Monthly Archives: October 2022

11 Ways to Improve Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

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How much of your child’s intelligence is set in stone and how much of it can you influence?

Although genetics plays a definite role, children are hugely impacted by their environment and the stimulation they receive from their parents. Cognitive development in early childhood is certainly not set in stone!

It’s important for you to understand how your children learn, what stage of development they are in, and how you can best support them on their journey.

Here’s a brief overview of:

• What cognitive development is
• Examples of cognitive skills
• The four stages of cognitive development
• How children think
• 11 ways to improve cognitive skills

What is Cognitive Development in Early Childhood?

Cognitive refers to a child’s intellectual skills. It includes how a child processes information, his understanding of concepts, his ability to learn expressive and receptive language and his perceptual skills.

Cognitive development is one of the four major areas of a child’s holistic development, along with:

• Physical development
• Social development
• Emotional development

What Age Does Cognitive Development Begin?

Babies start to develop their cognitive skills from birth. In the past, this wasn’t always known. It was presumed that babies were not yet able to process on a cognitive level until they were able to use language.

Now we know that you can improve and stimulate your baby’s intellectual skills right from birth.

Examples of Cognitive Skills

There are many types of cognitive skills and complex thinking processes that children reach at different ages. Here are some examples of cognitive development in early childhood:

• Responding to their name
• Recognizing and naming objects in a book
• Verbalizing needs
• Following instructions
• Counting to 10
• Knowing their gender
• Understanding the difference between the present and the past
• Engaging in symbolic play
• Listening to stories
• Telling stories
• Asking questions
• Reading

This is not a full list of cognitive skills – just a few examples. There are many, many milestones to be reached during the first few years.

What are the 4 Stages of Cognitive Development?

Before you can help stimulate cognitive development in preschoolers, it is useful to know what stage of thinking they are in and how their thinking should evolve and advance with time.

Jean Piaget was a French psychologist who created a theory of cognitive development. He divided children’s cognitive development into 4 stages, showing how they progressed to more advanced thought patterns as they got older.

The four stages are the sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational periods.

If your child is a toddler or preschooler she is in the pre-operational period.

Here is a quick video if you’d prefer to watch a summary of the stages, or read on for a brief explanation below.

The Sensorimotor Period (Infancy)

• This stage lasts from birth until around the age of 2.
• Babies interact with their environment mainly through their senses and through movement.
• A baby hasn’t yet developed expressive and receptive language so he doesn’t think of words as being linked to images or things.
• He doesn’t yet have a concept of time so he can only focus on the present moment, with no understanding of the past or future.
• He is not yet able to plan.
• With time he learns that objects are permanent, so he realizes that something may still be there even if it is not visible. He learns this through games such as peek-a-boo.
• He learns to start imitating and engaging in dramatic or symbolic play.
• There are actually 6 sub-phases in the sensorimotor period.

The Pre-Operational Period (Toddlerhood and Preschool Age)

• This stage occurs between the ages of 2 to 7.
• It is named pre-operational because it is the stage before children begin to use operational thinking.
• It is divided into two main phases – pre-conceptual thought and intuitive thought.

Pre-Conceptual Thought (2-4 years)

• Children understand the world as they see it – from their own frame of reference.
• They come to conclusions that may not be logical, such as believing the sun is alive because they are alive.
• They use language from their own frame of reference.
• They know the world as they see and experience it.
• They view events as happening independently as they can’t really see a relationship between cause and effect.
• Children identify with their models. They imitate them and feel a sense of awe towards them.

Intuitive Thought (4-7 years)

• Preschoolers and kindergarteners mainly fall into this category.
• Compared to the previous phase where children were very egocentric, they are now less egocentric. They no longer believe the world completely revolves around them.
• Children become more social.
• Words become part of their thinking process.
• They begin to coordinate their egocentric views with actual reality.
• They can only perceive one idea at a time but are not yet able to see the full picture i. e. they can conceptualize the separate parts but not the relationship between things and the bigger picture.
• They may be able to count, but don’t yet have a concept of numbers or what they mean.
• They use language in the correct way but still attach their own meaning to it.

The Concrete Operational Period (School Age)

• From the age of 7 to 11, children fall into the concrete operational period, which means they have a coherent cognitive system.
• Children are capable of thought processes that are reversible, but they are still limited to real (concrete) things.
• They can categorize, classify and place items into hierarchies.

The Formal Operational Period (School Age)

• This period starts at around 11 years of age. Children are now able to think in an abstract and logical way and no longer rely on concrete thinking.
• They are able to make deductions and think about possibilities and hypotheses.

How Young Children Think

These are examples of how young children typically think. As they move through the cognitive stages their thinking matures from the descriptions below to more advanced thinking patterns.

1. Language is the most important of the semiotic functions because it is used to represent objects or express actions and thoughts.
2. Children begin to use two kinds of mental representations – symbols and signs (e.g. when they draw or engage in symbolic play).
3. Children imitate a caregiver even if they are not in their presence. Another version of this is verbal recall (e.g. when they “miaow” even though they can no longer see the cat.)
4. They are egocentric, which means they are not fully able to see things from someone else’s perspective or put themselves “in their shoes.”
5. Children are focused on and only really concerned with their immediate surroundings. They don’t really think about objectives or situations that are remote in time and space.
6. They struggle to make comparisons between things (e.g. bigger, smaller). They see each thing separately.
7. They are unable to distinguish between psychological and physical occurrences. They don’t know the difference between what is internal and what is external. (e.g. seeing thinking as part of speaking).
8. Children personify objects. They believe objects can feel or act like human beings (e.g. believing the doll is upset).
9. Children’s reasoning is not sound. They may not see the relationship between two things or group unrelated things together (e.g. “The girl doesn’t have a name because she can’t talk”). They may not see the relationship between cause and effect (e.g “He’s sick because he didn’t go to school“).
10. They can group and classify according to one criterion, such as shapes, but not more than one at the same time (such as shape and colour). This also relates to seriation (arranging different objects according to size). They can categorize the objects into big and small but not order them perfectly in a series of biggest to smallest.
11. Children don’t necessarily have a number concept, even if they can count to 10. In order to have a concept of number, they must understand the ordinal properties of numbers, the cardinal properties and the conservation of numbers. They must also know numbers can be grouped into different wholes by addition and multiplication and can be broken up by subtraction and division.

How to Improve Cognitive Skills In a Child

During the preschool years, parents can help build their children‘s cognitive development through play and simple activities.

Here are 11 easy cognitive development activities for preschoolers:

1.

Reading

There are few activities that will build cognitive skills in preschoolers at the rate that reading to them will.

Reading to your children daily is crucial and will be the difference between a child with a highly developed vocabulary or a child with a basic vocabulary.

While reading to your children, you will be developing:

• Vocabulary
• Language patterns
• Thinking skills
• Writing skills
• Problem-solving abilities
• Attention span
• Memory
• Listening skills

…and much more. 

2.

Talking

Language is one of the most important aspects of early childhood cognitive development. The best way to build it is to expose your child not only to hearing language but also to using it.

You are the primary source of your child’s language in the early years and so it is important that you use it in a grammatically correct and stimulating way. Your child will learn to speak by imitating you.

Talk to your child all the time, at every opportunity you get. Talk to him in the car, in the bath, while preparing supper and while playing.

The less time children lose watching TV and other screens, the more they will engage in conversation with you and others around them.

Talking is crucial to help a child’s cognitive development. Here are some fun word games to play in the car.

3.

Nursery Rhymes

Nursery rhymes are more than just a fun activity children enjoy. They are actually highly stimulating and a great cognitive activity for preschoolers and toddlers.

They teach children language patterns and they develop vocabulary. Most importantly, they build a child’s auditory perceptual skills – such as auditory memory, discrimination, etc.

Expose your children to:

• classic nursery rhymes and songs
• poems
• finger rhymes
• action rhymes
• nonsense rhymes.

Learning nursery rhymes is an important aspect of pre-reading skills and will set your child up for reading success later in school.

4. Thinking Games

Thinking is an important skill for adults and a skill that needs to be actively worked on. Many adults struggle to think outside the box, find solutions or thinking critically.

Thinking games have the specific intention of working on your child’s higher-order thinking skills and critical thinking skills.

These stimulate your child to actively practise thinking.

There are various examples of thinking skills. Here are just a few:

• Predicting
• Summarizing
• Understanding cause and effect
• Forming opinions
• Deducing
• Thinking creatively

5.

Creative Activities

Children spend much of their time naturally engaging in creative activities, whether they are drawing, painting, moulding or creating something with waste materials or boxes. Even making up a game during fantasy play is a form of creative expression.

Whenever a child is using their creative mind they are building their cognitive skills.

Creativity is not really a skill you can teach, but rather a skill you can ignite.

What children need is a platform to be creative. They need materials, stimulation and opportunities. From there, the creative process is a natural one.

6.

Problem-Solving Activities

Problem-solving is another area that many older children, as well as adults, struggle with. There are few careers today that do not rely heavily on a person’s ability to solve problems.

This is a skill that can be taught from an early age with very simple problem-solving activities and fun games.  

The beauty of problem-solving at a young age is that children don’t usually view problems as problems, but rather as challenges to be overcome.

7.

Puzzles

Puzzles are one of my personal favourite activities for kids. They require so much concentration and effort, as well as perseverance to complete.

Children who are solving a puzzle are thinking deeply and building their intellectual capacity.

The most important thing to remember is that a puzzle should be challenging but doable. Choose one that is appropriate for your child’s age. The younger your child, the fewer pieces the puzzle should have and the bigger they should be.

You should see your child challenging himself to finish it and spending some time on it, but he shouldn’t be frustrated or not able to complete it in one sitting.

As your child gets more confident with them, he will begin to seek out bigger, more complex puzzles.

Get your own puzzles by downloading the FREE set of printables at the end of the post.

8.

Movement

Movement is an excellent idea for stimulating brain growth.

Movement develops neural pathways in children and vestibular movement affects learning to read and write later on.

Movement wakes up, resets and re-energises the brain. It helps a child’s development in two ways.

Firstly, developing gross motor and fine motor skills helps children with their overall development. Secondly, you can use movement breaks during any activity to reset your child’s concentration.

Just two minutes of doing a physical activity or going for a run outside can allow a child to continue to concentrate and finish the activity they were working on.

9.

Symbolic Play 

Symbolic play is when children engage in pretend or make-believe play using objects to represent other objects. For example, a child who uses a block as a cell phone.

Symbolic play is very natural to a child and is a highly creative form of play that will develop your child’s intellectual skills.

During this kind of play, children are constantly thinking of new ways to act out their world in order to make sense of it.

Symbolic play is the next step up from functional play where a child will use an appropriate object – for example, a toy phone as a real phone.

Later on, when they pick up a block to use as a phone, it means their brains have developed the ability to use the block to represent something else. This is an advanced skill.

the only thing children need to engage in symbolic play is access to materials, toys, and plenty of free time.

10.

Developmentally Appropriate Toys

A child’s environment can greatly impact how much stimulation they are receiving.

They don’t need any fancy toys or equipment – just basic educational toys, such as wooden blocks, Lego, playdough, books, construction materials and natural materials.

Try to vary your child’s experiences by offering different manipulatives. For example, introduce Lego and after a few days, swap the tub and offer wooden blocks instead. This will encourage your child to think of new and different ways to play and create.

Playdough is an excellent and highly educational material that can be made at home. 

11.

Free Play

Last but not least, free play is undoubtedly the most important tool to develop cognitive skills.

Play is what children do. It’s what they spend all day doing and it’s what they naturally need to do in order to learn.

Everything your children will learn before the age of 6 will be primarily through play.

In order for this to happen, children need time to be able to play. Unfortunately, in modern times, they often need to sacrifice play time in order to attend their extra activities.

Make play a priority in your home and allow your child to play as much as they are naturally inclined to.

Free play requires no adult intervention. All your child needs is the time and freedom to do it as they choose.

These are just a few ways to develop children’s cognitive skills.

Source:
De Witt, M. 2016. The Young Child in Context: A psycho-social perspective. Second edition. Van Schaik Publishers: Pretoria.

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How to Promote Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

Cognitive development refers to how children learn information, obtain knowledge, and connect to the world around them. Various cognitive skills grow and develop as children reach specific developmental milestones. If parents want to enhance their children’s cognitive development, there are plenty of activities they can do with their little ones. Opportunities to engage in active learning can greatly benefit a child’s cognitive development. In this post, we will discuss specific ways you can support your child’s cognitive development in early childhood.

First, let’s examine the reasons why it’s beneficial for parents to promote this type of development with their children.

What is the importance of cognitive development in early childhood?

As children get older, they develop an increased capacity to retain information, think critically, and focus. Cognitive skills enable children to see connections between ideas, understand cause and effect, and develop analytical thinking.

Activities that enrich cognitive development in early childhood

Sing with your child

Sing songs together and listen to songs on YouTube that your child enjoys. Encourage little ones to sing with you. At some point, children will begin singing by themselves. This activity improves word identification and memory.

For example, if you are singing “Old MacDonald”, it will help your child learn the names of animals and the sounds they make.

