How Do Children Develop Cognitive Skills

Gabriella Saldana

How Cognitive Skills and Processes Develop from Childhood to Adolescents

When children develop cognitive skills they are not just learning information, they are absorbing new data, thinking about it, and then applying it to future techniques. The children usually take these cognitive skills and combine them with past experiences to guide them in remembering information, impacting their memory, using correct strategies and solving problems or conflicts that come their way. As the child develops into an adolescent, they will learn how to apply and connect these cognitive skills in a more advanced way. It is important for children to learn cognitive skills and processes because it teaches the children particular abilities that they do not only hold in their brain, but actually use in their learning and work.

At just 2-3 months old, an infant can begin to remember things up to a few weeks at a time. Although they may not remember things rapidly on their own, if they are shown something that reminds them of the event that happened, they will show signals that they remember it. For example, if an infant is eating in their high chair and sees their sippy cup but does not remember how to use it, and their mother drinks out of her cup the infant will most likely remember the motion of picking up the cup and putting it to their mouth and will then sip from their cup. When the infants grow and develop into a toddler, they are able to retain more information for a longer period of time. When trying to remember all of this information, children use particular strategies to assist