Pre- Adolescence Stage/ Period

(11-14 years old)

Early Adolescence
Early adolescence is a distinct period of human growth and development situated between
childhood and adolescence. During this remarkable stage of the life cycle, young adolescents, 10- to 15-
year-olds, experience rapid and significant developmental change. Understanding and responding to the
unique developmental characteristics of young adolescents is central among the tenets of middle level
education.
Early Adolescence (Ages 10 to 13)
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/teen/Pages/Stages-of-Adolescence.aspx
During this stage, children often start to grow more quickly. They also begin notice other body
changes, including hair growth under the arms and near the genitals, breast development in females
and enlargement of the testicles in males. They usually start a year or two earlier in girls than boys, and
it can be normal for some changes to start as early as age 8 for females and age 9 for males. Many girls
may start their period at around age 12, on average 2-3 years after the onset of breast development.

These body changes can inspire curiosity and anxiety in some―especially if they do not know
what to expect or what is normal. Some children may also question their gender identity at this time,
and the onset of puberty can be a difficult time for transgender children.

Early adolescents have concrete, black-and-white thinking. Things are either right or wrong,
great or terrible, without much room in between. It is normal at this stage for young people to center
their thinking on themselves (called "egocentrism"). As part of this, preteens and early teens are often
self-conscious about their appearance and feel as though they are always being judged by their peers.

Pre-teens feel an increased need for privacy. They may start to explore ways of being
independent from their family. In this process, they may push boundaries and may react strongly if
parents or guardians reinforce limits.

How do children grow and develop between ages 11 and 14?

The ages 11 through 14 years are often referred to as early adolescence. These years are an
exciting time of many varied and rapid changes. Your child grows taller and stronger and also starts to
feel and think in more mature ways. You may feel amazed as you watch your child begin to turn into an
adult. But this can be a confusing time for both kids and parents. Both must get used to the new person
the child is becoming.

From ages 11 through 14, a child develops in four main areas:

Physical development
Physical development refers to bodily changes including growth, improved gross and fine motor
skills, and biological maturity. In early adolescence, the young adolescent body undergoes more
developmental change than at any other time except from birth to two years old. Young adolescents'
growth is accelerated and uneven. Developmental growth includes significant increases in height,
weight, and internal organ size as well as changes in skeletal and muscular systems (Kellough &
Kellough, 2008) with growth spurts occurring about two years earlier in girls than boys (Brighton, 2007;
Tanner, 1973). Because bones are growing faster than muscles, young adolescents often experience
coordination issues. Actual growing pains result when muscles and tendons do not adequately protect
bones. Fluctuations in basal metabolism cause these youth to experience periods of restlessness and
lassitude. Often physically vulnerable due to improper nutrition, poor physical fitness, and health habits
(Scales, 2010) as well as high-risk behaviors such as alcohol or drug use (Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, &
Schulenberg, 2011) and sexual activity.
Adolescence is a time of change throughout the body. A growth spurt usually occurs near the
time of puberty. Girls begin to develop breasts and start their periods. Boys grow facial hair. Both boys
and girls grow pubic hair. Boys may lag behind girls in height during these years, but they usually end up
taller.
Puberty, a phase of physiological change triggered by the release of hormones, begins in early
adolescence (Manning & Bucher, 2012). The onset of puberty is an intense developmental period with
hormones signaling the development of primary sex characteristics (genitalia) and secondary sex
characteristics (e.g., breast development in girls; facial hair in boys). Girls tend to mature one to two
years earlier than boys (Caissy, 2002). The increased adrenal hormone production affects skeletal
growth, hair production, and skin changes (Dahl, 2004). These highly visible changes and disparate rates
of maturity cause many young adolescents to feel uncomfortable about differences in their physical
development (Simmons & Blyth, 2008).