Music enhances the following cognitive skills: memory, vocabulary, auditory sequencing (the order in which sounds occur), word identification, and information processing.

Ask open-ended questions often

When playing with young children, ask open-ended questions. When children answer these types of questions, it helps them expand their language skills, verbal comprehension, and inferencing.

For example, when little ones are coloring, you might ask what they want to draw a picture of, or which colors they want to use. If children are playing with toy cars, ask where they think the car should go.

Asking open-ended questions can enhance the following cognitive skills:  comprehension, making inferences, inferential reasoning, and vocabulary.

Play make-believe 

When children engage in make-believe activities, they can take on different roles in order to demonstrate what they are learning. As they gain a stronger understanding of other people’s perspectives, it will enrich their cognitive skills and language development.

Additionally, make-believe activities help children learn how to create and follow a plan. It can also help to enhance the development of memory as children repeat themes and actions as they role-play different characters.

Make-believe play enhances the following cognitive skills: cognitive flexibility, problem-solving, understanding different perspectives, language development, and vocabulary.

Visit museums or science centers with your family

Museums and science centers are great places for children to acquire new knowledge. As children hear information and explanations from experts, it can positively impact their cognitive skills.

For example, if your child is interested in space, visit a museum that focuses on astronomy and astrophysics. Children can learn about astronomy, planets, and an array of other objects in outer space. By doing this, children’s visualization skills and logical thinking are enriched, as they can imagine and see things found in outer space.

Visiting museums and science centers enhances the following cognitive skills:  cognitive flexibility, problem-solving, visualization skills, and logical thinking.

Read to your child daily

The more you read books with children, the more opportunities they will have for the enrichment of their cognitive skills. By hearing stories and looking at images, children learn to form a mental picture from the story they hear and practice using their visual memory skills.

Reading to your child enhances the following cognitive skills:  cognitive flexibility, visual memory, and vocabulary.

Let children solve problems independently 

It’s important for us to provide opportunities for kids to solve problems on their own periodically. Cognitive skills improve as children learn to solve problems.

This can enhance the following cognitive skills:  problem-solving, cognitive flexibility, and logical thinking.

Teach children board games that require strategy

Board games, like chess, can enhance children’s logical thinking and problem-solving skills. Play games together and teach your little one about the rules of each game. Cognitive skills are enriched as children gain an understanding of how to play the game.

Playing games enhances the following cognitive skills:  problem-solving, cognitive flexibility, logical thinking, language development (for instructions and strategy), visual memory (for recalling positions and visualizing).

Let children explore the world on their own 

Cognitive skills develop as children learn and discover through self-exploration. You’ll see their skills improve as they absorb new information through touch, smell, taste, sight, and sounds.

Some examples include letting children touch a piece of paper or stick their hands into a bag of beans or rice. Cognitive skills addressed here include tactile sensation and memory.

These activities enhance the following cognitive skills: cognitive flexibility, problem-solving, tactile sensation, and memory.

The Pillars Christian Learning Center promotes various activities that support your child’s cognitive development. For more information about our programs, contact us today.

How To Promote Cognitive Development In Preschoo

Cognitive development in preschoolers focuses on information processing, such as decision-making, attention, memory, language abilities, learning, and perceptional skills. Your child’s brain is quickly developing and requires a lot of thinking and exploring. One of the best ways to promote your preschoolers’ cognitive development is through play and cognitive activities.

Play And Cognitive Development In Early Childhood

Play is not only a vital component of cognitive development in early childhood but also allows parents to engage with their children. By building an affectionate and loving relationship with your child, you lay the groundwork and support for their development and learning. 

Through play, you can increase your preschooler’s cognitive skills and support their cognitive development. Children learn in a hands-on, concrete manner, so lots of play and interaction are the best learning methods. Invite your child to use their imagination and creativity to solve problems.

As preschoolers play and use their imagination, they generate ideas. They use their creative skills to find different solutions for solving a problem. The more your child plays, the more they test their limits, explore challenges and fine-tune their decision-making skills. Through social interaction with adults and their peers, they begin developing their language skills.

Read more about Cognitive Development in Toddlers, What is Cognitive Development?, and What Are Cognitive Skills?

How To Promote Cognitive Development In Preschoolers

As we identified above, preschoolers learn best through play, particularly child-led play. However, all types of play, even adult-guided play, are beneficial. When children are playing, they explore, think, create, experiment, learn how things work, and solve problems. As a matter of fact, children need lots of unstructured play that helps build confidence and resiliency. Through these experiences and interactions with others, they learn to share, cooperate, resolve conflict, negotiate, and make friends. 

Tips To Encourage Your Preschoolers’ Cognitive Development

• Allow for mistakes. Young children are bound to make mistakes; that is how they learn. Naturally, we want to fix things; however, it is vital to give them space to make mistakes. 
• Celebrate their successes. 
• Encourage decision-making by allowing your preschooler to make choices, for example, “what they want to eat,” “what to wear,” or “what they want to play.”
• Engage and spend quality time playing together.
• Help them learn about friendship, sharing, and empathy by inviting them to play with others. Try these Easy Social-Emotional Activities For Preschoolers
• Inspire them to try new things or find different solutions.
• Invite your youngster to help with simple chores. Young children this age love to imitate adults and “help.” Build their autonomy and confidence by engaging them in age-appropriate household chores.
  • Younger preschoolers can help with the laundry by matching socks, sorting the clothes by type or color, and putting away their toys and blocks.
  • While older preschoolers can help in the kitchen by making simple snacks, helping set the table, clearing their dishes, and watering the plants. Remember, at this age, you will need to adjust your expectations and be flexible. It is not about perfection.
• Support problem-solving by giving them the time to figure things out and not rushing in with a solution. 
• Talk with your preschooler to build their language skills. Ask questions during play, like “What happens next?”
• Use your child’s interests to expand their growth and development; for example, if you see your preschooler becomes fascinated with whales, find additional resources, like books, crafts, games, or excursions (visit an aquarium) that support that interest.

Cognitive Development Milestones In Preschoolers

As your child moves into the preschool age (3-5 years), their cognitive skills further develop. At first, their attention spans are short, and they may not complete a puzzle or sit through an entire game. However, by the time they enter kindergarten, they should be able to finish a puzzle, play a full game, and begin learning the fine art of fair play, losing, and winning.

Whether your child attends preschool or just plays at home, during their preparation for kindergarten, language skills increase, gross motor coordination improves, social skills progress, and awareness of their surroundings broadens. While they may not fully understand the difference between real and pretend, they are better equipped to observe and analyze their surroundings.

Children are like little sponges, and there is constant learning during this growth stage. Always watching, exploring, and questioning. Your preschooler is likely to ask many questions, especially “Why?” questions. They may begin asking sensitive questions about death, “where babies come from?” or upsetting news they see or hear.

Want To See What Cognitive Development In Preschoolers Looks Like For The Next Few Years?

Before Entering Kindergarten, You Can Expect Them To Be Able To:

• Balance on a beam or board.
• Be aware of gender.
• Climb a ladder.
• Comprehend the concept of time, like “past,” “present,” and “future. “
• Count 10+ things.
• Cut paper with scissors.
• Dance and sing a song.
• Do somersaults.
• Draw a 4+ body part person.
• Dress and undress themselves.
• Express what they think is going to happen next in a story.
• Hop, or they may skip.
• Kick or throw a ball.
• Know everyday items like money or food.
• Make friends.
• Name 4+ colors.
• Negotiate for things they want
• Play games like board games.
• Recall parts of a story.
• Recite address and phone number.
• Recognize and write their own name.
• Ride a tricycle.
• Run, jump, or gallop.
• Socialize and play with others.
• Swing on the swings.
• Tell a story using their imagination.
• Walk along a circular or straight line.
• Walk down and up the stairs.
• Write or copy numbers, letters, or shapes.

Cognitive Activities For Preschoolers 

As the parent, you can help increase your child’s cognitive learning by making available fun and playful cognitive activities. No structured agenda or lesson plan is required. Just plenty of time to play alone and with others expanding their experiences.

Play Ideas To Support Cognitive Development Activities:

PUZZLES

Age-appropriate puzzles build concentration, memory, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. Furthermore, puzzles can reinforce sorting by color, type, or shape. Choosing a puzzle, concentrating on that activity, and completing it helps support cognitive control.

CARD, MATCHING, OR BOARD GAMES

Simple card, matching, or board games like “Old Maid,” “Go Fish,” “Matching Game,” or “Chutes & Ladders” teach kids how to follow directions, share, take turns, and problem-solve. As your preschooler masters these games, you can introduce more games with complicated strategies, like checkers. In addition, when your child encounters a problem during play, it tests their judgment, reasoning, and ability to find a solution.

OTHER GAMES FOR COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

When you are out and a board or card games just won’t’ do, try games like “I Spy.” What about spending the day at the park? Physical games are a wonderful way to engage. Test out games like “Hide & Seek,” “Red Light, Green Light,” or “Simon Says.” If your preschooler has mastered “Simon Says’, add a twist and have them do the opposite of what “Simon Says. “

BLOCK PLAY

Preschoolers engaged in block play not only are having fun but also are exploring science and math. Children stacking or playing with wooden building blocks begin to understand wider, shorter, taller, higher, longer, heavier, and more. As children advance through the stages of block play, you will see their block structures become detailed and elaborate.

Explore more block play ideas with these Simple Block Activities For Toddlers And Preschoolers

CONSTRUCTIVE PLAY

While it often includes blocks, constructive play is about experimenting with different materials and building approaches. Preschoolers learn to plan and assess their actions through trial and error. Trying new methods and modifying when needed is problem-solving at its best. Find out how Creative and Constructive Play Works Best When You…

SINGING, RHYMING, AND FINGER PLAY

Simple songs that include rhyming and actions help build cognitive skills; for example, the “ABC’s Song” helps them remember the alphabet. “I’m A Little Teapot” Or “Head And Shoulders” helps them learn to follow directions. Some songs introduce number concepts like “5 Little Ducks” or “5 Monkeys Jumping On The Bed.”

READING

Daily reading is critical to cognitive development in preschoolers. Foster the love of books by checking out the local library or bookstore for children’s storytime. 

TELLING JOKES

At this age, preschoolers start to really develop a sense of humor. Find a book filled with jokes or engage them by having them tell you some jokes. 

STORYTELLING

Encourage storytelling by alternating adding parts to a story or asking them to finish one you started. Incorporate these Simple And Powerful Language Activities For Preschoolers into your daily play.

COOKING

Invite your preschooler to help you in the kitchen. They can begin learning about healthy ingredients, measuring, and following directions. Looking at a recipe allows them to understand photo directions while building their reading and language skills. Start with simple recipes like “Ants On A Log” or “Bagel Pizzas.”

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES AND PLAY

Getting outside not only helps with gross motor development but also builds cognitive skills. Nature provides an awesome science lab for preschoolers. Go on a walk, create a nature tray or keep a nature journal. Check out these other Outside Activities For Kids.

MAZES AND OBSTACLE COURSES

You can build an obstacle course or maze from simple household items. Grab a roll of painter’s tape and create a maze on your floor (test first), patio, or driveway for your preschooler to navigate. They can maneuver their cars, balls, or bodies through the maze using their cognitive abilities. Put up an obstacle course inside or out using tables, chairs, large boxes, or giant blocks. 

IMAGINATIVE PLAY OR ROLE PLAY

Many preschoolers are naturally drawn to pretend play. It is the perfect way to build their creative skills and imaginations. You are likely to find your child pretending to be something imaginary like a pirate, superhero, or princess. However, they may also act out familiar roles like grocery shopping, cleaning the house, or going to the doctor. 

• Jump in and play, but let your child lead the way. Keep in mind you may need to adjust to your child’s creative process. 
• Imaginative play can be as simple or elaborate as you care to make it. Add basic dress-up props, like old hats, purses, or shoes from time to time. Need a crown, sword, or magic wand? Get the kids involved and try some crafts projects using paper towel rolls or construction paper. 
• Build a fort from jumbo blocks or put a blanket over a table and chairs.
• Preschooler running out of ideas? Feel free to prompt a new pretend play scenario. It might be based on real-life activities like shopping, caring for a baby, animal, or someone sick. Maybe it involves acting out a fairy tale, good versus evil, or some other silly idea. Learn more about the Benefits Of Imaginative Play & Why It’s So Important.

 

So, no matter how you engage with your preschooler, whether through outdoor activities, unstructured free play, or cognitive activities like block play, let them be the leader. Everyday experiences like talking, reading, or playing a game have the power to boost their cognitive development, growth, and cognitive skills. What cognitive activities for preschoolers will you try today?

Twelve fun ways to promote your child’s cognitive development, by age group

Cognitive learning is so important in early childhood, as scientists believe that the first five years are a particularly important period for acquiring information because the brain is more malleable for absorbing new information.  The experiences children receive help neural connections to grow, and they are then strengthened through repetitions. 

