Children stages and their theories.

I going to introduce the different stages of the childhood. Also we are going to see what Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky and Erick Erickson have written about them.

First, we are going to see Jean Piaget´s theory. He wrote that the cognitive development was divide into four different stages:

 Sensory motor stage, that occur in children between births to two years old.

The pre-operational stage, that occur in children between two to seven years old.

Concrete Operational Stage, that occur between seven to eleven years old.

Formal Operations Stage, that occur between eleven to sixteen years old.

• Sensory motor stage. In this stage, Piaget´s ideas were based on Schemas that are mental representations about what things are and how toddlers deal with then. On toddlers are the first movements that they do. It refer to the gross and fine motor skills. Also, at some point in the toddlerhood they star to use some cognitive skills like memory and thinking.

• Pre-Operations Stage. In this stage children have a particular characteristic they are ego centric. They just see the world as they own and they think that they are the center of the world. Also, they star to produce more words than the previous stage and they can feel pain and have emotions.

• Concrete Operations Stage. In this stage, the thinking process becomes more acceptable for their parents. Also, they can make logical thought.

•  Formal Operations Stage. In this stage children becomes teen, so they have the logical thought fulfill and they can interact with adults and peers.

 Second, we are going to see Lev Vygotsky´s theory. Like Piaget, Vygotsky born with some intellectual abilities. Moreover, Vygotsky emphasis in the socio cultural development, it refer that children can learn from the environment by following a tutor or their parents. In which children can understand what the parents or teacher said, they can internalize the information. Also, the language is develop in the social environment.

Vygotsky also make a reference to The More Knowledgeable Other “MKO” refers to someone who has a better understanding or higher ability to understand more that the learner in difficult task and the zone of proximal development “ZPD” that refer to the distance of the learner can make the task with the guide of a tutor.

Third, we are going to see Erik Erikson's Stage. He divide his theory intro eight stages, the stages are Trust vs. Mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt, Initiative vs. Guilt, Industry vs. Inferiority, Identity vs. Role Confusion, Intimacy vs. Isolation, Generativity vs. Stagnation, and Integrity vs. Despair.

• Trust vs. Mistrust, occurs from approximately birth to one year. Erikson defined trust as a defined trust as an essential trustfulness of others as well as a fundamental sense of one's own trustworthiness. He also said that some mistrust is necessary to learn to discriminate between honest and dishonest persons.

• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, occurs between ages two and three. During this period it is important that the parents create a supportive atmosphere in which the child can develop a sense of self-control without a loss of self-esteem. 

• Initiative vs. Guilt, occurs between ages four and five. This is the stage in which the child must find out what kind of person he/she is going to be. The child develops a sense of responsibility which increases initiative during this period.

As conclusion, every stage of the childhood is important in order to develop their cognitive, physical and psychosocial development that will help us to understand more about childhood and the theories.

References:

http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/DLiT/2000/Piaget/stages.htm#stages top

http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/erikson.htm#Theory