Cognition refers to the thinking skills and thought processes that a child or young person has acquired through their prior experience. Learning needs are on a continuum and can vary across subjects and situations.
Children may struggle to retain information, gain new information or use the information they have gained to connect learning together. Learning difficulties can be general or specific and related to one or more areas of the curriculum. Difficulties may be short-term in one or more areas or severe and long term. Specific learning difficulties (SpLD) affect one or more specific aspects of learning. This encompasses a range of conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and developmental coordination disorder (DCD).
Children with cognition (understanding) and learning difficulties may learn at a slower pace than their peers. Often children with cognition and learning difficulties have working memory difficulties. Therefore, it is important to:
- break learning activities down into small chunks
- provide lots of opportunities for repetition (what we call 'overlearning')
- allowing your child to take regular movement breaks (standing up and shaking out their arms and legs, running on the spot for 60 seconds, touching their toes and reaching to the sky etc.) can help them to refocus back on their learning if they are struggling.
Below are some ideas of ways you can support your child with their learning:
- Flash cards are a great way to teach your child key words but be careful not to overwhelm them. It is best to focus on four initially. Once they can confidently identify and say all four words. Remove one word and add in a new one. Repeat this process, taking care not to rush substituting words. It's better that your child feels really confident and secure with the words before they are removed.
- Phonics cards can be used in the same way as flash cards to support your child's sound recognition.
- Baking is an excellent activity to support with following instructions, developing mathematic skills and strengthening muscles required to use pencils, scissors and other tools safely and with control.
- Memory games are a great way to help children develop their capacity to remember information that is shared with them in all areas of learning and life.
- Playing sport is a great way of developing coordination, gaining muscle strength and helping with overall upper body strength which supports children in a wide range of activities including listening and attention.
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- Ask questions and set up opportunities to challenge and provoke deeper thinking/thinking for themselves. For instance, "How should we approach this?", "What should we do first?", "How does this work... can you help me?"
- Play a variety of games with your child. For younger children: build with blocks, roll balls, and play Peek-a-Boo. As your child matures: play board games, play memory games, work on puzzles, and play Hide and Seek.
- Choose toys for your child that encourages a variety of ways to play
Toys that can only be played with in one way limit children’s creativity and opportunities for problem-solving. Some suggestions would be: blocks, connecting toys, cardboard boxes, tracks and cars, paints, pencils, paper, homemade clay, instruments, etc. - Encourage your child to come up with original and creative ideas and show an authentic response. This will help them have a stronger sense of self-worth and then approach tasks more confidently.
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- Encourage your child to try various methods and problem solving techniques. Help your child keep trying until they find a solution that works for them. Examples could be in drawing, acting and talking.
Take trips to interesting places such as a museum, library, or local business to stimulate your child’s curiosity and sense of wonder. Offer hands-on experiences during these trips to allow for further exploration. Bring along paper, writing utensils, a camera, or recorder to capture any thoughts or questions.
Practice content your child may struggle with; through repetition we can embed the learning further so we can remember more effectively. For instance, counting with blocks, then counting with items of clothing and then food etc.
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