   

 

Your child is born with their brain fully formed, but the architecture of it is built through the experiences they encounter after birth, and it is thought within the first year of life your child can build more than one million neural connections. As your child grows and has more experiences, they will begin to process and link information more competently and so they make more neural connections and their cognition develops.

 

What is cognitive development? 

Cognitive development refers to the process in which our brain builds, processes and develops information to allow us to understand the world around us. It helps us to develop skills such as thinking, memory, processing and understanding.  Brain development is part of cognitive development 

All children develop at their own rate and in their own time. Jean Piaget, who was a renowned philosopher, explored how children think and how they ‘come to know’. Piaget’s theory suggests that a child’s cognitive development is not just about acquiring knowledge. He suggests the child has to develop or construct a mental model of the world. 

 

How does cognitive development occur? 

Cognition comes as children are exposed to new experiences and they use their senses to actively experiment and explore the world around them in a first-hand way.  Everything is a new experience to a newborn baby, and over time the development of cognition will support your child in processing, understanding and retrieving information. It is an essential part of overall development, allowing a child to understand the world and interact with it safely. 

Piaget believed that children are born with innate tendencies to acquire cognition and that, to do so, they go through four phases: 

 

1. ” data-font=”” data-listid=”2″ aria-setsize=”-1″ data-aria-posinset=”1″ data-aria-level=”1″>The Sensorimotor Stage – children in this phase learn about the world around them through their senses, basic reflexes and motor (physical) responses.
2. The Pre-operational Stage – children begin to think in a more symbolic manner and will be able to use words and pictures to represent their thoughts and ideas.
3. The Concrete Operational Stage – children begin to think more logically and are more organised in their thoughts. They will also become more reasonable and less egocentric.
4. The Formal Operational Stage – children begin to be more abstract in their thoughts and can hypothesise answers, outcomes and be logical with their responses.  

 

Piaget also believed that you couldn’t speed up cognitive development and children needed to reach each of these stages organically, and that to rush children through stages of cognitive development might mean they miss learning important skills. Many still believe this element of his theory today, and that even the art of measuring cognitive development is flawed because of how difficult cognition is to measure.  

 

Examples of cognitive skills 

Cognitive skills are at work in many aspects of our daily life, for example: 

Making decisions –  This involves thinking about our desired end goal, arranging and evaluating alternative options to reach the goal, choosing the option most likely to achieve the goal, and then using the outcome from this experience to adjust the way we make decisions in the future. 

Predicting outcomes –  This involves ‘looking into the future’ and anticipating what is most likely to happen, or what we expect to happen, based on previous experiences.

Problem-solving –  This involves skills of identifying and analysing a problem, looking for the cause, thinking creatively about different possible solutions, choosing a solution to try, and then evaluating if you have been successful. 

Communicating –  This involves sharing the thoughts, feelings and ideas in our head in many different ways, for example through gesture, expressions, words, writing, drawing or dance. 

Imagining – This involves using our memory and past experiences to come up with mental images and to create new ideas, thinking about possibilities. 

Developing short- and long-term memory –  Memory is information that stays with us over time and is stored so we can access it in different ways. Short-term memory is believed to hold a limited amount of recent information in an accessible state whereas long-term memory is where most information is stored. 

 

Activities to support cognitive development 

Here at My First Five Years, we believe children all develop at their own pace, and supporting children through play and interaction is more effective than focusing on speeding up areas of development.  

The good news is that supporting cognitive development does not need investment in expensive resources. On the contrary, ‘open-ended’ resources (those without pre-determined ways of playing) are perfect. These objects that you have around the home or can find outside, that may not traditionally be seen as ‘toys’, offer so much potential. 

 

Cognitive development activities for newborn babies 

• Give your baby time with their hands and feet uncovered –  As your baby’s physical skills develop, they will move their hands and bring their hands to their face and mouth. Your baby’s mouth has more nerve endings per square millimetre than any other part of their body. As they develop their physical control, they will explore their hands, feet and objects with their mouth. Touching their face and exploring their hands and feet with their mouth will help your baby to develop their awareness of their body and will make and strengthen new connections in their brain.
• Engage in ‘serve and return’ activities – Interact with your baby and respond to the facial expressions, actions and noises they make. Each time they attempt to engage with you, they are offering a ‘serve’ and you offer back a ‘return’. Games such as peek-a-boo, responding to noises and movements through imitation and sharing books are all great serve and return activities.
• Offer a range of safe, everyday objects for your baby to explore –  Your baby will learn to understand objects by using information from all their senses. As they hold, move, put objects in their mouth and look at objects, they will develop their understanding of the properties of the objects that they explore.  Your baby’s brain makes links between the areas that process information from different senses as they explore the objects, and this gives them different information about the world. All of this exploration helps your baby to build mental representations of objects.

 

Cognitive development activities for babies 

• Make your own photo or memory books –  These allow you to revisit past experiences together and share memories. Talk to your child about familiar people, places, events and associated feelings as you look at the photographs together.
• Share favourite picture books many times –  Reading the same book many times allows your child to sequence and anticipate events. By pausing while reading, you can encourage your baby to begin to predict which picture is on the next page, or what happens next. Lift-the-flap books are great to support the anticipation of who or what is under the flap!
• Create treasure baskets –  Gather a variety of safe objects and materials and place in a low-level basket for your baby to sit next to and explore. Consider how each object might engage your baby’s sense of touch, smell, taste, sight, hearing and bodily movements. For example, you could use objects made of metal, rubber, fur, leather, wood, marble and fabric. This will engage your baby’s natural curiosity and encourage them to make choices and decisions about what to handle, while developing concepts such as coldness, softness and heaviness. The contents of the basket can be tailored over time as you observe which objects capture your baby’s interest.

 

Cognitive development activities for toddlers 

• Create your own role play costumes –  Browse charity shops with your child to find items to spark their imagination! It’s great fun to search together for hats, bags, belts, jackets, and all sorts of clothing, or visit your local fabric store where your child can choose interesting fabrics with different textures, patterns, and possibilities. These offer greater scope for imagination than a play outfit for a particular pre-determined ‘character’ because the possibilities for ‘who to pretend to be’ are limitless as your child creates their own character, which can transform over time. 
• Offer activities to support sorting and classifying –  Find everyday objects that interest your child, such as different size spoons, brushes, socks, bottles. Support your child as they play, noticing how they collect, organise and combine similar objects in clusters, lines or bags, arranging and rearranging them according to shared criteria such as size, colour, shape and material. Encourage serialisation of the objects. Linked to classification. this is the ability to organise things by progression, such as by size, numerical values or colour shadings. Offer language and new vocabulary to support your child’s investigations.
• Incorporate language relating to number into daily conversation –  Point out numbers in the environment when you are out and about with your child. On journeys or when exploring an area, count things that you can see, such as ducks on a pond, or cars that drive past. Sing counting songs with your child which involve counting to 10 forwards as well as backwards. Examples of this could be “10 Green Bottles”, “Five Speckled Frogs” and “10 in the Bed”.  Use number language during daily activities, counting objects and actions. Encourage your child to record ‘how many’ by making marks on paper, a chalkboard, or on the ground.  

 

Cognitive development activities for children

• Involve your child in decision-making –  It not only feels good to your child to have some say over their own life, but additionally by offering them the chance to contribute to decision-making processes and to use their experience to weigh up options, you are fostering their ability and confidence to make decisions in a way that meets their needs in terms of their personal preferences, feeling and interests. To support this, you could demonstrate your own decision-making process by talking aloud as you weigh up options, for example, saying, “I was wondering if we should go to the woods or the park today. The park has lots of great climbing equipment but climbing on the tree trucks and branches is great too, and the trees might give us more shelter if it rains. Hmm, what do you think?”
• Provide plenty of opportunities for mark-making and drawing –  When your child realises that marks can be used symbolically to carry meaning they begin to use marks as tools to make their thinking visible to themselves and others. Your child’s marks, symbols and writing may help them to make sense of important experiences, places or people in their world. Bring mark-making into all sorts of playful situations, through using clipboards and pencils, whiteboards, stickers, notepads etcetera, to draw familiar places they have visited, make maps, and represent their thoughts.  
• Encourage your child to explain their process and thinking when engaged in an activity –  For example, if your child shows you a Lego model, rather than comment only on the ‘end product’, you could ask them to reflect on what sparked the idea, how they went about the task, and what they learned along the way. Perhaps saying, for example, “I wonder where you got the idea to make this? How did you choose the pieces to use? Which was the trickiest part?” 
   

Do you want more guidance on supporting your child on their journey develop cognitive skills? Our app can guide you every step of the way. For more information check out our app.

Our app was designed to guide you as a parent through the journey to develop your child’s cognitive skills, as well as through 2600+ other skills. It will help you to feel empowered to support your child through play every step of the way and celebrate all their achievements.

Supporting Cognitive Development: Environments and Materials

Know

The Third Teacher

In Italy, after World War II, a teacher by the name of Loris Malaguzzi, along with parents in the villages outside Reggio Emilia, which were destroyed by the war, got together to create a new approach for teaching young children. The Reggio Emilia philosophy is based on the principles of respect, responsibility, and community. These principles are developed through exploration and discovery in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the children. In Reggio Emilia programs, the environment is known as the third teacher because of its importance to development and learning. The environment should be responsive to the need for teachers and children to create learning together. The classroom environment can help shape a child’s identity as a leader in his or her own life and the life of others. The environment communicates messages about who is valued in a space, how to interact with materials, and how to engage and participate with others in a collaborative way.

According to the philosophy, the child’s first teacher is a parent who takes on the role of active participant in guiding the education of the child. The second teacher is you, the caregiver within the classroom setting. The third teacher, the environment, when appropriately designed has the ability to communicate and guide children’s learning and behavior. It is the combination of a child’s relationships with parent, teacher, and environment that best promotes learning.

Just like adults, preschool-age children are affected by their environments. It is our job to ensure classrooms and other learning spaces for children make them feel welcome, secure, and ready to learn. Your classroom environment should be organized yet flexible to children’s changing needs. This will help maximize children’s engagement and learning. This lesson will highlight the significance of purposefully creating environments and choosing materials that facilitate children’s learning and growth. The final lesson in this course will discuss experiences and activities that promote cognitive development.

Environments and Materials that Promote Preschooler’s Cognitive Development

Children are natural explorers, but there is still a lot you can do to help them learn and grow. To facilitate children’s exploration and learning, you first need to identify the interests of the children in your classroom. You can then meaningfully design your environment and find materials to spark exploration. Finally, you can plan experiences that promote learning. Remember that children learn about the world around them in a variety of ways. Exploration and discovery are vital to young children’s cognitive development. Your program should provide children with plenty of opportunities to engage in activities that promote learning in multiple areas including: math, science, social studies, language and literacy, art, and technology.

How you facilitate and nurture active learning is extremely important. In other words, the way you structure and organize your environments and materials for children can make a huge difference in their development. Your classroom environment should be organized in a way that it enables children to engage in meaningful learning. Think about your classroom interest areas. When a child in your classroom enters a purposefully designed interest area, do they know what materials they can find there, the type of play (loud, quiet, social, or solitary) that might happen there, the expectations for how to behave, and ways in which they can explore, learn, and have fun in the space?

As highlighted in Lesson One, learning is both individual and social and it takes place within social and cultural contexts. Therefore, you need to make sure your learning environment provides opportunities for children to engage in individual work, as well as meaningful interactions with peers and adults in your room throughout the day. Again, consider the layout of your classroom. How are your interest areas or centers set up? Are there interesting and developmentally appropriate materials for children to manipulate, explore, and learn from? When thinking about interactions with peers, how are you setting up the environment for these interactions to take place? For example, do you consider providing fewer items (e.g., blocks, play dough, letter cutouts, age-appropriate scissors) to encourage children to work with their peers, share and learn from each other? When disagreements arise among children, do you encourage them to use their words and try to solve a situation on their own while making yourself available in case they cannot figure it out? Challenging behaviors can often be prevented by looking at the arrangement of the environment and asking yourself these questions. The solution to undesirable behaviors if often discovered by changing one or more things in the environment. The materials and arrangement of a classroom can play a major role in the relationships and interactions that happen between children. 

Features of Classroom Environments that Promote Young Children’s Cognitive Development

The National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning (2015) identifies features of the physical and social classroom environment that maximize young children’s engagement and learning. These features refer to how the classroom space should be organized to facilitate children’s meaningful participation in classroom experiences and include well-designed physical spaces, relevant contexts, and intentional groupings. 

Well-designed physical spaces: Think about how you organize the different interest areas in your classroom and ask yourself these questions: Are there spaces for large group work as well as areas for small group or individual work? Are areas for quite work located in a different location from areas that involve loud work? Is furniture used to create boundaries and help direct or facilitate children’s safe movement in the room? Can you see all areas in the room to be able to monitor what children are doing at all times? 

Relevant Contexts: These refer to the learning materials, toys, or objects that you provide for children to play with, learn from, and explore. All of these materials should be meaningfully selected to support children’s development and learning. As you make choices about these materials you should ask yourself questions such as: Do these materials support the learning goals you have for children? Are they culturally relevant? Are they interesting and fun? Do they promote interactions and exchanges among children? Is the emphasis on the quality of the material and its uses over the quantity that is available? Are they open-ended and do they allow for creative expression?

