Commission for Case Manager Certification (CCMC) Practice Exam

The correct choice is the Sensorimotor stage. This stage is the first of Piaget's developmental stages, occurring roughly from birth to about 2 years of age. During this period, infants learn about the world primarily through their senses and motor activities.

Separation anxiety typically emerges around 6 to 12 months of age, as infants begin to recognize and form attachments to their caregivers. They start to understand that when a caregiver leaves, they are temporarily away rather than permanently gone. This understanding reflects the infant's growing cognitive ability to differentiate between themselves and their caregiver, as well as the recognition of object permanence—the concept that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen.

The other stages do not specifically correlate with the development of separation anxiety. In the Preoperational stage, which follows the Sensorimotor stage, children develop more complex language and imaginative play but do not experience separation anxiety in the context of immediate attachment. The Concrete Operational stage involves logical thinking about concrete events, while the Formal Operational stage, which begins around adolescence, is marked by abstract thinking and problem-solving. These later stages focus on different cognitive skills and emotional developments, making them less relevant to the emergence of separation anxiety, which occurs in the earlier Sensorimotor