1. Chapter 8 Early Childhood: Physical Development

2. Early Childhood: Physical Development Truth or Fiction?
Some children are left-brained, and others are right-brained.
Children’s levels of motor activity increase during the preschool years.

3. Early Childhood: Physical Development Truth or Fiction?
Sedentary parents are more likely to have “couch potatoes” for children.
Julius Caesar, Michelangelo, Tom Cruise, and Oprah have something in common? (Hint: They don’t all have book clubs.)

4. Early Childhood: Physical Development Truth or Fiction?
A disproportionately high percentage of math whizzes are left-handed.
Infections are the most common cause of death among children in the United States.

5. Early Childhood: Physical Development Truth or Fiction?
It is dangerous to awaken a sleepwalker.
More competent parents toilet-train their children by their second birthday.

6. Growth Patterns
Height and Weight

7. What Changes Occur in Height and Weight During Early Childhood?
Growth rate slows
2 to 3 inches per year
4 to 6 pounds per year
Individual variation
As a group, boys are slightly taller and heavier

8. Figure 8.1 Growth Curves for Height and Weight, Ages 2 to 6 Years
Figure 8.1 Growth Curves for Height and Weight, Ages 2 to 6 Years. The numbers on the curves indicate the percentiles for height and weight at different ages. The growth rate slows down during early childhood. As in infancy, boys are only slightly taller and heavier than girls. Variations in growth patterns from child to child are evident. (Source: Figures 9-12, Kuczmarski, R.J., et.al. [2000, December 4]. CDC Growth charts: United States. Advance data from vital and health statistics, no. 31. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.)
Figure 8.1 Growth Curves for Height and Weight, Ages 2 to 6 Years

9. Development of the Brain
Growth Patterns
Development of the Brain

10. How Does the Brain Develop During Early Childhood?
Rapid growth in weight due to myelination
By age 5 – brain is 90% of adult weight
Visual Skills
Improved attention and visual processing skills
Specialization of hemispheres

11. What Does It Mean to Be Left-brained or Right-brained?
Logical, problem solving, language and mathematical computations
Right-brained
Visual-spatial functions, recognition of faces, discrimination of color, aesthetic and emotional responses, understanding metaphors, creative mathematical reasoning
Functions overlap
Myelination of corpus callosum

12. What Is Meant by “Plasticity of the Brain”?
Ability to compensate for injury
Greatest plasticity at 1 to 2 years
Other areas may assume functions lost to injury
Sprouting
Growth of new dendrites
Redundancy of neural connections

13. Motor Development

14. How Do Motor Skills Develop in Early Childhood?
Gross motor skills
Involve large muscles used in locomotion
Differences in gross motor development
Little sex differentiation
More individual differences
Physical Activity
Rough and tumble play
Activity levels

15. Developing in a World of Diversity
Sex Differences in Motor Activity

16. How Do Motor Skills Develop in Early Childhood?
Fine motor skills
Involve small muscles used in manipulation and coordination
Proximodistal trend accounts for lag in fine motor skills
Children’s Drawing

17. Figure 8.2 The Twenty Basic Scribbles (Really)
Figure 8.2 The Twenty Basic Scribbles (Really). By the age of 2, children can scribble. Rhoda Kellogg has identified these 20 basic scribbles as the building blocks of the young child’s drawings. (Sources: Kellogg, 1970).
Figure 8.2 The Twenty Basic Scribbles (Really)

18. Figure 8.3 Four Stages in Children’s Drawings
Figure 8.3 Four Stages in Children’s Drawings. Children go through four stages in drawing pictures. (a) They first place their scribbles in various locations on the page. They then (b) draw basic shapes, and (c ,d) combine shapes into designs. Finally, (e) they draw recognizable objects. (Sources: Kellogg, 1970).
Figure 8.3 Four Stages in Children’s Drawings

19. Lessons in Observation: Gross and Fine Motor Skills
Describe the way the 2- and 3-year old children maneuver the stairs in the video.
How will stair-climbing skills change over time?

20. Lessons in Observation: Gross and Fine Motor Skills
Describe Olivia’s hopping and jumping skills and her performance with the ball.
How will Olivia’s hopping and jumping skills change over time?
How will her throwing and catching skills change?
How does Olivia’s attempt to catch a ball illustrate the proximodistal trend in development?

