Author: Annie NG
Speech and Language Therapist
Cognitive skills are the functions your brain needs to complete everyday tasks. These functions include the ability to pay attention, to process and store information, and to plan and learn. They are not ‘actual knowledge’ but are skills we need in order to interact with the world. Whether we are aware of it or not, we use cognitive skills throughout our day to make all sorts of decisions. For example, when we decide between two products at the supermarket, we read the labels and critically analyze the list of ingredients. We compare the quality of both products and select the most suitable one based on our analysis. This is just one small example of how we rely on our cognitive skills to understand and connect with the world around us.
While these cognitive skills may seem very basic, they have taken decades to develop. Cognitive skills become more and more sophisticated as we grow and mature. This process is referred to as cognitive development. In early childhood, cognitive development goes through rapid changes and significant milestones. As children’s cognitive abilities expand, their capacity for learning also increases. In other words, cognitive development in early childhood lays the foundation for continued learning and intellectual growth.
Here are the key aspects of cognitive development in early childhood.
- Language acquisition:
Early childhood is a critical period for language acquisition. Children make significant progress in understanding and producing language particularly in the first years of life. They acquire vocabulary, sentence structure, grammar and communication skills, enabling them to express their thoughts, understand others, and engage in meaningful interactions.
- Symbolic thinking:
Cognitive development also involves the ability to think symbolically. Children develop the capacity to use symbols, such as words, numbers and images, to represent objects, events and ideas. Symbolic thinking also allows them to engage in imaginative play, understand abstract concepts, and manipulate mental representations.
- Memory and attention:
As children’s cognition improves, their memory capacity expands, enabling them to remember and recall information over longer periods and with increasing details. Attention skills also improve, allowing them to focus on relevant stimuli, sustain attention and switch between tasks.
- Problem-solving and reasoning:
Children are naturally curious and they enjoy exploring new concepts and testing existing ones through trial and error. Over time, their logical thinking and deductive reasoning skills become more sophisticated, and their ability to analyze and solve problems also become more proficient. They also become more independent in applying strategies, making connections and drawing conclusions based on the information available to them.
- Executive functions:
Executive functions are higher-order cognitive processes that facilitate goal-oriented behavior, self-regulation and cognitive control. In early childhood, executive functions such as inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility and metacognition develop in a steady manner. These skills are crucial not just for learning, but also for maintaining a healthy personal and social life.
- Social cognition:
Social cognition is also part of cognitive development. Social cognition refers to a child’s understanding of themselves and others within a social context. It highlights skills such as perspective-taking, empathy, understanding emotions and theory of mind. Social cognition allows children to navigate social interactions, understand others’ perspectives, and develop positive relationships.
Everyday activities that support cognitive development
Children need all the support they can get from us to develop their cognitive skills. The good news is that almost any activity you do with your child can stimulate their cognitive growth; it does not have to be an ‘academic’ activity to have that impact. Let’s have a look at a few of these activities that you are probably already doing at home.
Bath time
Bath time is usually a very relaxing time for your child, but a lot of cognitive stimulation opportunities are actually happening simultaneously. Here are some examples:
- Sensory exploration:
Bath time engages multiple senses, including touch, sight, and hearing. As your child explores different textures, temperatures and water movements, their sensory development is stimulated in a positive way. The cognitive processes related to perception, discrimination and sensory integration are also being enhanced.
- Cause and effect:
Bath time is an excellent setting to learn about cause and effect relationships, e.g. your child can observe the effects of pouring water, splashing and moving objects in the bath. By experimenting with these actions, they develop an understanding of how their actions lead to specific outcomes, engaging their cognitive abilities in reasoning and logical thinking.
- Problem-solving:
There are countless problem-solving games that are fun for your child in the bath. They may want to figure out how to fill containers, contain spills or arrange bath toys in a specific way. These activities put their problem-solving skills to work, as well as their spatial reasoning and fine motor skills.
