routine or the environment. For example, the child might throw a temper tantrum if an object is not in its proper place or if a regularly- scheduled activity is rescheduled. highly restricted and fixated interests that appear to be abnormal in their intensity. For instance, the child might learn and memorize every detail about something even though doing so serves no apparent purpose
short-term or working memory
The component of memory in which current conscious mental activity occurs. requires conscious effort and adequate use of attention to function effectively. As you read earlier, children in this age group struggle with many aspects of attention and this greatly diminishes their ability to consciously juggle several pieces of information in memory The typical adult and teenager can hold a 7 digit number active in their short-term memory. The typical 5 year-old can hold only a 4 digit number active. This means that the more complex a mental task is, the less efficient a younger child will be in paying attention to, and actively processing, information in order to complete the task
Neo-Piagetians
Theorists who have elaborated on Piaget's theory, giving more emphasis to how children use attention, memory, and strategies to process information. Neo-Piagetian theories believe in constructivism, assume cognitive development can be separated into different stages with qualitatively different characteristics, and advocate that children's thinking becomes more complex in advanced stages. Unlike Piaget, Neo-Piagetians believe that aspects of information processing change the complexity of each stage, not logic as determined by Piaget. propose that working memory capacity is affected by biological maturation, and therefore restricts young children's ability to acquire complex thinking and reasoning skills. Increases in working memory performance and cognitive skills development coincide with the timing of several neurodevelopmental processes. These include myelination, axonal and synaptic pruning, changes in cerebral metabolism, and changes in brain activity
How do children understand Theory of Mind
Two-year-olds understand the diversity of desires, 4 -5 what they know is what everyone else knows not until middle childhood do they understand that people may hide how they really feel. In part, because children in early childhood have difficulty hiding how they really feel. This awareness of the existence of theory of mind is part of social intelligence, such as recognizing that others can think differently about situations. It helps us to be self-conscious or aware that others can think of us in different ways and it helps us to be able to be understanding or be empathic toward others. Moreover, this mind reading ability helps us to anticipate and predict people's actions. The awareness of the mental states of others is important for communication and social skills.
Where is the corpus callosum located?
a couple of inches below the longitudinal fissure, which runs the length of the brain and separates the two cerebral hemispheres
Corpus Callosum
a dense band of fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain, contains approximately 200 million nerve fibers that connect the hemispheres The corpus callosum undergoes a growth spurt between ages 3 and 6, and this results in improved coordination between right and left hemisphere tasks
Piaget's Egocentric Speech
a practice engaged in because of a child's inability to see things from another's point of view
Head Start
a preschool program for children from low-income families that also provides healthcare, nutrition services, and social services It currently serves nearly one million children and annually costs approximately 7.5 billion dollars. However, concerns about the effectiveness of Head Start have been ongoing since the program began
Piaget's Preoperational Stage of Cognitive Development
age of 2 to 7 years children use symbols to represent words, images, and ideas, which is why children in this stage engage in pretend play Children also begin to use language in the preoperational stage, but they cannot understand adult logic or mentally manipulate information not logical
Semantic memories Declarative memories
are memories for facts and knowledge that are not tied to a timeline
declarative (explicit) memory
are memories for facts or events that we can consciously recollect Exam next week
non-declarative (implicit) memory
are typically automated skills that do not require conscious recollection Driving to soccer
Children's Art
at age 2 - 20 different type s of scribbles By age 3 they are using the basic structure of scribbles (and tadpoles) to create shapes and are beginning to combine these shapes to create more complex images. There are cultural differences to what kids are drawing By 4 or 5 children are creating images that are more recognizable representations of the world. These changes are a function of improvement in motor skills, perceptual development, and cognitive understanding
What are some exampled of deficits in social interaction
by not initiating conversations with other children or turning their head away when spoken to. These children do not make eye contact with others and seem to prefer playing alone rather than with others. In a certain sense, it is almost as though these individuals live in a personal and isolated social world others are simply not privy to or able to penetrate
What is the caloric intake for this period?
children between the ages of 2 and 3 need 1,000 to 1,400 calories, while children between the ages of 4 and 8 need 1,200 to 2,000 calories
Private Speech
children talk to themselves in order to solve problems or clarify thoughts. As children learn to think in words, they do so aloud before eventually closing their lips and engaging in inner speech. Thinking out loud eventually becomes thought accompanied by internal speech, and talking to oneself becomes a practice only engaged in when we are trying to learn something or remember something
Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development
culture has a major impact on a child's cognitive development the social interactions with adults and more learned peers can facilitate a child's potential for learning.
Asperger's disorder
generally recognized as a less severe form of autistic disorder; individuals diagnosed with Asperger's disorder were described as having average or high intelligence and a strong vocabulary, but exhibiting impairments in social interaction and social communication, such as talking only about their special interests Research has failed to demonstrate that Asperger's disorder differs qualitatively from autistic disorder
Centration
in Piaget's theory, the tendency of a young child to focus only on one feature of an object while ignoring other relevant features
Sensory memory
is the first stage of the memory system, and it stores sensory input in its raw form for a very brief duration; essentially long enough for the brain to register and start processing the information. Studies of auditory sensory memory have found that the sensory memory trace for the characteristics of a tone last about one second in 2 year-olds, two seconds in 3-year-olds, more than two seconds in 4-year-olds and three to five seconds in 6-year-olds
Theory-Theory
is the tendency of children to generate theories to explain everything they encounter. This concept implies that humans are naturally inclined to find reasons and generate explanations for why things occur. Children frequently ask question about what they see or hear around them. When the answers provided do not satisfy their curiosity or are too complicated for them to understand, they generate their own theories
Thought Substage Preoperational
lasting from 4 to 7 years, is marked by greater dependence on intuitive thinking rather than just perception. At this stage, children ask many questions as they attempt to understand the world around them using immature reasoning.
