Piaget was probably the greatest child researcher of the 20th century. His theories have revolutionized the way in which we look at how children learn. Before Piaget, people believed that children though much like adults, except they possessed less experience and knowledge about the world.Piaget changed all this by showing how children progress through a series of stages in the way that they think about the world, very gradually approaching adult forms of thought. Infants think with their bodies. Toddlers and young children begin to think in their minds, but in a way that mixes fact and fantasy. Around the age of five or six, children begin to think in logical, yet concrete ways. Finally, at eleven or twelve, kids really begin to think like adults.Piaget said that children advanced through the different stages in a natural way that shouldn't be pushed. However, he did say that multi-sensory exploration of the world helps kids proceed to higher levels of thinking. You can help your child's mental growth by making sure that she has many concrete, age-appropriate learning materials to interact with during her growing years.

Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. is an award-winning author and speaker with twenty-eight years of teaching experience from the primary through the doctoral level, and over one million copies of his books in print on issues related to learning and human development. He is the author of nine books including Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, In Their Own Way, Awakening Your Child’s Natural Genius, 7 Kinds of Smart, The Myth of the A.D.D. Child, ADD/ADHD Alternatives in the Classroom, and Awakening Genius in the Classroom. His books have been translated into sixteen languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Hebrew, Danish, and Russian.