And, disequilibrium is at times a part of that process. Assimilation - using existing patterns in new situations. Accommodation - Occurs when existing ideas are modified to fit new requirements. In the first two years of life, a child's intellectual development is largely nonverbal. The child is mainly concerned with learning to coordinate purposeful movements with information from the senses.
Kids learn about their environment by touching, tasting, smelling.
Also important at this time is gradual emergence of the concept of object permanence. This and representation or mental pictures do not really occur until about 18 mos. By age 2, the child can anticipate the movement of an object behind a screen. For example, when watching an electric train, the child looks ahead to the end of a tunnel, rather than staring at the spot where the train disappeared. In general, developments in this stage indicate that the child's conceptions are becoming more stable.