Cognitive development
This is how the brain develops the abilities to think, learn, reason, and remember. Kids this age
typically focus on the present, but they are starting to understand that what they do now can have long-
term effects. They are also beginning to see that issues are not just clear-cut and that information can
be interpreted in different ways.
Around the age of 11 or 12, children learn to think about abstract concepts. They complete what
Piaget termed the concrete operational period and enter the formal operation period. The hallmark
achievements of concrete operations is that children display logical thinking, can seriate (arrange in a
series) without trial and error, are able to conserve number, mass, and volume, and demonstrate a
more strategic and methodical approach to problems. During the formal operations period, which
continues into adulthood, children develop logical thought, deductive reasoning abilities, and improved
memory and executive function skills. Suggest some tough deductive problems. While not all people,
and not all cultures, achieve formal operations, children become increasingly competent at adult-style
thinking as they advance. During the course of formal operations, children learn to use deductive logic,
meaning they can be given a general principle which they can apply to a specific situation. For example,
if told that objects drop to the ground at the same rate, they will be able to predict the outcome of a
marble and tennis ball being dropped. See if your child can use the principals of tic, tac, toe with a 3-D
board. Hypothetical reasoning like this allows children to move beyond concrete experiences and begin
to think abstractly, reason logically, and draw conclusions. Children in formal operations are able to
think like a scientist, devise plans and systematically test solutions.

Children this age are able to demonstrate abstract thinking. For example, they can understand
shades of gray, wrestle with abstract concepts like love or justice, and formulate values based on
thinking and analyzing as opposed to only by feeling or experiencing. They are able to classify items by
many different features, such as organizing books by height while also grouping them by topic. To foster
your child’s logical thinking and categorization abilities, ask her to try this online game.

During the early teen years, adolescent egocentrism emerges. Adolescent egocentrism is the
belief that others are highly invested in and attentive to their appearance and actions (imaginary
audience) and that their experiences and emotions are unique and known only to and by them (personal
fable). Egocentrism at this age is the root of self-consciousness, and it also fuels the teen’s sense of
themselves as uniquely powerful and invincible. While a tween or teen realizes other people have
different points of view (in contrast to the preschooler who displays egocentrism), he uses that
knowledge to become preoccupied with other people’s perceptions of him.
The reasons cited for these changes are many-fold, but recent research from studies at the
National Institute of Mental Health (NIH) points to the surge of production of gray matter in the brain
before puberty. The majority of the changes take place in the frontal lobe, which is “control center” for
executive functions, including the ability to think, plan, maintain short-term memory, organize thoughts,
control impulses, problem solve, and execute tasks (try this for more on the role of executive function
skills on impulse control). Along with these changes, are changes in the way the brain processes rewards
and pleasure, intensifying the feeling associated with each. An unfortunate by-product to this shift is an
increase in risky, sensation seeking behaviors over the teen years.

Mental development seems to drop off during the teen years, suggesting that less new skill are
learned as children integrate what has already been learned. For example, further development of
executive function skills mitigates risk-taking behaviors in teens, but such developments occur gradually
and are not complete until children are in their mid-20’s. During this time, the pleasure seeking system
and the impulse regulation system learn to work together to better coordinate feeling with thinking,
allowing better long-term impulse control.

Memory abilities increase with the onset of formal operations, which is believed to be a result of
unproved executive functions and increased experience with particular strategies. For example, if a child
successfully uses mental imagery (e.g., visually recalling a book they need to bring to school), the
strategy and the experience are linked in long-term memory to be utilized in various situations across
time. Similarly, children will use their developing selective attention skills to perform better in important
environments, such as school. Being able to focus attention allows children to ignore unimportant
information. For example, discarding misleading information in a math problem, or ignoring other
conversations while chatting in the cafeteria. Children this age learn to multitask (e.g., talking to
someone while playing a video game, kicking a ball while running), a skill that stems from the
automaticity of certain skills freeing up the mind to process other information. To practice selective
attention abilities, have your child try these online experiments: the Interactive Stroop Effect
Experiment, the Interactive "Directional Stroop" Effect Experiment, or the Switchball game. What allows
this selective attention to develop? In specific, myelination of the neurons of the brain allows them to
fire more quickly, allowing children to more rapidly take in and process information. However, this
process, like all others, is a slow one and children may show inconsistent skill over the time it takes to
develop.
Tweens and teens also display strong metacognition skills. Metacognition is the ability to think
about thinking. Children display this ability through an awareness of knowledge (children understand
what they know and what they still need to learn), an awareness of thinking (they understand the task
being tried and are able to select strategies to succeed), and an awareness of thinking strategies (they
are able to self-assess, ask themselves questions, revise their thinking, and direct their own learning).
Support this development by modeling your own thinking and problem solving aloud! Scaffold their
thinking by helping them to notice their own strategies and discovering together if they used words or
did not, if they are worth retaining or if new strategies are necessary. Facilitate your child’s
metacognitive skills by providing her low risk situations for her to notice her own thinking. Ask your child
what strategy she uses to accomplish simple tasks, and then harder tasks. The goal is that she sees
similar strategies with more complex tasks.
Emotional and social development
Social-emotional development concerns a person's capacity for mature interactions with
individuals and groups. In early adolescence, social-emotional maturity often lags behind physical and
intellectual development. Young adolescents have a strong need to belong to a group—with peer
approval becoming more important and adult approval decreasing in importance.
As they start to move from childhood into adulthood, adolescents feel the urge to be more
independent from their families. Often, friends replace parents as a source of advice. When at home,
adolescents may prefer spending time alone to being part of the family. Still, family support is important
to help them build a strong sense of self.

