Wallon and Piaget

In this short introduction to the life and work of Henri Wallon, we have compared the ideas of Wallon and Piaget. We have discussed their ideas concerning the concept of the child, stages of development, language and education. We can thank Piaget for drawing our attention to the stages and mechanisms of cognitive growth in the child. By studying this one aspect of development, he traced the childs ability to interact with her environment in increasingly complex ways. However, it was Wallon who insisted that cognition should not be studied in isolation. He insisted that the child's development must be viewed in terms of the interaction of emotional as well as cognitive factors. He also insisted that the child is basically a social organism, and that her interaction with the environment affects all aspects of development, at all times. We noted that Piaget and Wallon considered, criticized and respected each others work. Piaget' s work has become very popular throughout the world. We would like to think that Wallon' s work with its emphasis on the child and its relation to the society in which it grows will become as widely considered in the English speaking, as well as other areas of the world. Wallon, a man before his time, wrote about issues which are today of great importance to all of us, who are concerned with the health and mental growth of all children.