LATE CHILDHOOD

LATE CHILDHOOD STAGE

Late childhood extends from the age of 6 years to the time the individual become sexually
mature. This stage is also called as „latency period‟.

Since, it is not possible to predict the time of sexual maturity of a child; one cannot be precise
about the ending of this stage. An average girl extends late childhood from 6 to 13 years and an
average boy extends from 6 to 14 years.

 Period of excellence and pseudo- maturity.

 The stage is called latency period.
 It is marked by profound effect on child‟s personal and social adjustment.
 It is a stage of physical development.
 It is the entry stage in first grade in elementary school.
 It is also named as elementary school age.
 This period can be termed as troublesome age quarrelsome age.
 This period can also be termed as gang or creative or play age.

CHARACTERISTICS OF LATE CHILDHOOD STAGE

Parent, educators and psychologist give various names to this period, which reflects the
characteristics of the period of late childhood

I. Name used by parents

Troublesome age:

The time when children are no longer willing to do what they are told to do. Older children are
more influenced by their peers than their parents or other family members.

Sloppy age

Late childhood is the time when children tend to be careless and untidy about their appearance
and when their rooms are so messy that almost impossible to change.
Quarrelsome age

The time when family fights are common and when the emotional climate of the home will not
be pleasant for all family members.

II. Name used by Educators

Elementary school age

The child is expected to acquire the rudiments of knowledge that are essential for successful
adjustment to adult life.

Critical period in the achievement drive

A time when children form the habit of being achievers or under achievers or over achievers

III. Name used by psychologists

Gang age

Children‟s major concern is acceptance by their age mates and membership in the gang .So the
children try to conform to the standard of the group

Age of conformity

Children are willing to conform to group approve standards in terms of appearance speech and
behavior

Creative age

Foundations of creative behavior will be laid in the early childhood period, by using these
foundations actual creativity taking place in late childhood period.

Play age

Older children spend more time for playing than any other activities. Even though it is not
possible after initiating schooling there is a visible overlapping of play behavior in adolescence
also.
DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS OF LATE CHILDHOOD

1. Physical Development
 Good health and nutrition are necessary for normal growth and development
 Growth rate will be high in the last 2 years to attain puberty
 Those children immunized in the earlier period will grow faster than those left
unimmunized
 Emotional tension has an influence in gaining height and weight. Girls get permanent
teeth
 Girls looks heavier than boys
 Girls get their permanent teeth earlier than boys

Height: - Annual increase in height is 2-3 inches. An average girl is 58 inches tall and boy is
57.5 inches tall

Weight: - An average 11 year old girl will weigh 40 kg and that of an 11 year boy will be 39 kg

Body proportions: - Head remains too large for the rest of the body, mouth and jaw become
larger, forehead broadens and flattens, lips fill out, nose becomes larger and acquires more shape.

The trunk (body) elongates and becomes slimmer, the neck becomes longer, the chest broadens,
the abdomen flattens, and the arm and legs lengthen

Homeliness: - Careless grooming and tendency to wear clothes like peers along with their
pronounced body proportions leads to homeliness

Muscle-Fat Ratio: - Fat tissue develops more rapidly than muscle tissue

Teeth: - By the end of late childhood, a child normally has 28 permanent teeth. The last four
(wisdom teeth) will be erupted in the adolescent period

2. Skill Development in late childhood

Categories of late childhood skills
 Self-Help skills: - Older children should be able to eat, dress, and groom
themselves with almost as much speed as an adult
 Social-Help skills: - At home, they include making bed, dusting and cleaning; at
school emptying waste box, cleaning chalk board, services in the play group
  School skills: - The child develops the skill in writing, painting, clay modeling,
drawing, crayoning, sewing and dancing,
 Play skills: - Skills like throwing and catching balls, riding a bicycle, skating and
swimming in connection with play

SPEECH IMPROVEMENT IN LATE CHILDHOOD

Areas of improvement

 Vocabulary building : - General vocabulary means the words for general use, which is
learned from their studies in school, their reading, their conversations, and their exposure
to television and radio

Special vocabularies means the words with specific meaning and limited use, for example
number vocabulary, money vocabulary

 Pronunciation: - Error in pronunciation is less common among older adults. They may
mispronounce it in the first use, when they hear the correct pronunciation once or twice
children are able to pronounce it correctly
 Forming sentences: -A 6 year old child is able to use all kind of sentences. From 6 until 9
or 10 the length of sentence will increase, these lengthy sentences will be loosely
connected. After 10 the child starts to use short and compact sentences.

