maps and give clear directions

based on those maps (Berk, 2012).

Social and Cultural Factors
Physical Milestones
Fine motor skills used for working
zippers, buttons and snaps become
refined, while gross motor
activities such as jumping rope,
learning to ride a bicycle, and
performing a forward roll become
a large focus during play (Groark,
McCarthy, & Kirk, 2014;
Mossler, 2011).
Language Milestones
By age seven children will begin
to understand and use
grammatically correct past tense
verb forms consistently (Siegler &
Alibali, 2005). Children in
middle childhood will acquire the
ability to create or retell stories in
narrative form, including the use
of different speech and emotion
for characters to convey the
narrators evaluation of the events
and characters within the story
(Beck, Kumschick, Eid, & KlannDelius, 2012).
Cognitive Milestones
At seven to eleven years a child
will have developed an organized
and logical way of thinking about
concrete concepts. Better spatial
reasoning skills also allow him to
construct and organize mental

Peers and fitting in with them

becomes very important during this
time. Children will begin judging
themselves as well as others. Selfesteem is positively or negatively
affected by rejection or acceptance
within the group.
Play-Based Learning
Prevent peer rejection by
scaffolding appropriate ways to
join group play. Encourage rough
and tumble play that requires
discussion of character roles and
expectations while reducing
aggression (Frost, Wortham, &
Reifel, 2012).
Signs of Atypical Development
Slow or no progression in language
may indicate a speech or language
disorder. The first step in diagnosis
is a hearing test to rule out
language disorders. Speech
disorders are divided into three
categories: Articulation, fluency,
and voice disorders. If a child is
unable to articulate all the sounds
of speech within his language, if he
is stuttering or cluttering, or if his
voice is breathy, nasal, or contains
a strange prosody, a speech
disorder may be diagnosed (Siegler
& Alibali, 2005).

Strategies for Families

Middle childhood is a key
time when a childs selfesteem and self-concept are
developing. Although
parent-child relationships
change, a parents role is
still very important to the
childs social development.
Allowing children to
exercise their logical
thinking and problemsolving skills and letting
them make some decisions
will create a cooperative
environment that fosters
healthy self-esteem (Frost,
Wortham, & Reifel, 2012).