Unit 4

 Physical Growth: ◦ Preschool Age: Loss of baby fat, gain in length/height ◦ Early childhood growth should be 3 inches and 4.5 pounds per year Slower growth relative to later years indicates that small appetites are normal

 Brain Growth: ◦ 90% of the lifetime neurons are present by age 6. ◦ Brain continues to increase in size ◦ New pathways develop ◦ Brain eventually “trims” unneeded neurons and organizes quick reactions

 Motor Skills: ◦ Gross motor skills increase ◦ Fine motor skills slow during early childhood due to increased weight of hands and fingers and lack of neural control of muscles

 Centration: Focusing on one aspect of a situation ◦ Egocentrism ◦ Past-age centrism

 3 Principles of Numbers: ◦ Stable-Order Principle: 1,2,3… ◦ One-to-One Principle: 1 is always 1, 2 is always 2… ◦ Cardinal Principle: The last number is the sum total

 Semiotic Function aka Abstract Symbolism: The ability to use symbols to represent something  Transductive Reasoning: Two objects sharing qualities are the same  Conservation: Changing the shape doesn’t change the quantity ◦ Irreversibility: Unable to understand that reversing an action takes the object back to the original state

 Private Speech  Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

 Intergenerational Transmission: The likelihood that an abused child will commit the same behaviors as an adult. ◦ NOT common!

 Identify emotional needs  Increase community support  Help parents find coping mechanisms

 Self-confidence and social skills are developed in early childhood  The Self: The child still has difficulty understanding the concept of self, but can distinguish themselves physically from others in a picture.

 Erkison: Initiative vs. Guilt  Freud: Oedipal vs Electra Complexes  Learning Theorists: Children model the behaviors seen around them.

 Diana Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

 Only Children: ◦ More verbal ◦ More creative ◦ More likely to continue to college ◦ Weaker in social skills, but will develop normal social skills if exposed to other children

 6 Types of Play ◦ Unoccupied Behavior: Observing but not participating ◦ Solitary Play: Playing next to another child without interacting ◦ Onlooker Behavior: Observing others play while commenting, but not participating. ◦ Parallel Play: Playing with the same toys as another child, often while next to each-other, but playing independently ◦ Associated Play: Play with other children in a disorganized manner ◦ Cooperative Play: Playing with other children in an organized manner

 Piaget’s 3 Levels of Play ◦ Functional Play: Repetitive motions, with or without toys, to develop coordination ◦ Constructive Play: The use of objects to create things, to develop imagination and abstraction ◦ Dramatic Play: Using imaginary situations with prearranged rules to play a game, to mimic and practice social roles

 Overall, beneficial! ◦ Better foundation for education allows children to be..  Less likely to repeat a grade  More likely to finish high school  More likely to continue to college  More likely to maintain a steady work position ◦ Increased social skills ◦ Increased ability to handle new situations

 Ability to cope directly tied to stability and emotional state of the parent ◦ The more positive the parents stay the better ◦ The more stable the child’s life the better ◦ Children are better after a divorce if the marriage was high-conflict

 Learning theories state that exposing a child to any behavior, media or life, will influence their knowledge  There is a link between violence on television and aggressive behavior, but which came first?

 Stranger Wariness  Separation Anxiety  School Anxiety  Avoidant Behaviors  Fears tend to be adapted as learned behaviors!