Chapter 3: The Preschool Years

1. Chapter 3: The Preschool Years Module 3.1 Physical Development inthe Preschool Years

2. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE PRESCHOOL YEARS

3. Growing Body By age 2, 25 to 30 pounds and close to 36 inches tall By 6 years old, about 46 pounds and 46 inches tall Physical Growth 150

4. Individual Differences in Height and Weight • Averages mask great individual differences in height and weight • Gender differences • National and global economic differences 150

5. Changes in Body Shape and Structure • Bodies vary in height, weight, and shape • Toddler fat burns off • Internal physical changes occur 150

6. Nutrition: Eating the Right Foods • Slower growth = less caloric requirements • Children can maintain appropriate intake of food, if provided with nutritious meals • Inappropriate encouragement to increase food intake beyond an appropriate level may cause obesity 151

7. Avoiding a Butter Battle Good nutrition without adversarial situations occur by: • Providing a variety of foods, low in fat and high in nutritional and iron content • Allowing development of natural preferences • Exposing children to a wide variety of foods 151

8. Health and Illness • 7 to 10 colds and other minor respiratory illnesses in each of years from age three to five • Runny nose due to common cold is most frequent • Majority of US preschoolers are reasonably healthy 151

9. Injury During the Preschool Years • Accidents are greatest risk • Danger of injuries • High levels of physical activity • Curiosity • Lack of judgment • Individual differences • Gender • Cultural • Socioeconomic 151

10. Range of Preschool Dangers • Falls • Burns • Drowning • Suffocation • Auto accidents • Poisons 151

11. Silent Danger: Lead Poisoning • Some 14 million children are at risk for lead poisoning (Centers for Disease Control) • U.S. DHHS calls lead poisoning most hazardous health threat to children under the age of 6 152

12. Effects of Lead Poisoning • High levels of lead are linked to higher levels of antisocial behavior in school age children • Aggression • Delinquency 152

13. Growing Brain • Grows at faster rate than any other part of the body • Increase in interconnections among cells and myelin • Corpus callosum becomes thicker • Lateralization improves 153

14. Left Hand, Right Hand PET scans illustrates activity in right or left hemisphere of brain differs according to task in which person is engaged How might educators use this finding in their approach to teaching? 154

15. Ya gotta hand it to him…or her! Gender-related lateralization differences • Boys • Greater lateralization of language in left hemisphere • Higher autism incidence (Baron-Cohen’s theory) OR gender predisposition to functioning differences • Girls • Language is more evenly divided between two hemispheres OR Verbal abilities emerge earlier in girls because girls receive greater encouragement for verbal skills than boys 154

16. So…does brain development produce cognitive advances or do cognitive accomplishments fuel brain development?

17. Motor Development 155

18. Brazelton Flexible approach advocating waiting until signs of readiness appear Rosemond Rigid approach advocating quick and early training Potty Wars: Opposing Views 156

19. Dry at least 2 hours during day or after nap Regular, predictable bowel movements Indications that bowel movement or urination is about to occur Ability to follow simple directions Ability to get to bathroom and undress on time Discomfort with soiled diapers Asking to use toilet Desire to wear underwear Begin only when children are ready American Academy of PediatricsCurrent Guidelines 156

20. Fine Motor Skills • Involve more delicate, smaller body movements • Require much practice • Show clear developmental pattern 156

21. Handedness • Preference by end of preschool years • No scientific basis of myths that suggest there is something with being left-handed 156

22. Becoming an Informed Consumer of Development Keeping Preschoolers Healthy: • Eating well-balanced diet • Exercising • Getting enough sleep • Avoiding contact ill others • Appropriate schedule of immunizations 156

23. Review and Apply REVIEW • Gross and fine motor development advances rapidly during the preschool years. • Boys’ and girls’ gross motor skills begin to diverge, with boys typically doing better at tasks requiring strength and girls doing better at tasks requiring coordination. • Also during this period, children develop handedness—a decided preference for one hand over the other. 157

24. Review and Apply APPLY • To what extent do you think that gender differences in the development of gross motor skills are genetic versus environmental? • If it could be shown that left-handers had a greater likelihood to be gifted than right-handers, would it make sense to train children to use their left hands for everyday tasks? Why? 157