Cognitive and Physical
Development in Early
Childhood
Piaget’s Theory
 Children adapt to the world by
constructing their own cognitive
world based on demands in the
environment.
 Processes used to construct:
Schema – mental representations
of actions or ideas
Assimilation – use existing
schemas to deal with new
information
 Accommodation – adjusting
one’s schema to take in new
information or experiences
 Organization – grouping of
behaviors/thoughts into a higher
thinking system
 Examples
 Car – may include trucks,
motorcycles, anything else on
road
 Dog – may include horses, cows,
etc.
Sensorimotor Stage
 birth to age 2
 coordinates sensory and motor
experiences
 Moves from reflexes only to
primitive symbols and complex
motor patterns
Object Permanence (8-9m)
 understanding that objects exist
even when they cannot be
directly seen, heard or touched
 Acquired when infants search for
objects that have disappeared
Modifications to Piaget’s theory
 A-not-B error (3-4m)
Reaching for an object where it
was located earlier rather than
where it was last hidden
Language development
 a form of communication based
on a system of symbols that can
be written, spoken, or signed.
 crying
 cooing (2-4 mos.) – gurgles in
the throat, usually show pleasure
 babbling (6-12 mos) – consonant
and vowel combinations, ie ba,
ba, ba, ba, ba
 gestures (8-12 mos) – pointing,
bye-bye, nodding
 higher SES leads to more
gestures and a larger vocab at
4.5 years-old
 From birth to 6 mos, children can
recognize diversity in language
 After 6 mos, they tend to
recognize only changes in their
“own” language
First Words
 Infants understand speech early
 A first word doesn’t usually show
up until an avg. of 13 mos.
 Common first words: dada, kitty,
car, ball, milk, eye, hat, clock, bye
 Often these are not clear as day
2 languages
 Receptive vocabulary – what the
child understands (much larger)
Spoken vocabulary – words the
child uses (smaller)
 18 mos. – 50 words
 2 years – 200 words
 called a vocabulary spurt
 Overextension
 “dada” – includes dad, other men
and boys
 Underextension
 “boy” - a neighbor boy, but not a
male cousin
 18-24 mos. - 2 word utterances
 “see doggie”, “give book”
 Telegraphic speech – short, to
the point speech without auxillary
verbs and other connectives
Language environment
 Child-directed speech – when an
adult is talking to a child and
takes on a higher pitch than
normal
 Recasting
Rephrasing into a question
 Expanding
Restating more elaborately
 Labeling
Naming items
 Shared reading
Reading daily shows direct
benefits to a child’s language and
cognitive development at 36 mos.
Language does have a “critical
period”
Early childhood
 Ages 3-5
Physical changes
Cognitive development
Physical changes
Body growth
 slows from infancy
 average gains
Height 2.5 inches/year
Weight 5-7 lbs/year
 2 most important variables in
growth patterns are:
 ethnic origin
 nutrition
Physical development of the brain
 brain undergoes growth in
different forms
Not size
Loss and gain of tissue (pruning)
Myelination continues
Increase in size and # of dendrites
Motor development
 Increase in speed and dexterity
for gross motor skills
 Continues to improve, and
children become interested in
more complex tasks
Nutrition
 Strongly influenced by caregiver
Predictable schedule
Healthy eating
Pleasant
No distractions (TV, games, etc)
Childhood obesity is a problem
Exercise is recommended for 2+
hours a day
Structured and unstructured
 Poor nutrition
In the US, low income families
may qualify for WIC
Nutrition education, supplemental
foods, and health referrals
Illness and death
 Accidents (all)
 Cancer
 Cardiovascular disease
 Second-hand smoke
22% of US children
Asthma
Sleep problems
Sleep-disorder breathing
 In other parts of the world the
leading causes of death are
infectious disease, and problems
associated with living in poverty,
such as starvation, malnutrition,
unsafe water, and lack of safety
Piaget’s preoperational stage
 2-7 years-old
 2nd stage
 Form stable concepts and begin
to reason
 Dominated by egocentrism and
magical beliefs
 Called preoperational because
child cannot yet do operations
mentally that they can do
physically.
 Example: 2+4=
Egocentrism
 Children in this stage cannot
distinguish between their own
perspective and someone else’s.
Nodding to people on the phone
Animism
 Believing that inanimate objects
have life qualities
“The sidewalk tripped me”
“My baby is sad”
 Asking “why” becomes an
“delightful” part of their persona
Vague ideas
What could happen if don’t look both
ways
How much time do I have to cross?
 Centration – focusing on only
one characteristic at a time
Conservation
 awareness that altering an
objects or substances
appearance does not change the
basic properties of a substance
 Conservation applies to length,
volume, number, matter, and
more
Vygotsky
 Social constructivist approach
Emphasis on social learning
through interaction
Includes the zone of proximal
development and scaffolding
Term for tasks that cannot be
completed alone, but child can
complete them with assistance
Scaffolding – adjusting the
amount of support to fit the child’s
performance
Memory
 Susceptibility to suggestion by
age
Individual differences in
susceptibility
Interviewing can cause distortions
Language development
Phonology – the sounds of a
language including how they are
used and combined
Morphology – units of meaning
involved in word formation
By 3 years old most children should
be able to pronounce almost all the
sounds in their language
The morphological rules tend to take
longer.
 Overgeneralization
Using plurals, possessives, tense,
and prepositions correctly
Children do not do this at first.
They apply all rules the same
“ed” is past tense… So, I goed
Literacy
 Advanced readers
How often read to
Mother’s education level
Amount of books in the home
Quality of engagement in home
Education
Child-centered kindergarten
Montessori approach
Developmentally appropriate
practice
Head start
Child-centered kindergarten
 emphasis on process of learning
rather than what is learned
Each child is unique
1st hand experience is best
Play is extremely important
Montessori
A philosophy in which children
are given freedom and
spontaneity in choosing activities
and are allowed to change
activities as desired
Developmentally appropriate practice
Focus is on typical development
of children and the uniqueness of
children
Head Start
Government program to give low
income children the opportunity to
develop skills needed to be
successful in school
Early educational experiences are
good for individuals and society
Controversies
Curriculum
Universal