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Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs In Children

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This observation can be compared to three theories. These theories being discussed will be Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development and scaffolding, and Fitts & Posner’s theory of motor learning. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs has five stages and is organized into three categories. The categories are basic, psychological, and self-fulfillment needs. Basic need category consists of physiological and safety needs. Physiological needs are food, water, rest, and warmth and safety is feeling of security in the environment. Maslow believed to progress in life humans need to obtain basic needs before acquiring your psychological or self-fulfillment needs. In this observation, when Max told his mother “I am hungry,” and …show more content…

He studied children and found that while children can learn new concepts well on their own, adults and peers can be useful in helping children achieve new learning that would not be possible without instruction. The difference between the most difficult task a child can do completely independently and the most difficult task they can do with instruction is known as the ZPD (Cronin & Mandich: 2015). When Max walked out of the room and walked over to the potty chair, he was in Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. He showed he can go to the potty on his own, but still requires assistance with wiping. Toilet training is the “difficult task”. Therefore, Max is potty training independently but still needs help with wiping. Therefore, his parents are required to help, which is part of scaffolding his learning process. Scaffolding is level of assistance needed to accomplish a certain task. Toilet training is a big leap in development, so scaffolding allows Max plenty of time to successfully learn each step in the process. Max can regress at some point and try to cling to his infancy. Instead of expressing frustration with the regression, children must be allowed to regress as this is an important part of the process. Max will succeed, but it is important he does it on his own terms and is not forced(Cronin & Mandich: …show more content…

Their theory consists of cognitive, associative, and autonomous development. The cognitive stage is characterized by the learner trying to figure out what needs to be done. When the basic movement pattern is acquired, the associative phase begins. This phase is subtler movement adjustments causing an outcome that is more reliable. After practicing, the autonomous stage will show seemingly effortless motions along with consistency (Cronin & Mandich: 2015). Max has improved his cognitive development by verbally naming red, blue, yellow, and green from his cardboard book of colors, saying three word sentences, singing parts of the alphabet, pointing at the pictures with his right index finger and repeating some of what his mother would

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