Chapter 8Child Development

Physical Development in Preschool Years

Caprice Paduano, SPSCC

Chapter 8 Key Questions

• What changes in the body and the brain do children experience in the preschool years?

• What are the nutritional needs of preschool children, and what causes obesity?

• What threats to their health and wellness do preschool children experience?

• What are child abuse and psychological maltreatment, what factors contribute to them, and can anything be done about them?

Chapter 8 Key Questions

• In what ways do children’s gross and fine motor skills develop during the preschool years?

• How do handedness and artistic expression develop during these years?

The Growing Body

• Two years after birth, the average child in the U.S. weighs 25 to 30 pounds and is close to 36 inches tall—around half the height of the average adult.

• Children grow steadily during the preschool period, and by the time they are 6 years old, they weigh, on average, about 46 pounds and stand 46 inches tall.

Individual Differences in Height and Weight

• Statistical averages mask great individual differences in height and weight.

• Global economics also affect these averages.

• Differences in height and weight reflect economic factors within the United States as well.

Changes in Body Shapeand Structure

• During the preschool years, boys and girls become less chubby and roundish and grow more slender.

• Children grow stronger as their muscle size increases and their bones become sturdier.

• The sense organs continue their development.

The Growing Brain

• The brain grows at a faster rate than does any other part of the body.

• Myelin Protective insulation that surrounds parts of neurons

• By the end of the preschool period, some parts of the brain have undergone particularly significant growth. (corpus callosum)

Brain Lateralization

• The two halves of the brain also begin to become increasingly differentiated and specialized.

• Lateralization The process whereby certain functions are located more in one hemisphere of the brain than in the other

• Although there is some specialization of the hemispheres, in most respects the two hemispheres act in tandem, and the brain is resilient.

The Links Between Brain Growth and Cognitive Development

• Neuroscientists are just beginning to understand the ways in which brain development is related to cognitive development.

• It appears that there are periods during childhood in which the brain shows unusual growth spurts, which are linked to advances in cognitive abilities.

• Other research suggests increases in myelin may be related to preschooler’s growing cognitive capabilities.

Sensory Development

• The increasing development of the brain permits improvements in the senses during the preschool period.

• Preschool-age children gradually shift the way they view objects made up of multiple parts.

Sensory Development

• Preschoolers’ judgments of objects may reflect the way in which their eyes move when perceiving figures.

• One area in which preschoolers’ auditory acuity does show some deficits is isolating specific sounds when many sounds are heard simultaneously

Sleep

• Although most children settle down fairly easily and drift off into sleep, for some, sleep presents a real problem.

• Nightmare A vivid bad dream, usually occurring toward morning

• Night terror An intense physiological arousal that causes a child to awaken in a state of panic

Health and Wellness

• The majority of U.S. children are quite healthy during this period.

• The major threats to a child’s health and wellness come not from disease but, as we will see, from injuries due to accidents.

Nutrition: Eating the Right Foods

• Because the rate of growth during the preschool period is slower than during infancy, preschoolers need less food to maintain their growth.

• Obesity A body weight more than 20% higher than the average weight for a person of a given age and height

• Parents’ best strategy to deter obesity is to make sure that a variety of foods, low in fat and high in nutritional content, is available.

Minor Illnesses of Preschoolers

• Minor illnesses may offer some unexpected benefits: – help children build up immunity to more severe

illnesses– help children to understand their bodies better– help learn coping skills – ability to better understand what others who are

sick are going through• This ability to put oneself in another’s shoes,

known as empathy, may teach children to be more sympathetic and better caretakers.

Major Illnesses

• Socioeconomic factors prevent some children from getting good health care

• Members of minority groups, which tend to have less disposable income, suffer from inferior care

Cancer and AIDS

• The most frequent major illness to strike preschoolers is cancer, particularly in the form of leukemia.

• Due to advances in treatment, more than 70% of victims of childhood leukemia survive.

• Regarding AIDS, treatment options are expanding and the number of cases in children is declining due to increasing use of drugs.

Reactions to Hospitalization

• The most frequent reaction of 2- to 4-year-olds is anxiety, most typically brought about by the separation from their parents.

• Hospitals can deal with these anxieties by allowing a parent to stay with the child for lengthy periods of time or to spend the night on a cot in the child’s room.

Emotional Illness

• Increasing number of children are being treated with drugs for emotional disorders such as depression.

