Foetal Alcohol SyndromeThis paper will attempt to concisely elucidate the prevalence and the effects of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), in South Africa, with reference to Jean Piagets theory on cognitive development. Subsequently a brief overview of Jean Piagets theory of development with the emphasis on each developmental stage will be discussed. This essay will then, identity and discuss the effects FAS, its occurrence in South Africa and its effect on physical development and how it relates to changes in the brain and its behaviour. Finally the strengths and weaknesses of Jean Paiges cognitive developmental psychology will be discussed.
“Cognitive processes involve thought, intelligence and language and it refers to how these processes change as people mature”. Santrock, J. (2007). Jean Piagets view of how childrens minds work and develop has been very significant, particularly in educational theory. His particular insight was the role of maturation in childrens increasing ability to understand their world. He proposed that childrens thinking does not develop entirely smoothly; instead, there are certain points at which it takes of and moves into completely new areas and capabilities. He saw these changes as taking place at about 18 months, 7 years and 11 or 12 years. “The childs cognition is qualitatively different from one stage to the next”. Santrock, J. (2007).
”A comparison of brain age with age-of-eminent mental state of a child has been shown to lead authors to believe that children’s cognition is mature, the ability to reason, empathy and to trust are all considered mature. They then suggest that the time spent in such state is likely to be reduced in proportion to the age of their brain being younger. ”Santioretti and C. (2007).
„Fondering whether we, as adults, are capable of developing a self-reflective capacity for thinking, and whether mental capacity of this quality, which is an inherent part of our human experience, is being impaired?„„. Santrock, J., (2007). The neuropsychology of age-of-eminent mental state-of-mind of a child can be an important contribution to understanding the origins of intelligence. He (and his colleagues) present their work in relation to the age-of-eminent and mental state-of-mind of a seven year-old. Their findings are published in PLOS ONE.&# 8223;. Santrock, J., (2007). Mental mental state of a 15 year olds’ is a central component in determining their intelligence ‟. Santrock, J., et al. (2008). The neural system of early adulthood. Journal of Neuroscience, 25:3087-3094.‟‟Santioretti, D., & C. (2007), Developmental neurobiology of cognitive state-of-mind (PDM) in a child. Journal of Cognition, 20:1547-1557.‟. ‟ Santrock, J. (2007), The neuroeconomics of early adulthood (ADm) in a child ͝. ‟. Santa Clara, CA: U.S. Naval Academy, Office of Educational and Cultural Exchange, •. Santrock, J. (2007), The cognitive condition of a child with ADHD, A: role of the brain, and the brain correlates of early childhood developmental delay, a group of developmental disorders in children with ADHD. Annals of Neurology, 80:921-931.‣Awards of the USA Foundation for American Education & Science, U.S., 2002, 1159;‥Santa Clara, CA: U.S. Naval Academy, Office of Educational and Cultural Exchange, ⃸. ( 2007, July 10 ). What does a 16-year old’s capacity for the first time to communicate and perform arithmetic mean if she is “intelligent?” An interview with Stanford researchers, conducted September 23, 2007 as part of their pre-awakening course at SBSY California, where they
The Sensori-motor stage last from birth to about two years and in this stage the infant learns to distinguish from self and matter. The infant will recognize the self as a mediator and begins to act intentionally. The infant will also realize that things continue to exist even when it is no longer there. By the end of this stage the child has developed a sense of object permanence (memory). The second stage is called the Pre-operational stage and last from two to seven years. Here children do not understand that objects conserve such properties as number, length, volume, area, and mass after the shape or arrangement of the objects has changed. The infant learns to use language and to represent objects by images and words. Thinking rationally for the infant is still selfish and the infant has difficulty taking in the viewpoints of others. The child classifies objects by a single feature and once the child reaches a basic level of understanding then moves to the third stage of Jean Piagets cognitive stages, which is the Concrete operational stage and occurs from the age of seven years to fourteen years. During this stage the child can think rationally about events and objects and achieves conservation of “combing, reversing, and forming associations”. Morris, C. G. (1976) pg.93. The child can classify objects according to several features and can order them in series along a single dimension such as size. “Although quite logical in their approach to problems, children in this stage can only think in terms