Kathleen Stassen Berger
Part III Chapter Eight
The Play Years: Biosocial Development
Body Changes
Brain Development
Injuries and Abuse
Prepared by Madeleine Lacefield
Tattoon, M.A.
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The Play Years: Biosocial Development
Children grow bigger and stronger…
become more skilled at tasks… by
age 6, they can skip, write, and much
more, as long as they have had
enough practice.
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Body Changes
– 1-year-olds are cute and chubby, while
6 year olds are “grown up”
– the body and brain develop according to
powerful epigenetic forces
– biologically driven as well as socially
guided, experience-expectant and
experience-dependent…
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Body Changes
• Growth Patterns
– children become slimmer
– the lower body lengthens
– lose baby fat and gain muscle
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Body Changes
• Growth Patterns
– gone is the protruding belly
– round face
– short limbs
– large head (that characterize the
toddler)
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Body Changes
• Growth Patterns
– each year from age 2–6, well-nourished
children add almost 3 inches and gain
about 4 ½ pounds
– 6-year-olds weigh about 46 pounds
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Body Changes
• Growth Patterns
– A typical 6-year-old:
• is at least 3 ½ feet tall
• weighs between 40 and 50 pounds
• looks lean, not chubby
• has adult-like body proportions
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Body Changes
• Growth Patterns
– ethnic groups living together in the same
developed nation, children of:
• African descent tend to be the tallest, then
• European descent
• Asian descent
• Latino descent
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Body Changes
• Eating Habits
– Infants and young children today play
outside less than their parents or
grandparents did
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Body Changes
• Eating Habits
– Nutritional deficiencies
• children in developed nations consume
enough calories but lack iron, zinc, and
calcium
• most cultures encourage their children to
eat sweets
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Body Changes
• Eating Habits
– Just right
• “just right” or “just so” phenomenon is
normal and widespread among children
• most young children’s food preferences
and rituals are far from ideal
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Body Changes
• Eating Habits—Just Right
– phase peaked at about age 3...
– have things done in a particular order or
in a certain way
– strong preference to wear or not wear
certain clothes
– prepare for bedtime by engaging in a
special activity, routine, or ritual
– strong preference for certain foods
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Body Changes
• Eating Habits
– by age 6 the “just right” fades
– parents should be patient until the “just
right” obsession fades
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Brain Development
“Brains grow rapidly even before birth.”
• by age 2 the brains increase in size
– a great deal of pruning of dendrites has
already occurred
– brain growth after infancy is a crucial
difference between humans and other
animals
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Brain Development
• Speed of Thought
– continued proliferation of the
communication pathways (dendrites and
axons) results in some brain growth
– Myelination is the process by which axons
become coated with myelin, a fatty
substance that speeds the transmission of
nerve impulses from neuron to neuron
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Brain Development
• Connecting the Brain’s Hemispheres
– Corpus Callosum
• a long band of nerve fibers that connect the left
and right hemispheres of the brain
– Lateralization
• the specialization of certain functions by each
side of the brain, with one side dominant for
each activity
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Brain Development
• The Left-Handed Child
– infants and toddlers usually prefer one hand over
the other
– for centuries, parents who saw a preference for the
left-hand forced their children to be right-handed
– developmentalist advise against trying to switch
a child’s handedness, because it might interfere
with the natural and necessary process of
lateralization
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Brain Development
– The left half controls the right side of the
body and contains the areas dedicated
to logical reasoning, detailed analysis,
and the basics of language.
– The right half controls the left side of
the body and contains the area
dedicated to generalized emotion and
creative impulses, including appreciation
of most music, art, and poetry.
