Cognitive Physical Growth & Development

As a child ages, there are certain check points that they should reach in their development. You should be aware of those check points and ensure your child is hitting each one in a reasonable time frame. If you feel your child is lacking in a certain aspect of his development you should contact a physician to discuss the matter further.

What cognitive development means

• Cognitive development occurs as an individual grows and their mental processes, such as memory and perception, mature. This intellectual growth starts in infancy and can continue into early adulthood. According to the Child Development Institute, your brain has not fully developed until late adolescence and in some cases not until early adulthood. Cognitive development is divided into various stages by age. Each stage contains certain milestones a child reaches at that point in time.

Piaget's Theory

• Piaget, an influential researcher in the 20th century, divides cognitive development into four stages; sensorimotor stage; pre-operational stage; concrete operational stage and formal operational stage. Piaget theorizes that infants use their cognitive skills to adapt to their surrounding environment. He notes that as their surroundings change they alter their behavior more to adapt.

Case Study

• The Kurtz Center uses their PACE (Processing and Cognitive Enhancement) program study to help children who experience cognitive physical growth and development deficits. Through this study they provided different courses in which the children participate in to further their development. The results from 2001 alone show years of intellectual gain just from 36 hours of treatment in their courses.

Cognitive Problems

• Like all other types of development, individuals face the possibility of cognitive dysfunction. Cognitive dysfunction happens when cognitive physical growth and development do not occur, as it should. The signs of cognitive dysfunction include trouble thinking clearly, memory issues and the inability to concentrate. According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, sometimes these difficulties have links to multiple sclerosis.

How to improve

• Starting your child off in the right direction is a useful tool in ensuring successful cognitive physical growth and development. Things such as reading, cuddling, singing, and providing various forms of physical stimulation can help your child jump start his cognitive development even in infancy. These actions help to improve your infant's reflexes, motor sequence, vision, hearing and perception.