Cognitive Growth

Once children reach the age of 5-8 (school-age), they are more able to place themselves in other people’s shoes maturely. Along with that, their imaginations and perceptive way of thinking also develop immensely during these years. A child’s genuine enthusiasm to learn unfolds while they also strive to gain self-confidence. Children during this age are also developing the cognitive skills that allow them to learn to read, an important developmental milestone that occurs in most children by age eight. This varies greatly among children. With so many milestones, it is important to remember that many things need to be in place developmentally before a child can read. In Finland, which has in recent years been hailed as the country with one of the best educational systems in the world, children do not begin school until age seven. Despite this, Finnish students score higher in reading comprehension than students from the United States at age 15. This child centered approach with no formal academic instruction during the early years of childhood is an important consideration for schools across the globe (Sahlberg, 2021). Earlier is not necessarily better. Children in the early school aged years still need lots of opportunities to play and create with open-ended materials.

Secondly, children at this age disclose genuine enthusiasm to learn new things while striving to gain self-confidence. They are open to embracing the necessary skills to understand the world and others around them.

When they enter their 8th year, children can articulate their feelings properly. Also, they can solve various problems verbally and with a range of ideas.

7-8 Year Olds

When the children cross over the 7-8-year-old threshold, their attention span grows greater. They also willingly take responsibility for doing chores. The understanding of fractions and space concepts heightens during this time. Children understand the concept of money by the age of eight. They can also tell time by reading a clock. Remembering the names of days and months becomes easier for them (Santrock, 2017).

The Emergence of Concrete Operational Thought

During Piaget’s preoperational stage, children are learning to think symbolically about the world. Cognitive skills continue to expand throughout childhood as thought processes become more logical and organized when dealing with concrete information. As they transition from the preoperational stage into the concrete operational stage, children understand concepts such as past, present, and future. This gives them the ability to plan and work toward goals. Additionally, they can process more complex ideas such as addition, subtraction, and cause-and-effect relationships (Berk, 2017).

Children between the ages of 7 and 11 are in what Piaget calls the concrete operational stage of cognitive development. This stage involves mastering the use of logic in concrete ways. The child in this stage of development can understand principles of cause and effect, size, and distance (Piaget, 1955).

Inductive Reasoning

Inductive reasoning applies a “bottom to top” approach to logic. It allows the person to detect regularities, rules, or generalizations and, conversely, to detect irregularities. It is one way in which we structure our world, Deductive reasoning applies a “top to bottom” approach. With deductive reasoning, if a statement’s premises are true, the conclusion must be true. But with the inductive form, even if the premises are true, that doesn’t mean the conclusion must be true.  Inductive reasoning increases during this stage of development and continues to grow into adulthood (Berninger & Richards, 2002). It is significant because it reflects a child’s increasing understanding of the world around them.

Language & Literacy Development

By the time children enter the formal schooling years beginning in kindergarten, they have mastered many of the basic building blocks of language. They have a large vocabulary, understand how to communicate many of their needs to others, adjust their speech for their listeners, and use many grammatical rules in their speech. Their language skills will continue to become more refined during the upcoming years, but the changes are subtler than they were during the preschool years. Compared to the preschool-aged child, the school-aged child can communicate more effectively over a broader range of contexts. A significant accomplishment also occurs during these years… children learn to read!

Intelligence

Traditional View of Intelligence

The first tests of intelligence were developed by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon at the beginning of the twentieth century. The reason these tests were designed was to differentiate between those children who would benefit from standard schooling versus those who might need special types of instruction. Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was originally used to express the relationship between the number of items passed and the child’s age. More recently, a child is compared to children of the same age. This method assumes that IQ is equally distributed across the population, with most people falling in average ranges, and fewer people falling in the upper and lower ends of the scale. Children who score 100, for example, have an IQ equal to or greater than that of 50 percent of children of the same age (Santrock, 2013).

For many children, especially those with strong verbal abilities, IQ tests have been able to predict school achievement and success. They have also helped identify children who may need extra support in school. They have limited value in predicting life success. They have been questioned and even banned for use in school placement in many states. There are many reasons why IQ tests have been questioned, but one of the primary ones has been due to their inherent cultural bias. They test material that is more important or familiar to people from one culture than people from another. This has caused a disproportionate number of children from racial minorities to be placed in special education. Today it is widely recognized that the assumptions underlying IQ tests are flawed and that it is best to conduct a more holistic assessment of the child and their functioning. (Santrock, 2013).

