Kathleen Stassen Berger

Prepared by Madeleine Lacefield

Tattoon, M.A.

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Part III

The Play Years: Biosocial Development

Chapter Eight

Body Changes

Brain Development

Injuries and Abuse

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The Play Years: Biosocial Development

Children grow bigger and stronger…

become more skilled at tasks… by

age 6, they can skip, write, and much

more, as long as they have had

enough practice.

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Body Changes

– 1-year-olds are cute and chubby, while

6 year olds are “grown up”

– …the body and brain develop according

to powerful epigenetic forces,

biologically driven as well as socially

guided, experience-expectant and

experience-dependent…

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Body Changes

• Growth Patterns

– during the play years:

• children become slimmer

• the lower body lengthens

• baby fat turns to muscle

– at age 5 the body mass index is lower than at

any other age in the entire life span

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Body Changes

• Growth Patterns

– during the play years:

• gone is the protruding belly

• round face

• short limbs

• large head (that characterize the toddler)

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Body Changes

• Growth Patterns

– children increase in height and weight

• Each year from age 2–6, well-nourished

children add almost 3 inches and gain

about 4 ½ pounds

• 6-year-olds weigh about 46 pounds

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Body Changes

• Growth Patterns

– A typical 6-year-old:

• is at least 3 ½ feet tall

• weighs between 40 and 50 pounds

• looks lean, not chubby

• has adult-like body proportions

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Body Changes

• Growth Patterns

– ethnic groups living together in the same

developed nation, children of:

• African descent tend to be the tallest, then

• European descent

• Asian descent

• Latino descent

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Body Changes

• Growth Patterns

– “Over the centuries, low-income families

encourage their children to eat, so that they

would have a reserve of fat to protect

themselves in times of famine.”

– by 2020 it is predicted that more than 228

million adults worldwide will have diabetes as a

result of unhealthy eating habits acquired in

childhood

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Body Changes

• Eating Habits

– Infants and young children today play

outside less than their parents or

grandparents did

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Body Changes

• Eating Habits

– Nutritional deficiencies

• children in developed nations consume

enough calories but lack iron, zinc, and

calcium

• most cultures encourage their children to

eat sweets

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Body Changes

• Eating Habits

– Just right

• “just right” or “just so” phenomenon is

normal and widespread among children

• most young children’s food preferences

and rituals are far from ideal

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Body Changes

• Eating Habits

– Just right• 75% of 1500 parents reported that their

children’s just-right phase peaked at about age 3...

– have things done in a particular order or in a certain way

– strong preference to wear or not wear cerain clothes

– prepare for bedtime by engaging in a special activity, routine, or ritual

– strong preference for certain foods

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Body Changes

• Eating Habits

– Just right

• by age 6 the “just right” fades

• parents should be patient until the “just

right” obsession fades

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Brain Development

“Brains grow rapidly even before birth.”

• by age 2 the brains increase in size

– a great deal of pruning of dendrites has

already occurred

– brain growth after infancy is a crucial

difference between humans and other

animals

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Brain Development

• Speed of Thought– after infancy, continued proliferation of the

communication pathways (dendrites and axons) results in some brain growth

– the effects of myelination are most noticeable in early childhood

• Myelination is the process by which axons become coated with myelin, a fatty substance that speeds the transmission of nerve impulses from neuron to neuron

– parent must be patient when listening to young children talk or when helping them get dressed

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Brain Development

• Connecting the Brain’s Hemispheres

– corpus callosum

• a long band of nerve fibers that connect the left

and right hemispheres of the brain

– lateralization

• literally, sidedness; the specialization of certain

functions by each side of the brain, with one

side dominant for each activity

– the left side of the brain controls the right side of the

body, and vice versa

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Brain Development

• The Left-Handed Child

– infants and toddlers usually prefer one hand

over the other

– For centuries, parents who saw a preference

for the left-hand forced their children to be

right-handed

• since most people are right-handed the

assumption was that right-handedness was

best

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Brain Development

• The Left-Handed Child

– developmentalist advise against trying

to switch a child’s handedness… not

only because of parent-child conflict but

because it might interfere with the

natural and necessary process of

lateralization

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Brain Development

• The Whole Brain

– The left half controls the right side of the body and contains the areas dedicated to logical reasoning, detailed analysis, and the basics of language.

– The right half controls the left side of the body and contains the area dedicated to generalized emotion and creative impules, including appreciation of most music, art, and poetry.

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Brain Development

• The Whole Brain

– The left side notices details and the right

side grasps the big picture

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Brain Development

• The Whole Brain

– severely brain-damaged people are

exclusively left-brained or right-brained

– every cognitive skill requires both sides of the

brain

– Because older children have more myelinared

fibers in the corpus callosum, they have better

thinking and less clumsy actions are possible

for them

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Brain Development

• Planning and Analyzing

– the prefrontal cortex or frontal cortex is an area in the front part of the brain’s outer layer under the forehead.

