development isn’t according to the average age.” He goes on to describe the model as a “sequential order” of cognitive growth. The stage model is made of four stages and as one may infer from the statements form Piaget, these stages are discontinuous. The first stage the child goes through is the sensorimotor. During this stage there is “the existence of an intelligence before language.” While age does not determine the stage of growth, the average age of children in this stage is birth to two years old. Piaget’s conclusion on this stage is that “the child is tied to the immediate environment and motor-action schemes, lacking the cognitive ability to represent objects symbolically.” The main task during the sensorimotor stage is for the child to control and coordinate his or her body. While in the second year, most children begin, “to form mental representation of absent objects.” Finally, at the end of the sensorimotor stage the child moves rather easily, can identify family members, has developed an understandable language level, yet the child is still “illogical, egocentric, and unaware of his self.” The next stage is the pre-operational which ahas an approximate range of age from two to seven years old. During this time, unfortunately, the child still can not carry out logical operations. However, to reach this stage the child must increase the speed of his or her manipulations, and become involved with more complex tasks. The child also creates mental symbols for physical objects during this phase. Most importantly, though, are the three features that preoccupy the mid during this stage: egocentrism – focus revolves around themselves and no one else; animistic thinking – believing inanimate objects have life and that they think; and there is centration – in which the child is often too focused on one characteristic of the p...
