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Physical Growth
Rate of growth slows relative to infancy & early childhood Rate is roughly 2-3 inches in height and 5 lbs per year As girls approach 8-9 years, the rate of growth increases relative to boys Girls begin to develop additional fat cells relative to muscle cells Girls growth rate is faster than boys until roughly 13 yearpossibly linked with puberty
Overweight Children
BMI at or above the 95th percentile of the population of same aged children (normative) Over 25 percent of American children suffer from obesity, a greater-than-20-percent increase over average body weight, based on the childs age, sex, and physical build.
Causes of Obesity
Obese children tend to have obese parents, and concordance for obesity is greater in identical than fraternal twins Low-SES youngsters in industrialized nations are more likely to be overweight
lack of knowledge about healthy diet tendency to buy high-fat, low-cost foods family stress
Causes of Obesity
obese children are more responsive to external stimuli associated with food less responsive to internal hunger cues
Obese children are less physically active than their normalweight peers obese children tend to watch more television Linked to sedentary lifestyle Linked to advertising and models portrayed
Outcomes of Obesity
Socio-cultural--Both children and adults rate obese
youngsters as unlikable By middle childhood,
obese children report feeling more depressed display more behavior problems than normal-weight age mates psychological consequences of obesity combined with continuing discrimination result in real or perceived reduced life chances
Lateralization (isolation of functions to one or the other hemisphere of the brain) increases and further reduces plasticity Elaborations (development of new connections in the brain) are contingent on brain maturation and experience
Synaptic connections transverse increasingly longer distances across the brain and are correlated with increased flexibility of thought
Motor Development
Fine Motor Development Fine motor development also improves steadily over the school years. Gains are especially evident in writing and drawing.
Writing tends to be large at first, and legibility gradually increases. Drawings show gains in organization, detail, and representation of depth. School-age children not only depict objects in considerable detail, they also relate them to one another as part of an organized whole.
Parents who encourage physical exercise tend to have youngsters who enjoy it more and who are also more skilled. Family income affects childrens opportunities to develop a variety of physical abilities. Girls remain ahead in the fine motor area and skills which depend on balance and agility. School-age boys genetic advantage in muscle mass is not great enough to account for their superiority in many gross motor skills; thus, environment plays a large role in motor development. Greater emphasis on skill training for girls along with increased attention to their athletic achievements in schools and communities is likely to increase their involvement.
Participation in organized games helps children form more mature concepts of fairness and justice.
ADHD
Relative to the norm for age mates: Inability to sustain attention High levels of activity Low impulse control Prevalence rate of ADHD 4%-6% meet clinical definition Genetic, neurological components involved Environmental toxins also implicated (lead exposure, prenatal exposure to alcohol and tobacco) Treatments of choice typically involve drugs (stimulant) & behavioral management
Routines or repetitive behaviors (stereotyped behaviors) repeating words or actions, obsessively following routines or schedules, and playing in repetitive ways