Chapter 9
PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE AND LATE CHILDHOOD
1 Physical Changes and Health
Continued change characterizes children’s bodies during middle and late childhood, and their
motor skills improve. As children move through the elementary school years, they gain greater control
over their bodies and can sit and keep their attention focused for longer periods of time. Regular
exercise is one key to making these years a time of healthy growth and development.
BODY GROWTH AND CHANGE
The period of middle and late childhood involves slow, consistent growth (Hockenberry,
Wilson, & Rodgers, 2017). This is a period of calm before the rapid growth spurt of adolescence.
During the elementary school years, children grow an average of 2 to 3 inches a year until, at the age
of 11, the average girl is 4 feet, 10 inches tall, and the average boy is 4 feet, 9 inches tall. During the
middle and late childhood years, children gain about 5 to 7 pounds a year. The weight increase is due
mainly to increases in the size of the skeletal and muscular systems, as well as the size of some body
organs.
THE BRAIN
The development of brain-imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has
led to increased research on changes in the brain during middle and late childhood and links between
these brain changes and cognitive development (Khundrakpam & others, 2018; Mah, Geeraert, &
Lebel, 2017). Total brain volume stabilizes by the end of late childhood, but significant changes in
various structures and regions of the brain continue to occur. In particular, the brain pathways and
circuitry involving the prefrontal cortex, the highest level in the brain, continue to increase during
middle and late childhood.
MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
During middle and late childhood, children’s motor skills become much smoother and more
coordinated than they were in early childhood (Hockenberry, Wilson, & Rodgers, 2017). For
example, only one child in a thousand can hit a tennis ball over the net at the age of 3, yet by the age
of 10 or 11 most children can learn to play the sport. Running, climbing, skipping rope, swimming,
bicycle riding, and skating are just a few of the many physical skills elementary school children can
master. In gross motor skills involving large muscle activity, boys usually outperform girls
Exercise
Experts recommend that preschool children engage in two hours of physical activity per day.
Connect to “Socioemotional Development in Early Childhood.”
HEALTH, ILLNESS, AND DISEASE
For the most part, middle and late childhood is a time of excellent health. Disease and death
are less prevalent at this time than during other periods in childhood and in adolescence. However,
many children in middle and late childhood face health problems that harm their development.
Accidents and Injuries
Injuries are the leading cause of death during middle and late childhood, and the most
common cause of severe injury and death in this period is motor vehicle accidents, either as a
pedestrian or as a passenger (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017c).
Overweight Children
Being overweight is an increasingly prevalent health problem in chil-
dren (Blake, 2017; Donatelle, 2019; Smith & Collene, 2019). Recall that being overweight is defined
in terms of body mass index (BMI), which is computed by a formula that takes into account height
and weight—children at or above the 97th percentile are included in the obesity category, at or above
the 95th percentile in the overweight category, and children at or above the 85th percentile are
described as at risk for being overweight (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017b)
Cardiovascular Disease
Cardiovascular disease is uncommon in children. Nonetheless,
environmental experiences and behavior during childhood can sow the seeds for cardiovascular
disease in adulthood (Schaefer & others, 2017).
Cancer
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in U.S. children 5 to 14 years of age.
One in every 330 children in the United States develops cancer before the age of 19. The incidence of
cancer in children has increased slightly in recent years (National Cancer Institute, 2018).
2 Children with Disabilities
THE SCOPE OF DISABILITIES
Of all children in the United States, 12.9 percent from 3 to 21 years of age received special
education or related services in 2012–2013, an increase of 3 percent since 1980–1981 (Condition of
Education, 2016).
Learning disability
Difficulty in understanding or using spoken or written language or in doing mathematics. To
be classified as a learning disability, the learning problem is not
primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; intellectual disability; emotional
disorders; or due to environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
Dyslexia
A category of learning disabilities involving a severe impairment in the ability to
read and spell.
Dysgraphia
A learning disability that involves difficulty in handwriting.
Dyscalculia
Also known as developmental arithmetic disorder; a learning disability that involves
difficulty in math computation.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
A disability in which children consistently show one or more of the following characteristics:
(1) inattention, (2) hyperactivity, and (3) impulsivity.
Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
Serious, persistent problems that involve relationships, aggression, depression, fears
associated with personal or school matters, as well as other inappropriate socioemotional
characteristics.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
Also called pervasive developmental disorders, they range from the severe disorder labeled
autistic disorder to the milder disorder called Asperger syndrome. Children with these disorders are
characterized by problems in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and repetitive
behaviors.
Autistic disorder
A severe autism spectrum disorder that has its onset in the first three years of life and includes
deficiencies in social relationships, abnormalities in communication, and restricted, repetitive, and
stereotyped patterns of behavior.
Asperger syndrome
A relatively mild autism spectrum disorder in which the child has relatively good verbal
language skills, milder nonverbal language problems, and a restricted range of interests and
relationships.
EDUCATIONAL ISSUES
Until the 1970s most U.S. public schools either refused enrollment to children with
disabilities or inadequately served them. This changed in 1975 when Public Law 94-142, the
Education for All Handicapped Children Act, required that all students with disabilities be given a
free, appropriate public education. In 1990, Public Law 94-142 was recast as the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA was amended in 1997 and then reauthorized in 2004 and
renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.
Individualized education plan (IEP)
A written statement that spells out a program specifically tailored to a child with a disability.
Least restrictive environment (LRE)
A setting that is as similar as possible to the one in which children who do not have a
disability are educated.
Inclusion
Educating a child with special requirements full-time in the regular classroom.
3 Cognitive Changes
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY
According to Jean Piaget (1952), the preschool child’s thought is preoperational. Preschool
children can form stable concepts, and they have begun to reason, but their thinking is flawed by
egocentrism and magical belief systems.
The Concrete Operational Stage
- Piaget proposed that the concrete operational stage lasts from approximately 7 to 11 years of age. In
this stage, children can perform concrete operations, and they can reason logically as long as
reasoning can be applied to specific or concrete examples. Remember that operations are mental
actions that are reversible, and concrete operations are operations that are applied to real, concrete
objects.
Seriation
The concrete operation that involves ordering stimuli along a quantitative dimension (such as
length).
Transitivity
The ability to logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions.
Neo-Piagetians
Developmentalists who argue that Piaget got some things right but that his theory needs
considerable revision. They have elaborated on Piaget’s theory, giving more emphasis to information
processing, strategies, and precise cognitive steps.
INFORMATION PROCESSING
Memory
Earlier we concluded that short-term memory increases considerably during early childhood
but after the age of 7 does not show as much increase.
Long-term memory
A relatively permanent type of memory that holds huge amounts of information for a long
period of time.
Working memory
A mental “workbench” where individuals manipulate and assemble information when making
decisions, solving problems, and comprehending written and spoken language.
Strategies
Deliberate mental activities that improve the processing of information.
Elaboration
An important strategy for remembering that involves engaging in more extensive processing
of information
Thinking
Three important aspects of thinking are executive function, critical thinking, and creative
thinking.
Critical thinking
Thinking reflectively and productively, as well as evaluating evidence.
Mindfulness
Being alert, mentally present, and cognitively flexible while going through life’s everyday
activities and tasks.
Creative thinking
The ability to think in novel and unusual ways and to come up with unique solutions to
problems.
Convergent thinking
Thinking that produces one correct answer and is characteristic of the kind of thinking tested
by standardized intelligence tests.
Divergent thinking
Thinking that produces many answers to the same question and is characteristic of creativity.
Metacognition
Cognition about cognition, or knowing about knowing.
Intelligence
Problem-solving skills and the ability to learn from and adapt to the experiences of everyday
life.
Individual differences
The stable, consistent ways in which people differ from each other.
INTELLIGENCE
How can intelligence be defined? Intelligence is the ability to solve problems and to adapt and
learn from experiences. Interest in intelligence has often focused on individual differences and
assessment.
Mental Age (MA)
Binet’s measure of an individual’s level of mental development compared with that of others.
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
A person’s mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100.
Normal distribution
A symmetrical distribution with most scores falling in the middle of the possible range of
scores and a few scores appearing toward the extremes of the range.
Interpreting Differences in IQ Scores
The IQ scores that result from tests such as the Stanford-Binet and Wechsler scales provide
information about children’s mental abilities.
Culture-fair tests
Tests of intelligence that are designed to be free of cultural bias.