Intentional Groupings: The way you make decisions about grouping children in your classroom can impact their engagement and learning. How do you make decisions about grouping children? Do you consider the types of activities or children’s ages, interests, or backgrounds? What are some other factors that you take into consideration? 

In the References and Resources section of this lesson, you can find citations with links for the website of the National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning. As you explore these resources, think about how you can incorporate some of these ideas to improve outcomes for all children in your classroom and program.

Promoting Exploration and Discovery in Preschool

Exploration and discovery happen all the time as children pursue interesting ideas. Teachers should become co-explorers with preschoolers by helping to keep discoveries alive and providing them time, space, and freedom to explore and investigate their interests and ideas. Adults can model creativity, thoughtfulness, and curiosity that is necessary for exploration. By showing their own interests in materials and experiences, adults can teach children about the value of exploration. 

Discoveries, investigations, and experiments can be related to a wide variety of areas or concepts. Children can investigate science concepts, letters, sounds, numbers, music, the ways in which our bodies move, or the ways in which we can use art to express ourselves, our feelings, or ideas. You can set the stage so that children express their curiosities, have fun, and learn. Read about the following environments and materials that spark exploration. 

Discovery centers: Discovery centers let children explore materials on their own. The best discovery centers are located near natural light. They include plenty of organic materials. Tools are available for children to manipulate items. Material suggestions include magnifying glasses, eye droppers, tweezers, screwdrivers, and balance scales. Children may also tinker with safe “take apart” objects (toasters, clocks, etc.). A class pet might live in the discovery center. Writing tools like paper, pencils, and clipboards should be available for children to record their observations. 

Investigations: Young children thrive when they have the opportunity to explore their interests in-depth. Also called projects or studies, investigations give children the opportunity to use research to answer interesting questions. For example, following children’s interests in homes, you can promote classroom investigations about different types of homes and engage children in activities such as reading books about homes, taking a walk in the neighborhood to look at different types of homes, sharing information about their own homes, or building their own homes using materials at school. Making real-life items such as stone, brick, roofing shingles, and pipes available in the discovery center can build upon this interest.

Experiments: Experiments can be a powerful way for children to explore their curiosities about the environment and objects. Curiosity is where thinking and understanding emerge. In experiments, children can ask questions, make predictions, and test their hypotheses. An example of a common experiment is asking children whether objects will sink or float. Following children’s interests, you can engage them in different kinds of experiments in your classroom environment. As their teacher, you can model the steps involved in experimentation through planned experiences. You can:

1. Define the problem.
2. Brainstorm predictions.
3. Create experiments.
4. Analyze the results.
5. Extend the experience.

Environments and Materials that Address the Needs of All Learners

There are many things you can do in your learning environment to help all children meet important learning goals. The first and most important step is to gather information about the children in your care. You will need to know what children are able to do well and what seems to be challenging. Gathering information will help you know the skills and strategies that are likely to help children.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is one strategy you can use. UDL helps all people learn and be successful in their environments. There are examples of universal design principles all around us: audio books, curb cutouts for strollers and wheelchairs, keyless entry on cars, and electric can openers. Many of these tools were developed for people with disabilities, but they make life easier for all of us. Early childhood professionals can use UDL principles as a guide to designing program spaces that are accessible and supportive of all children and families. Some examples of what teachers can do in their classrooms to support children with special learning needs include using a picture schedule, adapting seating arrangements, or sharing vocabulary words with children before reading them a story. For additional examples demonstrating the use of UDL, please refer to Lesson Five in this course, Supporting Cognitive Development: Experiences and Activities.  

The Figure below shows three strategies for using UDL and offers examples of each.

Representation

How adults display information and provide directions

• Use objects, pictures, text
• Vary font size, volume, colors
• Offer tactile, musical, or physical variation

Expression

How children respond and show what they know

• Choice of text, speech, drawing, music, sculpture, dance
• Help with goal setting
• Provide Checklists and planning tools
• Use social media

Engagement

How children become interested and motivated to learn

• Use child preferences
• Offer choices
• Vary levels of novelty, risk, and sensory stimulation
• Encourage peer learning
• Provide individual feedback

Reflecting on Your Own Practices

It is important to recognize the messages you send in your classroom. Sometimes biases sneak into our environments, materials, or interactions. Awareness of your own bias is an important step in supporting development. Think about which of the following biases might be in your own classroom:

• Biased language. Language can send stereotypical gender messages. Adults might call children “baby girl,” “big boy,” or “cutie” rather than their given names. Staff might encourage girls to “be careful” while saying “boys will be boys.” To fight this bias, you could encourage peaceful solutions for all children. Avoid directions like not hitting girls or not hitting kids with glasses. Be sure to comment equally on girls’ and boys’ appearances and accomplishments.
• Stereotypical play opportunities. Children are often encouraged to play in certain ways (e.g., girls with dolls and boys with trucks). Make sure boys and girls get equal access and encouragement for playing “house,” woodworking, music, science, active play, and messy play.  Comment on the child’s action with a material rather than your personal influences or cultural expectations.
• Biased materials. Sometimes posters and materials for the classroom present stereotypical images (e.g., Native Americans in war paint, an all-male construction crew). Make sure the images in your classroom show men and women equally in a variety of professions. Make sure drawings or photos of people with disabilities are respectful images. Include books that show different ethnic backgrounds, social classes, and family structures.

There are many ways you can enhance the curriculum to improve children’s understanding and acceptance of culture. The following are some examples (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010):

• Classroom props or materials: Include props from a variety of cultures. Toy food, menus, books, dramatic play clothes, furniture, and musical instruments can all reflect experiences from around the world. Art materials should include a range of materials for representing skin tones and various artistic styles, fabrics of various patterns, and books about art around the world.
• Bulletin boards and displays: This space can be used to reflect and respect family traditions. Ask families to bring in pictures or other items for the board. Children can spend time researching their own or another culture and documenting what they have learned.
• Class books or biographies: Books about children in the class document the real experiences of children and families. Encourage children to create pictures, drawings, and text about their lives, ideas, and families.
• Family stories: Provide families with materials and instructions for creating a Family Book. Families and children can work together to talk about and record their family history and daily life. This can be a great way to introduce children and families to one another.
• Storytelling: Encourage grandparents or community elders to share stories of their childhoods with the class or group. These can be audio-recorded or transcribed to create keepsake books for the class.
• Messages from home: Using a tape recorder, encourage family members to record a brief message in their home language. This can be played for a child when he or she is upset or homesick.
• Music: Include music tapes or CDs and songs from different cultures during music time or circle time.
• Field trips: Visit community cultural landmarks. Go see a dance troupe, play, or musical performance that will broaden children’s cultural perspectives.
• Collaborative work: Encourage children to work together in groups. This may minimize the pressure on a child who is learning English. It also exposes children to a variety of ideas and encourages creativity.
• Snacks and meals: Invite families to share a traditional meal or snack with the children.

See

Video not availableWatch this video to see examples of how children explore in preschool.

Teachers and staff in a classroom can support exploration and promote cognitive development by adopting a general attitude of exploration (Dodge et al. , 2002). When adults consider themselves fellow explorers in the discovery process, children benefit.

Video not availableWatch how this teacher uses a small group activity to show her own curiosity.

Do

There are many ways teachers can promote exploration and problem-solving through the materials they provide within the environment. Below is a list of ideas to keep in mind when choosing materials for cognitive development. 

• Ensure materials are safe. All toys and materials need to be safe. When evaluating your materials, watch out for sharp edges or projections, as well as chipping paint. Select items that are nontoxic. 
• Select materials that are easy for preschoolers to access and handle on their own. Young children learn by manipulating items by themselves; however, be ready to assist them if needed. Materials should be readily available so that children can access them independently without asking and adult for assistance.
• Select materials that support cognitive development for the age group served. Use developmental milestone information to make choices that support cognitive development. Understand that materials may serve a different learning purpose for different age groups.
• Choose items that are used in homes (e.g. kitchen spatulas, serrated spoons, strainers, wooden spoons, plastic bowls, shoe boxes, dish towels). This links home and preschool experiences in the eyes of the child and shows families that learning materials are often at their fingertips and inexpensive. A lot of these materials are also open-ended, and therefore appropriate for children at different ages and developmental stages. 
• Examine each item and evaluate how it promotes child development. Does it support cause and effect actions? Does it utilize fine motor skills? Does it promote symbolic thinking? Does it help them practice problem-solving skills? Most materials should be applicable to a multiple of these inquiries.
• Include materials that support each child’s interest and skill level. For example, you can offer different types of child-safe scissors for preschoolers to explore and identify which they prefer.  
• Provide exact duplicates and triplicates (same color, size, function) of the same item. This allows more than one child to play and learn at the same time and supports social-emotional growth and development.
• Choose materials that honor diversity. Materials should be representative of children and families who attend the program and the community and should promote positive portrayal of all persons. A variety of materials should include people of differing genders, roles and occupations (female firefighter, male caring for a young child), ages, ethnicities, and ability level (person wearing glasses, person using an assistive device like a walker or a wheelchair).
• Offer materials that include a variety of textures, skills, colors, sizes, shapes, and functions. Items can be made of wood, metal, plastic, cloth, or vinyl and be smooth, bumpy, rough, soft, or hard. 
• Ask meaningful questions when exploring materials. The best questions to spark scientific discovery are open-ended questions. Questions like, “Why do you think that happened?” and “What do you think will happen next?” start conversations and spark exploration.

People of all races, cultures, ethnicities, ages, genders, and abilities should be represented equally and appropriately in your program’s materials. Take some time to look through the books, toys, and materials in your classroom to ensure that children and families from diverse backgrounds are represented. Complete the Culture and Children’s Literature activity. Use this activity to review children’s books for common stereotypes and broad generalizations. Share your results with your trainer, coach, or administrator.

It is important to offer learning experiences and activities that are appropriate, engaging and supportive of children’s learning and development across various developmental domains including cognitive, social-emotional, physical, language and literacy, and creative development. Staff working toward their CDA credential should use the CDA Science/Sensory Activity Plan handout to develop a science/sensory learning experience from your curriculum (or a new activity you plan on implementing).

Use the resources in this section to learn more about fun ways you can create environments and use materials that spark children’s cognitive growth. The first handout provides ideas about materials that promote discovery and exploration. Complete and print the list of Materials that Spark Exploration. Consider adding these materials to your discovery center or classroom to encourage exploration. Below is a list of resources to help you be more culturally responsive in your classroom. Print the Resources for Your Classroom activity and apply the ideas offered by the websites and organizations. As you read this information think about what you can do to support the cognitive growth and development of children in your classroom and program.

References & Resources

Biermeier, MA. (2015). Inspired by Reggio-Emilia: Emergent curriculum in relationship-driven learning environments. Young Children. 70(5).

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2011). Building the Brain’s “Air Traffic Control” System: How early experiences shape the development of executive function. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/

Conn-Powers, M., Frazeur Cross, A., Krider Traub, E., & Hutter-Pishgahi, L. (2006). The universal design of early education: Moving forward for all children. Young Children on the Web, 1-9.

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Dodge, D. T., Colker, J., & Heroman, C. (2002). The Creative Curriculum for Preschool. Teaching Strategies Inc.

Eileen Allen, K., Edwards Cowdery, G. (2011). The Exceptional Child: Inclusion in early childhood education (7th ed. ). Wadsworth Publishing.

Gestwicki, C. (2016). Developmentally Appropriate Practice: Curriculum and development in early education (6th ed.). Cengage Learning, Inc.

Merrill, S. & Sheehan, J. (2018, November 26). Building Positive Learning Environment for Young Children Starts with You. Head Start Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center. https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/blog/building-positive-learning-environments-young-children-starts-you

Mooney, C. (2013). Theories of Childhood: An introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erikson, Piaget & Vygotsky (2nd ed.). Redleaf Press. 

National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning (2015). Designing Environments. https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/video/designing-environments 

National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning (2015). Materials to Support Learning. https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/video/materials-support-learning

Reading Rockets. (n.d.). Transcript from an interview with Rudine Sims Bishop. https://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/bishop/transcript

Zan, B., & Geiken, R. (2010). Ramps and Pathways: Developmentally Appropriate, Intellectually Rigorous, and Fun Physical Science. Teaching Young Children, 4(2), 10-12.

Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Ages 0 to 3

We hear the term child development a lot, but you may be thinking, what exactly does that cover? Child development refers to an expansion of physical, cognitive, psychological, and socioemotional skills that lead to increased competence, autonomy, and independence for a child. From conception to birth and through early childhood, it is important to ensure children are protected and encouraged to grow across developmental domains.

5 Developmental Domains For Early Childhood

There are 5 developmental domains, or specified areas of knowledge and activity, in childhood development. They are:

• Cognitive Development-

  • Cognitive development is the ability to learn, think, and problem solve.

• Social-Emotional Development–

  • Social-Emotional Development is the ability to interact, self-soothe, associate and actively engage with others.

