During early childhood, children begin to notice height and weight more so than in their earlier years. They start loosing the chubby baby look and become taller, leaner, and more muscular. "Girls tend to have more fatty tissue than boys, and boys have more muscle tissue" (Children 251). Some children lack the required hormone to gain height and weight, and this is termed as a 'growth hormone deficiency'. Coming from a family of a 6' father, a 5'11 mother, tallness was in my genes, and it was no surprise that starting in preschool I grew taller than everyone else in my classes, and remained so up until about junior high. My ultimate height was only 5'9, and even at that, I am the 'short' one in my family!
When I was younger, I was asked to read and sound out words I had no idea how to say. When I would tell my teacher in the classroom that I didn't know the words, she would make me say the same sentence over and over again in front of the whole class. It was very embarrassing. I was then sent to a class called “Reading Intervention". I was so relieved to be sent to my reading intervention class at 10:30 every morning; the other kids didn’t have to go. I was really frustrated at first. I always wondered why I couldn’t read as well as the other students; how come my brain isn't processing this faster than the others? I realized that as time went on I started reading big words. Some words were so big the other kids didn’t know how to say them. When the teacher would ask me to read in class I wasn’t embarrassed. I had been taught how to focus on the words and then sound them out before I say it, and that helped me a lot.
Researchers found that from 3 to 6 years of age, the most rapid growth takes place in the frontal lobe areas involved in planning and organizing new actions, and in maintaining attention to tasks. They have discovered that from age 6 through puberty, the most growth takes place in the temporal and parietal lobes, especially areas that play major roles in language and spatial relations.Children Tenth Edition pg. 253
When I was in preschool, I had a very good buddy who lived relatively close, and we played together about once a week. On one of our play dates, I went to her house, and she was wearing a patch over her right eye. I asked her what it was, and she told me she called it her pirate patch, and it made her eye work better. I later asked my mom if I could have a pirate patch too, and she explained to me that my friend needed the patch because she had a "lazy eye" which meant that one of her eyes was a little weaker than the other. When the patch covered her good eye, it made her weaker eye work harder.
Functional Amblyopia or "lazy eye" is one type of vision problem that presents itself in early childhood, and it is treatable if "detected prior to age 6" (Children 254). Lazy eye occurs when one eye works harder than the other to avoid double vision. Often times one eye's muscles are stronger than another, and it will compensate. Treatments could include wearing a patch, glasses, or doing eye exercises. Strabismus is another type of vision problem and it refers to a misalignment of the eyes. Crossed eyes are one example. This is treated with eye exercises which train the eyes to be straight, or with contacts.
As most know, children between the ages of 2-6 have, it would seem, a limitless amount of energy, and have every intention of using it to the fullest extent. This includes practicing all the new skills they have acquired including riding a tricycle, running, jumping, kicking and catching a ball, skipping, climbing up and down playground equipment, and chasing one another around in circles. These are all examples of gross motor skills, and children have a marvelous time practicing them all. Fine motor skills include cutting with scissors, building a tower with blocks, pasting, tracing objects, letters, or numbers, and coloring or painting. The Denver Developmental Screening Test can find out if a child is effectively able accomplish gross and fine motor skill tasks. To expand my gross motor skills, I was enrolled in ballet at the age of 4, and although it took a few years to remember the sequence of steps, I loved practicing.
Children's artistic abilities increase during these young years. "The unintended irregularities of children's drawings suggest spontaneity, freedom and directness" (Children 258). There are four stages which children progress through and they are: 1. placement, which depicts scribbles but within a small area, 2. shape, showing different diagrams of shapes, 3. design, which mixes two shapes in one design, and 4. pictorial, depicting recognizable images. Our son, age 3 1/2, currently enjoys drawing circles, and although they may look more like an amoeba than an actual circle, he has me convinced that they are indeed, circles. Based on the information, he would be placed in the shape stage.
My husband would tell you that he is the 'only one in his right brain' because he is left handed. He would also tell you that 'most people are born right handed, and only the gifted overcome it.' : ) At the first ultrasound we had of our precious boy, he was sucking his fingers with his left hand, and my husband was so excited! It turns out, now at 3 1/2 our little boy does indeed favor his left hand. He eats with it, reaches for things with it, and colors with it. So our little boy will join my husband, and other great men such as "Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Picasso" who were also left-handers (Children 260). Hand preference can appear as early as in the womb, like in the example of our son, but isn't usually noticed by adults until the early childhood years. The textbook mentions that infants seem to prefer a side to sleep on, or turn their head towards, which often turns into their dominant side.
Nightmares, night terrors, sleep talking, and somnambulism or sleep walking are all common sleep problems that occur in early childhood. Most children outgrow these sleep problems, but in instances such as sleep walking, parents should try to make the home as safe as possible, and consult a physician for treatment options. Contrary to popular belief it is absolutely safe and sometimes necessary to walk a sleep-walking child. When I was younger I used to have horrible nightmares. I would wake up in the middle of night screaming, and my poor parents would try to do everything they could to calm me down. In addition, I also talked quite coherently in my sleep, and often times I would have entire conversations, without even waking up. I wish I could say I grew out of them both, but I'll admit I still talk in my sleep, a fact which my husband likes to lovingly tease me about.
