Chapter 2 Child Growth and development

CHAPTER 2PHYSICAL AND

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENCE

PHYSICAL AND MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

Early ChildhoodAge Range : 2-6years oldKnown to us as “Preschool stage”Physical Development during Early

Childhood Physical Development in Children follows a

Directional Pattern.1. 1. The rapid increase in body size of the 1st two

years tapers into a slower growth pattern. On average, children add 2-3 inches in height

and about 6lbs in weight each year. Boys continue to be slightly larger than girls.

2. Overall growth is clearly in height and weight.

3. Growth is manifested at the earliest stage, usually following a cephalocaudal trend in the lengthening of the neck and torso. Brain and neck develop under than legs and trunks.

4. Growth also influenced by genetic factors, nutrition, physical and psychological disorder and even climates.

SCHOOL AGED1. Between ages 6 and 12 that children

grow 2 to 3 inches high and add 6 lbs each year.

2. At this stage large muscle are coordinated and they acquire more skills hand-rendering them able to engage in activities like motor coordination (ex. Bike riding).

3. Children acquire hand-eye muscle coordination they are able to engage in activities involving vision, (ex. Shooting a basketball, playing piano or violin)

4. Fine Motor Coordination as exemplified in writing, cutting, and other related school task.

5. Motor development improves with age.

Involves large muscle movement along with fine motor skills, controlled by small muscles.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD Between the age of 6 ½ , 8 ½ , and 10

years in girls and approximately half a year later at 7, 9 and 10 ½ in boys, growth occurs in spruts.

Motor Development Improve fine motor skills and those

involving large muscle. Gross motor skills and hand - eye

coordination are improved with agility and balance added.

ADOLESCENCE Early signs of maturation is

adolescence growth spurt. sharp increase in height and weight

seen among in girls aged 9 ½ and 14 ½, and in boys between 10 ½ and 16.

Height attained at age 14 to 15 for girls and 18 for boys.

GROWTH MANIFESTATIONS

Male Female

Wider shoulder Widening of the pelvis

Longer legs relative to trunk Accumulation of fat under the skin result to more rounded appearance.

Longer forearms relative to upper arms and height.

Eye growing faster

Eye growing faster. Lower jaw usually becomes stronger and thicker

Lower jaw usually becomes stronger and thicker

Puberty- brings about the physical differences that differentiate females and males.

Female: Growth of ovaries, pubic hair, breast development, etc

Male: Growth of testes, growth of pubic hair and facial hair, sperm in the urine for sexual maturation.

Spermarche- is the first ejaculation of semen containing ejaculate for the males.

Menarche – beginning of the menstrual cycle for female.

BRAIN DEVELOPMENTEarly Childhood Brain continues to develop after birth

and doubles in weight after 6months at which time it weighs about half that of the adult brain.

Proceeds at an uneven pace occurring between 3 and 10months and between 15 and 24months

The Sensory and Motor Areas are the primary sites of brain growth during the first spurt associated with fine motor skills, and eye- hand coordination improvement, occurs at ages 6-8.

In the second spurt of brain growth, the focus of development shifts to the frontal lobes and cerebral cortex.

Selective attention allows children to focus cognitive ability on the elements of a problem or situation.

Full myelination of the reticular formation and the frontal lobes enables the children between ages 6 and 12 to function more like adults. In the presence of possible distraction.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD 90% of brain growth is reached by the

time a child reaches 9. Growth is characterized by interrelated

processes, namely cell proliferation and cell pruning.

Cell proliferation takes place during the first several days in life. It consist of the over production of neurons and interconnections.

Cell pruning is a continuous process in childhood phase. It involves the selective elimination of excess cells and cutting back of connections.

The two processes afford fine-tuning of neural development through experiences such that frequent interconnections and retained while infrequent are pruned.

The demands of the growth processes give way to changes in the brain metabolism.

The neurons of the association areas -parts of the brain where sensory, motor and intellectual functions are linked are myelinized to some degree.

Another significant in this stage is the ability to identify and act a relationship between objects in space.

A behavioral test of the lateralization of spatial perception involves relative right- left orientation, or the ability to identify what is right and what is left.

ADOLESCENCE In the teenage years there are two major

brain growth spurts one occurring between ages 13 to 15. Here the cerebral cortex becomes thicker and more efficient, more energy produced and consumed by the brain during this spurt than in the following years.

The spurt takes place in parts of the brain that control spatial perception and motor functions, that’s the reason why mis-teens, adolescents abilities in these areas far exceed those of school aged children.

Second brain growth spurt beginning around age 17 and which continues into early adulthood.

Second brain growth spurt has frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex as focus of development.

Among older teens dealing with problems requiring cognitive functions is easier than w/ younger teens.

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRAIN Life experiences whether better or

worse have lasting effects o the capacity of the central nervous system to learn and store information.

This is why an enriched environment can enhance the growth and structure of the brain.

Chronic malnutrition especially during prenatal period, causes adverse effect on the brain.

The midbrain and the medulla are the most fully developed at birth.

These parts regulate vital functions like heartbeat and respiration, including attention, sleeping, walking, elimination and movement of head and neck.

Cortex is developed part of the brain since birth, the convoluted gray matter wrapped around the midbrain in involved in perception, body movement, thinking and language.

Lateralization – The corpus callosum, grows, and matures during the early childhood years at a faster rate than any other period of life.

It is the brain structure through which the left side of the cerebral cortex communicate.

95% among human brain functions are laterized through a pattern called left brain dominance.

5% remaining are account for right brain dominance.

In some people they can be mixed dominance, where some follow the typical pattern and others are reversed.

Prevalence right handedness is result to genetic inheritance through dominant gene.