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Theories Of Children 's Development

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One of the theoretical approaches to children’s development is cognitive development. This is defined as being the changes in your mental abilities that happen as you grow, and focuses on cognition rather than other aspects such as personality and the surrounding environment. Doherty and Hughes (2014:38) explain this approach, saying that the cognitive area within the brain influences and impacts the way children initially view the world. The main theorist that worked on and studied cognitive development was Piaget. Piaget was a Swiss developmental psychologist and Philosopher, and was well known for his studies encompassing children. His theory focuses on the ways children think, reason, and solve problems, as well how they then adapt …show more content…

They also develop object permanency, where they understand that objects are constantly there, even if they cannot be seen. Plotnik (2008:389) gives an example of this using a 5-month-old child. He shows us that when a child is sat in front of a toy, he immediately tries to touch and grab it. However, once a screen is placed in front of the toy, the child looks away, and does not try to move the screen or find the toy. This shows us that the child has not developed this thinking skill yet. When the child grows to around 9 months, Plotnik (2008:389) describes how he will try to push the screen away to reveal the toy. By the end of the sensorimotor stage, children will have acquired this skill. The second stage within Piaget’s theory is known as the pre-operational stage, which covers children aged 2 - 7 years old. Doherty and Hughes (2014:39) describe this as being where children obtain major and minor motor skills, which will help them go through and control the world around them. This includes gross motor skills, such as running, and fine motor skills, such as drawing. Ault (1977:47), from the University of Utah, wrote about Piaget’s work, and said that one of the main components of the pre-operational stage is the development of symbolic functioning. This is known as the capability to make one thing embody something else which is not present. This can vary from highly concrete to highly abstract. An example that is given by Ault (1977:47) is about a

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