21. Lessons in Observation: Gross and Fine Motor Skills
Outline the developmental changes in the drawing and writing skills of children between the ages of 2 and 5.
How do the children in the video illustrate these changes? What activities are the children in the video participating in that facilitate fine motor development?
What are the relative roles of maturation and learning in the development of fine motor skills, and how do these interact?

22. When Does Handedness Emerge?
Emerges and shows preference during infancy
Becomes strongly established during early childhood
Majority of people are right-handed

23. Are There Problems Connected With Being Left-handed?
Connections have been made with
Language problems
Dyslexia and stuttering
Health problems
Migraine headaches and allergies
Psychological problems
Schizophrenia and depression
Higher frequencies of left-handers have been made with
Mathematical abilities
Athletic abilities
Artistic, musical and architectural

24. What Are the Origins of Handedness?
Genetic component
Seems to run in families
Identical twins
Frequently differ in handedness
Mirror opposites

25. Nutrition

26. What Are Children’s Nutritional Needs and Their Eating Habits Like in Early Childhood?
Need more overall calories than toddlers
Slower growth rate - less calories per pound
Patterns of Eating
Appetite decreases and becomes erratic
Preference for sugar and salt with exposure

27. Health and Illness

28. What Are Some of the Illnesses and Environmental Hazards Encountered During Early Childhood?
Minor illnesses
Respiratory infections
Colds, sore throat
Gastrointestinal upsets
Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
In developing countries, diarrheal illness is leading killer of children
Major illnesses
Immunizations, antibiotics reduced major illness in US
One-third of children in US under 18 years suffer from some type of chronic illness
Globally 13 million children die each year
Two-thirds die of pneumonia, diarrhea, measles, tetanus, whooping cough and tb

29. Ten Things You Need To Know About Immunizations
A Closer Look
Ten Things You Need To Know About Immunizations

30. Figure 8.4 Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule, United States, Vaccines are listed under routinely recommended ages. Bars indicate range of recommended ages of immunization. Ovals indicate vaccines to be given if previously recommended doses were missed or given earlier than the recommended minimum age. For more information, go to the National Immunization Program home page at or call the National Immunization Hotline at (English) or (Spanish). Source: Centers for Disease Control.
Figure 8.4 Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule, United States, July-December, 2004

31. Lead Poisoning: Assessing the Risk
A Closer Look
Lead Poisoning:
Assessing the Risk

32. Developing in a World of Diversity
Ethnicity, Level of Income, and Immunization  USA

33. Accidents and Prevention of Accidental Injury
Most common cause of death in young children in US
Motor vehicle accidents
Low-income children most likely to die from accidents
Legislation to prevent accidents
Child safety seats in cars
Window guards in apartment buildings
Toy and clothing safety standards

34. Sleep

35. How Much Sleep is Needed During Early Childhood?
Preschoolers average 10 to 11 hours per 24 hour period
9 to 10 hours at night
1 to 2 hour nap

36. Developing in a World of Diversity
Cross-Cultural Differences in Sleeping Arrangements

37. Sleep Disorders

38. What Kinds of Problems or Disorders Disrupt Sleep During Early Childhood?
Sleep terrors
Occur early in night during deep sleep
May be associated with stress
Nightmares
Occur later in night during REM sleep
Insomnia
Somnambulism (sleepwalking)
Onset between ages 3 and 8
Occurs early in night during deep sleep

39. Elimination Disorders

40. When Are Children Considered To Be Gaining Control Over Elimination Too Slowly?
Maturation plays a critical role in toilet training
Most US children are trained between 3 and 4
Enuresis
Based on age of child and frequency of “accident”
Bed-wetting
More frequent in boys than girls
Numerous causes
Organic, psychological, stress, sleep disorder

41. What To Do About Bed-Wetting
A Closer Look
What To Do About Bed-Wetting

42. When Are Children Considered To Be Gaining Control Over Elimination Too Slowly?
Encopresis
More common in boys than girls
Less common than enuresis, more common in daytime
Causes may be physical or psychological