Chapter 9: Middle Childhood - Physical & Cognitive Development Flashcards
What is a ‘growth spurt?’
A period during which growth advances at a dramatically rapid rate compared with other periods.
What is ‘reaction time?’
The amount of time required to respond to a stimulus.
What is ‘attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)?’
A disorder characterized by excessive inattention, impulsiveness, and hyperactivity. Not all children with this disorder are hyperactive. Many children with the disorder have social difficulties due to their unique constellations of symptoms.
* 5% to 12% of school age children
* More physically active, impulsive, and/or less attentive
What are treatment methods for children with ADHD?
- Children are sometimes treated with stimulants, which trigger the cerebral cortex to inhibit more primitive brain areas (dopamine and noradrenaline)
- CBT: 50% of people with ADHD also experience anxiety or depression
- Behavioural modification: shaping appropriate behaviour by using rewards, such as praise, privilege, token system
- Parenting training
What is commonly misdiagnosed as ADHD?
Traumatic stress;
What is ‘hyperactivity?’
Excessive restlessness and overactivity; characteristic of ADHD
What are ‘stimulants?’
Drugs that increase the activity of the nervous system.
What are ‘learning disabilities?’
Disorders that are characterized by inadequate development of specific academic, language, and speech skills.
What is ‘dyslexia?’
A reading disorder characterized by letter reversal, mirror reading, slow reading, and reduced comprehension.
Affects phonological processing
* Difficulty in processing and remembering information
What are contributing factors to someone having dyslexia?
- Strong genetic component; leads to neurological and circulation problems in the left hemisphere of the brain, causing o2 deficiency;
- Problems with the angular gyrus might give rise to problems as it makes it harder to associate letters with sounds
- Phonological processing = impaired, harder to discriminate between sounds
What does ‘classroom inclusion’ refer to?
Placing children with disabilities in classrooms with children without disabilities.
What are ‘concrete operations?’
The third stage is Piaget’s scheme, characterized by flexible, reversible thought converting tangible objects and events.
* Thought to be reversible and flexible: adding numbers 2+5 = 5 is an operation. Subtracting 5-2 = 3 is the reverse of the operation. Subtracting 5-3 =2 demonstrates flexibility.
*Children engage in decentration (they can focus on multiple parts of a problem at once; they can now understand that a wide glass holds the same amount as a tall class bc they can focus on the two dimension height and width)
* ages 7 -12 years
* Generally focus on tangible objects rather than abstract ideas - why it is called “concrete.”
What are examples of ‘concrete operations?’
- Decentration
- Transitivity
- Seriation
- Class inclusion
What is ‘class inclusion’ refer to?
A skill acquired in the concrete operational stage of Piaget’s cognitive development theory in which individuals can mentally process classes of objects and the relationships between their subcategories simultaneously.
* Classes being such things as ‘animals’ and sub-classes being such things as ‘dogs and cats’
What are the differents between a child in the ‘pre-operational stage’ and the ‘concrete operational stage?’
- Conservation: concrete children show an understanding of the laws of conservation: they know that objects can have several properties or dimensions; in the clay ball demonstration, they recognize that the loss in height compensates for the gain in width
- Class exclusion: concrete children can focus on subclasses and larger classes; in the animal demonstration, they are able to answer that there are more animals (Q: 6 dogs and 4 cats, are there more annals or dogs?) while pre-operational children answer more dogs
What does ‘decentration’ refer to?
Simultaneous focusing on more than one aspect or dimension of a problem or situation.
What does ‘transitivity’ refer to?
The principle that if A > B, and B > C, then A > C
What does ‘seriation’ refer to?
Placing objects in an order of series according to a property or trait.
What does the ‘pre-conventional level’ refer to?
According to Kohlberg, a period during which moral judgments are based largely on expectations of rewards and punishments.
* Stage 1: Judgements are guided by obedience and the prospect of consequences (punishment)
* Stage 2: Naively egotistic, instrumental orientation (thins are right when they satisfy people’s needs)
What does the ‘conventional level’ refer to?
According to Kohlberg, a period during which moral judgment largely reflects social rules and conventions.
* Stage 3: Good boy/good girl orientation (moral behaviour helps others and is socially approved)
*Stage 4: Law and order orientation (moral behaviour is doing one’s duty and showing respect for authority)
What does the ‘post-conventional level’ refer to?
According to Kohlberg, a period during which moral judgement is derived from moral principles, and people look to themselves to see moral standards.
* Stage 5: contractual, legalities orientation (one must weigh pressing human needs against sociality’s need to maintain social order)
* Stage 6: universal ethical principles orientation (people must follow universal ethical principles and their conscience, even if it means breaking the law)
What is ‘sensory memory?’
The structure of memory is first encountered by sensory input; information is maintained in sensory memory for only a fraction of a second.
What is ‘short-term memory?’
The structure of a memory that can hold a sensory stimulus for up to 30 seconds.
* improvement in efficient use of short-term memory in middle childhood
What does ‘encode’ refer to?
To transform sensory input into a form that is more easily processed.
What does ‘rehearsing’ refer to?
Repeating that aids in recall.
What is ‘long-term memory?’
The memory structure capable of relatively permanent storage of information.
What does ‘elaborative strategy’ refer to?
A method for increasing retention of new information by relating it to well-known information.
What does ‘metacognition’ refer to?
Awareness of and control of one’s cognitive abilities.
