LANGUAGE AND

SOCIAL INTERACTION
Vygotsky believed that the young children use language both to
communicate socially and to plan, guide, and monitor their
behavior in a self-regulatory fashion-called inner speech or
private speech

 Piaget-private speech is egocentric and immature

 Vygotsky
 It is important tool of thought during early childhood
 Full cognitive requires social interaction and language
 Children must use language to communicate with other before they
can focus on their own thoughts that implies importance of
interaction of preschoolers with caregivers for language development
ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT (ZPD)
 Information Processing Theory –
Attention and Memory
 The information Processing model is another way
of examining and understanding how children
develop cognitively.

 Conceptualizes children’s mental processes

through the metaphor of a computer processing,
encoding, storing, and decoding.
The Preschoolers’ attention span lasts longer than
that of toddlers. The child’s ability to pay attention
changes significantly during the preschool years

Preschool children recognize previously encountered

information, recall old information, and
reconstruct it in the present
Among the interesting questions about memory in the preschool
years are those involving short term memory. In short term
memory(STM), retain information for up to 15-30 seconds,
assuming there is no rehearsal, which can help keep information
in STM for much longer period.

Differences in memory span occur across the ages due to:

A. Rehearsal
Older children rehearse items more than younger
children(preschool children may have shorter memory span than
primary and intermediate pupils)

B. Speed and efficiency of processing information

The speed with w/c a child processes information is an
important aspect of the child cognitive abilities
AGES 2 to 5
 long term memory begins to form. Part of long term
memory involves storing information about sequence of
events during familiar situation as “scripts”. Scripts help
children understand, interpret and predict what will
happen in future scenarios.

AGES 5 to 7
 children learn how to focus and use their cognitive
abilities for specific purposes.(can learn to pay attention
to and memorize lists of words or facts).
 developed a larger overall capacity to process information.
 children knowledge base also continues to grow and
become better organized.
THE YOUNG CHILDREN’S
THEORY OF MIND
 THE YOUNG CHILDREN’S THEORY OF MIND

 Theoryof mind refers to individuals’ thoughts about how mental

processes work
 Children become aware that the mind exist by the age of 2 or 3.
refer to needs, emotions and mental states.

Theory of mind develop(various speculations and research)that SOCIAL

EXPERIENCE is very important
 early form of communication
 imitation
 make believe play
 language
 social interaction
 PRESCHOOLERS’ COGNITIVE SKILLS
lifted form Philippine Early Learning
and Development Standards (ELDS)
 PRESCHOOLERS’ COGNITIVE SKILLS

Receptive Language
Standards 1: The child is able to understand both
verbal and non-verbal forms of
communication
31-60 months: 3-5 years old

Pre-Reading and Pre-Math (Matching)

Standards 1.1: The child is able to match identical
objects, colors, shapes, symbols
31-48 months: 2 ½ to 4 years old
 PRESCHOOLERS’ COGNITIVE SKILLS
Pre-Reading and Pre-Math (Copying Letters and Numbers)
Standards 1.2: The child is able to recite the alphabet and
numbers in sequence
37-71 months: 3-6 years old

Domain: Cognitive Development

Attention And Activity Level
Standards 1: The child is able to sustain attention and
modulate his activity at age-expected levels
31-71 months: 2 ½ to 6 years old
 PRESCHOOLERS’ COGNITIVE SKILLS

Higher-Ordered Mental Abilities (Concept Formation)

Standards 1: The child develops basic concepts pertaining to object
constancy, space , time, quantity, seriation, etc., and
uses these as the basis for understanding how materials
are categorized in his/her environment
31-60 months: 2 ½ to 5 years old

Higher-Ordered Mental Abilities (Cause and Effect

Relationships)
Standards 1: The child is able to understand the cause-effect
relationship
31-48 months: 3-4 years old
 PRESCHOOLERS’ COGNITIVE SKILLS

Memory: (Episodic Memory)

Standards 1: The child is able to recall people he has met, events,
and places he has been to
31-36 months: 2 ½ to 3 years old

Memory: (Memory for Concept-Based Knowledge-Semantic Memory)

Standards 1: The child is able to store verbal information in short and
long term memory
37-71 months:3 to 6 years old
 PRESCHOOLERS’ COGNITIVE SKILLS
Higher-Ordered Mental Abilities (Logical Reasoning)
Standards 1: The child is able to follow the logic of events
(reasons why these happen) and draw accurate
conclusion by evaluating the facts presented to him.
31-60 months:2 ½ to 5 years old

Higher-Ordered Mental Abilities (Planning and Organizing)

Standards 1: The child is able to plan and organize a simple,
familiar activity
31-60 months: 2 ½ to 5 years old
 PRESCHOOLERS’ COGNITIVE SKILLS

Higher-Ordered Mental Abilities (Creative Thought)

Standards 1: The child is able to generate new ideas or concepts,
or new associations between existing ideas or concepts.
31-71 months:2 ½ to 6 years old

Higher-Ordered Mental Abilities (Cognitive Flexibility)

Standards 1: The child is able to shift to more adaptive cognitive
processing strategies in order to effectively deal with new and
unexpected condition in his/her environment, including problem
situations.
31-48 months: 2 ½ to 3 years old
 THE ROLE OF CAREGIVERS (PARENTS AND TEACHERS)
IN THE COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF PRESCHOOLERS

Learning about how preschoolers think and learn, one will realize that
parents and teachers can do a lot either to help preschoolers develop
their cognitive skills or impede them. With the best intentions, one
can do more harm than good if the approach to teaching preschoolers
is not appropriate.

2 Prominent Organizations
1. National Association for the Education of Young Children-NAEYC
2. Association for Childhood Education International-ACEI
 PRACTICES THAT HELP DEVELOP THE COGNITIVE SKILLS OF PRESCHOOLERS

FOR THREE–YEAR-OLDS
1. Speak with children as often as possible
2. Add new information to your children’s sentence
3. Teach children to memorize first and last names
4. Provide books for children to read, and read the same books to them
5. Encourage interest in reading and writing by sharing a grocery list or
note for parents
6. Count objects of interest
7. Explain why and how things happen with the help of a reference book
8. Provide sets-toys and other objects that go together
9. Sing simple songs
FOR FOUR-YEAR-OLDS
1. Read aloud each day and encourage children to look at
books on their own
2. Say nursery rhymes and fingerplays together
3. Encourage interest in writing and words
4. Teach important number and space concepts
5.Teach children the correct use of the telephone
6. Encourage them to help you and plant a garden
FOR FIVE-YEAR-OLDS
1. Add drama to your reading session each day by using different voices
for different characters
2. Ask 5-year-olds to tell you a story
3. Ask “what if” questions
4. Involve children in writing “thank you” notes, holiday greeting cards
and letters
5. Give 5-year-olds opportunities to sort, group, match, count, and
sequence with real life situations.
6. Take questions seriously
7. Five-year-olds will show an increasing interest in numbers
8. Encourage interest in jokes, nonsense, and riddles by reading
humorous stories, riddles, and nonsense rhymes
9. Give opportunities to express dramatic and creative interest
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!