Chapter 11: The School YearsBiosocial Development

Dr. M. Davis-Brantley

Context Changes

• Major influence on development during this time is the change in social context

• Also there is a higher self-reliance in that the child no longer needs the parent for self-care such as dressing, eating

• Independence is a large part of this aspect of the child’s development

The School Years: Health

• Children during middle childhood (ages 7 to 11) are at their healthiest• However, childhood obesity has become a deadly trend throughout

recent years– Almost 1/3 of American children are obese

• Obese means having a body weight composed of >30% of fat– Obesity is likely to decrease the chance a child will exercise, thus

increasing the child’s body weight– Obesity increases the risk of other serious health problems in adulthood

such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes– Also psychological problems may result

• Genetics could play a significant role in obesity– Adopted children whose biological parents were obese are more often

overweight than other adoptees• Cultural implications include:

– Dictates type of food likely to be consumed by a member of said culture– American food is causing obesity in other cultures

• What are schools doing about the problem?

Brain Development

• By age 7, the basic areas of the sensory and motor cortexes as well as the more complex language, logic, memory, and spatial areas

• Emotional regulation, theory of mind, left-right coordination, the executive portion of the brain also are all becoming more efficient overall

• However there are many advances during this time– The prefrontal cortex allows the child to analyze consequences before lashing

out, throwing a tantrum, etc…– There is an advanced ability to attend to information from many areas at once

and pay special attention to the most important elements of a situation• This is referred to as selective attention—Ex: Paying attention to teacher and taking

notes or watch a ball, run in the direction of the ball, and watch where the other teammates are running

– Automatization is also a significant advancement in the brain– Automatization is a process by which thoughts and actions are repeated in

sequences so often that they become automatic, or routine, and no longer require much conscious thought

• After many repetitions of the same behavior (with neurons firing together with a particular sequence), then less neuronal effort is needed, because firing one neuron leads to a chain reaction that fires an entire sequence

Developmental Psychopathology

• Child with special needs is a child who requires extra help in order to learn due to a physical or mental disability

• Individual Education Plan a legally required document specifying a series of educational goals for a child with special needs

• Developmental Psychopathology is a field in which knowledge about normal development is applied to the study and treatment of various disorders

• Based on a variety of research, developmental psychopathologists have come up with 4 major lessons

1. Abnormality is normal

2. Disability changes over time

3. Adolescence and adulthood may be better or worse

4. Diagnosis depends on the social context

Pervasive Developmental Disorders

• Pervasive Developmental Disorders—Severe problems such as autism, that affect many aspects of a young child’s psychological growth

• Autism—is a PDD marked by an inability to relate to others in an ordinary way, by extreme self-absorption, and by an inability to learn normal speech– “…inability to relate in an ordinary way to people…and extreme

aloneness that, whenever possible, disregards, ignores, shuts out anything that comes to the child from the outside” (Kanner, 1943)

– Interesting Video on Autism and alleged low-functioning autistic--“A voice all her own”

– Genetics of Autism

• Teratogens are the primary known cause of Pervasive Developmental Disorders

Attention-Deficit Disorders

• Attention-Deficit Disorder(ADD)—A condition in which a child has great difficulty concentrating

• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)—A condition in which a child has great difficulty concentrating for more than a few moments at a time and, as a result, is inattentive, impulsive, and overactive– There is a need for distraction and diversion is accompanied by

excitability and impulsivity

• Can be a result of neurological deficits, genetic vulnerability, prenatal teratogens, anoxia, postnatal damage, etc…

Learning Disabilities

• Learning Disabled—Having a marked delay in a particular area of learning that is not associated with any obvious physical handicap, overall mental retardation, or unusually stressful environment

• Review Educating Children with Special Needs– Mainstreaming– Least Restrictive Environment– Inclusion