Birth to 19 Years Sensory Motor Period

¶ … Birth to 19 Years

Sensory motor period 0 -- 2 years

The child moves from basic, reflexive activity such as sucking and holding to learning how to reach for objects with intention or kicking a mobile to create motion (Stages of intellectual development, 2012, CDI). The baby discovers "new ways to produce the same consequence or obtain the same goal -- such as the infant may pull a pillow toward him in an attempt to get a toy resting on it" (Stages of intellectual development, 2012, CDI). By age two children are capable of running, kicking balls, and building towers of blocks. They are capable of controlling their bowels. Average language vocabulary is around 200 words (Normal stages of human development: Birth to five years, 2012, CDI). By the end of this phase children are capable of sleeping through the night.

Preoperational phase (2-7 years)

From 2-4 years, children can verbally represent objects "but speech is egocentric. The beginnings of symbolic rather than simple motor play" come into being (like dress-up) and the child can think about something and understand abstract representations such as words, even if the object is not present (Stages of intellectual development, 2012, CDI). Children begin to develop an individual will and understand their capacity to say 'no.' They learn to color, ride a tricycle thanks to improved balance and motor coordination and begin to understand the differences between the genders (Normal stages of human development: Birth to five years, 2012, CDI).

During the second part of this phase, which is sometimes called the 'intuitive phase,' from 4-7 years, "speech becomes more social, less egocentric. The child has an intuitive grasp of logical concepts in some areas. However, there is still a tendency to focus attention on one aspect of an object while ignoring others. Concepts formed are crude and irreversible. Easy to believe in magical increase, decrease, disappearance" (Stages of intellectual development, 2012, CDI). During this phase children still do not understand concepts such as weight and mass that are intrinsic to properties, even when the object (like a piece of clay) changes shape. Additionally, "in moral-ethical realm, the child is not able to show principles underlying best behavior. Rules of a game not develop, [he or she] only uses simple do's and don'ts imposed by authority" (Stages of intellectual development, 2012, CDI). Children still tend to see things in black-and-white terms as either right or wrong. In terms of brain development, "this is the fastest growth period for the frontal lobe networks, and speed of processing, memory, and problem solving is increasing. The brain is at 90% of its adult weight by 6 years" (Play and developmental stages, 2012, CDI). There is a noticeable difference in cognitive processing from the beginning stage to the end of the stage

Concrete Operations (7-12 years)