Cognitive Development In Preschool Years

Development during the preschool years is crucial because of the physical development, and experience, one learns from. Although there are the characteristics of the body changing the brain of a preschooler grows faster rate than any other body part. By the time a child reaches the age of 5, the brain is already 90% of the average adult brain. Nevertheless, health is also a concern during this age because of the nutrition a child needs, environment, illnesses, injuries, maltreatment, child abuse, and more. Not only is the physical growth important, the cognitive development is also a key subject during the preschool years since the brain is growing at such a rapid rate. During the cognitive development of a preschooler they learn preoperational thought, symbolic function, language acquisition, centration, conservation, intuitive thought, autobiographical memory, culture, language development, etc. In my own childhood there are many things I can include for my own physical and cognitive development during my preschool years.

Without the routine I followed as a child, I would not be accustomed to making my bed every day and showering daily. Another pattern I followed daily was my bed routine, during my preschool years I would take a bath, read a book, then went to bed. Even though I’ve never experienced night terrors or enuresis; some children during the preschool years do endure these things. 10-15% of children from ages 3 to 5 have nightmares; while only 1-5% of children have night terrors. Nightmares are just vivid bad dreams, night terrors are completely different. Night terrors result in children waking up in an “intense state of panic”, when they wake up they cannot remember experiencing the bad dream. Children who have night terrors are not easily comforted by someone. Another concept from the preschool years that causes concern, is