Piaget's Cognitive Stages of Childhood Development

Stage 1: Sensorimotor (0-2 years)

Stage 2: Preoperational (2-7 years)

Stage 3: Concrete Operational (7-11 years)

Stage 4: Formal Operations (11 years)

            WebMD has a section related to Piaget's theory on cognitive childhood development, and I learned a lot from reading through it. Although all children develop at different rates, I do believe that this is a good guideline that parents could follow. 

            I learned that In the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development, babies are only aware of the things that are right in front of their eyes. Their main focus is on what they are seeing right in front of them and their interactions as well in their specific environment at that specific moment. During this stage, infants are also focusing mainly on putting things in their mouth, shaking, and throwing things around the room they are in as well. In this stage, their memory starts to develop because they start to realize that things are existing. They increase their physical mobility, which also increases their cognitive development as well during this stage. Towards the end of this specific stage of development, infants also reach early language development as well. Those are some of the main specifics that infants go through in the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development. 

            The next stage of Piaget's theory of childhood cognitive development is the preoperational stage. This stage includes toddlers-7 year olds. These children learn to mature their language and think symbolically as well. This is the stage where their memory imagination develop as well. An example of this is when children begin to believe in make-believe things. They will play "house" or "school" and pretend like they are apart of these specific activities. In this stage, they are not able to completely think logically or understand certain concepts either. The next step in Piaget's theory is the concrete operational stage. 

            This stage includes kids ages 7-11 years old. Within this stage, these children are becoming more and more aware of their surroundings. They start realizing that their feelings and thoughts are unique and do not need to be known by other people. The children in this stage think more and more, but do not think as deeply as they will in the next stage. I believe that this is one of the most important stages because these children are starting to understand themselves more and learn that not everything they think or feel must to be told to other people.

            The last stage of Piaget's theory of childhood cognitive development is the formal operational stage. This stage includes children that are 11 years and older. These children start to think more logically and understand more specific concepts. Some concepts that they understand are math and science. This stage is all about intellectual development. That is why this stage is the last stage in Piaget's theory because they start to gain knowledge and think more intellectually as they get older.        

            Those are the four stages in Piaget's theory of childhood cognitive development. This is important to know so that if you have a child, you know the steps that they should be developing within those specific ages. Again, all children develop at different rates, but this is a good guideline to follow to see if your child is on track. If not, it is always ok to contact your family doctor to see if there are any problems. Overall, WebMD provided very great and useful information for people who have children, so that they can track their child's development. 

Reference: 

(2015). WebMD. Piaget Cognitive Stages of Development. Retrieved February 24,    2016, from http://www.webmd.com/children/piaget-stages-of-development

                                                           

Child Development Facts

           

Child Development

            The article, Child Development, from the CDC provides many facts on child development and some specifics related to it. This article taught me that the early years in kids’ lives are extremely important for their health and development. I also learned that healthy development means that children with various skills are able to grow up with their specific needs met that include emotional, social, and educational needs as well. I believe that this is very important because of how significant it is for these specific needs to be met because they are such a large part of daily living. I also learned about some of the developmental milestones, which include smiling, taking their first baby step, and waving "hello" and "goodbye". In order for these milestones to be met, these children will be crawling, walking, moving, speaking, playing, and learning as well.

            This article also taught me that all children develop at completely different paces. Some children may develop quicker than others just because of the environment that they are in. It is completely impossible to say which children will develop which skills at a certain time because of how inconsistent the development process goes with each child. The milestones are very generalized because it is known that children will reach these specific steps, but the time of these steps is unknown. I also learned that some parents become scared if their child did not reach the specific milestone by a certain time in their childhood, so that is when they should go talk to their family doctor to see if there are any concerns with the child. 

            The growth of a child is monitored through health professionals and through the parents of the child as well. During the many childhood doctor visits, the doctor and nurse will look for any developmental problems that the parents should be concerned about. It is also the responsibility of the parent to make sure that they are communicating with their family doctor if they suspect that something is wrong. The term, developmental screening, is used for children with and without special needs to determine if children are having any developmental delays or if they are developing properly and in a timely manner. It is important to make sure that your family doctor is using developmental screening tests to see if there are any problems because if there are, then you should act as soon as possible to get help with the delay. 

            Here are some specific developmental skills that you should be looking at while your child is developing. During 0-1 years of age, infants will be learning that they have surroundings, explore, and focus their vision. These are things to look for while your child is 0-1 years old. In the next stage when your child is 1-2 years old, they tend to explore more of their surroundings, including people as well. Between 2-3 years, the child should be going through social and emotional changes in their world. While your child is 3-5 years old, the child is interacting with their extended family and learning colors as well. During their middle childhood years (6-8 years old), children should be learning to tie his/her shoes and learning to play sports as well. During the ages of 9-11 years old, the child should be having more of an interest in his/her friends than just his/her family. From the ages of 12-14 years old, children will be dealing with hormones and the physical and emotional changes that go along with them. Lastly, during the ages of 15-17 years old, children will be finishing up the puberty stage and starting to mature. Those are some of the specific developmental skills that children will go through while growing up. 
            I believe that this section from the CDC did a great job providing information regarding child developmental and all of the specifics that go along with it. This should be a very useful article for you to look through because it provided accurate information on this subject and specific skills that children will be going through during specific ages. It also provided you with information regarding developmental screening tests and how important it is to make sure that your family doctor is making use of those during the many childhood doctor appointments that you will be attending with your child. The CDC website also provides a wide variety of information related to child developmental that should be a useful tool for you because of all the information that is has provided within it. 

Reference: 
Child Development. (2015, November 06). Retrieved February 15, 2016, from        http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/adolescence2.html

Introduction

My name is Emmy Oraham. I am majoring in Community Health here at Eastern Illinois University. I chose the topic on Child Development because I am very passionate about children, so I love to learn and educate people on this specific topic.