A schema is a thought or pattern of behaviours which allow children to explore and express developing ideas.
I had never heard of a schema until I attended a workshop when I was a child minder which explained about schema.
Looking back my eldest showed signs of being a schema; he like to line up his toy vehicles, sometimes in rows of colours, other times just random queues of traffic. This is known as a positioning or connective schema.
A child who I used to child mind liked to fence everything in, she built fences from Lego or building bricks for the farm animals and plastic figures, this is an enclosing schema.
Another child once alarmed me when he suddenly jumped up when hearing my washing machine go onto the spin cycle, he ran into the utility room. I followed him interested to see what he was doing. He was leaning against the machine with his face looking into the glass dome on the door, after observing him for a while I realised that he liked the vibration the washing machine was making. This same boy also enjoyed spinning himself around until he became so dizzy, he almost fell over, this is an example of a rotating schema.
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Other types of schema that I have seen are enveloping where a child liked to cover and wrap things up in the sheets from the doll’s cot, at the time Christmas was approaching so I thought that she was making gifts for the other children, I now know that she was an enveloping schema.
I would be interested to hear if others have come across a schema.
As always questions, comments and topic suggestions are welcome.
Until next time.
Karen
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I have never heard of this term, how very interesting to read about that, I have heard of babies liking the sound of a washing machines before. Thank you for another brilliant blog .
Thanks Pearl, you are correct, babies sometimes find the sound of white noise a comfort x
I have a little boy that when he first came to the setting loved balls. He liked to watch them bounce, watch them be thrown in the air and roll them. I set up a drain pipe, so he could roll them down that. Now he’s transfixed by putting objects onto the pipe to see if they roll and then takes the objects that roll to roll elsewhere! We have a rotating circle outside, most children spin it and watch it from the front. He will watch it from the side. He turns when he runs to look behind him (as if he’s watching that his shadow is following him). I’m wondering, if these are examples of rotating schema?
I would say that he is definitely showing signs of a rotating schema, thank you for sharing your experience Maris x
Hi there Marie! I’d just like to add, that it’s possible that the boy prefers watching things frome the side/out the corner of his eye due to him seeing better that way. Our boy used to do it a lot when he was younger, would watch tv side on etc. It seems that he could focus better that way. Our son is autistic, but I’ve heard of neurotypical children doing this too (as with lining up, spinning etc.) x
As a computer application developer a schema is something completely different! But, I’ve learned something here – thanks.
#thesatsesh
How do you write it? Child name has been playing with wooden blocks/kitchen toys and lining them up? I have two children doing it with blocks or kitchen toys but I don’t really understand why they do it.
I would mention in your observation of the child that you have seen signs of a schema, then use the observation to plan further activities to encourage the schema ( Ofsted should be impressed with this!) Hopefully this answers your question, Andrea x
mhm is there any pattern in terms of further development or is this just a phase?
It can be both, sometimes just a phase, or a schema can develop into other schemas, either way it should be encouraged as a schema is a child’s natural way of learning about his world
Hi there. I have a son who’s autistic and have read a bit about schemas etc in connection with that. And I’m thinking that your question might stem from hearing about/experiencing that many autistic children do a lot of lining up, spinning, etc? As I understand it, and as Karen writes about in this post, schemas are a normal part of childhood development, and appears in most children to some degree (though you may not think of it unless you’re looking for it). What can signal a difference in development would be if a child is very ‘obsessive’ about their schema(s), for example if they’re continously lining up the same things in the same order and get very upset if you disturb or put things away. Or if they’re constantly spinning for ages, don’t seem to get dizzy and don’t wan’t to stop. This said, my son is clearly autistic but has not had any significant schemas/obsessions going on really. He does like taking things apart (disconnective schema), and he liked spinning a lot when younger. But not to a level that would in itself have signaled developmental differences. x
Thank you for clarifying this point
This is the first time I hear of the word. How interesting! I don’t remember my boys showing any signs of schema when they were little.
#AnythingGoes
I’ve never heard of this before, fascinating, I think all my kids have some of these tendencies some of the time, I wonder how much they need to display for it to be considered a condition? #GlobalBlogging
I wouldn’t refer to a schema as a condition, it is really just a natural way that a child discovers the world, thanks for your question x
How interesting! My LO is an enveloping type, she likes to play ‘tent’ and cover us under a blanket. #TriumphantTales
I’ve never heard of this before, thank your for sharing this and educating us all! I think part of it is down to learning, I know ben was initially fascinated by our washing machine when it goes on its spin cycle due to the vibrations on the floor too!
