Find anything from this website using our "Quick Finder" option at the bottom of this page or click here.
Developmental milestones-6 to 8 years
Physical development
- Slow gains in height and weight continue until adolescent growth spurt
- Gradual replacement of primary teeth by permanent teeth
- Writing becomes smaller and more legible. Letter reversals decline
- Drawings become more organized and detailed and include some depth cues
- Organized games with rules and rough-andtumble play become common
- Dominance hierarchies become more stable, especially among boys
Cognitive development
- Thought becomes more logical, as shown by the ability to pass Piagetian conservation, class inclusion, and seriation problems
- Understanding of spatial concepts improves, as illustrated by conservation of distance and ability to give clear, well-organized directions
- Attention becomes more selective, adaptable, and planful
- Uses memory strategies of rehearsal and organization
- Regards the mind as an active, constructive agent, capable of transforming information
- Awareness of memory strategies and the impact of psychological factors (attention, motivation) on task performance improve
- By the end of this period, makes the transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.”
- Uses informal knowledge of number concepts and counting to master more complex mathematical skills
Social and emotional development
- Self-concept begins to include personality traits and social comparisons
- Self-esteem differentiates, becomes hierarchically organized, and declines to a more realistic level
- Self-conscious emotions of pride and guilt are governed by personal responsibility
- Recognizes that individuals can experience more than one emotion at a time
- Attends to more cues— facial, situational, and past experiences—in interpreting another’s feelings
- Understands that access to different information often causes people to have different perspectives
- Becomes more responsible and independent
- Distributive justice reasoning changes from equality to merit to benevolence
- Peer interaction becomes more prosocial, and physical aggression declines
Language development
- Vocabulary increases rapidly throughout middle childhood
- Word definitions are concrete, referring to functions and appearance
- Metalinguistic awareness improves
| Quick Finder: |