Chapter Eight
The Play Years:
Biosocial Development
PowerPoints prepared by Cathie Robertson, Grossmont College
Revised by Jenni Fauchier, Metropolitan Community College

–Biologically driven
–Socially guided

• 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

• Genetic background prepares child to be experience-expectant
• Cultural patterns and differences guide development
• Most influential factors
– genes, health, nutrition
• Other influencing factors
– sex, birth order, geography

• 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

• 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

• Myelination—process by which axons become insulated with a coating of myelin, a fatty substance that speeds transmission of nerve impulses
– thoughts follow each other fast enough for children to perform one task after another
– fast processing essential for fast and complex communication
– experience affects rate of myelination

• Corpus callosum—nerve fibers that connect the two halves of the brain

Connecting the Brain’s
Hemispheres, cont.
• Left Side, Right Side
– lateralization—specialization of the two sides of the brain
• left brain
– logical analysis, language, speech
• right brain
– visual and artistic skills
• Coping with Brain Damage

• Prefrontal cortex (or frontal lobe) is the final part of the human brain to reach maturity
– the area in the very front of the brain that is least developed in nonhumans
– mid-adolescence
• maturation occurs gradually and incomplete until advances at about age 3 or 4 make possible impulse control and formal education

Planning and Analyzing, cont.
• Perseveration—the tendency to persevere, to stick to a thought or action long after it is time to move on
– occurs normally in young children— another aspect of immature selfcontrol

• 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, cont.
• The brain provides the foundation for education
– any impediments to normal growth of the brain can put academic achievement on shaky ground

• Brain development allows for greater coordination and impulse control
• Physical maturation can make a child more vulnerable to injury

• Large body movements improve
– running, jumping, climbing, throwing
• Gross motor skills are practiced and mastered

Gross Motor Skills, cont.
• Motor skills develop as rapidly as brain maturation, motivation, guided practice, and innate ability allow
• Children learn basic motor skills by teaching themselves and learning from other children

• Small body movements are harder to master
– pouring, cutting, holding crayon, tying
– lacking the muscular control, patience, and judgment needed
• fingers short and fat
• confusion over which is dominant hand

• Children’s artistic endeavors are also their play
– drawings often connected to perception and cognition
• gradual maturation of brain and body is apparent
– artwork helps develop fine motor skills
– in artwork, many children eagerly practice perseveration

• Accidents are the most common cause of childhood death
– poison, fire, falls, choking, and drowning
– unintended injuries cause millions of premature deaths per year until the age of 40; then disease becomes greatest cause of mortality
• Injury control/harm reduction—the idea that accidents are not random, but can be made less harmful with proper control

• Primary prevention—actions that change overall background conditions to prevent some unwanted event or circumstance
• Secondary prevention—actions that avert harm in the immediate situation
• Tertiary prevention—actions taken after an adverse event to reduce the harm or prevent disability

Three Levels of Prevention, cont.
• An Example: Pedestrian Deaths
– Primary prevention: Better sidewalks, slower speeds, wider roads, longer traffic signals, etc.
– Secondary prevention: Improving car brakes, having school-crossing guards, having children walk with adults, etc.
– Tertiary prevention: Protective helmets, laws against hit-and-run driving, emergency room procedures, etc.

• SES is a powerful predictor of many accidents
• Prevention and protection crucial
• Parents need to institute safety measures in advance
– Parents’ job is protection

- but don’t represent the typical case
-still, we need to learn lessons about abuse in order to understand its causes and consequences

• Abuse and neglect
– child maltreatment—intentional harm or avoidable endangerment to child
– child abuse—deliberate action that is harmful to child’s well-being
– child neglect—failure to meet child’s basic needs

Changing Definitions of
Maltreatment, cont.
• Types of abuse: physical, sexual, emotional, and educational
• Neglect twice as common as abuse
– one sign is failure to thrive
– another is hypervigilance
• can be a symptom of post- traumatic stress disorder

Changing Definitions of
Maltreatment, cont.
• Reported maltreatment—cases about which authorities have been informed
-3 million per year
• Substantiated maltreatment—cases that have been investigated and verified
-1 million per year

Reported Cases of Child Maltreatment,
United States, 1976–2001

Rates of Substantiated Child
Maltreatment, USA, 1990–2001

• If not spotted early, then reported and stopped, maltreatment can affect every aspect of a child’s development

• Types of possible brain damage
– shaken baby syndrome
• condition caused by maltreatment involving shaking a crying baby, with severe brain damage as result
– brain damage in despondent or terrorized child
• memory may be impaired; logical thinking may be delayed

• Another brain disorder may appear in neglected child with clinically depressed mother unable to provide emotional support and guidance
- right prefrontal cortex develops more than left; consequently, negative emotions dominate, with greater likelihood of depression occurring
• Inadequate essential nourishment also impedes normal brain development

• Maltreated children’s social skills
– less friendly, more isolated and aggressive
– the earlier abuse begins, the worse the relationship with peers

• Primary prevention—prevents maltreatment before problem starts
– need for family support, e.g.,
• stable neighborhoods
• basic values
• SES

• Secondary prevention—responds to first symptoms or signs of risk
- spots and treats early problems
• identifies high-risk children
- potential disadvantages
• wrongfully stigmatizes family as inadequate
• undermines helpful cultural or family patterns
• creates sense of helplessness in families

• Tertiary prevention—halting harm after it occurs, then treating victim
– removal from family
– adoption
– Foster care—legally sanctioned, publicly supported plan that transfers care of maltreated child from parents to others