Jean Piaget (1896 t0 1980) was born in Neuchatel Switzerland.  He studied the Cognitive Development of first animals then humans.  Like Freud and Erikson, Piaget believed that a number of developmental milestones occur throughout childhood.  He group his Theory of Cognitive Development into 4 stages: Sensorimotor Stage, Preoperational Stage, Concrete Operational Stage, and Formal Operational Stage.  

Piaget also went on to identify Schema, which are structures that allow a child to gain knowledge.  Each level of development had a different schema such as the sucking relex in infants.  When something does not fit an existing schema, such as the first time a child eats solid food without needing to suck, it presents a problem where the child must learn to adapt. 

Piaget believed that cognitive ability was an inborn trait that deals with adapting to the world around it.  He also believed that children learned through two different means.  These were assimilation, where the child learns by using and adapting an already existing schema, such as sucking moves to the developmental stage where a child mouths objects, and accommodation, where a child will change her schema to accommodate the encounter. 

 Now that I touched on Piaget, let’s look at each of his stages separately.

Piaget’s Stage of Cognitive Development:

• Sensorimotor Stage:  This stage occurred during the age of birth to 2 years of age.  It is the stage where a child’s cognitive development is encouraged by the senses and the child’s movement.  Piaget went on to break this stage into 6 sub-stages.
  • Reflexes:  This is the stage when the infant is still relying on reflexes to understand the world around him.  Things like the Morro Reflex, which is when a child startles, or the Rooting Reflex, when the baby turns its head when the cheek is stroked. 
  • Primary Circular Reactions: Occurs between the ages of 1 to 4 months of age and is the stage where the child will do something unintentionally but will repeat it to form a new schema. 
  • Secondary Circular Reactions:  This next stage occurs between the ages of 4 to 8 months and it is when the child will use an action, and repeat it, to see a reaction from the world around him.  Things like pointing to a bottle will trigger the response of mom or dad to give her a bottle. 
  • Coordination of Reactions: Occurring between 8 and 12 months, this is the stage where the child will intentionally use a schema and may begin to combine schemas together to start exploring the world around her.
  • Tertiary Circular Reaction: 12 to 18 months of age is when you will see this sub-stage and it is basically your child trying to figure out the world around him through trial and error style of learning.
  • Early Representational Thought: This sub-stage occurs between 18 to 24 months and is the period where the child begins thinking with symbolic representation.  Exploration of the world around him is no longer through actions but is through thought as well.
• Preoperational Stage:  This stage occurs during the ages of 2 to 7 years old and it is the stage where the child’s language is significantly developed.  In this stage, children are using representational objects for the world around them and they are unable to understand concrete logic.  Piaget identified this stage of development as the one where children are egocentric. 
• Concrete Operational Stage: Occurring between the ages of 7 to 11 years old, this is the stage where children begin to develop their logical thinking.  They can understand the concrete operations of the world around them but they have a harder time understanding abstract thinking.
• Formal Operational Stage:  This is the stage that goes from 11 years and throughout adulthood.  It is the stage where a person is able to think in abstract ways and also able to use deductive reasoning.

There are many pros and cons to Piaget’s theories and it is important to note that while Piaget had some excellent points to make about the importance of education and the cognitive development, there were some weaknesses to his theory.  One of the biggest weaknesses is the fact that most of his work focused on the development of his own children.  He also failed to consider differences in culture, emotional and personal development and also on the differences in education systems.  Lastly, Piaget often underestimated the abilities of the children that he was studying.

So there is a rather long summary of Jean Piaget.  Please check back in a few weeks and I will go over behaviourists.

