The school-age child falls within the age range of 6 to 12 years. Before this time the child was considered a preschooler and after this the child is considered an adolescent.
After reviewing this information don’t forget to take the free school-age child quiz to test your knowledge and to watch the lecture on school-age growth and development.
In addition, be sure to check out the other growth and development reviews in this series:
In this review we will be talking about the skills, changes, safety issues, hospitalization, and more. Therefore, to help us remember all those important concepts, let’s remember the word:
SCHOOL
Skills:
The school-age child has learned many things up to this point and it all started when they were an infant. So, now the child is building upon those skills and mastering them with independence. This helps them discover their role within the family and among friends.
As the child advances from 6 to 12, parent to child, and child to peer interaction along with schooling will be the main drivers for learning and growth (why called it’s called the school-age child). The school setting varies and can be via a public, private, online, or home setting.
Fine motor skills: these are skills that use small muscles: Writing (not only writes their name with ease but will advance with writing sentences and complex stories), drawing with details (no longer just stick people), typing, helping with advanced cooking and cleaning tasks
Gross motor skills: these are skills that use large muscles: ride bike without training wheels, swim, use scooters or skates, compete in sports etc.
Cognitive skills: (the child now has an increased ability to focus and pay attention) : reading, writing stories, solving math problems (concrete operations), developing hobbies (classifies objects), understands conservation, increased ability with memorizing and learning complex material as they progress through school grades
Language Skills: Advancing and fine tuning, understandable and adult like in many ways, any language problems should be consulted with a speech pathologists, turning spoken words into written words, starts creative writing, learning grammar rules and can follow them, definitions and spelling words
Social skills: less egocentric and more concerned about others and their perspective (cares about what others think and how they can help out), loves peer activities and forms special friendships with the same gender (changes when they become teens), parents influence still a big part but they start to question it toward the end of this stage, competitive play (teams) and joining clubs where rules are important to follow
Play style with others includes cooperative, competitive, physical, constructive play with challenges. Also, like doing things by self like reading, video games, collecting items, and board games.
Games you may see a school-age child playing: Simon Says, Charades, Hide and Seek, Tag, Basketball, board games, Hopscotch, jump rope, kick the can etc.
Changes (body):
Height: Grows about 2.5 inches per year (major growth spurts will happen in teen years when puberty starts) average height is 45 inches for a 6-year-old and 59 inches for a 12-year-old
Weight: Gain about 4 ½ to 7 lbs. a year (average: 45 lbs. at 6 years to 90 lbs. by 12 years…depends on the child’s genetics and other factors could be more or less)
Teeth: started losing baby teeth usually around 5 to 6 year (central incisors) and now permanent teeth start coming in (usually the central incisors) . Teething technically doesn’t end until adulthood with wisdom teeth coming in around age 21 (makes for 32 permanent teeth), but most of the 28 permanent teeth are done erupting by 12 to 13 years (therefore, at the end of this stage to beginning of the next).
- Educate: Dental care VERY important to prevent cavities, learning to develop habits of good oral hygiene (brush twice a day and floss daily), visiting dentist every 6 months (twice a year), orthodontics if needed
Onset of puberty varies…girls tend to enter puberty earlier than boys. The onset of puberty for girls is between the ages of 8-13 years, while boys enter puberty around 9-14 years. Therefore, the child should be educated about puberty and body changes that will occur.
Harmful Risks:
The school-age child is very active with other peers (some school-age children may want to show off or compete). Therefore, they need education about taking steps to stay safe during play. Educational topics include:
- Safe usage of bikes/scooters/skates (helmets and other protective gear)
- Swimming safety: avoid diving or deep water dangers like undercurrents…always wearing a life jacket (consider swimming lessons)
- Strangers: kidnapping tactics, not trusting a stranger, inappropriate touch (teach child what is okay vs. what is not)
- Avoid dangerous objects: fire and guns (keep out of reach and locked up)
- Car and Traffic safety: wear seat belt while riding in a vehicle
- Most school-age children will be riding in a booster seat (state laws vary)
- Example: some states say if the child is older than 8 years and at least 4’9 they no longer need a booster seat
- Most school-age children will be riding in a booster seat (state laws vary)
Obstacles at this Age:
The school-age child is forming self-concept during this time. They are asking themselves, “Who am I?” and “How do I fit in?” The parents play a role with this developing as well as the school setting, which is majorly influenced with peer approval (accepted by others) and teachers (grades and feedback they get….smart enough etc.). A poor self-concept leads to self-doubt, depression, and low self-worth.
- Tips for helping a child develop a good self-concept: be positive and highlight child’s strengths, guide with setting obtainable goals (and praise when completed), care about their interests and help them grow in them, let them grow and when they mess up help them reflect back on what happened and how to improve next time
- Bullying: harming or intimidating a person
- Most common setting in at school but can be outside of school or via social media “cyberbullying”.
- Boys tend to be more physical while girls will tease, mock, or spread rumors.
