This document summarizes Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development in infancy. It describes the four stages of cognitive development from birth to age 2, focusing on sensory motor skills and the development of object permanence. Key milestones in language development are also outlined in intervals from birth to age 2, starting with crying and cooing and progressing to first words and two-word sentences. Piaget's concepts of assimilation, accommodation and schemes are introduced as important components of how infants perceive and mentally represent the world.

1. Infancy: Cognitive
Development
September 29, 2014

2. Cognitive development: Jean Piaget
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT:
Focuses on the development of
children’s ways of perceiving and
mentally representing the world.
 Schemes – children’s concepts
of the world (mental structure)

3.  Assimilation: Incorporation of
new events or knowledge into
existing schemes.
 Accommodation: modification
of existing schemes in order to
incorporate new events or
knowledge.

4. FOUR STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
 THE SENSORY STAGE
 First 2 years of cognitive development
 Trial and error method
1. Simple reflexes (0-1 month)
 This is dominated by the assimilation of
sources of stimulation into inborn
reflexes such as grasping, visual tracking,
crying, sucking, and crudely turning the
head toward a sound.

5. 2. Primary circular reactions (1-4 months of
age)
 This is characterized by the beginnings of
the ability to coordinate various
sensorimotor schemes.
 The infant tends to repeat stimulating
actions that first occurred by chance.
 In terms of assimilation, the child is
attempting to assimilate the motor
scheme (moving the hand) into the
sensory scheme (looking at it).

6. Primary circular reactions (1-4 months of
age)
 Goal-directed behavior . The child “looks
in order to see”.

7. 3. Secondary circular reactions (4-8 months
of age)
 Patterns of activity are repeated because of
their effect to the environment. Ex. the
child shakes a rattle to hear a sound.
4. Coordination of secondary schemes (8-12
months)
 Infants begin to show intentional goal-directed
behavior. Ex. They may lift a piece of cloth in
order to reach a toy.
Scheme of picking up a cloth (means) is
coordinated with the scheme of reaching for the
toy (the goal/end).

8. 5. Tertiary circular reactions (12-18 months
of age)
 Has the characteristics of a budding
scientist.
 Purposeful adaptations of established
schemes to specific situations.

9. 6. Invention of new means through mental
combinations (18-24 months of age)
 This serves as the transitory period
between the sensorimotor development
and the development of symbolic
thought.

10. DEVELOPMENT OF OBJECT PERMANENCE
INFORMATION PROCESSING – The imitation
of people and events that were encountered
or experienced hours, days, or weeks in the
past.

11. MILESTONES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN
INFANCY
Approximate Age
Birth -
 Cries
Approximate Age
12 weeks -
 Cries less
 Smiles when talked to and nodded at.
 Engages in squealing and gurgling sound
 Sustains cooing for 15-20 seconds.

12. MILESTONES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN
INFANCY
Approximate Age
16 weeks -
 Responds to human sounds more definitely.
 Turns head, searching for the speaker.
 chuckles occasionally.

13. MILESTONES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN
INFANCY
Approximate Age
20 weeks -
 Cooing becomes interspersed with
consonant like sounds.
 Vocalization differs from the sounds of
mature language.

14. MILESTONES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN
INFANCY
Approximate Age
6 months -
 Cooing changes to single-syllable babbling.
 Common utterances sound somewhat like
ma, mu, da, or di.

15. MILESTONES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN
INFANCY
Approximate Age
8 months -
 Patterns of intonation become distinct
 Utterances can signal emphasis and
emotion.

16. MILESTONES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN
INFANCY
Approximate Age
10 months -
 Makes effort to imitate sounds made by
other people.

17. MILESTONES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN
INFANCY
Approximate Age
12 months -
 Words emerge
 Many words are understood

18. MILESTONES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN
INFANCY
Approximate Age
18 months -
 Repertoire of 3-50 words
 Explosive vocabulary growth
 Understands nearly everything spoken.

19. MILESTONES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN
INFANCY
Approximate Age
24 months -
 Naming everything in the environment
 Spontaneous creation of two-word
sentences.
 Clear efforts to communicate

20. THANK YOU!!!