Thank you for sharing this with us at #TriumphantTales. I hope to see you back next week!
I’ve never heard of this before either. Is it a type of self-serving behavior? A child I knew stroked her skin. Not sure if that was a schema, self-soothing, or something else.
I wouldn’t say that a schema is necessarily a self soothing method, Catherine, but it could be in the situation that you have described, thanks for your comment x
Hello Karen,
My little one definitely loves lining things up and building forts and structures. We always thought that he just likes putting things in order (like me). Thank you for introducing this term schema! I will definitely read more about this.
Best,
Sigrid
I’m familiar with the development concept but not the term schema – very interesting! #keepingitreal
I’ve not heard of this term before. Please can you remember to comment on the host’s posts as well as the one before and after yours for #thesatsesh linky. Thanks
I’m pretty sure that I have been commenting on both of the hosts posts, apologies if I have missed one
very interesting. I’m continually fascinated by the different things that I observe as my daughter grows. Shes like a little science experiment #dreamteam
I have not heard of this term and being a mum of a child with asd i am suprided. really intersting read #Blogstravaganza
Thanks, I don’t think that parents would necessarily be familiar with the term schema, I only know of it through my training as an early years practitioner x
I’ve come across the term in psychology in respect of something which we use as a means of organising information based on what we know (or think we know). We build assumptions based on our schemas and use the schemas towards creating short cuts when trying to understand new information. It can be hard to break down our schemas as we’re surrounded by so much information that we come to rely on prior knowledge rather than develop new and adapt existing schemas. It’s a fascinating concept and I enjoyed reading your post x #Blogstravaganza
I don’t think I’ve heard of this before. Do different types of schema relate to different personalities? Thanks for joining us for the #dreamteam linky.
I think that could be the case Annette, but not necessarily only showing in children with certain personalities, thanks for a good question x
Hi Karen, I had never heard of schemas before, but having a son with autism I did find it interesting. You don’t mention autism in your post, but one of the behaviours he had from being a young child was an obsession in lining things up. Whether it were Pokemon cards, shoes and even different coloured lines on a piece of paper.
Thank you for linking up with #keepingitreal.
xx
I find schemas fascinating. I love how you can watch them develop and see a child’s particular interest in a way of playing often before their speech catches up and they can talk through what they’re doing too. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience with #Blogstravaganza .
I had heard of schemas before when I did a child development course but had forgotten all about it and never considered it in relation to my own children! I will be watching them differently this week… Thanks for linking up with globalblogging
I hadn’t heard of them before until I had a meeting at the nursery talking about Reuben’s development they mentioned it there and so I had done some reading up on it. It’s quite fascinating – Reuben was always connective, Jessica is definitely enveloping. #TriumphantTales
I haven’t heard of this before, but my son loves to line up his plastic animals in line and size order. He is 5 now but has done it since he was 3. Thanks again for linking up to #KidsandKreativity x
Interesting post, thank you Karen! I’ve heard of schemas before, though not learnt about them in great detail. In our son I can see a disconnective schema, meaning he likes to take things apart. My husband likes to build things (using lego or other buildning blocks, or sand castles etc.) so that has always been a way for them to play/interact; Hubby builds something, then Penguin takes it apart 🙂 x #KidsandKreativity
My step son sounds like penguin, although he was always taking things apart which were needed, like the hinges on the living room door, thanks for your feedback x
Oh dear, that sounds like it could be a bit risky! X
It sounds worse than it was, he liked to use his dad’s screwdriver, which dad thought was a good way of learning, but after the hinge issue we took the screwdriver away x
Both my boys tend to line things up, for example ‘parking’ cars in a carpark. I’ve never heard of schemas before, is it just a learning style? Do they tend to grow out of it or will they take it through to adulthood in a lesser form? #KidsandKreativity
Usually children grow out of a schema, but sometimes they go on to develop more different schemas, either way is a positive to learning about their world, hope this answers your question, Emma x
I haven’s heard of this term, but think that it is closely related to sensory input. Some of the behaviors described seem to fit in with the need for sensory stimulation or the lack of it.
Thank you so much for sharing this, it’s not a term I’d come across previously, but it’s really interesting.
#AnythingGoes