Middle childhood is the period between early childhood and early adolescence, which is approximately from ages six to eleven. According to Berk (2017), these years are the healthiest of the life span because they are safeguarded by both environment and genes, so deaths and fatal diseases are extremely rare during this period. When growing steadily and slowly in brain and body, school-age children are characterized by increased self-sufficiency, unlike younger kids, and are not yet troubled by teenage changes.
The loss of baby teeth and their replacement with permanent ones is an essential stage of middle childhood. It is also the time when kids learn how to take care of themselves on a daily basis, and sleep, diet, and exercise significantly influence their condition. What is more, physical activity also plays a vital role as it teaches following rules, respect, cooperation, and problem-solving and improves the overall well-being of a kid, as well as their academic performance (Berk, 2017, p. 586). Proper body functioning is ensured by brain functioning. At about seven years old selective attention, which allows one to focus on some stimuli and ignore others, is developed. By reacting to stimuli, kids learn how to select appropriate responses.
Though typically health improves in middle childhood, some chronic conditions, like allergies or stuttering, or minor problems, including coughing or glasses, may worsen. Childhood overweight and obesity are the increasing problems of the discussed period that may lead to loneliness. Causes of these issues vary and include genes, poor lifestyle, and bad parenting practices. Asthma is just as severe and widespread among children as obesity (Berk, 2017, p. 597).
Children with Unique Bodies and Brains
Developmental psychopathology explains how the mixture of usual and unusual development may lead to particular needs. It is crucial to emphasize four basic principles: abnormality is normal; disability changes and develops over the years; life may become worse or better; and the social context is reflected by diagnosis and treatment (Berk, 2017, p. 599). Aptitude, achievement, intelligence, and IQ are the terms used to measure the potential of a child’s brain, though it is not always accurate since people have different types of intelligence.
Diagnosing psychopathology is complex due to two principles. According to Berk (2017), multifinality states that “one cause can have many (multiple) final manifestations,” while equifinality holds that “holds that one symptom can have many causes” (p. 605). For example, in the book, three disorders are compared: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), specific learning disorders, including dyslexia and dyscalculia, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Some information related to these conditions may be found in Chapter 6 (Berk, 2017). ADHD is characterized by causing a child impulsive or hyperactive behavior and a persistent pattern of inattention. It typically leads to lower academic performance and decreased self-esteem. Specific learner disorders also involve issues with processing and perception of information, difficulty concentrating, and low achievement at school. Dyslexia makes it challenging to read, and dyscalculia causes severe problems with math. Finally, ASD is marked by social interaction difficulty and repetitive patterns of behavior, which may negatively impact academic performance. Therefore, these three disorders may be confused with each other, and careful observation and diagnosing are required.
Special Education
Though teachers, consultants, and especially parents always want to help the child, they may sometimes disagree about the specific way. Deciding whether a kid requires special education is not straightforward. Meanwhile, those schoolers who are diagnosed as handicapped must be educated in the least restrictive environment (Berk, 2017, p. 618). Schools should provide them with individual education plans to treat both normally and carefully. In addition, early diagnosis and intervention are significant to increase the likelihood of the kid to live as normal a life as possible.
Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development
Theoretical Basis
Children learn and become skilled rather rapidly, which may surprise their parents. According to Berk (2017), “Piaget called middle childhood the time for concrete operational thought, characterized by new logical abilities” and productive thinking (p. 632). Thus, “concrete operational thinking is a more advanced kind of thinking than preoperational but less advanced than the next stage” (Berk, 2017, p. 632). By introducing the term horizontal decalage, Piaget emphasizes that concepts appear not immediately but step by step, usually over extended periods of time (Berk, 2017, p. 632). At this stage, kids become more scientific, systematic, educable, and objective and learn to apply their new cognitive skills to real and concrete situations. They also get acquainted with a hierarchy of categories and other logical concepts, namely, seriation.
Vygotsky supported Piaget in focusing more on children’s thought processes instead of the outcomes. Admiring the creativity and curiosity of schoolers, he insisted on basing education on other concepts apart from rote memorization (Berk, 2017, p. 635). The psychologist also stressed direct instruction from mentors and valued the interactivity of early education. What is more, he refused to underestimate the influence of cultural and religious differences on the ways children learn.
Information processing theory notes particular limitations in both Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories, mainly regarding the specifics of a school curriculum. According to the information-processing perspective, people can access large amounts of information (Berk, 2017). Then, they search for relevant sources, analyze the perceived data, and draw their own conclusions. What is more, children do not suddenly grasp a new skill or knowledge, as Piaget thought. Instead, kids’ learning process is like waves on a beach: a new level is reached gradually. Overall, this approach is rather helpful for exploring and understanding expression, perception, and memory.
