Page 144 - Meeting with Children Book

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The prefrontal cortex begins to mature and by the age of 7
and perspective-taking begins. At this point forward,
decentration has replaced egocentrism. To think logically,
the distinction between subjectivity and objectivity must
take place. Piaget (1952b) noted that the movement from
egocentricism marks the beginning of higher level cognitive
thinking and allows for a clearer understanding of causality.
It is the beginning of reasoning with analysis. Magical
thinking decreases and this aged child will not typically
assign himself as being the sole cause of something
happening such as a family member dying or parents
separating etc., rather, more complex reasoning will take
place making possible greater, more realistic explanations.

Although Piaget's stages of cognitive development are well-
known, so too is the idea that by this stage, children may be
able to demonstrate higher level cognitive skills in certain
areas based on others demonstrating things for them by
way of scaffolding. This may happen through observing a
parent complete something and then the child being asked
to reflect and think about what was demonstrated. The
parent may then ask the child to try the same action or idea
(Vigotsky, 1978).

Spatial orientation and understanding of space increases
for children in this age band. In drawings for instance,
children will typically include a ground line. Additionally,
human figures are relative in size and depicted more
realistically. For instance, adult figures are bigger than child
figures, birds are smaller yet and situated in the sky and
clouds are clearly placed in the top area of a drawing.
Spatial organization increases and becomes more
consistent with what the eye actually sees (Case, 1998).

Orientation to time also increases during this time period
and it is not until the age of 7 that children begin to
understand how a calendar is organized. This ability follows