• In fact, the use of drugs such as antidepressants and stimulants has grown significantly.

Injuries: Playing It Safe

• Before age 10, children have twice the likelihood of dying from an injury than from an illness.

• The danger of injuries during the preschool years involves children’s high levels of physical activity; also, some children are more apt to take risks.

• Parents and caregivers of preschoolers can take several precautions to prevent injuries.

Lead Poisoning Risk

• Children face risks from poisonous substances such as household cleaners and lead paint.

• 14 million children are at risk for lead poisoning due to exposure to potentially toxic levels of lead.

• Poor children are particularly susceptible to lead poisoning.

Reducing the Risks

• Although we can never completely prevent exposure to dangerous substances such as lead, accidents, and injuries, the risks can be reduced.

• Adults need to concentrate on “injury control” rather than focus on preventing “accidents,” which implies a random act in which no one is at fault.

Child Abuse and Psychological Maltreatment: The Grim Side

of Family Life

• Child abuse The physical or psychological maltreatment or neglect of children

• The abuse takes several forms, ranging from actual physical abuse to psychological mistreatment.

Physical Abuse

• Child abuse can occur in any household, regardless of economic well-being or the social status of the parents. It is most frequent in families living in stressful environments.

• Poverty, single-parenthood, and higher than average levels of marital conflict help create such environments.

• Table 8-1 lists some of the warning signs of abuse.

Warning Signs of Child Abuse

Physical Abuse

• Most parents who abuse their children later express bewilderment and regret about their own behavior.

• Cycle-of-violence hypothesis The theory that abuse and neglect that children suffer predispose them as adults to abuse and neglect their own children

• Violence may be perpetuated from one generation to another.

Psychological Maltreatment

• Psychological maltreatment Harm to children’s behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or physical functioning that is caused by parents or other caregivers who use verbal or psychological abuse, hurtful actions, exploitation, or neglect

• Child neglect Ignoring one’s children or being emotionally unresponsive to them

Psychological Maltreatment

• Some children are sufficiently resilient to survive the abuse and will grow into psychologically healthy adults.

• In many cases, however, lasting damage results.

Resilience: Overcoming the Odds

• Resilience The ability to overcome circumstances that place a child at high risk for psychological or physical damage

• Resilient children tend to have temperaments that evoke positive responses from a wide variety of caregivers.

Resilience: Overcoming the Odds

• The characteristics of resilient children suggest ways to improve the prospects of children who are at risk from a variety of developmental threats.

Keeping Preschoolers Healthy

• Well-balanced diet

• Proper sleep

• Avoid contact with others who are ill

• Immunizations (Table 8-2)

Vaccines and Immunization

Gross Motor Skills

• By 3 years old, children have mastered a variety of skills: jumping, hopping on one foot, skipping, and running.

• By 4 and 5, their skills have become honed as they have gained greater control over their muscles.

• Table 8-3 summarizes major gross motor skills that emerge during the preschool years.

Major Gross Motor Skills

Activity Level

• The advances in gross motor skills are related to brain development and myelination of neurons in areas of the brain related to balance and coordination.

• Despite generally high activity levels, there are also significant variations among children.

• Some differences are related to inherited temperament.

Fine Motor Skills

• At the same time that gross motor skills are developing, children are progressing in their ability to use fine motor skills, which involve smaller, more delicate body movements.

• Fine motor skills show clear developmental patterns (Table 8-4)

Fine Motor Skills

Potty Wars: When—and How—Should Children Be Toilet Trained?

• The current guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics suggest that there is no single time to begin toilet training and that training should begin only when children show that they are ready.

• There are a number of signs of readiness that can be helpful to parents.

• Children must be ready not only physically but also emotionally, and if they show strong signs of resistance to toilet training, toilet training should be put off.

Handedness: Separating Righties From Lefties

• Handedness A clear preference for the use of one hand over the other

• By the age of 5, most children display a clear tendency to use one hand over the other, with 90% being right-handed and 10% left-handed.

• Some evidence exists that left-handedness may be associated with certain advantages.

Art: The Picture of Development

• Developmentalists suggest that art plays an important role in honing fine motor skills and several other aspects of development.

• Children learn the importance of planning, restraint, and self-correction.

• Researchers suggest that children’s art proceeds through a series of stages during the preschool years: scribbling, shape, design, and pictorial.