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Essay on Cognitive Development
Cognitive development is defined as thinking, problem solving, concept understanding, information processing and overall intelligence. Many persons with fragile X syndrome have some cognitive weaknesses. Their overall potential may be lower than that of their peers and siblings. They still have patterns of strengths and weaknesses in their development and may do very well with certain types of learning.
Up to 80% of males with fragile X syndrome are described as cognitively delayed. In the older studies of males with fragile X, almost all of the boys and men were described as having moderate or severe mental retardation. However, many of these studies were based upon institutionalized males. With increased awareness of fragile X, more persons who have the syndrome are being properly diagnosed, and 10-15% of the boys tested may have IQs in the borderline or mild mental retardation range.
Contemporary theorists suggest that a better description of how children develop cognitively can be provided by approaches that do not employ concrete fixed stages. Research also has proven that children are not always consistent in their performance of tasks at each stage. Furthermore, developmental psychologists imply that cognitive development proceeds in a continuous fashion; they propose that such development is primarily quantitative, rather than qualitative. Most developmental theorists have agreed that Piaget has provided us with an accurate account of age-related changes in cognitive development. Piaget’s suggestion, that cognitive performance cannot be attained unless cognitive readiness is brought about by maturation and environmental stimuli, has been instrumental in determining the structure of educational curriculum.
No theory of cognitive development has had more impact than the cognitive stages presented by Jean Piaget. Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, suggested that children go through four separate stages in a fixed order that is universal in all children. Piaget declared that these stages differ not only in the quantity of information acquired at each, but also in the quality of knowledge and understanding at that stage.....
