Chapter 11 Flashcards
1
Q
Growth Patterns
A
- gains in height and weight are steady throughout
- 2 inches in height per year
- 5 to 7 pounds per year - growth spurt: a period during which growth advances at a dramatically rapid rate compared with other periods
2
Q
Nutrition and Growth
A
- in middle childhood, average body weight doubles
- need more calories throughout the day
-average 4- to 6-year-old needs 1,400 to
1,800
-average 7- to 10-year-old needs 2,000 - nutrition and social class are connected
- two studies were done with African-
American mothers and their daughters
- daughters living at the poverty line
were fed diets high in fats and fast food
- middle-class mothers encouraged
physical activity and limited
consumption of snack foods and
sugary drinks - encouraged water
3
Q
Sex Similarities and Differences in Physical Growth
A
- boys tend to be heavier and taller than girls through ages 9 or 10
- at ages 13 or 14, girls have their growth
spurts and surpass boys in height and
weight - the gain in height and weight during middle childhood is paralleled by an increase in muscular strength for boys and girls
- the proportions of fat and muscle are about the same for boys and girls up until age 11
- males develop more muscle tissue
- females develop more fatty tissue
4
Q
Overweight - Children
A
- The American Heart Association defines being overweight not only in terms of weight but also in terms of body composition - amount of muscle and fatty tissue
- 1 in 6 (16% to 17%) to 1 in 4
(25%) children and adolescents in the
United States are overweight - most overweight children become overweight adults
- 40% of normal weight boys become
overweight adults - 20% of normal weight girls become
overweight adults
- 40% of normal weight boys become
- overweight adolescents are more likely to develop a number of health problems
- depression
- anxiety
- high blood pressure
- hardening of the arteries
- type 2 diabetes
- fatty liver disease
- ovary disorders
- abnormal breathing patterns during sleep
- can accelerate the development of heart disease in adulthood
5
Q
Overweight - Causes
A
- runs in families - heredity plays a role
- research shows that identical twins have a
similar body weight in
adulthood whether they were
reared together or apart - adipose tissue: fat cells
- weight has also been related to the
amount of adipose tissue that we have and
how much we inherit
- influences our hunger drive - environmental factors also play a role
- overweight parents – models of poor
exercise habits and may encourage over
eating and keep the wrong types of food in
the house
- TV watching – not encouraged to play
outside and usually eat while watching the
shows
- stress – severe stressors (bickering in the
home, divorce, birth of a sibling, etc.)
6
Q
Overweight - Helping Children Manage Weight
A
- childhood is the optimal time to prevent or reverse being overweight because it is easiest to promote a lifetime pattern of healthy behaviors
- cognitive behavioral methods
- improving nutritional knowledge
- reducing calories
- introducing exercise
- modifying behavior
7
Q
Motor Development - Gross Motor Skills and Fine Motor Skills
A
- gross motor skills
- throughout middle childhood
children show steady
improvement in their ability to perform
various gross motor skills
- muscles are growing stronger
- the pathways that connect the
cerebellum to the cortex are becoming
increasingly myelinated
- reaction time: the amount of time
required to respond to a stimulus
- gradually improves from early
childhood to about age 18 - fine motor skills
- small tasks like tying their shoes and
holding a pencil properly develop
- other tasks like holding utensils and
brushing their teeth improve during this
time
8
Q
Motor Development - Sex Similarities and Differences
A
- similarities
- both boys and girls
throughout middle childhood
perform similarly in most motor activities - differences
- boys show slightly greater overall
strength, and more specifically forearm
strength
- girls show greater limb coordination and
overall flexibility - research shows that differences between the sexes are not attributed to biological variables
- boys are more likely to be encouraged to
participate in sports
- more opportunities and support
- “tomboy” behavior in girls isn’t socially
acceptable in adolescence compared to
middle childhood
- girls begin to drift away and become
less interested because of social norms
9
Q
Children with Disorders
A
- certain disorders are noticed during the middle childhood years
- sitting still, paying attention,
and mastering academic skills are now
introduced and can bring many disorders
to light
- ADHD
- autism spectrum disorders
- childhood anxiety/depression
- conduct disorders
- visual impairments
- hearing impairments
- speech disorders
10
Q
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
A
- attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder ADHD: a behavior disorder characterized by developmentally inappropriate or excessive inattention impulsiveness and hyperactivity
- hyperactivity: excessive restlessness and overactivity; one of the primary problems in ADHD
- the degree of hyperactive behavior is