- Signs child is bullied: see physical injuries that child can’t explain very well, school items are missing, doesn’t want to go to school (fakes sickness), grades are poor, behavior changes (withdrawing, agitated, depressed), suicidal behavior
- Get your child to open up about it (takes time), report it, don’t ignore it, but take an active part as a parent in getting it stopped (contact school, report to authorities etc.) and let your child know you care
Weight: nutrition and exercise very important in helping prevent childhood obesity… obesity leads to health problems like type 2 diabetes, hypertension, joint pain and much more.
Remember the risk factors for obesity:
HEAVY
- High caloric diet (limit junk food, fast food, sugary drinks)
- Exercise lacking (limit electronic activities and encourage to get outside and exercise)
- “US Department of Health and Human Services, recommends that children and adolescents ages 6 through 17 years do 60 minutes (1 hour) or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily”(“Physical Activity Guidelines for School-Aged Children and Adolescents”, 2019).
- Accessibility limited to healthy foods
- View food as a way to deal with stress
- Your genetics and family dynamics (how family members eat, what’s prepared, exercise habits, and genetics affect how a person puts on weight)
Education on Managing or Preventing Obesity in a School-age Child:
- Make it a family effort (set obtainable goals and start slow)
- Replace junk food that child likes with creative healthy foods
- Example: instead of candy serve vibrant tangy fruits, or baked sweet potatoes fries instead of French fries, pizza with low fat or plant based cheese, turkey pepperoni, avoid sugary drinks (set limit), avoid rewarding with food, make exercise fun (bike trails, team sports)
Exposure to drugs, violence, and sexual content through media and school: listen to your child and pay attention to what they are exposed to (via online, from friends etc.), have an honest open line of communication with the child and talk about these issues when they come up and how to deal with them.
Will test the limits by telling lies, stealing, cheating
Outcome of Hospitalizations (Nurse’s Role)
Hospitalized school-age child can experience the following FEARS:
Fear of pain, injury (losing a body part or becoming deformed), death, losing independence/control (interruption to school routine, separation from family and friends), modesty: doesn’t like showing private parts
Nurse’s Role with the Hospitalized School-age Child: 7 T’s
Take time to let them to express fears
Talk about those fears and coping techniques to help maintain control
Truthful about procedures and tests
Teach with pictures, outlines, age appropriate videos, equipment and lay how it will happen
Tactful with privacy (especially during procedures that expose privates) (modesty)
Time given for activities that helps keep them distracted from sickness or upcoming procedures
Their friends…keeping in communication with school friends is important
Learn Developmental Theories for School Age Child
Erikson’s: Industry vs. Inferiority
The school-age child is very industrious and is yearning to accomplish things through developed skills they have acquired and mastered. Accomplishments give them a sense of satisfaction, and this causes them to feel confident, which makes them feel like a competent person in the world they live. Therefore, the goal from this stage is competency.
The main drivers in helping them develop this are through competing (play/sports), school work, their parents, and peers.
However, the child must know that not everyone can accomplish or master every skill or task and this is okay. They just need to keep trying and focus on their other accomplishments.
Inferiority develops when the child feels like they aren’t good at something or have limitations that prevent them from accomplishing. This can lead to the lack of trying to accomplish and affect self-esteem.
Piaget’s:
Preoperational stage until 7 years and then concrete operations starts at 7 years until 12.
The school-age child is starting to think about how others view things and egocentric thought is decreasing (they know that other people have different thoughts).
They are concrete thinkers. They take a statement for exactly how it was said and doesn’t think beyond it. They can’t think abstractly yet.
They now have the ability to understand conservation. An example of this would be: there are two plates that are the same size with the same amount of food on them, but when food from one plate is moved to a smaller plate a child without conservation thinking would think that the smaller plate had more food on it than the larger plate. However, a school-age child understands that the smaller plate has the same amount of food on it as the larger one and that the plate was just switched.
In addition, they develop classification skills (can place items in a group based on similarities or like characteristics….color, size, what it’s used for etc.)
Moral Development by Kohlberg
Why do children conform to rules?
Early until 7 years: the child know there are rules but doesn’t really understand the purpose or why of the rules….they behave because of consequences or praises…and conforms for rewards or praise
Later on until 10 years: “good boy or nice girl orientation”…follow rules and conforms because they’re liked and this helps maintain a good standing with people…they want to be liked or seen as “good”.
Older school age children over 10 year: conform due to “law and order orientation” and wants to keep social order by obeying law and rules so they conform.
References:
Middle Childhood (6-8 years of age). Centers for Disease Control and Preventions. (2021). Retrieved 20 July 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/middle.html.
Orenstein GA, Lewis L. Eriksons Stages of Psychosocial Development. [Updated 2021 Nov 14]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556096/
Physical Activity Guidelines for School-Aged Children and Adolescents. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions. (2019). Retrieved 20 July 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/physicalactivity/guidelines.htm.
Sanders, C. E. Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/Lawrence-Kohlbergs-stages-of-moral-development