• Speech/Language Development–

  • Speech and language development is the ability to understand and use language.

• Physical Development–

  • Fine Motor Development is the ability to use smaller muscles, like hands and fingers.
  • Gross Motor Development is the ability to use large muscles, including a wide range of leg and arm motions, sitting up, pulling up, etc.

All domains of child development and learning are connected! We will take a look at each domain up close, how they are naturally expressed through behaviors and how caretakers can encourage these behaviors with specific feedback. This series, created and written by Lauren Olivas, a CSUSB Masters in Child Development student, will look at stages within the first three years. Stay tuned as we cover skills to watch for and how to identify opportunities to engage.

We’ll begin with cognitive development in early childhood, which again is the ability to learn, think, and problem solve. How do these skills begin to present themselves in infants and toddlers and what activities and opportunities can we create to support them?

Cognitive Development for Infants and Babies

At 2-months-old, learning and problem-solving skills are being developed. There are a wide range of cognitive development milestones babies should be working on in the early years of their lives. These include:

• Paying attention to faces
• Following objects with their eyes
• Recognizing people at a distance
• Putting things in their mouth
• Passing toys from one hand to another
• Looking for things to hide and engaging in a peek-a-boo
• Responding to affection and recognizing familiar people from a distance

Cognitive Development Activities for Babies:

• Talk, read, sing and play together every day-feeding, dressing, and bath times are great for this.
• Look at pictures and picture books together.
• Hold a toy or rattle above their head and encourage them to reach for it.
• Pay attention to their differing cries to learn what your baby wants.
• Play peek-a-boo.
• Play hide and seek with toys and age appropriate objects.
• Allow your baby to safely reach for toys, kick their feet and explore their surroundings.
• Point to and talk about your surroundings.
• When your baby drops something on the floor, pick it up and give it back to them to explore cause and effect.
• Establish routines and maintain them consistently.
• Describe the behaviors you want instead of those you don’t. For example, tell baby, “feet on the floor” instead of “do not climb.”

Cognitive Development in Toddlers

Once your baby transitions to toddlerhood (after one year of age), they should be able to engage in more complex problem-solving and cognitive tasks such as:

• Scribbling on their own
• Participating in caregiving activities for a doll or a stuffed animal
• Engaging in simple pretend play
• Naming items in a picture book (“dog” or “baby”)
• Finding objects hidden under multiple layers
• Completing sentences or rhymes in familiar books

Cognitive Development Activities for Toddlers:

• Talk to your child about your daily routines and what you’re doing.
• Work on puzzles together.
• Encourage your child to help with simple household chores.
• Ask lots of simple questions.
• Praise and encourage behaviors you want more of rather than scolding or punishing for the behaviors that you do not.
• Play with blocks and sort shapes.
• Practice identification, ask your child to name parts of their body or what they see out the car window.
• Encourage pretend play.
• Play hide and seek with objects around your home.

(Content provided by Lauren Olivas, M.A Child Development Candidate, Higher Education Mentor for Quality Counts California)

Other Important Resources:

• Resources for building quality at home.
• What is Sesame Street in Communities and how does it support families and children’s growth?
• Watch the webinar, “Children’s Emotional Well-Being During Unpredictable Times” from Dr. Eugene Wong on childhood anxiety and how to effectively support a child who worries.

 

Finally, if you have questions of concerns about your child’s development or behavior, check out Help Me Grow Inland Empire for developmental screening information.

Child’s Cognitive Development Through Games

Reading and writing are important stages in a child’s development, the effectiveness of which depends on the child’s ability to learn. There are cases when reading difficulties are due to the fact that the child quickly forgets the meaning of what he read, cannot combine letters into syllables or syllables into words. The general cognitive development of a preschool child is an effective prevention of developmental problems and the key to successful learning, including learning to read.

Let’s explore some games and exercises for memory, thinking and attention development in preschool children.

The best way to stimulate a child’s cognitive development is through games, homework and special activities in kindergarten. Faced with the need to remember something, the child begins to look for ways to remember it.

Images usually make it easier for children to memorize material because their visual memory dominates other types of memory. Given this, it is important not to overload the baby with a large amount of verbal information. Learn short nursery rhymes by heart, reading and retelling stories and stories is enough.

Songs and poems for children in German

Game “What is missing?”.

Requires 3 to 7 small items to play (depending on the age of the children), such as animal figurines. It is better to play alone or in a group of no more than three children. Put the figures in a row, name them and discuss with the child. Then, ask the baby to close his eyes, and remove one figure yourself. This game is suitable for children from 3 years old.

Exercise “Remember and name”.

To do this exercise, find a picture, for example, of children playing. Show it to the child and name the objects shown in the picture describing them. After that, hide the picture and ask the child: “Remember what you saw in the picture?”. If difficulties arise, you can help your child by asking guiding questions. For children from 4 years old.

Game “What’s in the bag?”

Requires a small bag and 3 to 8 small items, eg balloon, bell, pencil, walnut. Looking at objects, the child builds associations, for example, a ball looks like the sun, a pencil looks like a stick. After that, all the objects are collected back into the bag and the child is asked to name the objects according to their associations: the sun – a ball, a stick – a pencil, and so on. For children from 4 years old.

Development of logical thinking

The ability to build logical connections between objects and notice cause-and-effect relationships is an important condition for a child’s intellectual development. Daily communication with the child and his involvement in various activities is necessary for the cognitive development of the child. Additional games and exercises will facilitate the assimilation of new learning materials in the future.

The game “4th extra”.

Find the misplaced image in the line.

Game “Find a couple”.

Find a pair of an object or a relationship between several objects (by purpose or value).

Association game.

Children are invited to continue the semantic series, try to say the last word.

Wolf – rabbit, cat – …

Fast – faster, slower – …

Fox – small fox, wolf – …

Squirrel – nuts, bear – …

Forest – trees, field – …

Coat – winter, shorts -…

Sea – water, land – …

Water – faucet, light – …

Teacher – school, tutor – …

Game “Continue drawing”.

The child is given a card with a certain sequence of geometric shapes and is asked to identify the pattern and continue it independently. For example, circle – square – circle – square: what’s next? Gradually, the patterns become more complex in terms of color, size, number of shapes in the pattern, etc.

Game “Fable”.

Look at the pictures and discuss with your child what actually exists in real life and what doesn’t. Variant for the game: who can find more ridiculous things.

Game “Fable”

Solving puzzles and riddles are also useful for the development of children’s thinking processes.

Computer games can also help develop thinking. For example, Minecraft is a truly educational game: it develops spatial thinking, mathematical and logical abilities, and includes solving various problems by building algorithms.

How to develop attention.

The following games are recommended for children over 5 years of age.

Find and cross out game.

There are special tables for this game, but if there are none, it doesn’t matter! Old magazines or newspapers are also fine. You will need a marker. Within 5 minutes, children cross out letters, for example, “A” or geometric shapes from the text.

“Don’t say ‘yes’ and ‘no’.

The child is asked to answer several questions, but each time in a different way, without using forbidden words (eg “Yes”, “No”, “Black” and “White”, etc.). The adult asks questions that involve the use of a forbidden word, such as “What color is the doctor’s coat?”. The child must answer following the rules and not naming “stop words”. When someone makes a mistake, the roles are reversed. The game starts with one “stop word”, gradually introducing others.

Find the difference game.

To play the game, prepare a pair of pictures containing 5 to 15 different elements. The child must look at the pictures to find all the differences.

Child’s cognitive development

There is an unlimited number of games. Each parent and teacher can come up with their own games for the further cognitive development of the child. The main task of adults is to support and stimulate the curiosity and cognitive activity of children, stimulate their interest in various areas of life, and satisfy the need for knowledge.

The games and activities mentioned above can be adapted to suit children’s preferences.

Cognitive Stimulation – Specialized Materials and Exercises

CogniFit’s Cognitive Stimulation Tools can activate, develop and strengthen core cognitive abilities (attention, memory, executive function, planning, perception, etc.). ) and their components.

This brain stimulation program helps improve cognitive function through online games based on cognitive reserve and neural plasticity. This neuro-gymnastics includes various therapeutic exercises, rehabilitation and training techniques that help strengthen the user’s cognitive abilities.

CogniFit’s battery of cognitive tasks consists of a variety of systematic tasks. All exercises are presented in the form of simple games that can be easily played using any computer or gadget. These cognitive neurofitness tools are designed for both healthy people, and people who are worried about the state of their brain or suffering from any disorder of the central nervous system .

CogniFit offers a series of personalized online cognitive stimulation exercises tailored to the individual needs of each user.

How do cognitive stimulation exercises from CogniFit work?

Cognitive stimulation tools from CogniFit have been shown to help activate and strengthen core cognition through the plasticity of the human brain.

This industry-leading program in neuroscience and cognitive rehabilitation stimulates specific patterns of neural activity. Repetition of these patterns through effective tasks and games can help strengthen our brain’s neural connections, create new synapses, and myelinate neural networks that can restore and/or reorganize basic cognitive functions.

It is necessary to be aware that cognitive stimulation is not a set of random actions. It is not enough to play individual smart games that we find on the Internet. Correct and effective cognitive stimulation requires theoretical justification and scientific evaluation .

Our mental abilities are associated with certain patterns of neural activity and depend on how neurons connect and fire in different parts of the brain.

Why choose cognitive stimulation from CogniFit?

CogniFit is the leader in cognitive stimulation. All exercises and tasks were developed by experts in the field of neuroplasticity, cognitive stimulation and rehabilitation. The use of a scientifically developed information program for the stimulation and rehabilitation of cognitive abilities has many advantages.

• This cognitive stimulation program can be used by any private or professional user (researchers, doctors, educators, etc.). There is no need to have special knowledge in the field of neuroscience or computer science. CogniFit enables the to intuitively, easily and effectively manage the cognitive charging tasks and outcomes.
• Cognitive exercise program CogniFit can activate and strengthen a large number of cognitive ability , simple and fun .
• The attractive design of Brain Gymnastics Game increases the motivation of users, especially children, to encourage exercise.
• You just need to log into your account and start training. Difficulty level, exercise type and cognitive task requirement level are automatically adjusted by the platform, so training is completely personalized.
• Exercise data is collected and coded . The CogniFit software collects and analyzes this information itself, so the user does not need to perform any calculations to study the dynamics of the development of a cognitive state in general or any cognitive ability in particular.
• Instructions for games and tasks are presented in an interactive format , which makes them easy to understand.
• Cognitive exercises are adapted as far as possible to the cognitive characteristics of each user, in connection with which are available for execution. The simplicity of the program, low system requirements and the variety of languages ​​in which it is presented make neurogymnastics from CogniFit available to most of the population.
• CogniFit suitable for children, adolescents, adults and the elderly, both healthy and with any pathology ; Cognitive warm-up is good for everyone.
• As is an online program, CogniFit’s brain training can be used anywhere the internet is available . This allows you to train remotely. Thus, specialists can observe the cognitive progress of their patients from a distance, without the need for personal presence.

Is the CogniFit Cognitive Stimulation Program right for me?

CogniFit’s cognitive stimulation program is for everyone. Everyone can develop, optimize and improve their mental abilities and brain functions. Cognitive stimulation is suitable for both healthy people and people with any disorders or brain damage . In all cases, the main goal is to improve cognitive abilities.

Cognitive stimulation programs offered by CogniFit

General cognitive stimulation programs:

If you do not have cognitive problems and just want to develop and improve your cognitive abilities, CogniFit is the best choice . With over 30 games and 18 tests, you can measure and strengthen your core cognitive functions . This program is intended for people of all ages (children, adolescents, adults and older people), both healthy and with pathologies.

• Personalized General Cognitive Stimulation : General Cognitive Stimulation is the most comprehensive training CogniFit offers. This training is not designed to improve any particular cognitive ability, so it is suitable for any situation. These are exercises to maintain and develop the cognitive state in general. The training is tailored to the individual needs of each user.

Specialized cognitive stimulation programs for different cognitive areas:

Sometimes brain lesions cause specific cognitive complications, affecting a certain cognitive area and not affecting others. That is why CogniFit offers specific exercises for different cognitive abilities :

• Attention Attention Cognitive Stimulation Program : Attention is one of the main cognitive abilities. At the same time, this skill is most affected by brain damage or developmental disorders. CogniFit offers a variety of games specifically designed to develop and improve attention.
• Perception Perception Cognitive Stimulation Program : Perception can be trained with over 30 different games and activities designed to help overcome the difficulties associated with assimilation, processing and understanding of information received from the outside.
• Memory Memory Cognitive Stimulation Program : Complaints of memory impairment are the most common among people with cognitive problems. With the help of cognitive gymnastics for memory, you can develop the ability to encode, store and restore information.
• Executive functions Executive stimulation program : The executive functions regulate very complex processes such as reasoning. This program is specifically designed to test and develop the executive functions of children, adolescents, adults, older people and the elderly.
• Coordination Coordination Cognitive Stimulation Program : The program will help increase the efficiency of our movements with various games designed to improve coordination.

