October 2007 - Cognitive Skills
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Contact Us
TRIS Project
Dr. Deborah A Bruns
Special Education program
School of Education
Wham Building, Room 223 MC 4618
Carbondale, IL 62901
618-453-2311
tris@siu.edu
Main Content
One of the of the aims of the TRIS project is to raise awareness of rare trisomy conditions and the variety of situations and concerns families encounter. This page is intended to share resources that families can use in their daily lives.
We are archiving previous months' Family Resources pages.
Cognitive Skills
This month the TRIS team focuses on activities that will help children develop their cognitive skills. Cognitive skills are used in all daily activities, play, etc. During constructive play the child is faced with the task of finding ways to put objects together, such as Legos. During exploratory and investigative play, a child encounters new information and experiences. The child tries to make sense of these experiences through touch, smell, sight and sound. You can find many opportunities for cognitive play in your child’s daily activities Some examples of activities to promote cognitive play are listed below:
Puzzles - Jigsaw puzzles, wooden puzzles, 3 dimensional puzzles. Sensory play / Science Experiments- visit this link for some fun science experiments you can do at home.
Books - Reading with you children each and everyday is a great way to improve not only cognitive development but many other aspects of your child’s development.
Sensory play is also a fun and interactive way to help your child develop and strengthen their cognitive abilities. The world is packed with sensory information. Bright lights, honking horns, shouting people, humid air, wet snow. Playing with their senses, or sensory play, is how children begin the process of sensory integration— processing, organizing and filtering sensory input and responding appropriately. Through sensory play children learn to concentrate and manage their emotional responses to sensory input. Sensory activities can be as simple as tickling or helping your child stretch to more involved sensory activities such as water play or helping in the kitchen. Follow this link for ideas on sensory activities that you can make and participate in with your child in the areas of tactile play, visual play, sound and play, smell and taste, and sensory integration.
Cooking activities are also a fun ways to help develop cognitive skills and introduce sensory activities. Visit the following websites for great kid friendly recipes: Family Fun and Kids Cooking.
For tips on working with specific age groups in the kitchen visit Kitchen tips.
For picture recipes, try this link out for great ideas and resources: Picture recipes
For additional activities to help develop your child’s cognitive skills please visit: Cognitive play.