- Sequencing and following instructions:
Bath time often involves a series of steps, such as undressing, washing and drying. Being able to follow these steps in the correct or logical order helps your child develop their sequencing skills and their ability to follow instructions, which are cognitive skills essential for all daily routines and other types of learning.
- Memory and recall:
Like many routine tasks, the bath time routine provides a consistent structure and repetition, which supports memory development. For example, your child learns to remember the steps involved in bath time, recall the order of actions, and anticipate what comes next. This repetition and memory recall strengthen their cognitive processes related to memory and learning.
Co-regulation
When you co-regulate with your child, you are supporting their ability to manage and regulate their emotions. Let’s talk about some of the key cognitive processes involved when your child is co-regulating with you:
- Attention and focus:
Co-regulation encourages your child to attend to your cues and signals. Your child needs to focus their attention on your facial expressions, tone of voice and body language to understand how to respond and regulate their own emotions in a given situation.
- Emotional awareness:
Co-regulation also helps your child to be more cognitively aware of their emotional state and to gain a deeper understanding of the different emotions they may be experiencing. They need to recognize and label their feelings, which requires cognitive processes such as emotional identification and self-awareness.
- Perspective taking:
Perspective taking is the ability to understand and consider another person’s thoughts, feelings and perspective. While co-regulating, your child is actively engaged in the cognitive processes that help them take your perspective, understand their intentions, and make sense of their actions. This cognitive skill enables your child to respond appropriately and adjust their own emotions accordingly.
- Cognitive flexibility:
Co-regulation challenges your child to be more cognitively flexible. Cognitive flexibility is the ability to shift attention, adjust thoughts, and modify behaviours in a changing social context. While co-regulating with you, your child is supported to flexibly adapt their emotions and behaviors in response to your cues and guidance.
- Self-regulation strategies:
Co-regulation also helps the development of your child’s own self-regulation strategies. They observe and learn from your regulation techniques, such as deep breathing, positive self-talk or problem-solving. These cognitive processes help your child internalize and apply self-regulation strategies in future situations.
- Reflection and self-evaluation:
After a co-regulation episode, your child can reflect on their emotional experiences, your responses, and the effectiveness of the co-regulation process. These cognitive processes support their ability to learn from the experience and develop insight into their own emotional regulation.
Reading together
Book reading is another activity that supports cognitive development in many different ways. Let’s have a look at some of the cognitive processes involved in reading:
- Attention:
Book reading draws your child’s attention to a focus. Your child needs to concentrate on the text, illustrations and storyline. They learn to sustain their attention for longer periods of time, allowing them to follow the narrative, understand the content and engage with the story fully.
- Comprehension:
In order to be able to follow the story adequately, your child needs to be able to understand and make meaning from the content. They use their cognitive processes, such as memory, reasoning, and inference, to comprehend the story’s plot, characters and events. They connect the information presented in the book to their prior knowledge and form a coherent understanding of the narrative.
- Imagination and visualization:
Stories are great for children to practice creating mental images and engage in imaginative play. They learn to create vivid mental representations and develop a rich inner world through the descriptions and the characters from the book. Imagination and visualization are some of the most crucial cognitive processes your child will rely on to learn throughout their life.
- Memory:
Book reading obviously relies on memory processes. Your child needs to remember details about the story, characters and events, which helps them follow the narrative and make connections. They may recall information from earlier pages or chapters to better understand the current events in the story.
- Empathy and theory of mind:
Book reading deepens the concepts of empathy and theory of mind, which is the understanding that others have different thoughts, feelings and perspectives. Through understanding the characters’ experiences and emotions, your child builds on their social cognition as they learn to comprehend various human emotions and social dynamics.
- Critical thinking:
Your child probably asks different kinds of questions as they read, which shows that they are actively evaluating the characters’ actions and analyzing the story’s underlying messages or themes. Reading with them helps them strengthen their critical thinking skills, form opinions and engage in reflective thinking.
It would be impossible to outline how every activity you do with your child supports their cognitive development. But just by simply providing a rich and stimulating environment and engaging in age-appropriate activities, you are contributing greatly to your child’s cognitive growth.
