Chapter 8: The Play Years

Dr. M. Davis-Brantley

• Lower body lengthens– child becomes slimmer

• Steady increase in height and weight– 3 inches in height per year– 4 1/2 pounds in weight per year

Body Shape and Growth Rates

Eating Habits

• Food should be nutritious– isn’t always—often far from “ideal”– enough calories—not enough vitamins and

minerals—major nutritional problems are• iron-deficiency anemia• too much sugar• too much fat• not enough fruits and vegetables• Suggestions• Video: What’s happening to Preschoolers• Video: What’s happening Part 2

• Underlies rapidly expanding cognitive abilities– by age 2, 75% of brain weight

achieved– by age 5, 90% of brain weight

achieved– pruning of dendrites has occurred– Neuroscience for Kids

Brain Development

Brain Development

• By age 2: most brain pruning, sculpting of dendrites has already occurred

• More growing needs to take place in order to develop neuronal pathways

• Video—Brain Plasiticity• More growing takes place because of Myelination

– Myelination is the process by which axons and dendrites become insulated with a coating of myelin

• Myelin is a fatty substance that speeds up the transmission of nerve impulses from neuron to neuron in the brain

• Myelin allows children to think and react much more quickly than smaller children

– The is evident when children can recognize familiar faces and respond to their own names

– Myelination is not just needed for basic communication, but is needed for complex interaction/communication

– This is why memory is better developed at 5 than at 1

Connecting the Brain’s

Hemispheres, cont.

Brain Development

• Corpus Callosum is the a part of the brain that grows and myelinates rapidly during the play years

– Responsibility is to keep the hemispheres coordinated in their processing– As a result of this growth (myelin) the two hemispheres become very

coordinated and markedly more efficient, allowing children to coordinate functions that involve both halves of the brain

• Although body seems completely coordinated, certain parts of brain/body are solely responsible for things

• Lateralization (sidedness) refers to the differentiation of the two sides of the body so that one side specializes in certain functions

– This allows the left side of the brain control the right side of the body and vice versa

– Prompted by genes, lateralization begins in utero– Eventually, in the past, sidedness was changed to right (in Latin dexter

means right, and sinister means evil or left)– In many nations, left hands are used solely for wiping after defecation

• Left side of brain is responsible for specific logic, detailed analysis, and language (details)

• Right side is responsible for generalized emotion, creative impulses, appreciation of the arts (big picture)

Brain Development: Planning and Analyzing

• Prefrontal Cortex is the last part of the brain to reach maturity

– This is the area of the brain that specializes in “executive functioning” which is planning, selecting, and coordinating thoughts

• The area of the brain (frontal lobe) is necessary for humans and completely absent in lower functioning animals

• Maturation of the prefrontal cortex occurs gradually and is not complete until mid-adolescence

– During this time emotions become more nuanced and responsive to particulars of the external world

– Ability to resist impulses and tantrums occurs because of this– Perseveration is the tendency to persevere in or stick to one

though or action even when it has become useless or inappropriate– The brain patterns lead children to lose control and too be

impulsive or too persevering in their emotional expression

• By age 6, children are ready for formal instruction– before, brain not sufficiently developed

in ways it needs to be, but now child can• sit still for more than an hour• scan a page of print• balance sides of body• draw and write with one hand• listen and think before talking• remember important facts• control emotions

Educational Implications of Brain Development

Motor Skills and Avoidable Injuries

• Gross Motor Skills– Involve large body movements such as running, climbing, jumping,

and throwing– Gross Motor Skills improve dramatically during the play years

• At 2 years old, kids bump into things and aren’t as coordinated as 5 year olds who can swim, ride bikes, climb a ladder, throw, catch and kick a ball

– Brain maturation, motivation, and guided practice make these skills possible

• Fine Motor Skills – Involve small body movements– Children do not yet have the necessary muscular control,

patience, and judgment to engage in these skills– This is due to the central nervous system not being fully

myelinated yet• Many tasks that require fine motor skills require both sides of the

brain• An unmyelinated corpus colosum and immature prefrontal cortex

Child Maltreatment

• Is the intentional harm to, or avoidable endangerment of anyone under 18 years of age

• This definition includes both: – 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• Neglects tends to be twice as common and can be far more

damaging

• First sign of neglect is typically a lack of normal growth, such as lack of language, play, or laughter by age 1

• Failure to Thrive is a situation where a child gains little or no weight, despite appearing to be healthy

• Another sign of maltreatment is hypervigilence where the child seems to not be able to concentrate or is distracted because she/he is nervously looking around

Child Maltreatment

• Researchers compared soldiers who had been in combat and children who have been maltreated

• Found that children and soldiers had similarities and characteristics of PTSD

• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder– Is a disorder that follows a distressing event

outside the range of normal human experience (war, rape, traumatic accidents)

– Features of PTSD include intense fear, avoidance of stimuli related to the event, reexperiencing or reliving the event

Consequence of Maltreatment

• Shaken Baby Syndrome involves shaking a crying infant back and forth, sharply and quickly which results in severe brain damage (from internal hemorrhaging) or death

• Maltreated children also – Brain damage which results from large quantities of stress

hormones and neurotransmitters which may be released during the trauma

– Brain damage which can result from mothers who a clinically depressed and can not provide the emotional guidance young children need

• The right side of the prefrontal cortex develops more than the left• As a result, negative emotions dominate and depression becomes

more likely

– Difficulty learning-may be a result of not being taught, guided, encouraged or talked to

– Abnormal Brain development can result in impaired memory and impaired logical thinking which can be delayed long past age 6

– Impaired Social Skills may develop—in which the child may tend to regard others as hostile, exploitative, and hence they are less friendly, more aggressive, and more isolated than other children

• The longer the abuse the worse their relationships with peers

Prevention of Maltreatment

• Primary Prevention involves taking action which will prevent an unwanted event

– Stable neighborhoods, family cohesion, income equality, and measures that decrease financial instability

• Secondary Prevention involves actions that avert harm in an immediate situation

– Involves spotting warning signs and intervening to keep a problematic situation from getting worse

– Identifying slow weight gain, late language development, poor emotional regulation as a problem

– Prevention includes home visits by a social worker, high-quality daycare, preventive medical treatment

• Tertiary Prevention involves actions taken after the adverse event occurs aimed at reducing the harm

– Placing the child in foster care• Foster care is a legally sanctioned, publicly supported plan that transfers care

of maltreated children from parents to someone else• Kinship care is a form of foster care in which a relative of the maltreated child

becomes the caregiver