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Multiple Intelligence (MI) Theory is widely recognized as a more holistic approach to viewing an individual’s abilities and strengths. It was the result of a synthesis of research on human cognition and a response to the psychologist Piaget who viewed intellect as a single entity (Armstrong, 2018).

Intelligence Defined

The term intelligence, as defined by Gardner, is “a biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture” (Gardner,1999, p.33).

Here is an overview of the eight intelligences Gardner (1993) has researched and whose existence he has documented:

Linguistic (Word Smart): The ability to think in words, and use language effectively, either in writing or orally. The ability to reflect on the use of language in daily life (Gardner, 2006).

Logical-Mathematical (Math Smart): The capacity to use numbers effectively and reason well. Sensitivity to cause and effect functions, patterns, calculation, hypothesis, inference, generalization, problem solving, and categorization (Gardner, 1993).

Spatial (Art Smart): The ability to see the visual world accurately. To think in pictures, three-dimensions, and involves sensitivity to form, space, color, line, and shape. The ability to effectively orient oneself in space and manipulate objects in meaningful ways (Gardner, 2006).

Bodily-Kinesthetic (Body Smart): Involves specific physical skills such as coordination, balance, dexterity, strength, flexibility and speed. The ability to use one’s body in expressing ideas and feelings and the ability to use one’s hands to transform or produce things (Gardner, 1993).

Musical (Music Smart): The capacity to recognize, create and reproduce music by using an instrument or voice. Involves sensitivity to rhythm, tone, pitch, timbre, melody, and emotions of a musical piece (Gardner, 2006).

Interpersonal (People Smart): Intelligence that is about thinking and understanding another person. The ability to distinguish the moods, motivations, and intentions of others by being sensitive to facial expressions, voice, gestures, and cues. It involves working and interacting effectively with others in a variety of circumstances (Gardner, 2006).

Intrapersonal (Self-Smart): The ability to understand oneself. The awareness of one’s strengths, and weaknesses, and the ability to plan in such a way that personal goals can be achieved. The capacity to reflect and monitor one’s thoughts, feelings, emotions, and self-esteem effectively (Gardner, 2006).

Naturalist (Nature Smart): The capacity for understanding the natural world, including plants and animals, sensitivity to other natural phenomena such as cloud formation and mountains. The naturalist can discriminate between nonliving forms. They can also interact positively with living creatures and decipher patterns in life cycles and ecological relationships (Gardner, 2006).

MI Theory is now taught in educational institutions around the globe as a framework for best teaching practices. Teachers incorporate the approach into their lessons for students of all ages and in all curriculum areas. Entire schools have adopted an MI approach in how they approach curriculum and assessment (Armstrong, 2009; Buckley, 2019). It has been demonstrated that the use of multiple intelligences enhances instruction for children with and without documented disabilities as well as for English Language Learners (Armstrong, 2018; Buckley, 2019).

When Development Looks Atypical

In order to best be able to identify a child who may have a developmental difference, it is important to have a strong understanding of what typical development looks like. This is what this entire book intends to give the reader!

The early years of school are often when developmental red flags may emerge.

If you are an educator, parent, or practitioner, what should you do? There are three important steps to consider.

The first step is to ask questions about a child’s development and health history.

Does the child have a history of any health problems? Even common ear infections, if frequent, can delay speech development.

Has the child been hospitalized? Has a vision and hearing screening been conducted?

The second step is to document what you are seeing. The importance of documentation cannot be understated. Record observations, the reports of others and information regarding developmental milestones that have been met or are emerging.

The final step is to communicate. If you are a parent concerned with your child’s development, share your concerns with others, including your child’s pediatrician and educators. If you are an educator or caregiver, share your concerns with the child’s parents or guardians. Ongoing communication is critical.

If concerns seem warranted, have the child referred for a full developmental evaluation. Many developmental challenges are best addressed with early intervention.

Early supports for a young child who needs them provides the opportunity for the best long-term outcomes for a child.