Coordination and capacity development is also a vital process of middle childhood. Automatization, which is a certain process of thoughts and actions repetition making the sequence routine that does not require conscious thought, is rather beneficial at aiding quick reaction time. The information-processing approach is also used when studying memory and its three steps, involving sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory, which are impacted by both experience and maturation (Berk, 2017, p. 640).
First, the sensory register, which is already developed in early childhood, stores incoming stimuli so that some sensations can become perceptions (as explained in Chapter 6) (Berk, 2017). Second, meaningful perceptions are selected by the brain and then transferred to working memory for future analysis. At this step, conscious mental activity appears. Finally, the processed information is sent to long-term memory, where it is stored for any duration of time. It may disappear soon or become a child’s knowledge base, which may further be expanded by current opportunity, past experience, and personal motivation. Memory, processing speed, and the knowledge base are put together by control processes, and the ability to use them is called executive function.
Language
Learning languages is extremely beneficial for children and their development. It significantly increases their knowledge base, which allows them to enable more advanced thinking and learning in all language aspects, including grammar, speaking, comprehension, and vocabulary. During middle childhood, vocabulary builds since children start understanding compound words, phrases, jokes, and metaphors (Berk, 2017, p. 646). Pragmatics also enhances at this development stage. Brain abnormalities, socioeconomic status, and expectations may interfere with the language development of a particular child.
Learning and Teaching
There is now a worldwide agreement that education during the middle childhood stage is essential and cannot be avoided. The hidden curriculum, which is implicit or unofficial patterns within a school that greatly impact what and how children learn, can have a substantial effect on their future development and adulthood behaviors (Berk, 2017, p. 655). Disagreements among parents and the government about school sponsorship and curriculum are typical; that is why guardians may choose between homeschooling and private or charter schools to make their children’s experiences more positive.
Middle Childhood: Psychosocial Development
Children’s Nature
During the middle childhood stage, kids develop their self-perception and self-esteem, which is a critical step, the outcome of which may either positively or negatively influence adulthood. Children’s self-concept bases on a more realistic assessment of their competence compared to previous stages. They begin to seek their appreciation and acceptance from their peers and independence from guardians. According to Erikson, kids at this stage of development may feel inferior and insecure if they cannot master different tasks and skills (Berk, 2017, p. 684). Moreover, “children judge themselves as either industrious or inferior – deciding whether they are competent or incompetent, productive or useless, winners or losers” (Berk, 2017, p. 685). Sel-pride and self-respect are also being developed, and self-esteem should be neither too high nor extremely low.
Families and Their Kids
The influence of culture, genes, environments, peers, and personal experiences on a child’s personality is undeniable. However, “some experts have gone further, suggesting that genes, peers, and communities are so influential that parenting has little impact – unless it is grossly abusive” (Berk, 2017, p. 692). Kids’ traits can arise from family circumstances like psychopathology, sexual orientation, and overall happiness or may appear because of siblings’ nonshared environment and genes. In a particular family, the impact of any adverse event on all children may be different due to their age, gender, and previous experiences. Family function describes the relationships between all relatives, and there are five core needs of every kid from their family. They involve physical necessities, learning, self-respect, peer relationships, and harmony and stability (Berk, 2017, p. 695). Family structure is also essential, and the nuclear family is considered to be better for children, while single-parent families have higher instability rates.
Peers’ Influence
Relationships with peers may be both beneficial and destructive, but it is a core part o children’s development. They teach each other social skills and increase the world’s perceptions. Having close friends is also crucial because, without constant positive communication, kids may feel lonely and rejected, enhancing their aggression towards the world and having difficulty with social cognition (Berk, 2017, p. 714). Unfortunately, various kinds of bullying are also an integral part of this stage. It is crucial for teachers and parents to take care of both victims and bullies because they are likely to have adverse consequences in adulthood.
Children’s Moral Values
Middle childhood is the best period for moral development. Various forces drive kids’ increasing interest in ethical issues, including child culture, personal experience, and empathy (Berk, 2017, p. 721). What is more, Lawrence Kohlberg described three moral reasoning levels, namely, preconventional, conventional, and postconventional ones (Berk, 2017). They emphasize rewards and punishments, social rules, and moral principles. However, this division does not consider gender and cultural differences. Finally, if kid’s values contradict each other, they orient themselves towards their peers’ standards. Nevertheless, further development and consideration of morality allow them to consider both consequences and intentions and choose the best option notwithstanding peers’ opinions.
Reference
Berk, L. E. (2017). Development through the lifespan. Pearson Education.