Sensory and motor development

Kids this age may be a little awkward or clumsy. Their brains need time to adjust to longer limbs
and bigger bodies. Getting regular moderate exercise can improve coordination and help your child
build healthy habits.

When are routine medical visits needed?

Yearly doctor visits are important to detect problems and to make sure your adolescent is growing and
developing as expected. During these visits, the doctor will do a physical examination and give your child
any needed shots. The doctor will also ask questions about your child's friends, school, and activities to
see how he or she is doing.

It is a good idea to give an adolescent some time alone with the doctor. This gives your child a chance to
ask questions that he or she may not feel comfortable asking you.

Adolescents should also have yearly dental checkups to make sure their teeth are strong and healthy.

Adolescents need an eye examination every 1 to 2 years.

When should you call your doctor?

Call your doctor anytime you have a concern about your child's physical or emotional health, such as:

A delay in growth or sexual development—for example, if puberty has not begun by age 14.
A big change in appetite or weight.
Body image problems, such as a girl believing she is overweight when she is actually very thin. This can
be a sign of an eating disorder.
Signs of mental health issues, including depression, mood swings, fighting, missing school, or failing
classes.
Drug, alcohol, or tobacco use.
A call or visit to your child's doctor can help you keep a healthy outlook and know how to recognize a
true problem. This may help relieve tension between you and your child.

How can you help your child during these years?

Being the parent of an adolescent can be challenging. Even if your child pushes you away at times, you
still play a very big role in your child's life. Try to stay positive and keep the lines of communication
open. While it is good to let your child make decisions, realize that adolescents need and want limits
that are fair and firm.

To promote healthy development:

Help your child build healthy eating habits and a healthy body image. Serve balanced meals, and keep
lots of fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods in the house. Be a model of good eating and exercise
habits for your child.
Urge your child to get some exercise every day.
Help your adolescent get enough rest. Set limits on phone, computer, and TV use after a set evening
hour.
Encourage mature thinking. Involve your child in setting house rules. Talk about current issues together.
Brainstorm different ways to solve problems, and discuss their possible outcomes.
Talk about sex and other adult issues in an open and natural way. Make this an ongoing conversation. It
is best to begin this discussion before puberty so the child knows what to expect. If you don't feel able
to do this, ask for help from your doctor, a trusted friend or family member, or a counsellor. Don't let
your child rely on information from TV or other kids.
Throughout these years, it is important to let adolescents know they are loved and accepted, no matter
what happens, even if at times you don't agree with what they do or how they act.

STAGE THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT (PIAGET)

Piaget’s Stage Theory of Cognitive Development is a description of cognitive development as four
distinct stages in children: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete, and formal.
SENSORIMOTOR STAGE (BIRTH TO 2 YEARS OLD)
The infant builds an understanding of himself or herself and reality (and how things work) through
interactions with the environment. It is able to differentiate between itself and other objects. Learning
takes place via assimilation (the organization of information and absorbing it into existing schema) and
accommodation (when an object cannot be assimilated and the schemata have to be modified to
include the object).
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE (AGES 2 TO 4)
The child is not yet able to conceptualize abstractly and needs concrete physical situations. Objects are
classified in simple ways, especially by important features.
CONCRETE OPERATIONS (AGES 7 TO 11)
As physical experience accumulates, accomodation is increased. The child begins to think abstractly and
conceptualize, creating logical structures that explain his or her physical experiences.
FORMAL OPERATIONS (BEGINNING AT AGES 11 TO 15)
Cognition reaches its final form. By this stage, the person no longer requires concrete objects to make
rational judgements. He or she is capable of deductive and hypothetical reasoning. His or her ability for
abstract thinking is very similar to an adult.