Child Development: Cognitive & Language Milestones

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

Piaget argued that children actively construct their knowledge of the world. He stated that the child's mind gradually organizes itself in stages, ranging from a baby's reflexes to the ability of abstract reasoning during adolescence.

Stages of Cognitive Development:

• Sensorimotor Stage (Birth - 2 Years)

  At this stage, intelligence is manifested through the child's actions. The child uses action to achieve a goal.

• Preoperational Stage (2 - 7 Years)

  The child develops language at this stage, as well as understanding the meanings of objects.

• Stage of Concrete Operations (7 - 12 Years)

  An important concept here is mental representations, which characterize a series of actions.

• Formal Operations Stage (12 Years Onwards)

  The adolescent becomes capable of considering all possible solutions when dealing with a particular topic.

Components of Language

Language can be divided into several key components:

• Phonology and Morphosyntax

  This involves the formal components: the building blocks and structural rules of language. They relate to sounds and their combination.

• Semantics

  This is the study of the content components. This concept is part of linguistics that studies the meaning of words. Less attention has been devoted to its study due to its complexity.

• Pragmatics

  This studies the communicative functions of language, as well as non-linguistic aspects. People use language as an instrument to achieve a particular objective when communicating.

Key Milestones in Language Development

• 5-6 Months: Children begin to initiate oral exchanges, such as babbling and waiting for a response or talking.
• 9-12 Months: Children start to move and accompany activities with sounds.
• 13-17 Months: Children are encouraged as they have a repertoire of 12-20 words. In this first stage, compliance with intonation facilitates communication and understanding the message's expression.
• 17-24 Months: Previously, telegraphic speech (two-word phrases) emerges. The child begins to refer to objects not present.
• 2 Years: Phrases are structured simply and progressively. Plural possessives appear.
• 3 Years: Use of past and future tenses begins.
• 7 Years: Most children can use language to communicate and learn effectively. However, it would be a mistake to think that language is fully developed at this age; it continues to develop at least until adolescence.