Special Cognitive Stimulation for Professionals:

We can improve our own cognitive abilities and, as professionals, we can administer cognitive stimulation to the people we work with, whether for clinical, research or educational purposes.

• Professional platform for doctors and psychologists Cognitive stimulation platform for professionals : Cognitive stimulation is used in hospitals, clinics, associations, rehabilitation and psychological clinics, and even in patients’ homes. The CogniFit platform allows professionals to easily and conveniently manage, monitor and adjust the cognitive training of various patients. Using this tool, a specialist can prescribe cognitive gymnastics to a patient in person or remotely.
• Researcher Platform Cognitive Stimulation Researcher Platform : Scientific discoveries and scientific research in the field of computerized cognitive stimulation and neuroscience is growing every day. Using the CogniFit platform, researchers will be able to train and easily and quickly evaluate the results of scientific experiment participants without wasting time collecting data.
• Education platform Cognitive stimulation platform for schools and teachers : using a neuroeducation program in schools and educational centers can be very useful for students. With the help of the CogniFit platform, educators can study the progress of children’s cognitive state and tailor cognitive gymnastics according to the needs of each child.

How long does the cognitive stimulation exercise take?

A full session of cognitive stimulation lasts approximately 10-15 minutes . CogniFit recommends 3 sessions per week, not consecutive . At your request, CogniFit (“CogniFit”) can automatically send you session reminders.

Each session consists of two brain training games and a cognitive test that measures progress and improvement in cognitive function.

This cognitive stimulation exercise program automatically suggests games and selects their difficulty level according to the user’s cognitive needs.

What happens when I don’t develop my cognitive abilities?

The importance of improving cognitive performance lies in the fact that good cognitive abilities improve our efficiency in daily activities and help us better adapt to the environment . When our brain performs a cognitive function, the neurons involved and the connections between them are strengthened. Repetitive stimulation of this pattern of neural activity with cognitive stimulation can improve the state of various cognitive abilities.

Conversely, if we do not develop our cognitive functions, the brain reduces the resources allocated to them . Thus, due to the lack of necessary stimulation, our cognitive state can deteriorate. This can be avoided with proper cognitive stimulation .

It is necessary to distinguish between cognitive stimulation and neuropsychological rehabilitation .

Cognitive stimulation is “ all actions aimed at improving the general cognitive state or its individual processes and components of both healthy people and people with various lesions of the central nervous system ” [1].

In other words, cognitive stimulation is the strengthening of cognitive abilities through brain exercises. In turn, neuropsychological rehabilitation is the restoration of abilities impaired as a result of any damage or injury .

While cognitive stimulation helps improve cognitive abilities , neuropsychological rehabilitation is designed to maximize recovery physical, psychological state of patients and their social adaptation.

5 ways to maximize your cognitive abilities / Sudo Null IT News

Do not pursue goals that are easy to achieve. It is worth aiming at what can be done with difficulty, with a lot of effort – Albert Einstein

Despite the fact that Einstein was not a neuroscientist, he knew exactly everything when he talked about the ability of a person to achieve something. He intuitively guessed something that we have only been able to confirm with the help of data today, namely: what makes cognitive abilities work at their highest level. Essentially: What doesn’t kill you makes you smarter.

Just recently, my teacher told me that people are bad at controlling their intellect. It was genetically incorporated at birth. He explained that efforts made to develop intelligence in children (for example, through programs such as Head Start) met with little success after putting them into practice, and besides, as soon as the “learning” was over, they immediately returned to initial low level of cognitive abilities. Indeed, the data supported this, and he (along with many other intelligence researchers) concluded that intelligence could not be improved, or at least not lasting.

However, I objected.
You see, before starting this phase of my research, I started working as a Behavioral Therapist teaching young children with autism. These children had a range of cognitive impairments – my task was to educate them in areas that were not developed enough to bring them as close as possible to the level of functioning of their peers. In order to achieve the goal, in the course of treatment we used a variety of methods, or Multimodal Education (when using the maximum number of input methods).

One of my first clients was a little boy with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Mental Retardation), a mild form of autism. When we started treatment, we checked his IQ and it turned out to be around 80, which is practically considered mentally retarded. After I worked with him for about three years – individually teaching him in areas such as communication, reading, math, social behavior, play skills, entertainment and recreation – using multimodal methods technologies – he was retested. His IQ was now well over 100 (given that 100 is considered “average”, compared to the average citizen). That’s a 20 point improvement, more than one level improvement for a child with autism!

This was not the only child who made significant progress before my eyes during my medical practice. I’ve been very lucky to see so many kids progressing so fast – not miraculously, and even without taking medication, there’s also data to support their progress. I thought – if these children with severe learning disabilities could progress so much and achieve such success in every aspect of cognitive functioning – why can’t the average person progress as well? Or even achieve great success, given that he does not have additional problems in terms of autism?

Although the results of early research were not very accurate, I did not give up. I still believed that there was a chance to significantly increase cognitive functioning by providing the right training – as I saw it with my own eyes when I worked as a doctor.

Then in 2008 there was an amazing study, “Improving fluid intelligence through short-term memory training” by Jaggi, Bushkul, Johnids and Perrig. This study was somewhat of a breakthrough for those who research this topic. They were the first to show that it was actually possible to develop intelligence to a sufficiently high level through training. What did they do differently?

The people in Jaggy’s study were trained with intensive, multi-modal (visual and auditory input) tasks for short-term memory (n-back task) over time periods of varying lengths, one or two weeks, depending on the group. After this training, they were tested to determine how much they had improved their level. Most likely, one could assume that after training their level increased. But they went even further. They wanted to see if progress could be carried over to a completely different test of cognitive ability, which would be indicators of an increase in absolute cognitive ability. What did they discover?

After short-term memory training, using the n-back test, people were actually able to tolerate a significant increase in the level of a cognitive aspect that is absolutely not related to others. It was a huge event.

Below is a graph of their results, you can read more about the whole study here.

What is “Intellect”?

First of all, let me explain what I mean when I say the word “intelligence”. To be clear, I’m not just talking about increasing the amount of facts or bits of knowledge that you can accumulate, or what is called crystallized intelligence – this is not training in fluency or memorization – in fact, it is almost the opposite. I’m talking about improving your fluid intelligence, or your ability to memorize new information, store it, then use that new knowledge as a basis for solving the next problem or learning another new skill, and so on.

Now, while short-term memory is not synonymous with intelligence, it is very much related to intelligence. To successfully draw an intelligent conclusion, it is quite important to have a good short-term memory. Thus, to maximize the use of intelligence, it is worth significantly improving short-term memory – this is, for example, using the best and most modern parts to help the mechanism work at the highest level.

What can you learn from this? This study is significant because it found:

1. Hypothetical intelligence can be trained.
2. Training and subsequent success is dose dependent, the more you train the more you benefit.
3. Everyone can develop their cognitive abilities, regardless of the initial level.
4. Progress can be made by practicing on tasks that do not resemble questions on a test.

How can this research be put into practice and benefit from it?

There is a reason why the n-back task has been so successful in increasing cognitive ability. This training involves dividing attention between competing stimuli, that is, multimodality (one visual stimulus, one auditory stimulus). Here you need to focus on certain details, ignoring inappropriate information, and this helps to improve short-term memory over time, gradually increasing the ability to perceive information effectively in several directions. In addition, the stimulus was constantly switched, so that the phenomenon of “training for test questions” never arose – each time there was something new. If you have never taken an n-back test, let me tell you about it: it is very difficult. No wonder there are so many cognitive benefits from such an activity.

But let’s talk from a practical point of view.
Eventually, the cards in the deck or the sounds in the piece will run out (the experiment lasted 2 weeks), so it’s not practical to think that if you want to continuously increase your intellectual abilities throughout your life, then one n-back will be enough. Besides, you will get tired of it and stop doing it. I’m sure that’s what I would do. Not to mention the time you spend learning this way – we are all very busy all the time! Thus, we should think about how to model the same types of super-efficient multi-modal brain stimulation techniques that can be used in normal life, and still get the maximum benefit in the growth of cognitive thinking.

So, with all this in mind, I have developed five basic elements that will help in the development of fluid intelligence, or cognitive ability. As I have already noted, it is impractical to consistently perform the n-back task or variations of it every day for the rest of your life in order to receive cognitive benefits. But what is practical is a lifestyle change that will have the same – and even greater – cognitive benefits. This can be done every day to benefit from intensive all-brain training, and should also translate into benefits for full cognitive functioning.

These five basic principles are:

1. Seek innovation
2. Challenge yourself
3. Think creatively
4. Don’t take the easy way
5. Be online

Each of these points is already a great thing in itself, but if you really want to function at the highest possible cognitive level, it is better to do all five points, and as often as possible. In fact, I live by these five principles. If you accept these as fundamental guidelines, then I guarantee that you will make the most of your abilities, surpassing even what you thought you were capable of – all without artificial boost. Great Information: Science confirms these principles with data!

1. Look for innovation

It’s no coincidence that geniuses like Einstein were knowledgeable in many fields, or erudite, as we call them. Geniuses are constantly looking for new activities, exploring new areas. This is their individuality.

Only one of the “Big Five” traits of the Five Factor Personality Model (Acronym: ODEP, or Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Pleasantness, and Irritability) is associated with IQ, and that is the Openness to Experience trait. People who have a high level of Openness are constantly looking for new information, new activities, new things to learn – new experiences, in general.

When you are looking for innovation, several things happen. First of all, you create new synaptic connections with every new activity you participate in. These connections build on each other, increasing the activity of the nervous system, creating more connections so that new connections are created on their basis – thus, learning occurs.

An area of ​​interest in recent research is neural plasticity as a factor in individual differences in intelligence. Plasticity refers to the number of connections made between neurons and how that affects subsequent connections, and how long those connections last. Basically it means how much new information you are able to take in, and whether you are able to store it by making permanent changes in the brain. Constantly exposing yourself directly to new things helps to put the brain in its original state for learning.

Innovation also triggers the production of dopamine (I mentioned this earlier in other posts), which is not only highly motivating, but also stimulates neurogenesis – the creation of new neurons – and prepares the brain for learning. All you have to do is satisfy your hunger.

Excellent condition for learning = New activity-> dopamine production-> promotes a more motivated state-> which promotes recruitment and creation of neurons-> neurogenesis can occur + increase in synaptic plasticity (increase in the number of new nerve connections, or learning).

As a follow-up to Jaggy’s study, researchers in Sweden found that after 14 hours of short-term memory training for 5 weeks, there was an increase in the amount of dopamine D1 binding potential in the prefrontal and parietal regions of the brain. This particular dopamine receptor, type D1, is associated with nerve cell growth and development, among other things. This increase in plasticity, allowing for greater anchoring of this receptor, is very helpful in maximizing cognitive functioning.

Do the item at home: Be “Einstein”. Always look for new activities for the mind – expand your cognitive horizons. Learn the tool. Take a painting course. Go to the museum. Read about a new field of science. Be addicted to knowledge.

2. Challenge yourself

There is a huge amount of terrible work written and distributed about how to “train the brain” and “become smarter.” When I talk about “brain training games”, I mean memory games and speed games, the purpose of which is to increase the speed of information processing, etc.; this includes games such as Sudoku, which are advised to play in “free time” (end the oxymoron, given the development of cognitive abilities). I’m going to debunk some of the stuff you’ve heard about brain training games before. Here’s what I’ll tell you: They don’t work. Personalized learning games don’t make you smarter – they make you more proficient at brain learning games.

So they do have a goal, but the result won’t last long. In order to get something out of these types of cognitive activity, one must turn to the first principle of the search for innovation. Once you master one of these cognitive activities in the brain training game, you should move on to the next challenging activity. Do you understand how to play Sudoku? Excellent! Now move on to the next type of stimulating games. There has been research that supports this logic.

A few years ago, the scientist Richard Heyer wanted to know if it was possible to significantly increase cognition by intense training in new mental activities in a few weeks. They used the video game Tetris as a new activity, and used people who had never played the game before as subjects of study (I know, I know – can you imagine such people exist?!). They found that after training for several weeks on a game of Tetris, the study subjects experienced an increase in cortical thickness as well as an increase in cortical activity, as evidenced by an increase in the amount of glucose used in that area of ​​the brain. Basically, the brain used more energy during that period of training, and got fatter – that means more nerve connections, or new learned experiences – after such intense training. And they became experts at Tetris. Cool, yeah?

Here’s the thing: After an initial dramatic cognitive increase, they noticed a decrease in both cortical thickness and the amount of glucose used during the task. However, they still played Tetris just as well; their skill did not deteriorate. Brain scans showed less brain activity during the game, instead of an increase as in previous days. Why the decline? Their brains have become more efficient. Once their brain understood how to play Tetris, and really started to understand it, it became too lazy to do something. He didn’t have to work as hard to play the game well, so cognitive energy and glucose went in the other direction.

Efficiency is not your friend when it comes to cognitive growth. In order for the brain to continue making new connections and keep them active, you must continue to move on to other stimulating activities once you’ve reached the peak of mastery in a particular activity. You want to be in a constant state of little embarrassment, struggling to achieve something, no matter what it is, as Einstein noted in his quote. It keeps the brain in limbo, so to speak. We will return to this issue later.

