Physical and Developmental Changes in Children

Physical Development

• Girls retain more fatty tissue than boys
• Tooth decay is a common chronic issue in children
• Access to proper dental care is crucial for young children
• Recommended daily caloric intake for 9-13 year olds varies by gender and activity level (1400-2600)
• Average sleep for children is 10 hours
• Factors affecting sleep include screen exposure, physical inactivity, and secondhand smoke
• Persistent snoring (at least 3x/week) may indicate sleep-disordered breathing, impacting behavior and learning
• Improved information processing and distraction avoidance are seen in children
• Gray matter volume peaks earlier in girls (1-2 years)
• Gray matter density increases pre-puberty and decreases post-puberty

Middle and Late Childhood

• Middle and late childhood span from 6-12 years of age

• Important aspects of this stage include:

  • verbal expression (counting, jumping rope)
  • Rough-and-tumble play
  • Body image becomes important, potentially leading to eating disorders (especially in girls)

• Factors influencing children's obesity include genetics and poor diet.

• Common acute illnesses include infections and warts

• Chronic medical conditions can include asthma or diabetes affecting respiration.

• Diabetes is a common condition that can be a result of a defective insulin production or ineffective insulin action

Cognitive Development

• Concrete Operational Stage (7 years): logical thinking, considering multiple aspects of situations, real world application
• Children can understand spatial concepts and causality in the present
• Categorization, seriation (ordering), and transitive inferences (A<B<C) are understood
• Inductive and deductive reasoning becomes more sophisticated.

Language and Literacy

• Children use more precise verbs, metaphors, and similes
• Sentence structure becomes more complex
• Girls tend to express themselves in a more tentative and cooperative manner.

Child in School

• Children's belief in their abilities (efficacy) increases with success in school.
• Self-efficacy grows with success in school, helping children to be more confident in their abilities.
• Girls generally do better in school than boys.

Educating Children with Special Needs

• Intellectual disability is characterized by significant subnormal cognitive functioning.
• Intervention programs support those with mild or moderate disabilities or those on the borderline to hold jobs, live in the community, and be socially successful.

Learning Disabilities

• Dyslexia (difficulty reading/spelling), dysgraphia (difficulty with handwriting), and dyscalculia (difficulty with arithmetic) are common learning disabilities
• Symptoms of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) include inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity
• Autism spectrum disorder may be pervasive or mild
• Symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder include defiant, disobedience, and hostility towards adults.
• Symptoms of conduct disorder are aggressive and antisocial behaviors.

Psychosocial Development: Self

• Children develop a self-concept, an overall picture of their abilities and characteristics, with a more generalized, trait-based understanding.
• Self-esteem is a self-evaluative element in one's self-concept which can influence judgments about their worth.

Psychosocial Development: Child in the Peer Group

• Peer groups are fundamental for children's social development
• Children learn how to adjust needs within the group.
• Children can evaluate their capabilities and gain confidence.
• Prejudice can affect children negatively.
• Girls participate more in cross-gender activities than boys.
• Socially popular children and rejected children are distinct categories.

Psychosocial Development: Child in the Family

• Coregulation is a shared parental-child power dynamic.
• Children are more likely to follow parents' wishes if parents are perceived to be fair and caring.
• Family conflict can affect children negatively, leading to various reactions.

Moral Development

• Kohlberg's stages of moral development delineate how children view right and wrong.
• Pre-conventional morality is characterized by a focus on consequences (rewards and punishments).
• Conventional reasoning emphasizes social approval and established norms.
• Post-conventional reasoning suggests that morality is more deeply internalised.

This quiz covers the physical development and growth patterns in middle and late childhood, particularly from ages 6 to 12. It explores key aspects such as body composition, sleep patterns, and cognitive development related to gray matter changes. Test your knowledge on how various factors impact children's health and well-being during these formative years.