Cognition and learning
How you can help your child with their thinking and learning.
What you might observe about the child
- Little involvement and low levels of concentration.
- Gives up easily.
- Little motivation, enjoyment or sense of achievement.
- Unable to express or explore their own ideas and thinking.
- Cannot make links, for example between experiences at home and nursery.
- Rigidity in play and does not choose how they would like to do things.
What can adults do?
- Show a playful attitude and sense of fun when playing with children.
- Play alongside the child copying what the child does.
- Model possible ways to develop the play (for example, the child holds a doll, adult holds another doll picks up a spoon and pretends to feed it).
- Use reassuring facial expressions, body language, gestures and signs to encourage effort, no matter how small.
- Provide a simple play story using key words only, for example, 'Teddy jumps'.
- Use specific, meaningful praise when a child persists at or achieves something new.
- Verbal and visual encouragement.
- Try using photos, symbols, choice boards or ‘now and next’ boards to suggest and support play sequences or routines. Find out more from BBC’s Tiny Happy People - The power of pictures.
- Use specific motivators - learn what the child really responds well to (often food) and include it in play situations.
- Model the use of simple statements such as 'I wonder' or 'what if' rather than asking questions.
- Be patient with repetitive play as some children need to over-learn before being able to move on.
- When appropriate, always offer a choice (for example, between bubbles or glitter in a water tray) even if you know that they will always choose the glitter.
- Ensure the child sees other children playing in different ways.
- Find out more about supporting your child’s play and development at BBC’s Tiny Happy People - Tips and advice.
More information
If you would like to learn more about this topic, or if you are a professional working in early years, you can find information on Tools for Schools: Cognition and learning.
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Video resources to support you at home
'Play a little, learn a lot' - A collection of play session videos aimed at children with special educational needs (SEN).Video resources to support you at home
How children learn to talk
5 mins
Intensive interaction
6 mins
Using visuals to support language and attention
6 mins