3. Think creatively

When I say that thinking creatively will help you improve your nervous system, I don’t mean painting a picture, or doing something fancy, like the first paragraph “Look for innovation. ” When I talk about creative thinking, I mean direct creative cognition and what it means while the process is going on in the brain.

Contrary to popular belief, creative thinking is not “thinking with the right side of the brain.” Both halves of the brain are involved here, not just the right. Creative cognition includes divergent thinking (a wide range of topics/subjects), the ability to find distant associations with ideas, switch between traditional and non-traditional perspectives (cognitive flexibility), and generate original, fresh ideas that are also relevant to the activity you are doing. To do everything right, you need the right and left hemispheres to work simultaneously and together.

A few years ago, Dr. Robert Sternberg, former Dean of Tufts University, opened the PACE (Psychology of Ability, Competence, and Excellence) Center in Boston. Sternberg tried not only to define the basic concept of intelligence, but also to find ways in which any person can maximize their intelligence through training, and especially through schooling.

Here Sternberg describes the goals of the PACE Center, which was founded at Yale University:
“The main concept of the center is that abilities are not fixed, they are flexible, they can be changed, each person can transform his abilities into his competence, and competence into mastery,” Sternberg explains. “Our focus is on how we can help people change their abilities so that they can better solve problems and cope with the situations they will face in life.”

Through his research, Project Rainbow, he not only developed innovative methods for creative learning in the classroom, but produced assessments that tested students in such a way that they had to approach problem solving in a creative and practical way, as well as analytically, instead of just memorize facts.

Sternberg explains:
“In Project Rainbow, we valued creative, practical as well as analytical skills. A creative test could be, for example: ‘Here is a cartoon. Give it a title.’ The practice could be a film about a student who comes to a party, looks around, doesn’t know anyone, and obviously feels uncomfortable. What should a student do?”

He wanted to see if teaching students to think creatively about assignments could make them learn more about a topic, enjoy learning more, and transfer what they learned to other areas of science. He wanted to understand is it possible, by changing the methods of teaching and assessment, to prevent “learning to take tests” and get students to learn more, in general.He collected information on this topic and still got good results.

Briefly? On average, students in the test group (those who were taught using creative methods) scored higher at the end of their college course than the control group (those taught using traditional methods and assessment systems). But, just to be fair, he gave the test group the same analytical-type exam as the regular students (multiple choice test), and they also scored higher on that test. This means that they were able to transfer the knowledge they received using creative, multi-modal learning methods and scored higher on a completely different cognitive test of the same material. Doesn’t this remind you of anything?

4. Don’t take the easy way

I mentioned earlier that efficiency is not your friend if you are trying to increase your IQ. Unfortunately, many things in life are geared towards increasing efficiency. Thus, we do more with less time, physical and mental effort. However, this does not have a beneficial effect on your brain.

Take one object of modern convenience, GPS. GPS is an amazing invention. I am one of those people for whom GPS was invented. I’m awfully bad at navigating the area. I get lost all the time. So I thanked fate for the advent of GPS. But you know what? After using the GPS for a short time, I found that my sense of direction became even worse. When it wasn’t at my fingertips, I felt even more lost than before. So when I moved to Boston — the city where horror movies about the lost come from — I stopped using GPS.

I won’t lie – my suffering knew no bounds. My new job meant traveling all over the outskirts of Boston, and I got lost every day for at least 4 weeks. I got lost and wandered so often that I thought that I would lose my job due to chronic lateness (I was even complained about in writing). But over time, I began to find my way, thanks to the vast navigational experience I gained with just my brain and a map. I really began to feel where and what is in Boston thanks solely to logic and memory, and not GPS. I still remember how proud I was that I found a hotel in the city center where my friend was staying, based only on the name and description of the area – even without an address! I felt like I graduated from a navigational education school.

Technology makes our lives easier, faster, more efficient in many ways, but sometimes our cognitive abilities can suffer as a result of this kind of simplification and harm us in the future. Before everyone starts yelling and emailing my transhumanist friends about my sinning against technology, I must warn you that this is not what I do at all.

Look at it this way: when you go to work by car, it takes less physical effort, less time, and it’s more convenient and enjoyable than walking. Everything seems to be fine. But if you only ride or spend your whole life on a Segway, not even short distances, then you will not waste energy. Over time, your muscles will atrophy, your physical condition will weaken, and you are likely to gain excess weight. As a result, your general condition will worsen.

Your brain also needs exercise. If you stop using your problem solving skills, your logical, cognitive abilities, then how will your brain always be in the best shape, not to mention improve your mental abilities? Think about the fact that if you constantly rely only on useful modern conveniences, your skills in a certain area may suffer. For example, translation software: great, but my knowledge of languages ​​deteriorated markedly as soon as I started using them. Now I force myself to think of a translation before I know the correct one. The same applies to spell check and automatic correction. In truth, auto-correction is the worst thing that has been invented to improve the thought process. You know the computer will find and correct your mistakes, so you keep typing to yourself without even thinking about it. How to spell a particular word. As a result, after several years of stable autocorrect and automatic spell checking, are we the most illiterate nation? (Wish someone would do some research on this.)

There are times when the use of technology is justified and necessary. But there are times when it’s better to say no to simplifications and use your brain while you can afford the luxury of time and energy. In order to keep yourself in good physical shape, it is recommended to walk to work as often as possible or take the stairs instead of the elevator several times a week. Don’t you want your brain to stay in shape too? Put the GPS aside from time to time, and do a favor for your navigation and problem-solving skills. Keep it handy, but try to find everything yourself first. Your brain will thank you for it.

5. Stay online

And so we come to the last element on the path to increasing your cognitive potential: a computer network. What’s great about this last install is that if you’re doing the previous four things, you’re probably already doing this as well. If not, then start. Immediately.

By communicating with other people, either through social networks such as Facebook or Twitter, or face to face, you expose yourself to situations that will make it much easier for you to achieve goals 1-4. As you encounter new people, new ideas, and new environments, you open yourself up to new opportunities for mental growth. By being around people who may not be in your field, you will be able to see problems from a new perspective or discover new solutions that you have never thought of before. Connecting with other people online is a great way to learn how to open yourself up to new things and perceive unique and meaningful information. I won’t even go into the social benefits and emotional well-being of a computer network, but that’s just an added benefit.

Stephen Johnson, author of How Good Ideas Are Born, discusses the importance of groups and networks in promoting ideas. If you are looking for new situations, ideas, environments and perspectives, then the web is the answer for you. It would be quite difficult to implement the concept of “smarter” without making the network a core component. The great thing about computer networks: Beneficial for everyone involved. Collective intelligence for victory!

I have one more thing to mention…
Remember back at the beginning of this article I told a story about my clients with autism spectrum disorders? Let’s think for a moment about how to increase the level of flexibility of your intellect in light of everything that we have already talked about. What are these children capable of achieving at such a high level? This is not an accident or a miracle – it is because we have taken into account all these principles of training in their therapy program. While most other therapy providers are stuck on the “Infallible Learning” paradigm and slightly modified Lovaas Methods of Applied Behavior Analysis, we have embraced and fully embraced a multi-modal approach to learning. We made the kids try their best to learn, we used the most creative methods we could think of, and we dared to set the bar seemingly far beyond their abilities. But you know what? They went beyond the time frame and made me truly believe that amazing things are possible if you have the will, courage and perseverance to set yourself on this path and stick with it. If these children with disabilities can live while constantly improving their cognitive abilities, then so can you.

In parting, I’ll ask a thought-provoking question: If we have all of this supporting data showing that these teaching methods and learning approaches can have such a profound positive impact on cognitive growth, why wouldn’t therapy programs or school systems take advantage of some of these methods? I would like to see them as a standard in the field of education, and not an exception. Let’s try something new and shake up the education system a bit, shall we? We would greatly raise the collective IQ.

Intelligence is not just about how many levels in a math course you have completed, how fast you can solve an algorithm, or how many new words over 6 characters you know. It is about approaching a new problem, recognizing its important components, and solving it. Then collect the knowledge gained and apply it to solve the next, more complex problem. It’s about innovation and imagination and being able to apply them to make the world a better place. It is this kind of intelligence that is valuable, and it is this kind of intelligence that we should strive for and encourage.

About the author: Andrea Kuszewski is a consultant behavioral therapist for children with autism based in Florida; specialist in Asperger’s syndrome, or high-functioning autism. She teaches the basics of behavior in society, communication, as well as the impact of behavior on the sphere of home and society, teaching children and parents about therapy methods. Andrea’s work as a researcher with the METODO Institute of Social Sciences, the American arm of the METODO Transdisciplinary Social Science Research Group, Bogota, Colombia, explores the influence of neuro-cognitive factors in human behavior – these include aspects such as creativity, intelligence, illegal behavior, and diffuse-confuser disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. Also, as a creativity researcher, she is a painter herself and has studied various forms of visual communication ranging from traditional drawing to digital painting, graphic design, and 3D modeling, animation in the medical sciences and behavioral sciences. She has a blog on The Rogue Neuron and on Twitter @AndreaKuszewski.

what is it, 6 ways of development

Successful marketers take into account the cognitive abilities of buyers when developing an advertising campaign. Cognitions are thoughts driven to automatism and formed beliefs that influence people’s decisions.

For example, the bride, in addition to the cherished words, wants to receive a diamond ring. Preferably several carats. After all, a diamond is a kind of symbol of the inviolability of marriage bonds. This belief, which has been imposed for 75 years by the marketers of the De Beers diamond corporation, is formulated according to the principles of cognitive marketing.

How De Beers and other companies take into account the cognitive abilities of people when developing marketing campaigns, we figured out together with psychologist Yulia Goryacheva.

Don’t have time to read the article? Find it in our telegram channel and save it to your “Favorites” for the future.

Contents of the article

What is cognitive ability?

How to develop cognitive abilities?

Perception
Attention
Memory
Movement
Speech
Imagination

Cognitive abilities in marketing

Examples of companies using cognitive marketing
Ways of implementation
Tools

Conclusion

What is cognitive ability?

Cognitive abilities or cognitions are all that our brain produces: automatic thoughts, intermediate and deep beliefs.

• Automatic thoughts are instantaneous value judgments that arise as a reaction to an event. “It is very expensive!”.
• Intermediate beliefs are attitudes, own rules and suggestions regarding a particular situation. “To live well, I have to work hard.”
• Core beliefs are basic attitudes formed in early childhood. They concern a person’s opinion of himself, others and society. For example, the formed attitude “Chinese things are always of poor quality.”

Cognitions are also rules, beliefs, images and standards formed by a person in relation to a specific situation. For example, for one, diamonds are a symbol of luxury, for another – a sign of love, for the third – squandering.

Cognitions are basic skills that every person has to one degree or another. This is the ability to reason, plan, act, think, analyze difficult situations, and learn.

Read also: Market psychology: advertising words to attract customers

How to develop cognitive abilities?

In one way or another, all human actions are connected with cognitive skills. For example, to answer a call, a person needs:

• To hear a melody is to perceive information.
• think? whether to pick up the phone – make a decision.
• Reach out – make a move.
• Talk, understand what the interlocutor is talking about – use speech.
• Based on intonation and timbre, choose the manner of communication – use social skills.

Perception, attention, memory, movement, speech, imagination are brain functions that are responsible for the development of cognitive abilities. We need to develop them.

Perception

Perception is the ability to recognize and interpret various sensory stimuli: smell, taste, sound. With the help of perception, a person builds images and compares analogues.

Perception works selectively: a person highlights, among other things, what he is used to or what he wants to see. For example, a logo in a film will be noticed by someone who is loyal to the advertising company. If a person does not use the company’s products, he is unlikely to see hidden advertising.

Graphic puzzles help develop perception. For example, in the task below, you need to understand which figure is depicted inside – a circle or an oval.

Image: sun9-34. userapi.com

Of course, inside is a circle, not an oval. Extra stripes of a large figure distort perception. If part of the outer circle is covered with a white sheet, the distortion will disappear.

Such exercises also train the ability to make decisions. The brain processes the information that the eyes see and learns to draw analogies, look for associations, use selective attention in a difficult situation.

Another example is the Adelson illusion. Try to determine which square is darker – A or B?

Image Credit: Original: Edward H. Adelson, vectorized by Pbroks13.. Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org

In this optical illusion, squares A and B appear to be different colors when in fact they are exactly the same.

(We were shocked too. But we checked with an eyedropper in Paint 3D – it turned out the same shade.)

The human eye evaluates the situation based on incoming sensory information and personal expectations. People interpret optical illusions differently because they are trying to decipher an ambiguous visual cue based on previous experience.

Read also: Design thinking: how to come up with non-standard solutions

Attention

Attention is a skill that helps you focus on a particular object, action, or thought.

To develop attention and memory, you can do the following exercises:

• Try to name the days of the week in reverse order, and then alphabetically or in another language.
• Name the months in alphabetical order in ascending order and vice versa.
• Add up all the numbers from the date of birth – your own, friend, child, colleague.
• Find in the room where you are now, five items of the same color, which are:
• – can fit in the palm of your hand,
• – won’t fit in your pocket.

