Children

1
Children
11

• Physical Development in Middle and Late Childhood

2
Skeletal and Muscular Systems

• During the elementary school years, children
• Grow 2 to 3 inches a year until age 11
• Gain about 5 to 7 pounds a year
• Double strength capabilities
• Proportional changes

3
The Brain
What Changes Take Place in Body Growth, Brain,
and Motor Development?

• Increased myelination
• Faster, effective processing of information
• Middle/late childhood
• Brain volume stabilization
• Prefrontal circuitry and pathways increase
• Significant changes in structures and regions
• Attention, reasoning, cognitive control
• Increased cortical thickness
• Synaptic pruning occurs

4
Overweight Children
What Are Central Issues in Childrens Health?

• Overweight
• Increasing health problem in the U.S.
• BMI used to measure children
• Worldwide more children overweight
• Recently in U.S. obesity leveling off
• Risk factor the earlier the child is overweight,
  the more risk of obesity in adolescence

5
Overweight Children
What Are Central Issues in Childrens Health?

• Factors linked to overweight childhood
• Genetics, heredity
• Environmental factors
• Availability of food and types
• Eating patterns and habits
• Cultural influences
• Parental supervision, attitudes
• Television watching, low activity behaviors

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Overweight Children
What Are Central Issues in Childrens Health?

• Consequences of overweight childhood
• Risk of medical problems
• Pulmonary/airway obstruction, sleep apnea
• Bone, hip problems
• Diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol
• Cardiovascular risk higher in low SES
• Risk of psychological problems
• Lower self-esteem, tired, less attractive
• Peer relations rejection and withdrawal

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Overweight Children
What Are Central Issues in Childrens Health?

• Treatment
• Combination of
• Diet, weight loss programs
• Exercise, calorie-burning activities
• Behavior modification, lifestyle changes
• Daily diary provides feedback, reinforcement
• Intervention programs vary
• Schools, parents are very important for change
• Activity levels are not hereditary

8
Diseases
What Are Central Issues in Childrens Health?

• Four childhood diseases most harmful
• Cancer
• Child cancers attack all areas of body
• By age 19 1 in 330 children in U.S. get cancer
• Little known about causes, possible genetics
• Diabetes
• Type I and Type II
• Highest risk obesity and Type II
• Ethnic groups at higher risk of diabetes

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Diseases
What Are Central Issues in Childrens Health?

• Asthma
• Incidence has steadily increased over years
• Affected by increased air pollution
• Most common childhood chronic disease
• Primary reason for missing school, ER visits
• Exact causes unknown blames allergic reactions
  to environmental substances
• Treated with inhalers, medications
• Child may outgrow by late adolescence

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Accidents and Injuries
What Are Central Issues in Childrens Health?

• Injuries
• Middle/late childhood leading cause of death
• Most common motor vehicle accidents
• Serious injuries caused by sports equipment
• Most accidents occur near home or school
• Prevention strategies best
• Safety equipment, minimize risky behaviors,
  proper adult supervision

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Exercise and Sports
What Are Central Issues in Childrens Health?

• Sports
• Involvement of children increasing every year
• Positive consequences
• Healthy exercise, opportunities to learn, raises
  self-esteem, good peer relationships
• Negative consequences
• Pressure to win/achieve, physical injuries,
  academic work falters, too competitive,
  unrealistic expectations for athletic success

12
Exercise and Sports
What Are Central Issues in Childrens Health?

• Exercise
• Children not exercising enough
• Less P.E. programs/involvement in school
• TV watching promotes sedentary lifestyles
• High-intensity resistance exercise
• Decreases body fat, lessens overweight risks
• Increases muscle strength
• Linked to important cognitive activity
• Opportunities, parental encouragement a must

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Parents Guide for Children

• Pros
• Exercise
• Opportunities to learn how to compete
• Self-esteem
• Setting for developing peer relations and
  friendships

• Cons
• Pressure to achieve, high stress created
• Physical injuries
• Distraction from academic work
• Exploitation
• Wrong values taught win-at-all-costs

14
Nutrition
What Are Central Issues in Childrens Health?

• Middle/late childhood
• Average childs body weight doubles
• Food consumption increases with age
• Age 1-3 needs 1,300 calories per day
• Age 4-6 needs 1,700 calories per day
• Age 7-10 needs 2,400 calories per day (needs
  vary with size, activity level)
• Healthy, balanced meals, and eating patterns are
  most important

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Motor Development
What Changes Take Place in Body Growth, Brain,
and Motor Development?

• Middle/late childhood
• Smoother movement, better coordination
• Mastered skills become source of pleasure
• Boys usually better in gross motor skills
• Activity helps refine developing skills
• Hands used more as tools, steadier by age 7
• Age 8-10 more independent with hands
• Fine motor skills in writing develop
• Age 10-12 manipulative skills like adults

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Who Are Children with Disabilities?
What Are the Prevalent Disabilities in Children?

• About 10 of U.S. children receive special
  education or related services
• Learning disability (includes ADHD)
• Speech and sensory disorders
• Physical disorders
• Emotional and behavioral disorders

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Learning Disabilities
What Are the Prevalent Disabilities in Children?

• Learning disability includes
• A minimum IQ level
• A significant difficulty in a school-related area
• Exclusion of other conditions
• Boys classified 3 times more than girls
• Diagnosis difficult

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
What Are the Prevalent Disabilities in Children?

• Children consistently show one or more of the
  following characteristics
• Inattention
• Hyperactivity
• Impulsivity

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
What Are the Prevalent Disabilities in Children?

• Many possible causes heredity may play role
• Undergoes extensive evaluations
• Usually treated with stimulant drugs
• Controversial

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Educational Issues
What Are the Prevalent Disabilities in Children?

• Public Law 94-142 (Education for All Handicapped
  Children Act)
• Requires that all children with disabilities be
  given free, appropriate public education
• Renamed Individuals with Disabilities Education
  Act (IDEA) in 1990

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Educational Issues
What Are the Prevalent Disabilities in Children?

• IDEA amendments in 1997
• Use of instructional technology
• Use of assistive technology
• Individualized Education Plan (IEP)
• Least restrictive environment (LRE)
• Mainstreaming renamed inclusion

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Individualized Education Plan (IEP)
What Are the Prevalent Disabilities in Children?

• Written statement that spells out program
  tailored to child with disability
• Related to childs learning capacity
• Designed to meet childs individual needs
• Designed to provide educational benefits

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Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
What Are the Prevalent Disabilities in Children?

• Child with disability must be educated in setting
  as similar as possible to one in which children
  without a disability are educated
• Inclusion educating special-needs child
  full-time in the regular classroom