the feelings generated by this quality. This complex recognition pattern associated with death is joined by an emerging belief in the morality of the self, but for those children death is far off in the future and remains in the domain of the aged." (Lonetto, 1980, p. 157) They are also capable of linking any element or assertion to another element or assertion and are capable of managing analogies. Another important characteristic of this phase is that the child is able to reflect on their new mental abilities, especially thinking. How a child is going to respond to his or her loss is very much relative to the child's stage of development. Many other researchers in the specialization of child grief and bereavement have done research dealing specifically with the child's perception and, in turn, reactions in the loss of a parent. One of these people is Maria Nagy, and although some of her work did reflect Piaget's, most of it dealt with the child's perception of death, identified by three distinct stages. In her first stage, Nagy found that the children ages of three to five demonstrate the denial that the death has occurred or that it is the final event. The children also believe that they are capable of bringing the parent back and that their condition is only temporary. Even after seeing their ...
