Cognitive Development
Cognitive development (individual development) is the way a baby's brain develops. Children are born helpless and they depend on their parents for they're up bringing physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively.
Children need different types of stimulation to learn. They need a lot of interesting things to look at, for example, mobile phones, books, and brightly coloured toys. Parents need to talk to their children to keep them stimulated and keep them wanting to learn. Parents need to give their children a healthy diet, as this helps intellectual development.
Some people think that intelligence is inherited through genes but others think intelligence depends on how the child is brought up. Really, it is a bit of both.
Cognitive development involves many milestones. Once again, all children may not be at the same stage in their intellectual development as all children are different and it also depends on the rate of their development.
At three months a baby will be able to link actions and results. He or she will also be able to play with its hands and learn how to grasp things.
At nine months, a baby can link its hand with its eye. It can also play "not there" games and with two toys at the same time.
At 12 months, a child can make marks on paper, explore and copy actions from other people.
At 18 months, a child can develop a memory for places and events, recognises self in a photo and can begin to classify objects and pictures into groups.
At 24 months, it has learned body parts; people's names and can do simple jigsaws, (4-8 pieces).
At 36 months, a child can ask questions like whom, what and why. It can compare sizes, colours. A child at this age also knows the order of meals in a day.
At 6-7 years, a child can use numbers up to 20 including addition and subtraction, can start to understand meanings beyond the literal, can choose criteria for problem-solving and can begin to balance knowledge with understanding.
Children having less interaction with other children may hinder cognitive ...
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At 24 months, it has learned body parts; people's names and can do simple jigsaws, (4-8 pieces).
At 36 months, a child can ask questions like whom, what and why. It can compare sizes, colours. A child at this age also knows the order of meals in a day.
At 6-7 years, a child can use numbers up to 20 including addition and subtraction, can start to understand meanings beyond the literal, can choose criteria for problem-solving and can begin to balance knowledge with understanding.
Children having less interaction with other children may hinder cognitive development. By having less interaction the children don't develop socially and mentally as well as they should. If the child's parents don't make any attempts to teach the child how to speak, they then will lack in intellectual skills. The child needs to be stimulated by things to keep them interested and want to learn. As said previously, children need interesting things such as books, pictures, brightly coloured toys, and even mobile phones to keep them in tune with what they are learning about. If the object that the child is looking at doesn't interest the child, the child will not study it, therefore the child will not learn anything about what they are looking at.
On the up side, there are also many factors that encourage cognitive development. Children learn by remembering things in three stages. These are, observation and observing, copying and repetition, and asking questions. Children can learn a lot by just watching, looking and listening, as long as there is nothing else to distract them which they may also be interested in, then they can concentrate on the one thing. When children play with buckets and sand they are being educated, as they are exploring different sizes such as mass, and volume. By filling these buckets with water and sand they work out how much is needed for their purpose of use. Picture books are good for helping babies to learn as the pictures attract the babies' attention. If an older person reads with a child, this can also help them cognitively, as they eventually learn to read by themselves. By children asking basic questions, and copying things after someone else has done it will help the child to learn, as they are observing what the other people are doing, therefore it is beneficial for the child, as they are learning new things.
I will now look at each child, and compare them to where they are in means of milestones.
Child 1
Firstly Connor. As Connor is six years old, he is developing well cognitively. When Connor was younger, his parents bought him lots of picture books, and many other toys, which they thought would interest him. His parents would sit down with him, and read to him, play with him, and also just talk to Connor in a very simplistic way so that he would maybe pick up on some of the words that they were using. When Connor was only three months old, he was able to play with his hands, and other people's hands, and he was also able to grasp objects. As The family live on a farm, they are quite isolated from any outside people, so the only people Connor really had to teach him in the beginning were his parents. When Connor was nine months old, he was more advanced, as he was able to make marks on paper with a pen, and he also copied actions, which other people were doing. As the years went by, Connor was developing normally at a steady rate, and now as Connor is 6 years old, he is able to count numbers, and do small sums. Connor is now beginning to balance his knowledge with his understanding of what things are and how they work.
Child 2
Secondly Jack. As Jack is only three years old, he is not fully developed cognitively. Neither of the boys are, but as they both get older their brains become more advanced, and they are both able to have a better understanding of situations and other objects. When Jack was first born, his parents gave him a lot of attention, as they wanted him to do just as well as his brother, but as time went on, they began to let Jack work away by himself, resulting in Jack lacking in some cognitive skills. Jack's parents sat with him, read to him, and they played with him, but eventually Jack was just looking at the books, and not actually reading what was there. As Jack's parents both work, they didn't have enough time during the day to look after both the boy's, it was only when Jacks mother sat with him, that she realised that he wasn't coming along as well as what he should be. Jack began to attend a playgroup every day. Here, Jack was being read to, and being played with often. He was socialising with other children of his age and learning from them as well. When Jack was 2 years old, he did not know all the body parts, but now at three years old Jack is able to name all the body parts, do simple jig-saws, and also he is able to ask simple questions such as, what, who, where, what, and why.
When comparing the two children, I can clearly see that Connor developed cognitively more quickly than Jack. Connor was more developed than Jack was in the first year or so of his life, but now Jack has caught up, and he is at the same stage his brother Connor was at when he was 3 years old. When Connor was about 18 months old, he was repeating words, which his parents were saying, and he was doing what is called 'holophrasig'. This is when you say one word, but you mean it to mean a whole sentence. For example, by saying, "cup", you could mean, "That's a cup". Jack was only able to do this at the age of 22 months, but now Jack is doing well in his cognitive development, and he is able to do all the things, which he should be able to do at the age of 3years old.
