Cognitive Development in School-Age Children Essay.

Cognitive Development in School-Age Children

Cognitive development refers to the development of intellectual acumen and the ability of the child to assess situations and make logical decisions based on the prevailing factors. The developmental psychologist who came up with the theory of cognitive development was Jean Piaget. According to this theory, there are four stages that the child goes through in terms of cognitive development from birth to adolescence. Cognitive Development in School-Age Children Essay.

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These stages are (i) sensorimotor stage (from birth to 2 years); (ii) preoperational (from 1.5 years to 7 years); (iii) concrete operational (from 7 to 11 years); and (iv) formal operational which is from 12 to 19 years (McLeod, 2018; Carey et al., 2015). According to Jean Piaget, therefore, the school-age child’s cognitive development would fall in the concrete operational stage or stage three.Cognitive Development in School-Age Children Essay.

Cognitive Development in the School-Age Child According To Jean Piaget

The school-age child is normally regarded as being between 5-12 years. This is what places him in Piaget’s concrete operational stage of cognitive development. At this stage of cognitive development, the child has already developed organized thought and rational thinking. The child is aware of rules (e.g. if I jump from the balcony I will break my limbs, etc). However, they only seem to be able to apply logic objectively to physical objects. This is why the sage is referred to as ‘concrete operational’. Despite all this, the school-age child still cannot have abstract thought. They cannot determine the difference between a real and a hypothetical scenario (McLeod, 2018; Carey et al., 2015). From this penultimate stage the school-age child moves to the last cognitive level referred to as the formal operational stage.Cognitive Development in School-Age Children Essay.