Chapter 11 Middle childhood about the ages of 6 to 11 after early childhood and before adolescence and is the healthiest period of the entire life span with few diseases or accidents Muscles become stronger heart and lung muscles increase in strength and capacity run faster and Benefits better overall health less obesity appreciation of cooperation and fair play improved problem solving abilities respect for teammates and opponents of many ethnicities nationalities Hazards Loss of self esteem injuries reinforcement of prejudices and increased stress 90 of the world s children lived in rural areas now the majority live in cities or in shantytowns exercise longer at the city s edge Participation in structured sports activities correlates with academic achievement 5 and 6 year olds have the least body fat and lowest BMI body mass index Overweight is defined as having a BMI above the 85th percentile for age and obesity is defined as having a BMI above the 95th percentile Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways that makes breathing difficult and ethnicity matters either because of genes or culture probably both Air pollution caused by traffic congestion increases the prevalence of asthma among children carpets pets inside the home airtight windows less outdoor play all contribute to asthma Hygiene hypothesis proposes that contemporary children are kept too hygienic overprotected from viruses and bacteria so they do not contract minor infections and diseases that would strengthen their immune systems Advance planning and impulse control are aided by faster reaction time which is how long it takes to respond to a stimulus indicates speed of thought Selective attention is the ability to concentrate on some stimuli while ignoring others Automatization is the process by which a sequence of thoughts and actions is repeated until it becomes automatic or routine Aptitude is the potential to master a specific skill or to learn a certain body of knowledge and intellectual aptitude is often measured by IQ tests intelligence quotient Achievement tests compare scores to norms established for each grade and do not reflect age Flynn effect phenomenon where the average IQ scores of entire nations have risen substantially Multiple intelligences is the idea that intelligence is not limited to one type and contains many sets of abilities instead of a general intellectual ability Gardner s seven intelligences linguistic logical mathematical musical spatial bodily kinesthetic movement interpersonal social understanding and intrapersonal self understanding He added two more naturalistic is understanding of nature and existential thoughts of life and death Brain development depends on a person s specific experiences because the brain body and environment are coupled and any brain scan is accurate only for the moment it is done Brain development continues throughout life middle childhood is crucial but so are developments before and after these years Children with disorders often have unusual brain patterns and training their brains may help but brain complexity means that no neuroscience remediation always succeeds Developmental psychopathology links study of typical development with the study of disorders Four principles Abnormality is normal Disability changes year by year most are comorbid which means that more than one problem is evident in the same person Life may be better or worse in adulthood Diagnosis and treatment reflect the social context Multifinality means that one cause can have many multiple final manifestations and equifinality equal in form means that one symptom can have many causes Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD is the difficulty for young children to pay attention and usually accompanied by an uncontrollable urge to be active Children are usually inattentive impulsive and overactive and are thus disruptive when adults when them to be still Bipolar disorder is characterized by extreme mood swings from euphoria to deep depression and those affected will experience an episode of grandiosity being above others Children with either disorder tend to be irritable even rageful when adults demand that they behave normally trouble sleeping are sometimes notably active and at other times depressed Treatment involved counseling and training for the family and the child showing teachers how to help the children learn and medication to stabilize the moods for bipolar children to quiet ADHD children Learning disability leads to difficulty in mastering a particular skill that most other people acquire easily Dyslexia is unusual difficulty with reading often originates with speech and hearing difficulties Dyscalculia is learning disabilities with math Autism is characterized by woefully inadequate social skills Autism spectrum disorder are those who have been considered retarded 3 signs of autism spectrum disorder include delayed language impaired social responses and unusual repetitive play Asperger syndrome is when some people are extremely talented in some specialized area and their speech is normal but still have autism spectrum disorder Least restrictive environment LRE is meant to educate children with special needs with other children in a regular class Response to intervention RTI is the latest educational strategy in the United States and individual education plan IEP specifies educational goals for the child Acceleration is for gifted children where they should be educated with children who are their mental age not their chronological age Divergent thinkers those that find many solutions and are unusually creative and don t conform to social standards and convergent thinkers are those who choose correct answers on school exams