Improvement in comprehension

Since it is gang age, the child understands that it is necessary to understand what others are
saying for better communication. Training in schools also helps to improve comprehension. One
another factor is shifting from egocentric talk to more socialized talk help to improve
comprehension. Concentration can be improved by listening radio or television

Content of Speech

 As the number of contact increases the egocentric speech decreases

 Boasting: - Children usually speak in the way of boasting. They about their superior skills
and achievements
  Older children like to criticize and make fun of other people. Sometimes they criticize
people openly or behind their back. Criticism mainly in the form of suggestions or
complaints
 Content of speech depends on the intelligence and the level of socialization

Amount of talking

The children gain more control over their speech. Girls talk more than boys. Boys think that
talking too much is sex inappropriate. Children from low socio economic groups are afraid of
ridicule due to poor quality of their speech

Emotions and emotional experience in late childhood

The children discover that expression of emotions, especially of unpleasant emotions, is

unacceptable to their age mates .They learn that the age mates regard temper outburst as babyish.
So they try to control the outward expression of their emotions

The common emotional patters of late childhood are similar to that of early childhood, which is
fear, jealousy, curiosity, affections, and joy

The difference is that,

1. They differ in the kind of situation that give rise to them

2. They differ in the form of emotional expression

Period of Heightened Emotionality

It is the time when children experience frequent and intense emotions, mostly unpleasant
emotions. Heightened emotionality in late childhood may come from physical or environmental
factors or from both. At the end of late childhood when the sex organs starts to function,
heightened emotionality is normally at its peak.

Physical causes of heightened emotionality: - When the children are ill or tired, they are likely to
be irritable and difficult.

Environmental causes: - When the child has to adjust with new situation like school entry, any
marked change in life like broken family by divorce or death, inevitably leads to heightened
emotionality
Beginning of emotional catharsis

Catharsis is a technique to ventilate suppressed emotions. Older children think that expressing
intense emotions, especially unpleasant, is socially unacceptable to their age mates. So, this may
leads to emotional outburst .To make equilibrium of emotionality, they try to ventilate their
feelings through crying, strenuous play, or laughing.

A period of development of intellectual ability

This is an age of intellectual advancement. Intellectual activities are clearly visible at this stage.
The child is in a position to exercise his or her power of memory, attention, thinking and
imagination and can solve problem intelligently.

A period of capacity to learn

The child acquires mental readiness to learn at this stage. He can pay attention to and develop
interest in reading, writing and arithmetical activities. He shows awareness and sense of
subordination to the school rules, laws and discipline. He tries to learn new knowledge and
experience through imitation.

A period of social Development

The late childhood stage is also a stage of socialization. The primary school provides an ideal
situation for such socialization. The child‟s social environment and its functions are widening.
Both the classroom and the playground situations train him how to feel, think and act together
with others, share joy and sorrow with them. He also learns some of the social rules and norms
through active participation in society. The child at this stage is engaged in social interaction and
learns the spirit of sharing with others.

A period of development of interests

At the time of entrance to the primary school the child does not have any specific interest mind.
In the late childhood stage he develops or acquires interest and sentiments towards specific
subjects and field of activity. A growing sense of liking and disliking makes his choices
somewhat critical. His interest in play also appears to be more selective at this stage.
A period of development of creativity

Late childhood is the stage when we can identify the creative talent in a child‟s individuality.
The native talent, potentiality and prospect inherent in the child may find expression through the
suitable outlets provided to him. He no longer remains as a blind imitator but gives evidence of
his creative ability in thought, feeling and action. He is now in a position to observe anything
through the exercise of reasoning and understanding.

A period of development in sex role typing

 Sex role are pattern of behavior for members of the two sexes that approved and accepted
by the group with which the individual is identified.
 Sex role typing means learning to conform to the approved role for one‟s sex.
 Children learn to play sex roles by three common methods, viz. imitation, identification
and child training. Sex role typing has profound and far reaching effects on children‟s
behavior.
 The forces that play significant roles in the sex role typing process in late childhood are
teachers, school subjects, mass media, book, peer group etc...
 Sex role typing plays an important role in both the behavior and self-evaluation of the
children.

Play Development

 Play has an important role in physical as well as psychological development of a child

 The play activities and the time they send for play varies with individuals.
 Children those who are not getting acceptance in a gang prefer solitary play such as
making things or amusing themselves by watching television or reading books
 Older children are keenly aware of sex appropriateness of different plays. They reject
plays that they regarded as inappropriate for their sex
 As the child grows play activities reduces, it is because of the increasing school works
and home duties
 Constructive play: - It is the major type of play in late childhood that is making things
just for the fun of it, without thinking about its future use. For example, boys prefer
 construction with wood and tools, while girls are interested in sewing, drawing, painting,
clay modeling and jewelry making.

