Cognitive Development Characteristics of Children by Age

Let’s start with a short reminder: Every child is special and their development process is unique. But experts can talk about a general skill, capacity according to their age. Your child’s cognitive level will largely overlap with what is written below, but don’t expect them to be exactly the same.

1 year old cognitive development characteristics

For the first time, completely intelligent behaviors are observed. He discovers new tools and embarks on self-eating experiments. It begins to make changes in repetitive movements. While handling some objects, he lists his behaviors, changes them, finds new ways by experimenting. It cannot capture the object on a blanket directly, it sees and shoots the object shaking as it grabs the cover. Through trial and error, he can change his movements, such as hitting and shaking, depending on the way he moves to attract an object. He started to know and understand the outside world.

 cognitive skills in

18-month-old child development First thinking signs begin to appear.He can keep the symbols of the objects in his mind. After this month, it’s no longer just through trial and error; It acts with the awareness of relationship, by controlling itself. He reaches the toys by lifting the lid of a transparent box he has never seen before (not through trial and error; with the awareness of relationship). It makes use of pre-prepared forms of movement. For example, suppose you put the chain in the box and leave the box 3 mm apart. Suppose your child never saw the box open and close. When the boy turns the box upside down, he sees that the chain doesn’t fall off. At that moment, the following thing happens, which shows that the role of imitation in the birth of designs and the actions to be performed are designed with a mental combination: The child opens and closes his mouth. He shows the opening of the box with his mouth. Then he manages to widen the cover by pulling and takes the chain. Prof. Dr. Haluk Yavuzer calls this situation “an attempt to invent”.

The cognitive characteristics of 2-year-olds

From the ninth month onwards, the child who understands that the objects are continuous and continue to exist even if they are removed. , 2nd.This constitutes the beginning of comprehension and language development. Now he begins to use words and understand the relationship between a symbol and the object represented by this symbol, albeit at a primitive level. Understands the relationship between word and object after developing a symbol representing the object or person that is not in front of him. Thus, he begins to discover the new world that opens before him. As children grow up, they exhibit certain ways of thinking specific to their age. For example, a 2-year-old child may apologize to him when he hits the chair. This is called “animism” – the tendency to attribute vital properties to inanimate objects. It perceives the world from an “egocentric” perspective, cannot see anything from someone else’s perspective.

Features of cognitive development in preschool age between 2-7 years A 5-year-old cannot think of the part and the whole separately. It cannot make mental comparison.

“‘How much?’ The reason why he does not understand the question when we ask, “How much?” It lacks processes that can answer a question like. ” says Yavuzer. “Even when the child is told we have 5 cubes and is taught how to count and say ‘five,’ the child will not understand why he said ‘five’.” According to Piaget, the child here learns a simple process just by making a sound and does not learn a concept about number. In other words, according to Piaget, mental actions, processes and thinking processes are not through speech; develops from action.

Preschool children are egocentric. So its logic is not yet developed. He sees every event in his own way, the feeling of sharing cannot be mentioned yet. It cannot group the surrounding things (such as those belonging to one’s own-others). Social orientation takes its full form only at the age of 7-8. It is under the influence of the image of the objects. “It does not have the principle of conservation (immutability).

When we look at the development of children aged 2-7 years, we see that we cannot understand the conservation of concepts such as number, quantity and weight. For example, if you fill two equal-sized glasses with water in front of your child’s eyes, after showing their equality, pour the water in one of the glasses into another thin, tall glass and ask your child which one has more water, it will show the long thin glass. Again, preschool children cannot group. In other words, it is a group of flowers and they cannot grasp that the rose is a part of this group.

Resources: The First 6 Years of Your Child-Haluk Yavuzer, I Grow My Baby from Pregnancy to 3 Years-Kaknüs Publications