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Brain Development
– severely brain-damaged people are exclusively
left-brained or right-brained
– every cognitive skill requires both sides of the
brain
– older children have more myelinated fibers in the
corpus callosum, resulting in better thinking and
less clumsy actions
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Brain Development
• Planning and Analyzing
– the prefrontal cortex or frontal cortex is an
area in the front part of the brain’s outer
layer
– it is the executive part of the brain… ruling
all the other areas
– this area underlies higher-order cognition
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Brain Development
• Maturation of the Prefrontal Cortex
• Notable benefits occur from age 2 – 6
• sleep becomes more regular
• emotions become more and responsive
to specific stimuli
• temper tantrums subside
• uncontrollable laughter or tears become
less common
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Brain Development
• Attention
• a major function of the prefrontal cortex
is to focus attention and thus curb
impulsiveness
• perseveration is the tendency to
persevere in, or stick to, one thought or
action for a long time
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Brain Development
• Emotions and the Brain
– amygdala
• a tiny brain structure that registers emotions,
particularly fear and anxiety
– hippocampus
• a brain structure that is a central processor of
memory, especially the memory of location
– hypothalamus
• a brain area that responds to the amygdala and
the hippocampus to produce hormones that
activate other parts of the brain and body
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Brain Development
• Emotions and the Brain
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Brain Development
• Emotions and the Brain
– stressful experiences… can foster growth if
the child has someone or something to
moderate the stress
– prolonged physiological responses to stress
put children at risk for a variety of problems :
• physical and mental disorders
• poor emotional regulation
• cognitive impairments
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Brain Development
• Motor Skills
– maturation of the prefrontal cortex
improves impulse control
– myelinaton of the corpus callosum and
lateralization of the brain permits better
coordination
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Brain Development
• Gross Motor Skills
– involves large body movement
• Fine Motor Skills
– involve small body movement (are harder to
master)
– many fine motor skills involve two hands…
both sides of the brain
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Brain Development
• Artistic Expression
– during the play years children are imaginative,
creative, and not yet very self-critical
– all forms of artistic expression blossom during
early childhood
– in every artistic domain, maturation of brain
and body is gradual and comes with practice
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Brain Development
• Artistic Expression
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Injuries and Abuse
• more young children die of violence,
either accidental or deliberate than from
any other cause
• they are more vulnerable to injuries
and abuse than older children
• they are impulsive, yet depend on
others
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Injuries and Abuse
• Avoidable injury
– worldwide injuries cause millions of
premature deaths among young adults
as well as children
– injury control/harm reduction
• practices that are aimed at anticipating,
controlling, and preventing dangerous
activities
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Injuries and Abuse
• Avoidable injury—3 Levels of Prevention
– Primary Prevention
• actions that change overall background
conditions to prevent some unwanted event
or circumstances, such as injury, disease, or
abuse
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Injuries and Abuse
• Avoidable injury
– Secondary Prevention
• actions that avert harm in a high-risk
situation, such as stopping a car before it
hits a pedestrian
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Injuries and Abuse
• Avoidable injury
– Tertiary Prevention
• actions, such as immediate and effective
medical treatment, that are taken after
an adverse event occurs, and are aimed
at reducing the harm or preventing
disability
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Injuries and Abuse
• Avoidable injury
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Child Maltreatment
• Child Maltreatment
– intentional harm to, or avoidable endangerment
of, anyone under 18 years of age
• Child Abuse
– deliberate action that is harmful to a child’s
physical, emotional, or sexual well-being
• Child Neglect
– failure to meet a child’s basic physical,
educational, or emotional needs
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Child Maltreatment
• Reported Maltreatment
– harm or endangerment about which
someone has notified the authorities
• Substantiated Maltreatment
– harm or endangerment that been
reported, investigated, and verified
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Child Maltreatment
• First warning signs of maltreatment are:
– delayed development
– slow grow
– immature communication
– lack of curiosity
– unusual social interaction
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Child Maltreatment
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
– is a delayed reaction to a trauma or shock
– may include hyperactivity and hypervigilance
– displaced anger, sleeplessness, sudden
terror or anxiety
– and confusion between fantasy and reality
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Child Maltreatment
• Consequences of Maltreatment
– is effected by cultural context
– maltreatment compromises basic health
– maltreated children and adolescents are
often bullies or victims or both
– these perspectives can last for a life span
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