Page 125 - Meeting with Children Book

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Piaget (1896-1980) was a researcher who was interested in
understanding the development of understanding. His
theory has been widely influential and studied over time.
Piaget's stages are defined sequentially and qualitatively
and therefore it is important to consider the point that the
age of the child is less important than the conceptual
milestones and their sequences when looking at cognitive
development. For those doing actual formal assessments
the issues that get in the way of identifying capacities of
various aged children are more often related to the child's
motivation, attention, compliance, language and/ or
expression of anxiety (Garber, 2010). When Meeting With
Children, it is important to consider these factors before
saying a child does or does not demonstrate a particular
cognitive ability or skill.

If you are meeting with a child within the age band of 5-7
years, Piaget (1983) would note that the child is in the Pre-
operational Stage of cognitive development as this stage
spans from age 2-7 years. The major characteristics and
developmental changes are that children begin to think
symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to
represent objects. This age group tends to be very
egocentric and sees things only from their point of view;
struggling to see things from the perspective of others.
Although language skills are improving, children in this age
group tend to think about things in concrete terms.

Language Development
A lot happens and can be communicated by a child before
speech and language are ever used. Language skills are
acquired in a uniform way through several steps. It is
important to know that receptive language and expressive
language come on-line at different times. Long before a
child can express himself in words, he can understand or