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This lesson really did capture my attention! I enjoyed the entire lesson, but my interest peaked as I read and thought about the major aspects of Cognitive Development. According to the lesson there are three major and two negative aspects. The major ones are Attention, Memory, and Executive Function. The negative ones are Trauma and Stress. I will discuss the first three in this paper.
Attention or the ability to focus is indeed a key aspect of Cognitive Development. Three aspects that are involved in the area of attention are selective attention, sustained attention, and habituation. Selective Attention speaks about the ability to focus on specific things while excluding others. Sustained Attention speaks about the ability to focus on the item selected for a period of time. The ability to exclude some stimulus and maintain that focus is an ability that develops over time as a child develops. By the time a child reaches school age (age 5) this should be developed enough for them to function in a classroom environment.
Memory is the ability to store and recall information within one's brain. Infants and toddlers have a hard time with this because they lack a sense of self and lack the ability to form and account of an experience to help them store and recall that information. Practices, such as rehersal and scripts help with the ability to stor e and recall. Rehersal involves the repetition of information to aid in storage. Scripts or mental scheme (songs, raps, rhymes) help instill routines by the experience that enable with the child.
The final area I am going to discuss is executive function. This area deals with a child's working memory, mental flexibility, and self control. All three of these items are important so that a child a meld learning experiences and begin to put items of learning together. This ability takes time and develops over the childs life. One way to make sure that this development takes place is to make sure that a developing child is protected from as much trauma and stress as possible. Do your best to keep them in a healthy environment.
