Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory, Essay Example

In comprehending the behavior of preschool children, it is essential to consider their cognitive development, including utilizing Piaget’s theories; this will pinpoint a child’s level of functioning and its impact on the family.  The child described in the vignette, at the age of four, would be in Piaget’s pre-operational stage of development.  Because this stage includes children between the ages of two and six, there is quite a variance in the behaviors of this age group.  For example, language development is one of the key changes that occur during this period.  During this stage, children do not actually understand concrete logic, cannot mentally manipulate information, and display egocentrism, or an inability to take into account the point of view of others.  (Hook 2003).  Rather, their intelligence is displayed by using symbols, while language use, memory and imagination are being developed.  However, thinking is non-logical and non-reversible, which often makes it difficult for children at this age to simply understand what their parents are asking of them.  Hence, the presenting complaints that the parents in the vignette bring to the therapist: their child’s inability to follow directions or to obey them.  The egocentrism present in a four year oldtypically results in behavior that appears to be disobedient and oppositional.  The child described here does not respond to his parents’ discipline or instructions, because he is only able to view things from his perspective.  Why do his parents insist on trying to have him follow their rules?

When talking with the parents of the child in the vignette, it would help to speak with the parents alone, both in order to have uninterrupted discussion as well as not to further stigmatize the child by discussing the issue in his presence. It also would be critical to address the child’s stage of development in a manner that is non-judgmental and does not put the parents on the defensive.  People are extremely vulnerable when it comes to any implication that there is something wrong with their child, or that they have made mistakes in raising that child.  Therefore, it would be important to stress that the preoperational stage of development includes a range of behaviors, and that no one child develops at the same rate as another.  It is all considered to be part of normal development that a child moves on to a different cognitive and behavioral stage once he masters the tasks of the current stage of development.

In order to help the parents in the vignette determine whether their child is capable of understanding them, it is important to explain to them why the concept of conservation will help them understand their child’s level of functioning. Before bringing this up, however, important the parents’ capacity to both tolerate and understand such a concept would need to be evaluated.  They might be limited in their ability to comprehend the idea, or too easily offended at the notion that perhaps their child might not be as advanced cognitively as they hoped.  If they could become aware of the difficulties that children have in the preoperational stage, the parents would hopefully become less defensive and more patient with their child’s apparent misbehavior.  This would accomplish helping the parents not to take the child’s behavior personally.  If the child is able to perform a conservation task, or not, they will establish whether or not their son has achieved this developmental level.  If the child has not reached this stage, then the parents could be helped to understand that his ability to perform logical thinking is limited, and they would need to be reassured that this is perfectly normal developmentally.  In addition, they would need guidance in being able to connect with their son at his level of development, to increase the chances that their communication with him would result in success for all involved, rather than frustration and anger.

Role-play

Therapist: Were you able to try the experiment we discussed last time?

Parent: We did, although we were pretty nervous about it.

Therapist: Tell me about your anxiety; what were you worried about?

Parent: What if he failed?  What if he couldn’t tell that the amount of water was the same, even when it was poured into another container?

Therapist: What would that have meant to you?

Parent: That there’s something wrong with my child, that developmentally he’s not what he should be.  And that it’s my fault.

Therapist: As we discussed last time, the only thing that that experiment will tell you is where your child is developmentally; but that what’s normal for one child is not the same as for any other.  Eventually, they’ll catch up to each other.  The whole purpose for the exercise was to help you learn how to meet your child at the point that he is at, and to communicate with him in a way that he will understand so that you won’t feel that he’s only misbehaving or being oppositional.

Parent: Well, easier said than done.  As it turned out, he was not able to tell that the amount of water in the taller glass was the same as the one in the cup.

Therapist: Given our discussion about child development, what does that mean to you regarding your relationship and communication with your son?

Parent: Well, I guess it means that he’s not always capable of logical thinking right now, so that we have to talk to him in plain, simple, unemotional language, and even then, he is still going to be determined to do what he wants, most likely.

Therapist: How is that going to be for you?

Parent: Not very easy, because it’s hard to believe that he’s not just being disobedient.

Therapist: You know, it might be helpful to you to find some support like a parents’ group, so you can hear what some of the other parents are going through with their children, and you might be able to get some helpful feedback from others in a similar situation.  I really have to hand it to you, you’ve followed through with everything we’ve discussed and I give you a lot of credit for working so hard to be a good parent.  It’s not easy, but your son is very lucky that you care so much that you’ve invested so much time in speaking with me.  Now, our time is up, and I look forward to seeing you next week.

References

Hook, C. (2003, October 23).  Conservation tasks: what are they and what do they show?  Retrieved June 29, 2010, fromEverything2: http://everything2.com/title/Conservation+task

Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (2003).Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved June 29, 2010 from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cogsys/piaget.html