Applying Jean Piaget’s Thoughts in the Developmental Assessment of a School-Age Child

Applying Jean Piaget’s Thoughts in the Developmental Assessment of a School-Age Child

Jean Piaget was the scholar who came up with the theory of cognitive development. This theory suggests that cognitive development in a child is a process that takes place gradually as the child interacts with its environment. The four stages of Piaget’s cognitive development model are (i) sensorimotor which starts from birth to 2 years, (ii) preoperational which is from one and a half years to age seven, (iii) concrete operational which is between ages 7 to eleven years, and (iv) formal operational which is from age 12 to 19 years (McLeod, 2018; Carey et al., 2015).The Needs of a Child Aged 5-12 Years Old: Physical Assessment.

Based on Piaget’s theory, this child would be developmentally assessed based on the concrete operational stage which is stage three in the above cognitive development theory. Given that this stage states that the child between 7-11 years old has developed operational thought or logical thinking, the developmental assessment will focus more on asking the child more pointed and specific questions that the mother may not answer with certainty. The strategy to gain cooperation during the assessment would be to ask the child about school, their friends, and what they like. Explanations would be offered through simple but logical explanations since the child already has developed logical thought processes. Potential findings for patient N.M. are expected to be normal, since the visit was a well child appointment.

Conclusion

Children undergo definite and specific developmental milestones that must be appreciated by the nurse to enable them understand the needs and problems of children of different ages. Among the developmental theorists is Jean Piaget who came up with the theory of cognitive development. Using this theory, one can apply its concepts to help in developmentally assessing any child, such as a 7 year-old falling under the school-age bracket of 7-12 year-olds.The Needs of a Child Aged 5-12 Years Old: Physical Assessmen