Sirena Van Schaik

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As I mentioned in the previous post, I am a big fan of reading. Life wouldn’t be the same if I couldn’t curl up with a good book or two or three. My husband is always shaking his head because I will read several books at a time and I used to keep a book for each level of the house (or room). A book upstairs for when I wanted to read in bed, a book in the living room for when I was relaxing, a book in the baby’s room so I could read while I rocked him and a book in my oldest son’s room so I could read while he fell asleep. My husband has never understood that although I could get up and retrieve the current book from a location, it was difficult to get up with a cranky baby and search for a book. Having several on the go made it much easier to read along to the flow of life without disrupting other people’s routines.

Yep, not too obsessed with books and reading and thankfully my kids are almost as bad as I am.

As many of you know, the toddler stage is the age where mimicking begins and many children will continue with mimicking for many years. It is important that you demonstrate excellent reading habits, even at such a young age. It has been proven that parents who read will have children who enjoy reading as well. It is important for both mom’s and dad’s to read. In regards to boys, having dad read is an excellent way to teach boys that it can be an enjoyable past time for men and women.

Now that I have you reading, let’s look at having your toddler reading. Below are a few tips:

• Read every day: Set up a time that you read with your child everyday. I liked to have free time each day where my kids could bring me a book to read and I would stop whatever I was doing (usually housework) to read a story. I also had a set time where I would read for 15 minutes. This was always the bedtime story and it not only laid the foundation for reading but it also settled them down for sleeping.
• Picture books: Picture books are very important at this stage. Children can look at pictures to decipher the story while you read it. This will build on imagery and on creating stories of their own.
• Nursery Rhymes: Finger Plays and nursery rhymes may not have a book associated with them but singing little songs and nursery rhymes will help your child develop an interest in stories and rhythm.
• Turn the book: One of the key ingredients to reading is having the pages facing the right way. Watch your child while she flips through a book and take a moment to turn it so the book is right-side up.
• Point to the words: Like the little bouncy ball following the words on a sing-along, your finger teaches a child that reading is from left to right. He will begin to follow your finger, taking in the words that you are saying and eventually, he will start remembering the words that you point to.

Reading at this stage can be filled with a lot of trials and tribulations. Children may have a shorter attention span than before and with all the new things to explore, they may not want to sit down for a moment. It is important to make reading a part of your daily schedule and another layer of foundation will be added to your child’s reading development.

Sirena Van Schaik

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For this reason, probably not the only reason, I am a firm believer that reading should be part of the daily routine, not only for the child but for parents as well. Studies have shown that children who see both of their parents reading, are more likely to read themselves. So the whole idea of children learn through example is evident when it comes to reading.

What many people don’t know, is that a love of reading is not something that you pick up when you are old enough to read. It actually starts in the early years and it can be fostered in children as young as a few days old. Sure you won’t see the effects of this reading until they are much older but you will know that the groundwork will be in place.

Many children learn to read around age 6 when it becomes a necessity in school. This can start sooner and I know that my son’s Kindergarten class brought books home on a weekly basis to begin reading. I was actually blown away by how well my son picked up reading and experienced a confusing mesh of disappointment and pride when he asked me if he could read not only his own bedtime story but his brother’s bedtime book as well when he was 6.

Reading is such an important skill for everyone to learn and starting off right can encourage not only the skill but a life long enjoyment of reading and learning.

So how does this apply to infants?

Although an infant is not going to understand exactly what you are doing, it will set a routine that will become as cherished as bath time. It will also encourage later skills and will help build attention spans. People were always amazed when my active toddler(s) would sit for a half hour just to listen to three or four picture books and I remember the only way I could get through long car drives was by reciting by memory Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams and illustrated by Megan Lloyd and many other favorites that I had read hundreds of times (so many times that they are forever burned on my memory)

The reason for this love of story was started when my kids were only 3 days old and we began reading together and this is something that I recommend to all parents.

