Sunday, September 11, 2016

The Five Stages of Cognitive Development in Children

The development of an individual starts right from the birth and continues to the adulthood. An individual can reach the apex of his potential and caliber only when the childhood development is successful. In the real life, you might have seen someone in your neighborhood struggling due to lack of development in the early childhood. Researchers call it the critical age.

This is called critical age because the human brain in this age is strongly adaptable to new things. The brain quickly grabs what the body touches, hears, tastes, sees, smells and feels.

During decades of research, many times it is shown that the brain undergoes some permanent changes that will assist in the future functionality. Therefore, the overall development is necessary for this critical age. However, learning or development is possible only in the presence of adults. In nurseries and preschools, it is the responsibility of teachers to ensure the overall development of children. And, it is the responsibility of parents to find the right nursery school for kids in Dubai.When parents are exploring a Dubai school list, they have to make sure that the teachers are qualified and capable enough.
Dubai Schools List

The overall development of a child is divided into following five domains:

  •         Cognitive 
  •         Physical
  •         Social
  •         Communicative, and
  •         Adaptive 


Swiss clinical psychologist and the pioneer of child 
development Jean Piaget have defined following four
stages of cognitive development.


The Sensory motor Stage

This is two years long stage that starts with the birth. During this state, the baby learns through manipulating objects and sensory experiences. It learns to see different objects as different entities. The ability to attach names and words to objects is developed in this age as it learns to build mental pictures of objects. The baby learns to process the information received from senses and begins movements of limbs and muscles. These developments are also called ‘action schema’.

The Pre-Operational Stage

This stages starts at the age of 2 years and ends at 7. Kids in this stage learn to process thoughts but struggle with logic. The dictionary is expanded in this stage. They consider things from their own perspective only. They believe that everybody in the world shares the same perspective.

The Concrete Operation Stage

The stage expands from the age of 7 to 11. In this stage, the thought processing becomes mature, rational and more operational. This happens when the child begin to think logically. They start thinking about what others feel and think. They now know that their views and thoughts are unique and different from others.

The Formal Operational Stage

This is the stage of adolescence, from 15 to 16. Logic, reasoning and the understanding of abstract ideas is increased. When they encounter a problem, they think about all potential solutions to the problem. In simple words, they learn to think scientifically.  
A child needs a strong foundation for bright future and this foundation is laid in early age.