CHAPTER 11

Middle Childhood:

Physical Development

Learning Outcomes

LO1 Describe growth patterns in middle childhood.

LO2 Discuss nutrition and overweight in childhood, focusing on incidence, origins, and treatment of the problem.

LO3 Describe motor development in middle childhood, focusing on sex differences, exercise, and fitness.

LO4 Discuss the symptoms, possible origins, and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

LO5 Discuss the various kinds of learning disorders and their possible origins.

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TRUTH OR FICTION?

• T-F Children outgrow “baby fat.”• T-F The typical American child is exposed to about

10,000 food commercials each year.• T-F Most American children are physically fit.• T-F Hyperactivity is caused by chemical food

additives.• T-F Stimulants are often used to treat children who

are already hyperactive.• T-F Some children who are intelligent and

provided with enriched home environments cannot learn how to read or do simple math problems.

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LO1 Growth Patterns

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Growth Patterns

• The Middle Childhood years: age 7-12• Both boys and girls average about 2 inches in height

per year until the adolescent growth spurt.• Both boys and girls average about 5-7 lbs of weight

gain in middle childhood years.• In middle childhood, the average child’s body weight

doubles.• Overall children become less stocky and grow more

slender.

Figure 11.1 – Growth Curves for Height and Weight

Growth Patterns

• Nutrition and Growth– Children in these middle years spend a great deal of

energy in physical activity and play.– School children burn more calories than preschoolers.

• 4-6 year olds: 1,400 - 1,800 calories per day• 7-10 year olds: 2,000 calories per day

– Nutrition is more than calories.• Healthy: fruit, veggies, fish, poultry (no skin), whole grains• Not healthy: fats, sugars, starches

– Most school cafeterias: fast food restaurants have food high in sugar, animal fats, and salt

– Portion sizes have also become much larger over the past few decades.

Growth Patterns

• Similarities and Difference in Physical Growth– Both boys and girls at this age experience steady gains

in height and weight and see an increase in muscle strength.

• Boys:– Are slightly heavier and taller than girls from 9-10 yrs– Around age 11 yrs, boys will develop more muscle.

• Girls:– At 9-10 will begin their rapid adolescent growth and

surpass boys in height and weight until about 13-14 yrs.

– Around age 11, girls will develop more fat.

LO2 Overweight in Childhood

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Overweight in Children

• Between 16-25% of children and teens in U.S. are overweight.

• Parents often assume heavy children will outgrown the “baby fat” but most overweight children become overweight adults.

• Overweight children are often ridiculed and rejected by peers.

• They are less athletic and considered less attractive in adolescent years.

• They also are at greater risk for health problems throughout life.

Figure 11.2 – Overweight Children in America

Overweight in Children

• Causes of Overweight– Heredity factors:

• Some people inherit a tendency to burn extra calories.• Other inherit a tendency to turn extra calories into fat.

– Environmental factors:• Family: overweight parents serve

as role models and may encourage overeating and unhealthy choices

• Children who watch TV burn fewer calories.

• American children are exposed to thousands of food commercials per

year, most for unhealthy foods.

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Overweight in Children

• Childhood is the optimal time to prevent or reverse obesity and promote a lifetime pattern of healthy habits.

• Cognitive methods help by:– Improving nutritional knowledge; reducing calories;

introducing exercise; modifying behavior• Behavioral methods involve:

– Tracking calories and weight; keeping child from temptations; setting good examples; using reinforcers

• The most successful weight loss programs for children combine:– Exercise; decreased caloric intake; behavior

modifications; emotional support from parents

Figure 11.3 – The Traffic Light Diet

LO3 Motor Development

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Motor Development

• Gross Motor Skills– Throughout middle childhood, muscles grow

stronger and neural pathways connecting the cerebellum to the cortex become more myelinated.

– Experience refines sensorimotor abilities but there are also individual inborn differences.

Motor Development

• Gross Motor Skills– By age 6 yrs, children are hopping, jumping,

climbing.– By age 7 yrs, they are

capable of riding a bike.– By age 8-10 yrs, they can

participate in sports.• Reaction time: (time it takes

to respond to a stimulus) improves

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Motor Development

• Fine Motor Skills– By age 6-7, children can perform many fine motor skills

(tying shoelaces, holding pencils like adults)• Sex Differences

– Boys show more forearm strength.– Girls show more coordination and flexibility.

• Exercise & Fitness– Exercise reduces risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes,

and some types of cancer.– Cardiac and muscular fitness is

developed by aerobic exercise, however schools and parents tend

to focus more on competitive sports such as baseball and football.

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LO4 Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHA)

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Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder• Definition-Statistics

– ADHD is characterized by excessive inattention, impulsiveness, and hyperactivity.

– Not to be confused with normal active behaviors– Typically occurs around age 7 yrs – 1-5% of school age children are diagnosed; more commonly

in boys, sometimes “over-diagnosed” to encourage more acceptable behavior

• Causes– Genetic component: brain chemical dopamine– Lack of executive control of the brain over motor and more

primitive functions– Not caused by artificial food additives

• Treatment & Outcomes– Stimulants such as Ritalin are most used treatment– They promote activity of dopamine and noradrenaline in the

brain that stimulate the “executive center.”– Some children “outgrow” ADHD; others persist with problems

into adolescence or adult years.

Table 11.1 – Types of Disorders

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LO5 Learning Disorders

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Learning Disabilities

• Learning Disabilities: disorders characterized by inadequate development of specific academic, language, and speech skills

• Learning disabled children may show problems in some of the following areas:– Math, writing, or reading– Speaking or understanding spoken language– Motor coordination

Learning Disabilities

• Performing below the expected level for their age and level of intelligence with no evidence of other handicaps (vision-hearing-retardation-etc) usually leads to a diagnosis of Learning Disability.

• Disability may persist through entire life but early remediation can help many to compensate.

Table 11.2 – Symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Source: Adapted from American Psychiatric Association (2000).

Learning Disabilities, cont.

• Origins of Dyslexia– Genetic Factors

• 25-65% of dyslexic children have one dyslexic parent.• 40% of siblings of children with dyslexia are dyslexic.• Left brain hemisphere circulation problems causing oxygen

deficiency.• Problems in the angular gyrus of the brain may cause

difficulty for readers to associate letters with sounds.• Some research points to similarities in brain abnormalities

between schizophrenia and dyslexia.– Phonological Processing

• Dyslexic children may not discriminate sounds as accurately as others, creating confusion and impairing reading ability.

Figure 11.4 – Writing Sample of Dyslexic Child

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Learning Disabilities, cont.

• Educating Children with Disabilities– Special Education:

• Programs created to meet the needs of schoolchildren with mild to moderate disabilities including:

– Emotional disturbance, mild mental retardation, physical disabilities (i.e., blindness, deafness, paralysis)

• Evidence is mixed on whether placing disabled children in separate classes can stigmatize and further segregate them from other children

– Mainstreaming:• Placement of disabled children in regular classrooms

adapted to meet their needs

Learning Disabilities, cont.

• Dyslexia – A reading disorder characterized by letter reversals,

mirror reading, slow reading, and reduced comprehension.