Rate of growth slows relative to infancy & early childhood Rate is roughly 2-3 inches in height and 5 lbs

per year As girls approach 8-9 years, the rate of growth increases relative to boys Girls begin to develop additional fat cells relative to muscle cells Girls growth rate is faster than boys until roughly 13 yearpossibly linked with puberty

BMI at or above the 95th percentile of the population of same aged children (normative) Over 25 percent of children suffer from obesity, a greater-than-20-percent increase over average body weight, based on the childs age, sex, and physical build. Over 80 percent of obese youngsters remain overweight as adults

Obese children tend to have obese parents, and concordance for obesity is greater in identical than fraternal twins Low-SES youngsters in industrialized nations are more likely to be overweight

lack of knowledge about healthy diet tendency to buy high-fat, low-cost foods family stress

Parental feeding practices contribute to childhood obesity

obese children are more responsive to external stimuli associated with food less responsive to internal hunger cues

Obese children are less physically active than their normal-weight peers obese children tend to watch more television Linked to sedentary lifestyle Linked to advertising and models portrayed

 Socio-cultural--Both

children and adults rate obese youngsters as unlikable By middle childhood,

obese children report feeling more depressed display more behavior problems than normalweight age mates psychological consequences of obesity combined with continuing discrimination result in real or perceived reduced life chances

The rapid decline in processing time over middle childhood is thought to be due to
myelinization synaptic pruning

Growth spurts during middle childhood:

Frontal, Temporal, Occipital Parietal, (Pribram, 1990)

Increased function related to

micro-developmental (myelinization and synaptic pruning) and macro-development (development of various lobes)

Lateralization (isolation of functions to one or the other hemisphere of the brain) increases and further reduces plasticity Elaborations (development of new connections in the brain) are contingent on brain maturation and experience

Synaptic connections transverse increasingly longer distances across the brain and are correlated with increased flexibility of thought

Brain growth spurts roughly correspond to Piagets observed sequence of cognitive development By the end of middle childhood the mass of the brain closely matches that of the adult brain The later in childhood a neurological trauma occurs, the more challenging the recovery and the relocalization of the functions in the brain due to a decrease in

 Gross

Motor Development

During

middle childhood, running, jumping, hopping, and ball skills become more refined. Motor skills improve in the capacities of flexibility, balance, agility, and force. Steady improvements also occur in reaction time11-year-olds can respond almost twice as quickly to a stimulus as 5-year-olds.

Fine Motor Development Fine motor development also improves steadily over the school years. Gains are especially evident in writing and drawing.

Writing tends to be large at first, and legibility gradually increases. Drawings show gains in organization, detail, and representation of depth. School-age children not only depict objects in considerable detail, they also relate them to one another as part of an organized whole.

Parents who encourage physical exercise tend to have youngsters who enjoy it more and who are also more skilled. Family income affects childrens opportunities to develop a variety of physical abilities. Girls remain ahead in the fine motor area and skills which depend on balance and agility. School-age boys genetic advantage in muscle mass is not great enough to account for their superiority in many gross motor skills; thus, environment plays a large role in motor development. Greater emphasis on skill training for girls along with increased attention to their athletic achievements in schools and

 Child-Organized
Organized

Games

games with rules become common in middle childhood. in perspective taking allow children to understand the roles of several players in a game and permit the transition to rule-oriented games. in organized games helps children form more mature concepts of fairness and justice.

Gains

Participation

provide regularly scheduled opportunities for exercise and play ensure that all children have access to physical activity that supports:

healthy bodies. a sense of self-worth as physically active and capable beings. the cognitive and social skills necessary for getting along well with others.

 Biopsychosocial

forces tend to create transactions among forces in childrens lives that lead to psychopathology Determining exact causes of psychopathology among children is difficult due to:
Range

of possible causal factors Comorbidity (presence of two or more disorders)

 Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Child shows developmentally inappropriate or excessive inattention, impulsivity and/or hyperactivity Onset occurs by age 7 Behavior pattern must have persisted at least 6 months Impairs ability to function in school

Difficulty getting along with others Disruptive and non-compliant behavior often elicits punishment More common in boys than girls

 Learning
Specific

Disorders

learning disordernarrowly defined to domain (e.g. reading, math, writing) Child possesses intelligence at or above normal level Differences in brain activity with children with communicative and learning disorders linked to differences in information processing Discriminating between environmental

Lower than average:

Communication- both verbal (spoken) and nonverbal (such as pointing, eye contact, and smiling) Social- sharing emotions, understanding how others think and feel, and holding a conversation

Routines or repetitive behaviors (stereotyped behaviors)repeating words or actions, obsessively following routines or schedules, and playing in repetitive ways

Intellectual Functioning Mental retardation Learning Disabilities Dyslexia (reading disability) Dyscalculia (mathematics disability) Disorder of written expression Speech disorders Articulation disorder Voice disorders Fluency disorders Physical disabilities Visual impairment Hearing impairment Paralysis Social and Emotional Disorders Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity disorder Autism Conduct disorder Childhood depression

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Sleep

School

TV

8 hours

8 hours

4 hours

Dinner, homework, exercise, etc. 4 hours

hours of TV = of waking hours

21

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Pictures according to common disorders & disabilities in their physical development

Visual impairment

skull fractures causing partial paralysis