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Developmental Stages of a Toddler

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Developmental Stages of a Toddler

Kim Wilson-Mister

ECE 332: Child Development

Elizabeth Golen Johnson

4/17/2010

During the toddler years from ages one to three, young children want to become independent. “I do it” or “Me do it.” With gentle consistent care toddlers can learn to trust others. Being a toddler can be fun and at times one of the most trying stages for both child and the parents. Toddlers are now developing out of infancy and learning important language, cognitive, social, emotional, motor, and moral skills. These skills will help the toddler’s master further skills such as walking backwards and walking up and down the stairs. When children begin to learn how to walk, they are considered toddlers. This is term usually …show more content…

In the stage of cognitive development toddlers are curious about everything and have a very short attention span and will move rapidly from one activity to the next, only playing for two to three minutes with a single toy before turning to something new. At twelve months a toddler may be willing to sit for as long as fifteen minutes with a particularly interesting plaything, but most of the time still in motion. However, toy stores are overflowing with one expensive toy after another and the toys that fascinate children the most at this age are the ordinary household objects such as wooden spoons, egg cartons, and plastic containers of all shapes and sizes. Eventually a toddler will lose interest with playing with something he already knows, but just renewing his interest by putting a ball inside a pot will help him learn to detect small differences between the familiar and the unfamiliar. Developmental psychologists Jean Piaget, study the cognitive process of children. Piaget second stage (Pre-Operational), states that during early childhood children start reason, build concepts, and lay the foundation for concrete operations. Children relate to their world through symbolic reasoning, magical thought, and continued sensorimotor activity. Between the ages of two and four symbolic function occurs. During this time the child acquires the ability to mentally represent what is not there in front of them. Because egocentrism and animism play a role in this stage of the

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