Pretend play
make-believe activities in which children create new symbolic relations, acting as if they were in a situation different from their actual one helps children solidify new schemata they were developing cognitively. This play, then, reflected changes in their conceptions or thoughts
Symbolic Function Substage Preoperational
occurs between 2 and 4 years of age and is characterized by the child being able to mentally represent an object that is not present and a dependence on perception in problem solving
Selective attention
our ability to focus on a single task or stimulus, while ignoring distracting information Children's ability with selective attention tasks improve as they age. However, this ability is also greatly influenced by the child's temperament, the complexity of the stimulus or task, and along with whether the stimuli are visual or auditory
Animism
refers to attributing life-like qualities to objects. The cup is alive, the chair that falls down and hits the child's ankle is mean, and the toys need to stay home because they are tired.
Operational
refers to logical manipulation of information, so children at this stage are considered pre-operational. Children's logic is based on their own personal knowledge of the world so far, rather than on conventional knowledge
Central Executive
refers to self-regulatory processes, such as the ability to inhibit a behavior or cognitive flexibility, that enable adaptive responses to new situations or to reach a specific goal. Executive function skills gradually emerge during early childhood and continue to develop throughout childhood and adolescence A child, whose parents are more warm and responsive, use scaffolding when the child is trying to solve a problem, and who provide cognitively stimulating environments for the child show higher executive function skills
Conservation
refers to the ability to recognize that moving or rearranging matter does not change the quantity focus on appearance
Theory of mind
refers to the ability to think about other people's thoughts. This mental mind reading helps humans to understand and predict the reactions of others, thus playing a crucial role in social development. One common method for determining if a child has reached this mental milestone is the false belief task - is the ball in the basket or the box. To be successful at solving this type of task the child must separate what he or she "knows" to be true from what someone else might "think" is true. In Piagetian terms, they must give up a tendency toward egocentrism. The child must also understand that what guides people's actions and responses are what they "believe" rather than what is reality.
Neuroplasticity
refers to the brain's ability to change its structure and function in response to experience or damage. Neuroplasticity enables us to learn and remember new things and adjust to new experience. Our brains are the most plastic when we are young but can be observed in adults
Egocentrism
refers to the tendency of young children not to be able to take the perspective of others, and instead the child thinks that everyone sees, thinks, and feels just as they do. An egocentric child is not able to infer the perspective of other people and instead attributes his own perspective to situations. By age 7 children are less self-centered.
Why do children behave in a ritualistic way?
ritualistic behaviors seem to bring a sense of security and general reduction in childhood fears and anxiety
Scaffolding
temporary support that is tailored to a learner's needs and abilities and aimed at helping the learner master the next task in a given learning process
Transductive
that is, making faulty inferences from one specific example to another. For example, Piaget's daughter Lucienne stated she had not had her nap, therefore it was not afternoon
autobiographical memory
the memory for events and facts related to one's personal life story
clustering rehearsal
the person rehearses previous material while adding in additional information. If a list of words is read out loud to you, you are likely to rehearse each word as you hear it along with any previous words you were given. Young children will repeat each word they hear, but often fail to repeat the prior words in the list
Encopresis
the repeated passage of feces into inappropriate places (involuntary or intentional) Around 1% of 5 year olds have encopresis, and it is more common in males than females.
Enuresis
the repeated voiding of urine into bed or clothes (involuntary or intentional) The prevalence of enuresis is 5%-10% for 5 year-olds, 3%-5% for 10 year-olds and approximately 1% for those 15 years of age or older.
Nutritional Concerns
those in early childhood have a smaller appetite, their parents may notice a general reticence to try new foods, or a preference for certain foods, often served or eaten in a particular way. Malnutrition is not common in developed nations like the United States, yet many children lack a balanced diet. Added sugars and solid fats contribute to 40% of daily calories for children and teens in the US. Approximately half of these empty calories come from six sources: soda, fruit drinks, dairy desserts, grain desserts, pizza, and whole milk
Sleep
two year-olds may still need 15-16 hours per day, while a six year-old may only need 7-8 hours.
Sustained attention
typically ask children to spend several minutes focusing on one task, while waiting for an infrequent event, while there are multiple distractors for several minutes. The younger the child, the more difficulty he or she had maintaining their attention
Toilet Training
typically occurs during the first two years of early childhood (24-36 months). Some children show interest by age 2, but others may not be ready until months later. The average age for girls to be toilet trained is 29 months and for boys it is 31 months, and 98% of children are trained by 36 months
long-term memory
which is also known as permanent memory Divided into declarative/explicit memory and non-declarative/implicit memory
