Eighteen-month-old Joshua received a train set from his visiting grandmother. Joshua's grandmother set it up and demonstrated ho
w to drive the train on the track while saying "chugga, chugga, choo, choo." Later that day, Joshua picked up a train piece and imitated the "chugga, chugga, choo, choo" sounds. Joshua's behavior places him in the ___________ substage of the sensorimotor stage.
Joshua's behavior places him in the sixth substage of the sensorimotor stage. This is known as Early Representational Though and occurs in children between the ages of 18 to 24 months. During this time, children begin to understand the world through various mental operations (such as talking, singing, imitating specific behaviors, etc.) as opposed to doing everything purely through actions. Which is what Joshua is demonstrating by not only playing with the train but mimicking the sounds that trains make.