crucial - onset of ADHD occurs by age 7
- according to the American Psychiatric
Association, the behavior must have
persisted for at least 6 months for the
diagnosis to be made - ADHD impairs the child’s ability to function in school
- cannot sit still
- difficulty getting along with others - it is diagnosed in about 1% to 5% of children
- more common in boys than girls
11
Q
Causes of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
A
- genetic component to the disorder
- runs in families
- might involve the manner in which the
brain processes the neurotransmitter
dopamine
- brain imaging studies support the
probability that many genes are
involved and that they affect the
regulation of dopamine - coexists with other psychological disorders and problems
- oppositional defiant disorder
- anxiety disorders
- mood disorders
- tics
- brain imaging have found differences
in the brain chemistry of children with
ADHD and children with ADHD plus
other disorders - in the 1970s many believed that artificial food colorings and food preservatives were to blame for hyperactivity
- Benjamin Feingold argued they were the
cause
- the “Feingold diet”
- prohibited foods containing those
chemicals
- according to Feingold and a few
researchers, it reduced
hyperactivity in children who
followed it - Joel T. Nigg believes that ADHD is caused by inhibitory processes that do not work efficiently
- children with ADHD do not inhibit, or
control, impulses that most children are
capable of controlling
- Nigg believes the disorder has more to
do with the lack of executive control
12
Q
Treatment and Outcome of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
A
- stimulants: drugs that increase the activity of the nervous system
- promote the activity of the
neurotransmitters dopamine
and noradrenaline which
stimulate the “executive center” of the
brain to control more primitive areas of the
brain
- increases in attention span
- improved cognitive and academic
performance
- reduction of disruptive behavior
- use of stimulants is controversial
- suppressed gains in height and
weight
- don’t contribute to academic gains
- lose effectiveness overtime
- overused or misused - cognitive behavioral therapy
- shows some promise in treating children
with ADHD
- attempts to increase the child’s self-
control and problem-solving abilities
through modeling, role-playing, and self-
instruction - many children with ADHD “outgrow” it, however they may exhibit at least one of the core symptoms of ADHD in adolescence and adulthood
13
Q
Learning Disorders - Dyslexia
A
- Learning disorder: a group of disorders characterized by inadequate development by specific academic, language, and speech skills
- dyslexia: a reading disorder
characterized by problems such as letter
reversals, mirror reading, slow reading,
and reduced comprehension
- affects 5% to 17.5% of
American children
- more common in boys
- treatment involves
remediation
- given highly structured
exercises to
become aware of how to blend
sounds to form words
- later in life, the focus shifts to
accommodation rather than
remediation
- in college, young
adults may be
given more time to finish an exam - children with a learning disorder may show problems in math, writing, or reading
- some may also have difficulties in
articulating sounds of speech or in
understanding spoken language
- others can also have problems in motor
coordination - usually diagnosed when they’re performing poorly in school with no evidence of a handicap (visually impaired, hearing impaired, intellectual deficiency, or socioeconomic disadvantage)
- more likely to have ADHD
- as adolescents and adults, develop
schizophrenia
- poor social skills, behavioral problems,
and emotional problems - can persist through life
- if caught early children can overcome
and maybe compensate for their disorder
14
Q
Origins of Dyslexia
A
- sensory and neurological problems may contribute, but genetics may also be involved
- runs in families
- 25% to 65% of children with at least one
parent with dyslexia are dyslexic
themselves - 40% of the siblings of children with
dyslexia are also dyslexic
- 25% to 65% of children with at least one
- genetic factors may increase
neurological problems- “faulty wiring” or
circulation problems in the
left hemisphere of the brain
– involved with language
functions
- “faulty wiring” or
- brain abnormalities pose a risk
for schizophrenia and overall
vulnerability to cognitive
deficiencies
- runs in families
- children can have difficultly controlling eye movements
- most researchers focus on dyslexic
individual’s phonological processing – the
way in which they make, or don’t make,
sense of sounds
- most researchers focus on dyslexic
- double-deficit hypothesis: the theory of dyslexia which suggests that dyslexic children have biological deficits in phonological processing (interpreting sounds) and in naming speeds (identifying letters – such as b versus d, or w versus m)
15
Q
Educating Children with Disorders
A
- special education programs have been created to meet the needs of schoolchildren
- mainstreaming: placing disabled children in classrooms with non-disabled children
- avoids stigmatizing and segregating
children with disabilities