Encouraging Reading in your Infant:

• Start when they are young: Start reading to your child when they are only a few days old. The luxury of this is that you get to have some quiet time, read a nice story and spend those moments snuggling with your baby. This builds trust and a parent child bond, which have nothing to do with reading, exactly, but help your child’s development across the board.
• Start with the classics: When you are reading with your child, start with the old classics. Childhood favorites that you loved. There is no need to stick with picture books since your child isn’t really looking at the pictures but is instead looking at you and listening to your voice. I started with E.B. White’s The Trumpeter Swan and moved on to his other books Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little but you can start with any children’s treasure.
• Move up to fun books: Just as simple as that, as your child becomes more aware of the world around her, start looking at picture books and pops up. My kid’s favorite was a Clifford book with a big Clifford head coming out the front of a dog shaped book.
• Be silly: At this stage, when your child is sitting up, books do not have to be serious. Sit on the floor in front of your child, read the book, make silly faces and play with the book. One of our favorite pastimes was to sit with my kids in the recliner, me on my knees in front of them, holding up a pop up book or the Clifford book. At the end of the story, Clifford, or in the case of one pop up, a big Moose, would lick their noses. They would squeal in delight and want me to read the book again in hopes of experiencing the squeal inducing ending again.

I know that it may not seem like much but there is a lot going on behind the scenes at this age. Over the next few weeks, I will look at ways parents can encourage reading for all the age groups.

Until then, pick up a good novel. I know I will.

Sirena Van Schaik

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If you want to review the first part of these posts, please click here but to give you a recap, Freud is the father of psychoanalysis and he believed that the human personality was made up of three parts: The Id, the Superego and the Ego. Each one works to temper the other and the ego works the hardest to fulfill the needs of the Id.

Freud also went on to explain the stages of development which included Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency and Genital stages. Each one occurs at a specific age of development and if you are interested in learning more, please read Theorists of Child Development Part One.

So why the little recap on Freud, the main reason is that Erik Erikson (1902-1994) was a psychoanalyst that not only studied Freud’s theories but expanded them. He felt that our development was affected by the social and cultural influences that are around us. He also believed that even a child who suffered during some of the developmental stages has the ability to overcome the obstacles and deficits from the earlier stages.

Erik Erikson felt that each stage in development was faced with a crisis and that successfully overcoming the crisis would help build the skills necessary to good mental health. He also believed that each resolution was a combination of both positive and negative experiences and the key was to find a balance between the two.

Many of the theories of child development are the result of Erik Erikson’s work and for the purpose of this post, I will look at the developmental stages that Erik Erikson identified and a short little explanation of each one.

Erik Erikson had 8 stages of development, but he did not focus on child development only. These stages span the entire life of a person from infancy until old age and ultimately death. For the purpose of this blog, I am going to stick to the stages of development which affect children from infancy until 18 years of age.

Erikson’s Stages of Development:

• Trust vs Mistrust: Since Erik Erikson looked at the outcome at the end of a stage, his stages are labelled differently than other theorists. He believed that the ego would suffer or benefit from each stage and gave the desired outcome to the stage. For Trust vs Mistrust, it is fairly obvious that the positive outcome would be trust while the negative outcome would be mistrust. This stage occurs between the ages of birth to 18 months and is the stage when a child learns that his needs will be met. The bonding that goes on between parent (or primary caregiver) and child is important to fostering the trust necessary to build on greater self esteem and self worth later in the child’s development. If needs are not met or the child is not held, comforted or cared for properly, mistrust begins to form and can lead to even more detrimental feelings as the child grows.
• Autonomy vs Shame: This stage occurs between the ages of 18 months and 3 years of age and as you may have guessed, this is the toddler stage where children will begin the process of autonomy. Toilet training occurs during this stage, along with many exciting and frustrating aspects of development such as dressing and feeding one self. If there is a balance of positive experiences, a child will come through this stage with not only autonomy but a strong feeling of self esteem. If the experiences are negative, such as parents becoming frustrated and angry at potty accidents during toilet training, feelings of shame will be evident.
• Initiative vs Guilt: Spanning the ages of 3 to 5, this stage is when children begin to take the initiative in activities. This may be small things or they may be large but the key is that children are taking the lead and parents are allowing them to do so (as long as everyone is safe). If initiative is not allowed or encouraged feelings of guilt may occur, and as with all the other stages, may lead to feelings of worthlessness.
• Industry vs Inferiority: Occurring between the ages of 6 and 12, children are beginning to branch out and interact with peers and at school. There are moments of industry where the child is learning and creating and there are moments when children may feel a little inferior to the other people around them. A balance between both builds on feelings of competency.
• Identity vs Role Confusion: The teen years are always confusing no matter how well the other stages of development went. During the ages of 12 and 18, children are in a limbo of sorts where they are expected to act more grown up, actually feel the need to do so, but are still limited in what they can do since they are not grown up. It is a stage where limits are tested, more than others, self identity as both an individual and a peer takes place and morality is developed on a more personal level. It is no longer a simple matter of “Because my parents said it was wrong.” Again, self esteem, self worth, independence and many other traits can be harmed if there are too many negative experiences.

