Development of the children

Today I want to introduce to the stage of development of the children.
 
I want to think about the different theories that exist about the development of the children, I want to focus on tree experts that have different theories about these stages of development.

First, I want to talk about Jean Piaget that discontinued  the way of thinking that had as base the idea that the development of children was something continuous or lineal, he stated that the process could be divided in four stages, which were connected one with other through the genetic, the four stages are:

The sensory motor period; In this period the children use the senses to discover the surroundings, it stars with reflexes but it develops in the combination of motor and sensory skills. After some time they start to use some cognitive skills as memory and though. They use the imitation process to increase their behavior patrons. Something important to Piaget was the regularity in which these characteristics appear , the sequence, rather than the age in which they appear. 

The preoperative period; in this period some of the actions that were made in the previous period are being internalized, however, some of these actions cannot be categorized as operations because  there is not enough information.

The concrete operations period; is the moment in which children have the ability to understand that, even if an object is separated in different pieces it would have the same volume when its reassembly, also in this period the children learn that even if different objects are taken apart they still conserve they original shape if they are put back together, this receives the name of reversibility.

Formal operations period; in this period is when begins the development of the abstract thinking in children, these means to be able to think about different scenarios besides the reality, its after this stage that this skill is completely developed.

Next I want to talk about Lev Vygotski, he is the creator of the Zone of proximal development or ZPD, this is the theory about the gap between, what a children can do unguided, what he can do when he is guided by an adult and what the child cannot do. Also this theory claims that the language and thinking process go hand by hand, that they develop one with the other, also that when a child experience different cultural experiences there is a possibility for development to happen.


At the end, the theory that I like the most, is the theory of Eric Erickson which states that the development of children is through 8 stages that represent crisis which persons will have to face in life. Basic trust against against distrust, is the first stage in which children experience the physic trust, the environment plays an important role in this area, also this will be the base for future relations. Autonomy against shame and doubt, starts with the development of the motor skill and follows by the child experiencing his own will to complete actions, even though constant failure may lead to the shame, the result will be the first act of autonomy in the life. initiative against guilt, In this stage the children have developed imagination and activity, this means the behavior is more energetic, this behavior also leads to some extent to act in ways they might feel guilt for later. Laborious against inferiority, in this stage the child is eager to interact with others without forcing others to interact, but instead through planning, experimenting and sharing, the child might feel inferior if it is attacked by others who make fun of him because his race, economic situation or anything else they can find. This theory has other four important points but those are for later parts of the life, no including the childhood, so we will discuss that later on.

I personally agreed with this theory because I believe that only by experiencing the real world feelings and situations, as are described before, the children can truly understand what is around them and what they should be prepared to in the future, I believe that the different stages described are the best way to represent the children development as they grow up.


Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_development