Jean Piaget

As a teacher it is important to know how children think, and in turn do the things that they do. After reading and interpreting Jean Piaget's cognitive stages I think it will be easier for me as a young teacher to understand how they process information, also known as cognitive processes. My sister had a baby about 1 year ago. According to Jean Piaget my niece should be in the sensorimotor stage. In this stage Piaget states that infants don't think instead they feel and move and in turn use their senses and ability to move to get what they want. After spending a lot of time around my niece I would say that this is not completely true. When she was 8 months old she learned to nod her head no and yes depending on if she would like to do the action asked of her or not. This was not determined by here senses or by her ability to move. After realizing this I understand that Piaget's stages are not specifically from the age 0-2 and of course can be altered depending on each child. To me it could be assumed that when my niece was 2-3 months she did not think and her needs were met by her senses as well as her ability to move. After thinking about this as an example my initial reaction was that Jean Piaget's stages were completely off base. But after some more thinking it can be determined that because each child develops at a different rate these are simply generalized stages rather than when a child reaches 2 years old they are in the preoperational stage.