Favorite amusements of late childhood

 Reading: - Older children prefer books and children‟s magazines which stress adventure
and stories to have happy ending
 Comic books and comic strips: - Regardless of intellectual level, every children like to
read comic books and comic strips, whether humorous or adventure-oriented
 Movies : - They enjoy cartoons, adventure movies and movies about animals
 Radio and television: - Older children enjoy cartoon and other programs geared toward
older children. Even though radio is not popular as television they use it to listen music
 Day dreaming or fantasizing: - Children who are lonely at home or those who are having
few play mates will amuse themselves by day dreaming. Typically they imagine
themselves as “conquering heroes” in their day dream world , thus compensate the lack
of companionship

Moral Development

 Between the age of five and twelve children‟s concept of justice is changed. Their rigid
and inflexible ideas of right and wrong learned from parents become modified.
 They start to consider the special circumstances surrounding the moral violation. For
example lying is always bad for a five year old child but older realizes that in some
situations a lie is justified

HAZARDS OF LATE CHILDHOOD

Two type hazards are present

1 Physical hazards

2 Psychological hazards
PHYSICAL HAZARDS

 Illness
 Obesity
 Accidents
 Physical disability
 Homeliness
 Awkwardness

Illness : - Since, vaccines are available to prevent most of the childhood illnesses children often
suffer from mild illnesses like common cold and stomach upset. Psychological impacts of
physical illnesses are serious which in turn make the child irritable, demanding and difficult to
live with.

If a child loses their schooling due to prolonged illness period it may lag their skills behind their
age mates. Same like that, parents may develop intolerant attitude towards illness because of
their extra work and financial burden due to hospitalization.

Most of the illnesses are real, but in some cases diseases may be fake or imaginary. Children
learn that they are no longer expected to follow the usual activities if they are ill, so they get
relaxation in the maintenance of discipline and also get attention and care. If this idea works, thy
will repeat this strategy

Obesity: - Obesity in late childhood occurs mainly due to glandular problems. Studies reveal that
obese children have a history of over eating especially carbohydrate, eating fast with bigger bites
and their plates will be clean.

Obese children are at risk to develop Diabetes. Because of their fear of teasing, they will have
poor socialization. Because of obesity, older children can‟t make active participation in games;
thus they cannot develop specific skills

Accidents

Older children tend to be more cautious after an accident which may lead to generalized shyness
that affects social relationships, school works and personalities
Awkwardness:

Older children begin to compare themselves with their age mates and discover that their
awkwardness and clumsiness prevent them from the activities that is done by their friends or
keeping a pace with them in their play

Physical disabilities:

Most of the physical disabilities are the after effects of accidents, so it is common among boys
than girls .The seriousness depends up on the degree of disability and on the way others treat the
child.

Most disabled children become inhibited and ill in social situations. As a result they make poor
social adjustments and using this disability to avoid unpleasant situations.

Homeliness

Older children are not conscious about their appearance unless they are getting unfavorable
comments or rejection from their peer groups.

Children in this period are not so appealing like they are in the babyhood. Their annoying
behavior may also be dealt critically by the adults. Interpretation of this rejection by the older
children can cause harmful effects on self-concept

PSYCHOLOGICAL HAZARDS:

Psychological hazards mainly affect the social adjustment of the individual , which is the area
where major developmental tasks in this age group is associated

 Speech hazards
 Emotional hazards
 Social hazards
 Play hazards
 Hazards in sex role typing
 Family relationship hazards
 Moral hazards
Speech hazards

There are 4 common speech hazards in late childhood

 Smaller than average vocabulary

 Speech errors such as, mispronunciation and grammatical mistakes .speech defects
such as, stuttering or lisping, may make children to self-conscious and they speak
only when necessary
 Children who feel difficulty in using the language used in school environment may
feel them self as different
 Egocentric speech act as a barrier for socialization

Emotional hazards

If children show emotional expressions like temper tantrum, anger or jealous as dominant,
such children are considered as immature, disagreeable and unpleasant to be with them

Social hazards

There are five types of children whose adjustments are affected by social hazards.

 First, children who are rejected or neglected by their peer group are deprived of
opportunities to learn to be social
 Second, voluntary isolates who think themselves as different and to feel that they
have no chance for acceptance.
 Third geographically or socially mobile children who find acceptance by already
formed gang is difficult
 Fourth, children against whom there is group prejudice because of their race or
religion
 Fifth, followers who want to be leaders become angry and irritable group member .
 Play hazards

Children who lack social acceptance are deprived of opportunities to learn the games and
sports essential to gang belonging. If children are restricted from fantasizing because of the
concept of wasting the time would have poor creativity

Moral Hazard

There are 6 hazards associated with the development of moral attitude in late childhood

 Moral code development based on mass media and peer concepts, which may not be
coincide with adult codes
 Failure to develop conscience as an inner control over behavior
 Inconsistent discipline leaves confusion on children that what they are expected to do
 Physical punishments serves as a model of aggressiveness in children
 Peer approved misbehaviors become habitual
 Intolerance of the wrong doings of others

Hazards in sex role typing

There are two common hazards in sex role typing in late childhood.

1. Failure to learn the elements of the sex role their age mates regard as appropriate
2. Unwillingness to play the approved sex roles

Family Relationship Hazards

Friction with family members has 2 serious effects

a. It weakens family ties

b. Habitual unfavorable adjustment to people and problems outside the home

Hazards in Personality Development

Two serious hazards in personality development in late childhood are;-

a. Development of unfavourable self-concept leads to self-rejection

b. The carried over ego centrism from early childhood gives a false sense of their
importance