5 Thigs You Need to Know About Early Childhood Cognitive Development

1. Cognitive Development In Infancy

We should first keep in mind that cognitive development does not happen in a vacuum, but can be influenced by other factors, such as social and emotional development. But that said, Jean Piaget, the most popular theorist on cognitive development, taught that infants develop through reflexes. These reflexes allow them to coordinate vision with grasping and understand that things that seem to disappear don't really go away. Because of this understanding, they can begin to develop the insight necessary for simple problem-solving skills.

2. Toddlers

The toddler has learned to explore his world and he knows the basics of how to maneuver his own body. Now he can build on that physical universe with imaginary skills. According to Piaget's theory, he will most likely believe that all of his toys and stuffed animals have feelings so that they can be sad, mad or glad. But all of this comes from a cognitively egocentric perspective. For example, through repetition he may begin to recognize his own left foot, but he may not be able to bring either of your shoes to your left foot.

3. Preschoolers

According to Piaget, cognitive development for preschoolers is intuitive, so that they are looking below the surface to know the why and how of everything. However, they tend to see things based on only one associated characteristic. For example, if your preschooler is putting puzzle pieces together, she may choose to match shape or color, but not both. This association of one primary characteristic makes it difficult for her to perceive, for example, the subtle distinctions between the same amount of sand in two different-sized buckets.

4. Kindergarteners

Once children arrive at this age, they've built a repertoire of cognitive skills and memory. However, Piaget tells us that they still think in largely magical terms. This means they do not use logic. Their reasoning is still mostly symbolic, so that if your child is putting 2 apples together, it may be because this makes his teacher smile or because the apples like to be together, rather than because he is trying to make 1 plus 1 equal 2. But once this symbolic ability is captured, then logic can be developed as the child matures.

5. Accomodate Your Child

Piaget believed cognitive skills develop over the years through the use of two primary processes--assimilation and accommodation. He defined assimilation as the process of changing the environment to fit into preexisting thoughts, and accommodation as the process by which we change our thinking to work with the environment. Given that premise, the most important thing you as a parent can remember about cognitive skills is to accommodate your thinking to the realities of your child's development, instead of asking her to fit into your preexisting ideas of what a child should be able to do. In this way, you provide a mirror for her development so that she can see herself clearly.