How Cognitive Development Impacts Academic Achievement

The most significant cognitive development occurs in the first five years of life. It has a significant impact on a child’s academic achievement as they enter school. Various studies have found that cognitive skills separate children who learn well and achieve academic excellence from average students.

By understanding cognitive development, parents can take steps early on to improve their children’s cognitive skills which will translate into better academic performance and success down the road.

What is Cognitive Development?

Cognitive development is how children learn to think, explore, understand, and problem solve. Cognitive development, according to Help Me Grow, is the “development of knowledge, skills, problem solving and dispositions, which help children to think about and understand the world around them. Brain development is part of cognitive development.”

As children grow from birth to five years old, there are cognitive milestones parents should be looking for. Newborns, for example, may startle at loud noises by arching their back, kicking their legs, and flailing their arms. By two months of age, babies should be able to follow a moving object with their eyes such as a toy held by a parent. At one year, babies should be able to put objects into a container and pull them out, bang objects together, and poke objects with their index finger.

At 18 months of age, children should be able to scribble with a crayon, point to at least one body part, and can play pretend. By age two, children should be able to build a tower of four or more blocks, sort shapes and colors, and follow two-step directions such as “pick up your toy and put it in the toybox.”

By the age of three, children should be able to complete puzzles with three or four pieces, use their imagination to play or create stories, and turn the pages of a book one at a time. At age four, children start to understand the abstract concept of time, can draw people with two to four body parts, and can count. Once they reach age five, children should be able to count 10 or more objects, understands everyday items such as money, and can copy a triangle and other geometric shapes.

Cognitive Development and Academic Achievement

Cognitive development includes functions such as one’s working memory, regulation of emotions, organization, monitoring, and self-control. These are known as executive functions.

“Executive functions help children learn abstract concepts, participate in classwork, and regulate their emotion,” according to the research report “Cognitive Profile of Children and its Relationship with Academic Performance” published by the National Library of Medicine. “The results of this study showed that cognitive abilities could well predict academic performance. Children who are more powerful in executive function tasks achieve higher academic performance.”

The article “Cognitive performance and academic achievement: How do family and school converge?” published in The European Journal of Education and Psychology stated, “Studies on cognitive development and on teaching and learning processes refer to a significant relationship between family involvement and academic success of children, and consequently to their school trajectory.” In other words, it is incredibly important that parents work to improve their child’s cognitive development early on if they want their child to achieve more academically.

Encouraging Cognitive Development

Parents can promote their children’s cognitive development from birth. According to Help Me Grow, for example, research found children who can distinguish sounds at six months of age are better at acquiring the skills for learning to read at ages four and five.

To improve a child’s cognitive development, parents need to actively engage with their children daily through quality interactions. This starts in infancy as parents talk to their baby throughout the day, naming commonly used objects and people. Babies also need to be able to explore toys and explore in a safe environment. Parents can read and sing to their babies, further helping them understand sounds, words, and language, which grows connections in the brain that further cognitive development.

As toddlers, parents can encourage cognitive development by reading books and playing with children using puzzles, building blocks, and pretend play. Counting, identifying colors, and learning the ABCs encourages cognitive development in toddlers. Allowing your child to figure something out on their own such as a puzzle will improve cognitive skills, though gentle guidance and encouragement may be needed. While this requires patience on the parent’s part, it will pay off in dividends later.

Parents can also expand on their children’s interests to further cognitive development. For example, if a child demonstrates an early interest in dinosaurs, parents can take them to an exhibit featuring dinosaurs, read books about dinosaurs, and play with dinosaur toys.

As children grow and develop, they will ask“why” questions. Answering these questions in a way your child can understand helps them learn about the world around them better and allows them to think about the topic and your response. This will lead them to think about things on their own which is what cognitive development is all about. Another way to encourage cognitive development is to offer children options whenever feasible.

Once your child begins attending school, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends parents be involved in school activities. By staying involved in everything from how healthy the meals are at school to how much physical activity children get each day to helping with homework, parents can continue to help their child grow cognitively so they can achieve more academically.

Jiguar’s state-of-the-art app for parents includes developmental enhancing activities for children from newborn to six years old. The activities are goal oriented and are accompanied by a description of the activity in addition to videos for parents. The activities are a great place for parents to begin to support their child’s early cognitive development. You can download the app for free from the Google Play Store or in the Apple Store.

To learn more about supporting your child’s cognitive development and academic achievement, visit Jiguar online or email us at info@jiguar.com.