Characteristics of Thinking

Egocentrism-

• They tend to believe they are the center of the universe. 
• Everything revolves around them
• "Mom and dad are fighting so I must have done something wrong."

Centration-

• They focus on only one aspect of a problem, the most obvious or the one with the most attention.
• When the action slows, so does their attention
• "Action heroes on TV fighting attract a child because the child likes fast movement"

Inability to Conserve-

• They don't understand that an amount stays the same unless you add or take away something from it.
• The child's thinking is limited by their perceptions
• "If we roll a ball of play dough into a snake shape the child will think that amount of play dough had changed"

Animistic Thinking-

• Attributing will and desire to non-living objects.
• "Keisha may believe that her teddy bear loves her and wants to be covered before he can go to sleep."

Supernatural Fears-

• They experince confusion distinguishing reality and fantasy, so fear usually comes into play.
• Will experince fears related to the dark.
• "Theres a monster under my bed"

Classification-

• May have some difficulty classifying objects by a shared attribute such as similar color, shape, size, or function.
• "the child may be asked to put together the things that belong together and actually determine a classification system. "

Difficulty Identifying Transitions-

• attend to the first and last items in events
• "Think of walking on a beach and making tracks in the sand where we stepped; the tracks make it easier for us to follow the path we took. "