CHAPTER 8
Early Childhood:
Physical Development
Learning Outcomes
LO1 Describe patterns of growth in early
childhood.
LO2 Describe development of motor skills in early
childhood, including drawing and handedness.
LO3 Describe nutritional needs in early childhood.
LO4 Describe health problems in early childhood,
focusing on minor and major illness and on
accidents.
LO5 Describe sleep patterns and sleep disorders
of early childhood.
LO6 Describe elimination disorders, including
their origins and possible treatment.
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TRUTH OR FICTION?
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T-F Some children are left-brained, and others
are right-brained.
T-F A disproportionately high percentage of math
whizzes are left-handed.
T-F Some diseases are normal.
T-F It is dangerous to awaken a sleepwalker.
T-F Competent parents toilet train their children
by their second birthday.
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LO1 Growth Patterns
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Growth Patterns
• Early Childhood / Preschool Years
– Ages 2 - 6 years
– Physical growth becomes slower
– Children become leaner and taller
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Both boys & girls grow about 2-3 inches per year
And gain about 4 - 6 lbs per year
Boys overall tend to become slightly taller and heavier.
Both begin to look more like smaller adults than infants.
– Motor skills develop
• Becoming stronger, faster, and better coordinated
Figure 8.1 – Growth Curves for Height and
Weight, Ages 2 to 6 Years
Development of the Brain
• The Brain grows faster than rest of body during the
Early Developmental Years.
– Age 2 years: brain is 75% adult weight
– Age 5 years: brain is 90% adult weight
• Body weight is only about 1/3 that of adult size.
– Increase in brain size due to:
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• Continuing myelination of nerve
fibers
• Facilitating development of
fine motor skills, balance, and
coordination
Development of the Brain
• The Brain grows faster than rest of body during the
Early Developmental Years.
– Visual skills are also facilitated by brain development.
• Enables learning to read
• By ages 4-7 most children experience increase in ability to
focus on schoolwork.
Development of the Brain
• Right-Brain * Left-Brain
– Left Hemisphere functions
• Logical analysis, problem-solving, language, computation
– Right Hemisphere functions
• Usually superior in visual/spatial functions, aesthetic and
emotional responses, and understanding metaphors
– But brain functions are not completely separated as to
hemisphere.
• Children are neither Right-Brained nor Left-Brained
– The functions of both hemispheres overlap via the
corpus callosum (the nerve fibers connecting the
hemispheres).
Development of the Brain
• Plasticity of the Brain
– Refers to the ability to compensate for injuries to the
brain
– Plasticity is greatest about age 2 years then gradually
declines
– “Sprouting” (growth of new dendrites) and redundancy of
neural connections enable plasticity
– If adults suffer damage causing loss of speech, they may
not recover it, but preschoolers may regain functions.
LO2 Motor Development
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Motor Development
• Gross Motor Skills
– Involve the large muscles used in locomotion
• Preschoolers average 25 hrs a week in large muscle
activity
• Motor activity slows after age 2-3
– Acquired through self-teaching and observing
other children
• Imitation of peers more important than adult instruction at
this age.
• Rough-and-Tumble play helps develop physical and
social skills.
– Boys and girls are similar
• Boys show advantage in throwing and kicking.
• Girls better at balance and precision.
Motor Development
• Gross Motor Skills, con’t
– Individual differences larger than sex differences
• Children who have physically active parents are more
active also.
• Twin studies also point to a genetic tendency for activity
levels.
– Experiences in infancy seem to have effect of
development of advancing motor skills.
• Early crawlers do better in early childhood motor skills
development.
Table 8.1 – Development of Gross Motor Skills in
Early Childhood
Motor Development
• Fine Motor Skills
– Involve the small muscles used in manipulation and
coordination
• Control of wrists and fingers enable learning:
– To hold a pencil
– Dress themselves
– Stack blocks
– Tie shoelaces
– Use zippers
Table 8.2 – Development of Fine Motor Skills in
Early Childhood
Note: The ages are averages; there are individual variations.
Motor Development
• Children’s Drawings
– Development of drawing linked to motor and cognitive
skills
• Age 2: scribbling begins
– The building blocks of art
– 20 basic scribbles such as:
» Vertical
» Horizontal
» Diagonal
» Circular, curving, waving
» Zigzagging lines
» Dots
» Etc.
Figure 8.2 – The Twenty Basic Scribbles
Motor Development
– Four Stages:
• Placement
– 2 yr olds scribble in various
locations on a page.
• Shape
– 3 yr olds begin using basic
shapes: circles, squares, triangles, etc
• Design
– As soon as they master shapes, they begin to combine them
into designs.
• Pictorial
– 4-5 yr olds begin to develop designs to resemble
recognizable objects.
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• Children’s Drawings, con’t.
Motor Development
• Children’s Drawings, con’t.
– Overall:
• Early drawing tends to be symbolic of broad categories
rather than specific themes.
• Between 3-5 they are more likely to draw first and name
after.
• After 5 become able to draw object they have in mind.
• Also increase skills at copying figures
Figure 8.3 – Four Stages in Children’s Drawings
Motor Development
• Handedness
– Hand preference
• Genetic Component
– Both parents Right-Handed: 92% chance child will be
also
– Both parents Left-Handed: 50% chance child will be
also
• Early establishment
– 2-3 months infants will hold items longer in one hand
than the other
– By 4 months will show a clear preference
– 7-11 months grasping with one hand or the other
increases
Motor Development
• Handedness, con’t.
