Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood PDF

Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood CHAPTER 7  2 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT Aspects of Physical Development BODILY GROWTH AND CHANGE Physical growth continues during th...

Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood CHAPTER 7  2 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT Aspects of Physical Development BODILY GROWTH AND CHANGE Physical growth continues during the years from 3 to 6, but more slowly than during infancy and toddlerhood. Boys are on average slightly taller, heavier, and more muscular than girls. Internal body systems are maturing. Sleep patterns change during early childhood, as throughout life, and are affected by cultural expectations. Occasional sleepwalking, sleep terrors, and nightmares are common, but persistent sleep problems may indicate emotional disturbances. 3  4 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT Most children stay dry, day and night, by age 3 to 5, but enuresis, repeated, involuntary urination at night by children old enough to be expected to have bladder control, is not unusual. Bed-wetting is usually outgrown without special help BRAIN DEVELOPMENT Brain development continues steadily throughout childhood and affects motor development. The corpus callosum is a thick band of nerve fibers that connects both hemispheres of the brain and allows them to communicate more rapidly and effectively with each other, allowing improved coordination of the senses, attention and arousal, and speech and hearing.  5 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT MOTOR SKILLS Children progress rapidly in gross and fine motor skills, developing more complex systems of action. The gross motor skills developed during early childhood are the basis for sports, dancing, and other activities that often begin in middle childhood. poor motor coordination has been associated with an increased risk of obesity or overweight Fine motor skills, such as buttoning shirts and drawing pictures, involve eye- hand and small-muscle coordination. Gains in these skills allow young children to take more responsibility for their personal care.  6 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT  7 HEALTH AND SAFETY The prevalence of obesity among preschoolers has increased. Undernutrition can affect all aspects of development. Children’s oral health can be improved when they are provided with regular dental care and fluoride supplements. Food allergies are becoming increasingly common. Environmental factors such as exposure to poverty, homelessness, smoking, air pollution, and pesticides increase the risks of illness or injury. Lead poisoning can have serious physical, cognitive, and behavioral effects.  8 Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child  9 Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child In Piaget’s theory, the second major stage of cognitive development, in which symbolic thought expands but children cannot yet use logic effectively SYMBOLIC FUNCTION Piaget’s term for ability to use mental representations (words, numbers, or images) to which a child has attached meaning. PRETEND PLAY involving imaginary people and situations; also called fantasy play, dramatic play, or imaginative play Symbolic development helps preoperational children make more accurate judgments of spatial relationships. They can link cause and effect with regard to familiar situations, understand the concept of identity, categorize, compare quantities, and understand principles of counting.  10 Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child According to Piaget, young children center so much on their own point of view that they cannot take in another’s – EGOCENTRISM  11 Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child CONSERVATION Piaget’s term for awareness that two objects that are equal according to a certain measure remain equal in the face of perceptual alteration so long as nothing has been added to or taken away from either object.  12 Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child THEORY OF MIND, which develops markedly between ages 3 and 5, includes awareness of a child’s own thought processes, social cognition, understanding that people can hold false beliefs, ability to deceive, ability to distinguish appearance from reality, and ability to distinguish fantasy from reality. Maturational and environmental influences affect individual differences in theory-of-mind development.  13 Information-Processing Approach: Memory Information-processing models describe three steps in memory: encoding, storage, and retrieval.  14 Information-Processing Approach: Memory Although sensory memory shows little change with age, the capacity of working memory increases greatly. The central executive controls the flow of information to and from long-term memory. SENSORY MEMORY INITIAL, brief, temporary storage of sensory information. WORKING MEMORY Short-term storage of information being actively processed. LONG-TERM MEMORY Storage of virtually unlimited capacity that holds information for long periods. At all ages, recognition is better than recall, but both increase during early childhood.  15 Information-Processing Approach: Memory RETAINING CHILDHOOD MEMORIES GENERIC MEMORY produces scripts of familiar routines to guide behavior. EPISODIC MEMORY Long-term memory of specific experiences or events, linked to time and place. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY memories of distinctive experiences that form a person’s life history  16 Information-Processing Approach: Memory SOCIAL INTERACTION MODEL based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, that proposes children construct autobiographical memories through conversation with adults about shared events.  17 Intelligence: Psychometric and Vygotskian Approaches The two most commonly used psychometric intelligence tests for young children are the Stanford- Binet Intelligence Scales and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Revised (WPPSI- IV). Intelligence test scores may be influenced by a number of factors, including the home environment and SES.  18 Intelligence: Psychometric and Vygotskian Approaches According to Vygotsky, children learn by internalizing the results of interactions with adults. This interactive learning is most effective in helping children cross the zone of proximal development (ZPD) The ZPD, in combination with the related concept of scaffolding, can help parents and teachers more efficiently guide children’s cognitive progress. Scaffolding is the supportive assistance that a more sophisticated interaction partner provides, and ideally it should be aimed at the ZPD  19 Language Development FAST MAPPING, which allows a child to pick up the approximate meaning of a new word after hearing it only once or twice in conversation During early childhood, vocabulary increases greatly, and grammar and syntax become fairly sophisticated. Children become more competent in pragmatics. Causes of delayed language development are unclear. If untreated, language delays may have serious cognitive, social, and emotional consequences. EMERGENT LITERACY Preschoolers’ development of skills, knowledge, and attitudes that underlie reading and writing. Interaction with adults can promote emergent literacy Well-designed, age-appropriate programming is associated with enhanced cognitive development.  20 Early Childhood Education Pre-school ○ MONTESSORI METHOD is based on the belief that children’s natural intelligence involves rational, spiritual, and empirical aspects ○ THE REGGIO EMILIA APPROACH Teachers follow children’s interests and support them in exploring and investigating ideas and feelings through words, movement, dramatic play, and music.