“The path of development is a journey of discovery that is clear only in retrospect and is rarely a straight line” (Kennedy-Moore & Lowenthal, 2011). Because development occurs in this way, it can have many implications for teachers. There are multiple factors and processes that contribute to variability in children's individual development, however, these differences can be overcome and teachers can give each child the support they need to achieve. Factors specific to the middle childhood years include vocabulary development, different temperaments, attention development, fine motor coordination, gross motor skill development, and concrete operational development, including retention, classification, and serieation . While they may create some disruption, these factors should not significantly hinder your child's education, but teachers should adapt their lesson plans to accommodate all types of abilities, including physical abilities. With increased myelination of nerve cells, children develop better conductivity by middle age. (Hoffung et al., 2013). Because of this, fine motor coordination improves, meaning that children can now perform more manually coordinated activities, such as embroidery, model building, and playing instruments (Hoffung et al., 2013). Hoffung and his research partners (2013) also found that by the age of seven, the average child is able to tie his clothes and tie his shoes and furthermore, by the age of eight, children can use both hands independently. As middle childhood progresses, children's writing improves, becoming more legible and organized, until by age eleven or twelve their manual skills have reached the same level as those of adults (Feder & Majnemer, 2007). Variability occurs in the classroom if some ch...... middle of paper ......acher, 67, 507-511. doi:10.1002/trtr.1248Sharma, M. (2006). School interventions for childhood and adolescent obesity. Obesity Reviews, 7, 261-269. doi:10.1111/j.1467-789X.2006.00227.xSoukup, J. H., Wehmeyer, M. L., Bashinski, S. M., & Bovaird, J. A. (2007). Classroom variables and access to the general curriculum for students with disabilities. Exceptional Children, 74(1), 101-120.Thies, K., & Travers, J. F. (2001). Growth and development throughout life. Thorofare, NY: Slack.Visser, J. (2003). Developmental coordination disorder: a review of research on subtypes and comorbidities. Human Movement Science, 22, 479-493. doi:10.1016/j.humov.2003.09.005Wright, B. C., & Dowker, A. D. (2002). The role of differential absolute size cues in children's transitive inferences. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 81, 249–275. doi:10.1006/jecp.2001.2653