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Chapter 7 Middle Childhood: Growth and Development
Unfortunately, children this age, lacking the judgment that comes with
maturity and experience, also tend to be more fearless. Accidents can
happen when they go beyond their abilities.
At this stage, children’s visual-motor coordination improves.
Visual-motor coordination involves matching body movements to
coordinate with what the child sees. Improvement allows children to
learn to jump rope and to catch a small ball.
Fine-Motor Skills
As children practice fine-motor skill activities, their hand-eye
coordination and dexterity improve. Hand-eye coordination consists of
the ability to move the hands precisely in response to what the eyes see.
It is a specific type of visual-motor coordination. Dexterity is the skillful
use of the hands and fingers.
Many fine-motor skills require and build the ability to make precise
movements. This is important in accomplishing new tasks, such as
writing. Writing combines cognitive development with physical
development. For example, printing the letter “D” requires
recognizing its shape and understanding it consists of a
straight vertical line with a connected curved line to its right.
Then a child must be able to reproduce these lines with a
pencil or crayon. Only after much practice does the process
become automatic. Even then, some children continue to
reverse similar letters, such as lowercase “b” and “d.”
Consistent improvement in fine-motor skills is
evident in many ways. Children can draw recognizable
objects that become increasingly detailed. They begin
writing individual letters in kindergarten and move to
writing sentences in second grade. Children also
master cutting with scissors, coloring, and building
elaborate structures with blocks. Fine-motor skills
help them become more proficient (able to move
forward in accomplishment) with using handheld
electronic games.
Self-care skills also depend
on fine-motor development
(Figure 7.5). Children this age
can dress independently,
buttoning and zipping clothes
and learning to tie their shoes.
They handle forks and spoons
skillfully and learn to cut most
foods with a knife. Some difficult
tasks may require the help of an adult.
Figure 7.5 Learning to tie shoes is just one self-help
skill of many that young children develop.