Jeffrey Erikson's Fifth Stage Of Cognitive Development

Jeffrey is in a fourth-grade math group in third grade and learns the math concepts fairly quickly. His favorite subject, however, is science. He soaks this information up like a sponge. We have put him in an after-school science camp instead of daycare and watch interesting television and movies together and read books together. Jeffrey enjoys reading books and loves reading stories with me. I make sure Jeffrey always has a book wherever he goes just in case. He does okay in language arts but doesn’t do any writing outside of school. I try to increase his spontaneous writing by helping him go over his writings for school, praising it and offering suggests for improvements. He loves working with his hands whether it drawing or designing things
He is quiet and a model classroom citizen and is well-liked by the other children. He influences others and has some pretty close friends. I still encourage him to participate in sports or clubs to help increase his social skills. He is also entering Piaget’s third stage of Cognitive development: The Concrete Operational Stage. This is evident by Jeffrey beginning his moral development and has begun cheating less often at games, however he has been lying about some things as he has yet learned to think about things in an abstract way. I tell him stories or fables lie “the boy who cried wolf” and tell him how it makes people feel when they are lied to. When Jeffrey does confess and I praise him for telling the
It’s mostly about clothes, chores, and bedtimes. Since we get along pretty well otherwise we renegotiate the household rule make reasonable concessions. He has noticed girls more but hasn’t said anything. His oral reading, decoding, reading comprehension, spelling, and writing skills are above average, He has begun writing stories and experiences down in a journal and I continue to encourage his interests and praise his efforts. He is in the gifted and talented program at his school and seems to be engaged and challenged. I notice he has a slight decrease in his level of confidence in math and language arts. I believe the problem is due to Jeffrey comparing himself to other student and not factoring that they are all above average. I find ways to praise the genuine quality of Jeffrey’s school work to raise his spirts. He has begun to talk about what is “fair” and what it “unfair” and is developing his moral principles. His concerns are more about what people he knows say or do instead of incidents in the news or aspects of society. To help him develop his moral principles I talk with him about specific events in life, asking questions about his point of view. I also try to help him see the consequences of various courses of action. This is evidence that he has moved into Piaget’s final stage of Cognitive development: The Formal Operational