Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessments (AEPA) Practice Exam 2025 - Free AEPA Practice Questions and Study Guide

The stages of early representational thought in children aged 18-24 months are characterized by the ability to represent objects and events with symbols. During this developmental phase, children start to use symbols, such as words and images, to stand in for real objects or events. This indicates a significant cognitive shift; children begin to engage in symbolic play, such as pretending a block is a car or using a banana as a phone, demonstrating that they can think about things that are not immediately present.

This ability to use symbols marks a critical progression in their cognitive development, allowing them to communicate, create more complex play scenarios, and understand the world beyond what they can physically manipulate. Understanding representations is foundational for language development and later reasoning skills. The development of this symbolic thinking is also closely tied to language acquisition, as children start to associate words with their meanings, expanding their cognitive and communication skills further.

In this context, the other options do not accurately capture the essence of representational thought in this age group. Understanding the world through actions is more characteristic of earlier developmental stages, belief in objects possessing feelings relates to a different aspect of cognitive and emotional development, and learning concrete logic and reasoning typically occurs at a later developmental stage, beyond 24 months.