Stereotype threat
The anxiety that one’s behavior might confirm a negative stereotype about one’s group.
Using Intelligence Tests
Here are some cautions about IQ that can help you avoid the pitfalls of using information
about a child’s intelligence in negative ways:
• Avoid stereotyping and expectations.
A special concern is that the scores on an IQ test easily can lead to stereotypes and
expectations about students. Sweeping generalizations are too often made on the basis of an IQ score.
An IQ test should always be considered a measure of current performance. It is not a measure of fixed
potential. Maturational changes and enriched environmental experiences can increase a student’s IQ
score.
• Know that IQ is not a sole indicator of competence.
Another concern about IQ tests involves their use as the main or sole assessment of
competence. A high IQ is not the ultimate human value. As we have seen in this chapter, it is
important to consider not only students’ intellectual competence in such areas as verbal skills but also
their creative and practical skills.
• Use caution in interpreting an overall IQ score.
In evaluating a child’s intelligence, it is wiser to think of intelligence as consisting of a
number of domains. Keep in mind the different types of intelligence described by Sternberg and
Gardner. Remember that by considering the different domains of intelligence you can find that every
child has at least one area of strength.
EXTREMES OF INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence tests have been used to discover indications of intellectual disability or
intellectual giftedness, the extremes of intelligence. At times, intelligence tests have been misused for
this purpose. Keeping in mind the theme that an intelligence test should not be used as the sole
indicator of intellectual disability or giftedness, we will explore the nature of these intellectual
extremes.
Intellectual disability
A condition of limited mental ability in which the individual (1) has a low IQ, usually below
70 on a traditional intelligence test, (2) has difficulty adapting to the demands of everyday life, and (3)
first exhibits these characteristics by age 18.
Organic intellectual disability
A genetic disorder or condition involving brain damage that is linked to a low level of
intellectual functioning.
Cultural-familial intellectual disability
Condition in which there is no evidence of organic brain damage but the individual’s IQ
generally is between 50 and 70.
Giftedness
There have always been people whose abilities and accomplishments outshine
those of others—the whiz kid in class, the star athlete, the natural musician. People who are
gifted have above-average intelligence (an IQ of 130 or higher) and/or superior talent for something.
When it comes to programs for gifted students, most school systems select children who have
intellectual superiority and academic aptitude, whereas children who are talented in the visual and
performing arts (art, drama, dance), who demonstrate skill in athletics, or who have other special
aptitudes tend to be overlooked (Olszewski-Kubilius & Thomson, 2013).
Gifted
Having above-average intelligence (an IQ of 130 or higher) and/or superior talent for
something.
4 Language Development
Children gain new skills as they enter school that make it possible for them to learn to read
and write (Fox & Alexander, 2017; Graham & Harris, 2017). These skills include increased use of
language to talk about things that are not physically present, learning what a word is, and learning
how to recognize and talk about sounds. Children also learn the alphabetic principle—that the letters
of the alphabet represent sounds of the language.
VOCABULARY, GRAMMAR, AND METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS
During middle and late childhood, changes occur in the way children’s mental vocabulary is
organized. When asked to say the first word that comes to mind when they hear a word, preschool
children typically provide a word that often follows the word in a sentence.
Metalinguistic awareness
Knowledge about language, such as understanding what a preposition is or being able to
discuss the sounds of a language.
READING
Before learning to read, children learn to use language to talk about things that are not
present; they learn what a word is; and they learn how to recognize sounds and talk about them.
Children who begin elementary school with a robust vocabulary have an advantage when it comes to
learning to read.
Whole-language approach
An approach to reading instruction based on the idea that instruction should parallel
children’s natural language learning. Reading materials should be whole and meaningful.
Phonics approach
The idea that reading instruction should teach the basic rules for translating written symbols
into sounds.
SECOND-LANGUAGE LEARNING AND BILINGUAL EDUCATION
Second-Language Learning
For many years, it was claimed that if individuals did not learn a second language prior to
puberty they would never reach native-language learners’ proficiency in the second language
(Johnson & Newport, 1991).
Bilingual Education
A current controversy related to bilingualism involves the millions of U.S. children who come
from homes in which English is not the primary language and then must learn English in school
(Diaz-Rico, 2018; Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2017; Esposito & others, 2018; Peregoy & Boyle,
2017).
