INTELLECTUAL / COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN TODDLERS
Introduction
Earlier belief was that children lack the ability to think complex ideas and remained without intellectual development until they learn the language. Now it is known even babies are aware of their surroundings and interested in exploring from the time they are born. As such, babies begin to learn from the birth. They gather information from surrounding and develop perception and thinking abilities.
Exploring the World
Parents must understand that children are exploring their world and learning how others respond to them from their birth. Children do not misbehave on purpose and they are simply curious. If your child wants something you consider not good for the child, find an option and offer something else.
Environment
Children need to actively explore their environment in order to grow and develop. Children should not spend time watching television. Television is a passive activity. TV does not engage children in an active process of learning, moving, or playing with others. TV is a powerful attraction and parents must work hard to limit television time. Parents should find other
activities to do with their children such as reading, art projects, or playing outside. Children do not make messes to make you angry. They make messes because they are learning how things work.
Growth
Early childhood is not only for physical growth. It is time for mental development. Intellectual abilities associated with memory reasoning, finding solutions for problems and thinking continue to emerge throughout young age.
DOs
· Be a good role model for your child to imitate
· Listen to your children
· Help your child to solve problems
· Show your child how to do things
· Prepare your child for difficult situations
DON’TS
· Do not allow them to watch TV continuously
· Do not allow them to shows and movies in which characters use violence to resolve conflict
· Do not allow them to watch frightening stuff including serious loss, scary suspense etc.
· Do not spank them
· Do not humiliate them
· Do no scold them
· Do not always find fault with them
· Do not frighten them
Changes
Children simply think differently not like adults. Children change more quickly than parents imagine. It appears that your children are growing up quickly. Some of the changes of children are not so easy to see particularly cognitive changes. Brains of children develop as they have new experiences. Even though you cannot see the brain developing yet you can see what new things the children are learning.
Stages
Games, toys and other activities are easier to choose in the event you understand the stages of a child’s cognitive development. If you realize that some children do certain things at a certain age, you will know that it is not necessary to change that behavior.
Meal time
Mothers worry regarding the mess created by children while they are having their meals. You have to understand sometimes this mess is the key to unlocking the subsequent stage of your child’s cognitive development.
Interaction
Cognitive development is how a person perceives and gaining understanding his or her world through interaction and learned factors. Areas of cognitive development are information processing, reasoning , intelligence, language development and memory.
Numbers
Children seems to have two systems for dealing with numbers. One deals with small numbers often called subtizing and another deals with larger numbers in an approximate manner.
Blind
Children seems to have some ability in navigation. There is some evidence that it involves the development of complex language skills and this skills depends importantly on visual experience because blind individuals have been found to have impaired abilities to infer new paths between familiar locations.
Arts and Crafts
In developing intellect in children, it is arts and crafts take a prominence place. Appropriate craft and art activities can aid leaning in other area like language, music. social studies, science, maths , health and nutrition. At the beginning people used to do everything with their hands. Today arts and crafts are a great education tool for children. It helps to develop concepts line colour or numbers and see scientific processes like gluing and painting. Arts and crafts help children to explore ideas or concepts and then express them by making something to keep entertain others with or simply look at for pleasure.
Humour
Children enjoy reading stories and can discuss write and act what they read. Their thinking pattern become logical and they can easily categorize things yet they still have trouble to abstract concepts. Children like humour and they move with humour as such humour can be utilized to a great extent in cognitive development of children.
Friendship
Children enjoy cultivating friendship with same age children and with children who have similar interests. Children like to copy their friends and will begin to develop strong feelings of loyalty.
Sports
Children who are participating sports activities, dance and gymnastics may begin to intellectually developing themselves.
Television
Studies have found that extended immersion with violent media content TV shows etc can increase violence and aggressive behavior of children and decrease their cognitive deployment. Children still are unable to distinguish between fact and fantasy so they may process a make up situation the way like a real situation in life.
Advertising
Children must be given awareness about commercials, pointing out that not everything they see in an advertisement is necessarily true. Although children at this age are almost able to understand the persuasive intent of commercial advertisements.
Conclusion
Parents should know about the importance of physical health and sometimes take your child to the doctor or medical clinic for all the medical checkups and immunizations. Such things are vital to their wellbeing and cognitive development. As parents you are in the exact position to observe your child’s physical, social, cognitive and emotional growth.