Physical Development in Early Childhood

CHAPTER EIGHT: EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT After completing Chapter Eight students will be able to: • Discuss physical growth and change in early childhood • Describe changes in motor development in early childhood • Characterize the health of young children • Discuss the cognitive changes that occur in early childhood • Describe language development in early childhood • Discuss emotional and personality development in young children • Explain how families can influence young children’s development • Describe the role of peers, play and television in young children’s development Chapter Eight: Early Childhood Development | 135 136 | Chapter Eight: Early Childhood Development Physical Development in Early Childhood Growth in Height and Weight Children continue to grow greatly during early childhood. The average child grows 2 ½ inches and gains between 5 and 7 pounds a year. Each year as they grow older, their increases in height and weight decrease. Growth patterns are affected by genetics, growth hormones and environmental factors. Some reasons for unusually small children are genetic problems, prenatal problems, physical problems in early childhood and emotional problems. Deprivation dwarfism is a condition in which children who are deprived of attention do not grow at a normal rate. This deprivation affects the release of hormones by the pituitary gland. Girls are slightly smaller and lighter than boys during the preschool years, and most children have lost their “top heavy” look. Boys gain muscle and girls gain fatty tissue during this time. Children are fascinated by their bodies. They are constantly asking questions about their bodies and are beginning to understand the physical differences between boys and girls. Two developmentally appropriate books to share with children are “The Body Good” by Claire Raynor and “Blood and Guts” by Linda Allison. Brain Development The brain and the head experience the fastest growth in the body. It is 75% of adult size by age 3 and 90% of adult size by age 5. It is interesting to note that at age five a child’s body is only 1/3 of adult size. The top parts of the head, the eyes and the brain grow faster than the jaw. Nerve endings continue to grow into adolescence. Myelination refers to the process by which nerve cells are insulated. Myenilation makes information process more quickly. It occurs in the areas of the brain related to hand/eye coordination at 4 years old and in the areas related to attention in middle childhood. It is interesting to think about the pressure we put on children to spend large amounts of time sitting and focusing in preschool when their brains need more active learning to develop. There are also structural changes in the brain. The brain undergoes dramatic anatomical changes between ages 3 and 15. Some areas almost double in size, and the purge of unneeded cells follows up to the age of 4. Frontal lobe growth occurs between 3 and 6 years of age, and temporal and parietal lobes from age 6 through puberty (Berk, 2017; Hyson, 2014). Signs of Vision Problems It is important for children to have regular vision screening before age 3. Treatment before age 6 can prevent vision loss. It can sometimes be difficult to discern if a child is having vision problems. Some signs to look for are tilting of the head, squinting, irritability when asked to complete tasks that require long distance vision, rubbing the eyes, shutting and covering one eye, excessive blinking, and headaches. Two eye conditions that many children suffer are functional amblyopia and strabismus. Functional amblyopia, also called lazy eye, is an eye defect that occurs when one eye is not used as much as the other eye to avoid the discomfort of double vision. It is caused by imbalanced eye muscles. Strabismus is misalignment of the eyes (CDC, 2022). Physical Development in Early Childhood | 137 Gross Motor Skills Preschoolers have the highest activity level of any age in the life span. They need daily exercise, and good programs with creativity and free movement. Exercise increases physical and visual awareness. Children’s gross motor skills develop when they use the large muscles of their body. At age 3, children enjoy simple movements such as hopping, jumping, running back and forth, throwing a ball underhand, catching a large ball and catching a bounced ball. At age 4, children become more adventurous and love to climb. They can kick a ball towards a target, bounce a ball under control, hop on one foot four times and come down stairs with one foot on each step. At age 5, children run hard, enjoy races, kick a rolling ball, skip using alternating feet, roller skate, jump rope, ride a two-wheeled bike with training wheels and are adventurous and try hair-raising stunts in climbing. Some gross motor ideas to incorporate into a preschool classroom are: • Beam Walking • Daily Fitness Activities • Creative Movement With Music • Moving To A Steady Beat • Including Language Activities (over, under, around) • Including Perceptual Activities (copying teacher’s movements) Remember that children are not able to sit still! (Hyson, 2014) Fine Motor Skills Fine motor skills are subtler movement skills in children’s hands and fingers. At age 3, children are still clumsy at picking things up with their thumb and forefinger. They have difficulty placing pieces in a puzzle but are adept at building block towers. At age 4, their coordination has improved and is more precise. They are much better at puzzles. At age 5, the hand, arm, and body all move together well. Children want to build a more detailed block structure. Hand strengthening activities are important during this time. Finger painting, squeezing stress balls, 138 | Physical Development in Early Childhood