See also: How to grab and hold the reader’s attention

Memory

Memory is the ability to remember information, and then repeatedly reproduce and apply it when necessary. She trains constantly:

• When a person remembers the products from the shopping list.
• When he remembers new names and dates of birth.
• When he retells what he has read.

If there is a task to improve photographic and visual memory, you can apply the Aivazovsky method. Stare at the object for five minutes, and then, closing your eyes, try to imagine what you saw in your head. The more detailed the image, the better.

If you need to improve peripheral vision, increase attention and observation, you can try Schulte’s tables. These are tables with randomly placed objects or numbers. A person consistently searches for numbers from 1 to infinity.


To get a tangible result, you need to do the exercises every day for 15-20 minutes.

See also: Epistemology: how do you know that you know what you know?

Movement

Movement is the ability to control muscles. To develop this skill, you can try muscle relaxation techniques. For example, progressive muscle relaxation, which is usually used in conjunction with other methods of cognitive behavioral therapy.

You need to find a quiet place where nothing will distract you. Take a comfortable position – lie on the floor or lean on the sofa, unfasten buttons, remove glasses, watches and other objects that may be distracting. Take a few slow even breaths, engage your diaphragm. Consistently tighten and then relax your forehead, jaw, neck and shoulders, arms and hands, buttocks, calves, and feet.

If everything is done correctly, all your muscles will relax, and your breathing will remain measured and even.

Read also: The key to productivity is not your mind, but your body

Speech

Speech is a verbal means of communication. It is considered one of the most complex functions, involving the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

To train speech skills, you can come up with 20-30 truthful adjectives for a specific object every day. For example, the noun “sea” is blue, quiet, stormy, cold, dirty, restless, seething, etc.

Another exercise is to find homographs for pairs of unrelated words:

• Lock – piano → key
• Ship – card → deck
• School – eye → student
• Bed – paper → wood.

Imagination

Imagination is the ability to form a mental image of what is not perceived by the senses. The best imagination training is the practice of various creative thinking techniques.

Read also: 5 methods of creative thinking

Cognitive skills in marketing

Cognitive marketing is a direction of marketing that influences the formation of the cognitive abilities of buyers.

Marketers, using various tools, form a certain picture of the world – a user’s cognitive map – which should be formed by the consumer in a particular situation.

The task of cognitive marketing is to create exactly what marketers need, taking into account the needs of buyers. For example, the culture of a healthy lifestyle.

Cognitive marketing affects the thinking, worldview, imagination, consciousness and awareness of consumer behavior. It forms and promotes standards and technologies for the consumption of the company’s products with the help of new information or training in new skills.

Examples of companies using cognitive marketing

Companies influence buyers with the help of emotions. In advertising, brands show images of happy people.

For example, My Family juice promotes family values. According to the advertisement, the family is always mom, dad and child. It is the latter that sets the rules for consumption in the family – the daughter is happy, she gets what she wants, which means that the parents are also happy.

The brand plays on the weaknesses of parents – they want to give the best to children. The best in advertising is My Family juice.

Image: i.ytimg.com

Another example of cognitive marketing is when brands use new consumption technologies in advertising.

The habit of brushing your teeth 2 times a day was formed on the advice of dentists: in order for your teeth to be healthy, you need to take care of oral hygiene twice a day.

Using not a standard toothbrush, but a special penetrating one, changing toothbrush heads more often and using dental floss is a marketing ploy. Squeezing the paste all over the brush instead of a pea is also a marketing trick.

Colgate-Palmolive specifically came up with ways to increase the speed of toothpaste consumption. Of all the proposed options, they chose the least expensive, but the most effective way – they increased the diameter of the hole and made the paste more liquid. To enhance the effect, the company launched a visual ad that showed happy people squeezing the paste all over the brush.

The technology of consumption has become entrenched – people pay attention not to the brushing technique, but to the toothbrush itself, change nozzles more often and squeeze out as much as will fit on the brush.

Image: cleveland.com

The beauty industry also uses cognitive marketing when introducing new products.

Consumption technology – be sure to use a facial skin care product: cleansing cream, milk, alginate mask, nourishing cream, serum for the skin around the eyes, etc. Moreover, these products work only in combination.

Image: avatars.mds.yandex.net

If the technology of consumption is fixed in society, it will become the standard of consumption.

In the beauty industry, the standard is to take care of the face in the morning and evening, as well as visit beauticians and massage therapists. Acne or acne is treated with cosmetic products prescribed by a doctor. Standard – cream + milk + mask + cleanser, etc.

Similarly, De Beers has set new standards for jewelry consumption. “Diamonds are forever” is not just a company slogan. This is the lifestyle of millions of women.

Image: businessman. ru

Read also: A guide to psychology in marketing and advertising

Methods of implementation

To use the cognitive abilities of people in developing a marketing strategy, you need:

1. Strengthen people’s inner beliefs about themselves, the world and society.
2. Speak the language of the buyer.
3. To consolidate a positive image, positive emotions.
4. Convince with facts – reviews, research results, expert opinions.
5. Appeal to emotions.
6. Fight objections.

Adidas is a brand associated with victory, youth and activity – the brand speaks the language of the buyer and reinforces beliefs.

It seems that to become an athlete, it is enough to buy Adidas sneakers – the brand appeals to emotions.

Advertising convinces. Sneakers are worn by winners of international sports, world stars and even politicians – the brand reinforces a positive image.

Convenience and comfort are confirmed by scientific research: an orthopedic insole with arch support, a flexible sole – the brand convinces with facts and fights objections.

Image: wallpaper-world.3dn.ru

Cognitive marketing can use any traditional and creative marketing tools:

• advertising;
• sales promotion at points of sale;
• live broadcasts, expert speeches, presentations, excursions, informational articles, webinars;
• test drives, tastings, training centers, focus groups, etc.;
• PR;
• Hidden advertising in movies, books and games.

For example, to secure the car as a symbol of a comfortable life, Volkswagen created a whole city – Autocity in Volzburg.

Image: autostadt.de

Autostadt is a leisure park combined with a customer service center with a 700-meter underground tunnel and two glass towers, each 60 meters high.

Read also: 22 laws for successful marketers

Conclusion

The use of cognitive abilities in marketing helps to better understand the pains of the audience and offer the best solution.

To form a new consumption technology, study the target audience, correctly identify the beliefs that need to be implemented, and then think about ways to promote it.

High conversions for you!

29-06-2022

Methods for correcting the cognitive development of preschool children

Preschool childhood is a special period in the formation of organs and systems and, above all, brain functions. It has been proven that the functions of the cerebral cortex are not fixed hereditarily, they develop as a result of the interaction of the organism with the environment. This is especially intense in the first three years of life. During this period, there is a maximum rate of formation of the prerequisites that determine the entire further development of the body, so it is important to lay the foundations for the full development and health of the child in a timely manner.

The very term “correction of mental development”, as a certain form of psychological and pedagogical activity, first appears in defectology in relation to variants of abnormal development. There it means a set of pedagogical influences aimed at correcting shortcomings, deviations in the development of the child [3].

The starting principle for substantiating the goals and objectives of correction, as well as ways to achieve them, is the principle of unity of diagnostics and correction of development. The tasks of corrective work can be correctly set only on the basis of a complete diagnosis and evaluation of the nearest probabilistic forecast of development, determined on the basis of the concept of “zone of proximal development”.

Depending on the nature of the diagnosis and the direction of the correction, D.B. Elkonin proposed to distinguish between two forms of correction: symptomatic, aimed at the symptoms of developmental deviations, and correction, aimed at the sources and causes of developmental deviations. The second form of correction of the causal orientation has unconditional priority over the form of symptomatic correction. For the success of the correction, it is necessary to proceed from the psychological structure of disorders and the analysis of their genesis. Corrective efforts, therefore, should be focused not so much on the external manifestations of developmental deviations, on their symptoms, but on the actual sources that give rise to these deviations, and on their causes [1].

In the practice of developmental psychological counseling, it is necessary to differentiate the correction of normal development and the correction of abnormal development aggravated by the biological etiogenesis of developmental deviations. A special case is the correction of options for mental retardation due to socio-psychological and pedagogical reasons. A special place in consultative practice is occupied by the correction of neurotic states and neuroses in conditions of normal development, which is the area of ​​application of the efforts of both psychiatrists and pathopsychologists, and developmental psychologists [2].

Depending on the content-psychological orientation of the correction, within the framework of normal ontogenetic development, one should distinguish between the correction of mental development, the correction of personality development, the correction and prevention of the development of neurotic states and neuroses. And depending on the forms of organization of psychological assistance in order to solve correctional problems in the work of a psychologist, three types of it can be distinguished: lecture and educational, consultative and recommendatory, and corrective work proper in the form of individual and group correction.

Lecture and educational work is addressed to a group of parents, educators and teachers and involves consideration of the main patterns and basic facts of child development, age-psychological characteristics of specific stages of child development, difficulties and problems of each age and general recommendations for overcoming them.

Consultative and recommendatory work is based on a targeted diagnosis of the nature and causes of developmental difficulties experienced by the child, and involves the formulation by the psychologist of a system of recommendations, the consideration and implementation of which by parents, teachers and educators, with the active role of the child himself, will contribute to both prevention and overcoming negative trends and difficulties in development.

The third, most time-consuming, actually corrective work is carried out directly by a psychologist with the active assistance of parents, educators and teachers with a group of children or individually with a child. This form of work, with greater or lesser success, can be implemented by teachers in collaboration with psychologists in various types of children’s institutions. This form of work, although it requires considerable effort, material and organizational costs, the use of special methods and techniques, techniques and procedures, is the most effective and promising.

Correction of the mental development of a child at preschool age includes the tasks of developing perception and sensory abilities, visual-figurative thinking and sign-symbolic function, initial forms of voluntary attention and memory. A special task is the correction of speech development, which is carried out primarily within the framework of specialized speech therapy assistance.

Correction of the child’s sensory abilities is carried out as their purposeful formation, including the assimilation of the system of sensory standards by children and the formation of perceptual operations that acquire a modeling character at preschool age.

An important component of correcting the thinking of a preschool child is the development of cognitive motives. Expansion of the sphere beyond the situational-cognitive communication of the child, the creation of problematic educational situations in a remedial lesson, the use of special didactic puzzle games, and the stimulation of the child’s independent activity are important factors in the formation of cognitive motives.

The correction of visual-figurative thinking at school age is based on the identification and reflection of objective connections and relations of reality in the form of visual-spatial models. The main task of correction in this case is the formation of the child’s ability to create and use sign-symbolic means to solve cognitive problems.

Correction of logical forms of thinking in preschool age is inextricably linked with the development of the generalizing and symbolic functions of speech. Corrective classes should be aimed at forming the prerequisites for the child to master the system of scientific concepts, setting as their goal the development of the child’s logical operations of analysis, comparison, generalization, and the development of classification actions.

Currently, a significant number of corrective “cognitive training” programs have been developed aimed at developing the child’s mental abilities. These programs are a series of tasks that can also be used for diagnostic purposes, gradually becoming more complex from extremely simple variants of tasks to tasks whose solution requires a high level of development of the corresponding cognitive abilities.

The goals of correcting speech development in preschool age are determined by the formation of the main neoplasms of this age: the formation of the planning and regulatory functions of speech and their corresponding forms – the formation of the formation of contextual speech and the improvement of dialogic situational speech. Correction tasks include: enrichment and activation of the vocabulary, formation of sound and grammatical correctness of speech, formation of expressiveness of speech based on the adequate use of intonational and lexical means, formation of coherent contextual speech, formation of the planning and regulatory function of speech, teaching sound analysis of words and verbal analysis of sentences in terms of preparing children for literacy.

The development of memory at preschool age is focused on the child remembering and reproducing past experience, as well as the formation of external mediation.

Thus, at the present stage of development of practical assistance to children with disabilities, the need for the active influence of teachers and psychologists involved in early diagnosis and early correction of developmental delays in children is obvious. To implement an integrated approach in helping problem children, the mutual understanding of specialists is central to the system of correctional and developmental influence. As a result of an integrated approach to teaching and raising children, the interaction of the child with people and the surrounding reality is formed. This, in turn, creates the prerequisites for the adaptation of the child in a small children’s team, and in the future ensures continuity between individual and public education.

Literature:

Golubeva L. G. et al. Development and education of young children / L. G. Golubeva M. V. Leshchenko K. L. Pechora; Ed. V. A. Doskina S. A. Kozlova. – M.: Academy, 2012. – P. 138.

Dunaeva Z. M., Rostyagailova, L. I. On the issue of organizing medical, psychological and pedagogical assistance to young children with developmental disabilities // Defectology. – 2003. – No. 4. – p. 33-35.

Psychodiagnostics and correction of children with developmental disorders and deviations / Comp. and general ed. V. M. Astapova, Yu. V. Mikadze. – St. Petersburg: Peter, 2011. – S. 102.

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