Erik Erikson went on to explore stages after these but they deal with adult development and not child development. It is interesting to note that for all of these stages, Erik Erikson identified key relationships that are important in the development of the child. From infancy to the age of 6, the important relationships are with parents and family. After 6 there is a shift in relationships from family to school to peers, and although family is still important it is not the key relationship.

So that is it for Erik Erikson, in a few weeks, I will look at Jean Piaget and go over his theories. After that, I will touch on a few other theorists, although not in the length that I have done with Erikson and Freud.

Sirena Van Schaik

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Chances are it will never run the same and you’ll have a few extra parts left over.  Generally, I agree…oh wait a minute, scratch that since I enjoy taking things apart.  It is great to have some understanding on what drives early childhood education and most, if not all, of the discussions that I have on this blog.

There are several theorists that I will be discussing over the weeks but for today I would just like to focus on one theorist, Freud.

I’m sure we all know who Freud is but do you know much about his theories.  Freud is the developer of psychoanalysis, something that many people know.  He believed that the personality was formed of three parts and these are:

• The Id:  this is the subconscious part of the mind that is the pleasure seeker.  Freud believed that it is where all desires and motives come from and that it was present at birth. 
• The Ego:  This is the hard working part of the mind (or personality) that is there to find ways to satisfy the Id.  Freud considered this to be the rational part of the mind.
• The Superego:  This is a person’s morality, the moral compass, which reflectsthe individual’s and societal ideas of acceptable behavior.

And that is pretty much it with Freud in a nut shell.  Now I know that we can go through and elaborate on all of the stages but I’m not an expert in Freudian and I only know the parts that are connected with Early Childhood Education. 

Freud went on from the “personality structures” and identified three stages that occurs during early childhood.  He felt that any difficulties during these stages could and would affect the person’s personality. 

The stages that Freud identified are:

• Oral:  This occurs during infancy from the time when the baby will instinctively suck at birth and throughout the entire process when the baby is exploring items with his mouth (mouthing), up to 18 months. 
• Anal:  This is an important stage where the child is toilet training, usually between 18 months and 3 years, and Freud believed that any problems during this can lead to an “anal” type of personality, i.e., extremely tidy.
• Phallic:  This seems to be the one that most people focus on or remember when it comes to Freud.  This stage occurs when the child begins to explore his body and becomes aware of his body.  Freud believed that this is the stage (usually between 3 and a half to 6 years) when boys develops a rivalry with their father.  This is considered the Oedipus complex.

There are other stages to Freud’s theory including the Latency stage, between ages 6 to puberty, and the Genital Stage, from puberty on, but in regards to early childhood education, the first three are the ones that I focused on. 

And that is it on our first part of theorists of child development.  I will go over them again another day and I will focus on Erik Erikson who extended Freud’s stages.  Now you can all go and study and I will test you on Monday. (Just kidding.) 

Sirena Van Schaik

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