Intellectual Development in Children

“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only on death.”

Albert Einstein

Intelligence is an adaptation to new situations. When a situation is new and when there are no reflexes to rely on than the subject is obliged to search for something new. It has been well established through many types of research, that ninety per cent of the brain develops by the age of six years. The foundation for further learning is formed in the early years of life.

In their first five years, children grow and develop rapidly across four main areas of development- 

motor (physical),

language and communication,

cognitive, and 

social/emotional. 

Intellectual development refers to the changes that take place as a result of growth, and experience, in thinking, reasoning, relating, judging, conceptualizing, etc. These are the changes evident in children as a part of intellectual development. Cognitive development is how children think, explore and figure things out. Basically, it is the development of knowledge, skills, problem-solving, and dispositions that help children to think about and understand the world surrounding them. The development of a child's ability to think and reason is referred to as cognitive development. This development occurs differently between the ages of 6 and 12, and between the ages of 12 and 18.

Youngsters from 6 to 12 years old learn to think in tangible terms. They are known as concrete operations.

Children, when young, are not only growing physically, but they also encounter rapid mental growth. They continue to upgrade their skills of observing and interacting with the world. Even infants and toddlers acquire implicit theories in order to explain the actions of objects and the behaviour of people. These theories later go on to form the foundation for causal learning and a more sophisticated understanding of the physical and social worlds.

Intellectual development is all about learning. It is about how individuals organize their minds, ideas, and thoughts to make sense of the world they live in. The main areas of intellectual development are:

Language development – helps us to organize thoughts and make sense of the world around us. It helps an individual to ask questions and develop simple ideas into more complex ideas. Language development depends upon the child’s pattern of development, age, the opportunity to experiment and use language. It is a basic individual need to communicate and language is the tool that allows this.  With a daily vocabulary of 10+ words, the median vocabulary at 16 months is 55 words, 225 words at 23 months, and nearly 6000 words by age six. Around age two, the developmental range extends from having no vocabulary to having over 500 words. Youngsters who arrive at school with limited language abilities require quick assistance.

Cognitive development – is about how we use our minds and organises thinking to understand the world around us. Cognitive development depends upon the child’s pattern of development, the opportunity for playing with toys and games, and experiences of activities and events. Cognitive development includes imagination – being able to picture things when they are not in front of you. Using their imagination, children indulge in pretend play, pretend games, tell stories, draw, paint, read, make models, and dress up.

Reading is an important intellectual skill. A baby is born into an environment where it is continually surrounded by words and symbols. Learning to read is the skill of being able to recognize, interpret and understand hundreds of symbols and the combinations of those symbols so that they have meaning. The process is gradual and has a pattern-

recognizing a picture,

linking a letter symbol to a picture symbol,

recognizing combinations of letters and linking to a picture symbol.

For a child’s intellectual development parents and school plays an important role. The role of the parent is to spend time observing and interacting with their child and provide opportunities. Parents also help children to learn and develop through exposure to new things and by making them visit interesting places or making different materials available at home including a household object, toys, and books.

Also, schools play an important role in every aspect when it comes to children’s all-round development. Schools provide a structured pattern of education and promote children’s mental and psychological growth and development. The school has effects on children’s educational achievement, their acquisition of literacy, numeracy and scientific, knowledge. The school acts as a foundation of a child’s life. Such a school is Delhi International School, which believes in creating global heads with hearts.

The school always tries to provide experiences and situations in which students can consider and reflect on the values and translate this reflection into action with a global dimension. Delhi International school emphasises inclusive education so that each child’s ability can be nurtured. This school provides various skills which help their students learn effectively each and everything, starting from

Collaboration

Communication

Imagination

Critically thinking

Being creative

Being digitally literate

Leading

Learning, applying & reflecting

Intellectual development in children is generally characterized by the development of important mental processes—attention span, understanding information, reasoning, learning, remembering, problem-solving, and thinking— from birth until adulthood. Understanding this area of development gives you insight into your kids’ ability for logical reasoning at different age levels.

Here’s how you can promote intellectual development in your kids:

Develop problem-solving skills

Building problem-solving skills during the formative years of your kids can be extremely helpful for their lifetime. You can encourage them to play board games, brain games, and puzzles. Motivate them to come up with original ideas of their own, while waiting and listening to them patiently. Developing educational activities for kids, educational activities for preschoolers and educational activities for toddlers is a good way to develop intellectual abilities.

Increase Attention 

Increasing attention span can play a vital role in the cognitive development of your kids and toddlers. How much attention your children pay to a task depends on whether they are enjoying it or not. As kids entering school have to take part in more structured, repetitive, and academic tasks like writing and reading, their tasks need to be made interesting for them.

Improve memory skills

Memory is a complex process. There is a range of strategies that you can take the help of to help your kids recall information. You can teach them how to remember the sequence of letters of different words, the names of animals using their unique attributes, and the names of places with specific landmarks. Show yourself as a loving and caring parent. Incorporate best practices to nurture and pamper your kids. Our brains are rapidly growing in size. A 2-year-brain, old's for example, is 55% of its adult size, and by 6 years old, the brain is roughly 90% of its adult size . The frontal lobes expand rapidly during childhood (ages 3-6). Remembering our prior explanation of the four lobes of the brain, the frontal lobes are connected with planning, reasoning, memory, and impulse control. As a result, by the time children reach school age, they have developed the ability to govern their attention and behaviour. The frontal, temporal, occipital, and parietal lobes all develop in size during elementary school. It is important that from early on in their life, their physical, emotional, and intellectual development is focused upon.