• this area underlies higher-order cognition– planning and complex forms of goal-directed

behavior

• the prefrontal cortex is the executive part of the brain… ruling all the other areas

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Brain Development

• Planning and Analyzing

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Brain Development

• Planning and Analyzing

– Maturation of the Prefrontal Cortex

• Notable benefits of maturation of the prefrontal cortex occur from age 2 – 6– sleep becomes more regular

– emotions become more nuanced and responsive to specific stimuli

– temper tantrums subside

– uncontrollable laughter or tears become less common

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Brain Development

• Planning and Analyzing

– Attention

• a major function of the prefrontal cortex

is to focus attention and thus curb

impulsiveness

– perseveration is the tendency to persevere

in, or stick to, one thought or action for a long

time

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Brain Development

• Emotions and the Brain

– amygdala

• a tiny brain structure that registers emotions, particularly fear and anxiety

– hippocampus

• a brain structure that is a central processor of memory, especially the memory of location

– hypothalamus

• a brain area that responds to the amygdala and the hippocampus to produce hormones that activate other parts of the brain and body

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Brain Development

• Emotions and the Brain

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Brain Development

• Emotions and the Brain

– stressful experiences… can foster growth if

the child has someone or something to

moderate the stress

– prolonged physiological responses to stress

and challenge put children at risk for a variety

of problems in childhood including:

• physical and mental disorders

• poor emotional regulation

• cognitive impairments

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Brain Development

• Motor Skills

– maturation of the prefrontal cortex

improves impulse control

– myelinaton of the corpus callosum and

lateralization of the brain permits better

coordination

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Brain Development

• Motor Skills

– Gross Motor Skills

• involves large body movement

– Fine Motor Skills

• involve small body movement (are harder to

master)

– hands and fingers

• many fine motor skills involve two hands… both

sides of the brain

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Brain Development

• Artistic Expression

– during the play years children are imaginative,

creative, and not yet very self-critical

– all forms of artistic expression blossom during

early childhood

– in every artistic domain, maturation of brain

and body is gradual and comes with practice

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Brain Development

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Brain Development

• Artistic Expression

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Injuries and Abuse

• more children die of violence, either

accidental or deliberate than from any

other cause

• in the U.S. out of every 100,000:

– 1 to 4-year-olds, 10.9 died accidentally

– 2.5 died of cancer (the leading fatal disease at

this age)

– 2.4 were murdered

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Injuries and Abuse

• young children are more vulnerable to

injuries and abuse than older children

– they are impulsive, yet depend on

others

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Injuries and Abuse

• Avoidable injury

– worldwide injuries cause millions of

premature deaths among young adults

as well as children

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Injuries and Abuse

• Avoidable injury

– injury control/harm reduction

• practices that are aimed at anticipating,

controlling, and preventing dangerous

activities;

– these practices reflect the beliefs that

accidents are not random and that injuries

can be made less harmful if proper controls

are in place

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Injuries and Abuse

• Avoidable injury

– three levels of prevention

• primary prevention

– actions that change overall background

conditions to prevent some unwanted event

or circumstances, such as injury, disease, or

abuse

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Injuries and Abuse

• Avoidable injury

– three levels of prevention

• secondary prevention

– actions that avert harm in a high-risk

situation, such as stopping a car before it hits

a pedestrian

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Injuries and Abuse

• Avoidable injury

– three levels of prevention

• tertiary prevention

– actions, such as immediate and effective

medical treatment, that are taken after an

adverse event such as illness or injury

occurs, and are aimed at reducing the harm

or preventing disability

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Injuries and Abuse

• Avoidable injury

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Child Maltreatment

• Maltreatment Noticed and Defined

– child maltreatment

• intentional harm to, or avoidable endangerment

of, anyone under 18 years of age

– child abuse

• deliberate action that is harmful to a child’s

physical, emotional, or sexual well-being

– child neglect

• failure to meet a child’s basic physical,

educational, or emotional needs

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Child Maltreatment• Maltreatment Noticed and Defined

– reported maltreatment

• harm or endangerment about which

someone has notified the authorities

– substantiated maltreatment

• harm or endangerment that been

reported, investigated, and verified

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Child Maltreatment

• Warning Signs of Maltreatment

– The first signs of maltreatment are:

– delayed development

– slow grow

– immature communication

– lack of curiosity

– unusual social interaction

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Child Maltreatment• Warning Signs of Maltreatment

• post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

– is a delayed reaction to a trauma or shock,

which may include hyperactivity and hyper-

vigilance, displaced anger, sleeplessness,

sudden terror or anxiety, and confusion

between fantasy and reality

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Child Maltreatment

• Consequences of Maltreatment

– is effected by cultural context

• customs

– maltreatment compromises basic health

• abused and neglected children are often

injured, sick, hospitalized

– maltreated children and adolescents are often

bullies or victims or both

– these perspectives can last for a life span