Primary Special Education

Adaptive Development

This domain focuses on self-care skills (eating, dressing, toileting) and awareness of surroundings and ability to keep oneself safe. Skills that enable individuals to function independently in their daily lives and adapt to various social and environmental demands. 

Cognitive Development

Refers to the growth of a child’s ability to think, reason, and understand their world. Development of knowledge, skills, problem-solving abilities.

Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years)

Infants learn through their senses and actions, developing object permanence (understanding that objects exist even when they are not visible).

Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years):

Children develop symbolic thinking, language skills, and begin to engage in pretend play. However, they are still egocentric and have difficulty with logical reasoning. 

Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years)

Children develop logical thinking abilities related to concrete objects and events. They can understand concepts like conservation (that the quantity of something remains the same despite changes in appearance). 

Formal Operational Stage (12 years and up)

Adolescents develop the ability to think abstractly, hypothetically, and engage in more complex problem-solving and reasoning. 

Social-emotional development

The process through which children learn to understand and manage their emotions, build relationships, and navigate social situations.

Sensorimotor development

refers to the initial stage of cognitive development, from birth to approximately age two, where infants learn about the world primarily through their senses and motor actions. During this period, babies use their senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch) and motor skills (grasping, sucking, looking, listening) to explore and understand their environment

is the ability to mentally visualize and manipulate objects in three dimensions. It involves understanding spatial relationships, visualizing how objects change shape or position, and solving problems using spatial information. This skill is crucial for various tasks, from everyday activities to STEM fields.