Erik Gaul EDHD320 Section 1501 Final Exam Paper Introduction Room A Novel During the preschool period there is a substantial amount of development occurring Children in this age span are developing many traits such as their memory gender roles perception intelligence and many other things In our reading Jack the five year old boy who was poor and living in a single room with his mother managed to develop at the same rate as any other typical preschool period child This showed in the way he spoke thought and acted His mother helped him by interacting with him and providing for him the best she could As I will explain Jack s signs of development matched up very well with what is to be expected for a child his age Perception Attention There is a very strong correlation between perceptual development and the development of attention As infants and children develop their attention their perception also increases One s attention is their focusing of perception and cognition on something in particular 172 Sigelman Rider 2009 As children age their ability to use their senses in a controlled and strategic manner increases Around age five there are three specific changes in perceptual attention development Children s attention spans become longer they become more selective in what they attend to and they are 1 better able to plan and carry out systematic strategies for using their senses to achieve goals 173 Sigelman Rider 2009 There is a significant increase in focused attention at this age which is apparent with Jack Being that Jack s behavior is typical of other s his age he too is capable of selecting something and committing his attention to it A game that he plays with his mother during the reading involves one of them humming a song while the other attempts to figure out the name of that song 6 Donoghue 2010 This shows that Jack is capable of deciding what he wishes to focus his attention on and can stay focused until the problem task is solved Another example showing that Jack is at the level typical of those his age pertaining to perceptual attention development is when he solves the problem of where to hang the surprise drawing His mother does not want Old Nick to see the drawing and so Jack uses a form of systematic attention to look around and suggest an alternate location for the surprise drawing This type of problem solving is a sign that Jack is developing at an effective rate Creativity Creativity is a trait which can be very strong in some individuals and seemingly non existent in others It is defined as the ability to produce novel responses or works G 4 Sigelman Rider 2009 Creative people typically initiate ideas rather than imitate the ideas or actions of others Preschool aged children are at the peak of their creativity generating many original ideas However as children enter kindergarten and first grade there begins to be a decline in creativity which only continues as they enter into fourth grade 254 Sigelman Rider 2009 Jack is experiencing the peak of his creative mind during the reading He is five years old and acts the typical way others in the preschool aged period act This creative mind is shown many times throughout the 2 reading especially when Jack speaks of the items in their home as having a gender When speaking about their kitchen table Jack exclaims I stroke Table s scratches to make them better she s a circle all white except gray in the scratches from chopping foods 6 Donoghue 2010 This type of creativity shows that Jack has an active imagination and as is typical for others his age his mother is very tolerant of his sometimes unconventional ideas 254 Sigelman Rider 2009 This type of support from his mother has allowed Jack s creativity and imagination to blossom over the past few years Self and Personality Self Concept Individual s self concept relates to their perceptions of their unique attributes or traits G 14 Sigelman Rider 2009 This essentially is how we as individuals view ourselves For the typical child in his or her preschool years their self concept is primarily physical and concrete 317 Sigelman Rider 2009 These children will view themselves based on things such as their eye color height weight and hair color among other things Jack s self concept is very typical for his age While speaking with his mother as they look into the mirror together Jack begins to compare how the two are alike and different He makes statements such as not same nose when comparing their facial features and when his mother states that they have the same brown hair Jack replies that his goes all the way down to my middle and yours just goes on your shoulders 7 Donoghue 2010 Jack is characterizing himself by describing his physical characteristics rather than his social identity or personality traits In a few years he will begin to be able to learn more about his true identity and be able to explain it to others Attachment Parent Child Attachments 3 There is a very strong bond between children and their parents especially their mothers This bond according to John Bowlby is a goal corrected partnership in which parent and child accommodate to each other s needs 421 Sigelman Rider 2009 The child is dependent on his or her parents to nurture them as they grow and develop and the parent achieves love happiness and many other things from the child During the preschool period children want any separations from their parents to be controlled and planned while maintaining certain rituals such as being tucked in at night or having a story read to them 421 Sigelman Rider 2009 Jack appears to be very close with his mother in the reading as the two seem to sleep in the same bed in their tiny room In addition it appears that Jack and his mother have a ritual of breast feeding Even though he is five years old Jack continues to breast feed and is determined to have it every day When he realized he had not had it that morning he immediately insisted to his mother that he needed some 6 Donoghue 2010 These types of rituals are very common for children in the preschool period but tend to deteriorate as the children get older Piaget s Cognitive Theory Jean Piaget was a Swiss scholar who studied children s intellectual development during the mid 1990 s 45 Sigelman Rider 2009 He believed that development occurs in a set of four universal stages with a continual increase in an individual s ability to think in concrete and abstract ways as they grow older Simply put Piaget believed that as