– Left-handedness: once seen as a deficiency
• Disadvantages
– Appears to be connected by language problems (dyslexia
and stuttering)
– Also health problems (high blood pressure and epilepsy)
– And psychological disorders (schizophrenia and
depression)
• Advantages
– A disproportionately high percentage of math whizzes are
left-handed (20% of highest scoring 12-13 yr olds taking
SAT)
– Left-handed and ambidextrous people seem to have more
success at athletic sports involving hand use (handball,
fencing, boxing, etc.
– Plus higher frequencies of left-handed people are found
among (musicians, architects, and artists)
LO3 Nutrition
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Nutrition
• Caloric Needs
– 4-6 year olds increase caloric needs to approx. 1,400
calories a day (opposed to about 1,000-1,300 at 1-3 yrs)
– During 2nd - 3rd years appetite becomes erratic
• Taste Preferences
– Early preference for sugar and salt increases with
exposure.
• Many children eat too much sugar and salt.
• Parents serve as role models and should encourage
eating healthy vegetables and fruits.
– Beginning with tiny amounts 8-10 times a week to
familiarize tastes to child
LO4 Health and Illness
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Health & Illness
• Minor Illness
– Typically: colds, stomach upsets, and diarrhea
– Most illnesses in children are minor.
– Most children experience minor illnesses.
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These are considered “normal” childhood illnesses.
Usually last a few days or less; not life threatening
Ages 1-3 years: average 8-9 a year
By ages 4-6 years: average drops to 4-6 a year
Exposure can lead to creation of antibodies that help
prevent the illnesses in adulthood when they can be more
serious.
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Health & Illness
• Major Illness
– Chronic Illnesses
• Arthritis; Diabetes; Cerebral Palsy; Cystic Fibrosis
• Approx. 1/3 or 20 million children under 18 yrs suffer from
a chronic illness
– Major Illnesses
• Rubella (German Measles); Tetanus; Mumps; Whooping
Cough; Diphtheria; Polio; Pneumonia; Tuberculosis
• In U.S. and other Industrialized Countries
– Dramatically reduced due to widespread immunizations and
development of antibiotics and other medications
– Lead poisoning found in paint and water pipes can cause
neurological damage in early childhood.
• In Developing Nations
– 8-9 million children die from major illnesses.
– Air pollution causing respiratory infections: 1 death in 5 in
children under 5 yrs
– Diarrhea kills nearly 2 million due to unsafe water, poor
sanitation, and hygiene.
Health & Illness
• Accidents
– Cause more deaths in early childhood than the next 6
most frequent causes combined
– Motor Vehicle Accidents: single most common cause of
death in early childhood
– Ratio by Sex:
• Boys most likely regardless of SES
– By Socioeconomic Status (SES):
• Poor children are 2 times more likely to die in vehicular
accidents.
• Poor children 5 times more likely to die from fires.
• High incidence attributed to living in dangerous housing
and neighborhoods.
LO5 Sleep
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Sleep
• Normal Sleep
– Hours
• Preschoolers: 10-11 hours per 24 hr period
– Pattern
• 9-10 hrs per night + 1-2 hours napping during day
– Routine
• Typically includes: putting on PJs, brushing teeth, and
being read a story
• Many youngsters also take a “transitional object” (favorite
blanket or stuffed animal) to bed with them.
– Resistance
• Many children typically resist going to bed and/or to sleep.
• Can be a problem for preschoolers since they tend to not
make-up lost sleep
Table 8.3 Sleep Obtained by Children during
a 24-Hour Period
Sleep
• Sleep Disorders
– Sleep Terrors
• Usually begin in early childhood or early adolescence but
are outgrown by late adolescence
• Sometimes associated with stress (moving, divorce, etc.)
• Occur during deep sleep
• Symptoms include sudden awakening accompanied by
high heart and respiration rates, incoherent talking, and
thrashing about
• Recovery includes child falling back to a more restful sleep
• If persistent or very severe, seek profession guidance.
Sleep
• Sleep Disorders, con’t.
– Sleep Walking: Somnambulism
• Onset between ages 3-8 years
• Behaviors include going to bathroom, getting food from
refrigerator, arranging toys, etc. and then returning to bed
• Cause:
– Reflects immaturity of nervous system
• Myths: (all false)
– Their eyes are closed; they will naturally avoid harm;
they will become violent if awakened during an episode
LO6 Elimination Disorders
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Elimination Disorders
• Toilet Training
– The process by which parents teach children to inhibit
reflexive elimination of waste products.
– Child’s maturity plays critical role in successful training.
– Most U.S. children are toilet trained by age 3-4 years.
Elimination Disorders
• Enuresis
– Failure to control the bladder
– Classified as disorder if wetting is still evident at least
twice a month past age 5-6 years
– Night time occurrences: bed-wetting is more difficult to
control
• 8-10% of children: 2 times more common in boys
• Occurs during deep sleep cycles
– Causes
• Organic: immaturity of motor cortex in brain
– Outcomes
• Usually outgrow problems by age 8 and almost always by
teens
Elimination Disorders
Tips to Stop Bed-Wetting
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Limit fluid intake late in day
Wake child during the night
Try a night-light
Maintain a consistent sleep schedule
Use a “sandwich” bed
Have the child help clean up
Reward the child’s
successes
Show a positive attitude
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Elimination Disorders
• Encopresis
– Lack of control over the bowels
– More common among boys
– 1-2% of children age 7-8 experience continuing
problems with bowel control.
– Unlike bed-wetting more common at night, encopresis
is more likely to occur during day
– Causes:
• Physical: chronic constipation
• Psychological: following harsh punishment of toileting
accidents especially in stressed/anxious children