Foundational Cognitive Skills Matter More than Developing Words

The prelinguistic period can feel like agony.

Many parents and professionals simply want the child to use words.  Words offer proof the child will develop speech. Development of speech somehow means the child is “okay”.

Being in the space between preverbal and verbal can be painful.

What if there was value in this stage?

As a pediatric SLP who specializes in bridging the gap between preverbal and verbal skills, I deeply appreciate the preverbal stage.  This period has so many gifts to offer.  This stage enable easier progression in speech, language and feeding skills to create a functional adult.

The foundational cognitive skills I most often address are:  emotional regulation, attention span, social interaction, ideation, cognitive flexibility, problem solving.  The below narrative considers each of these skills in greater detail.

Emotional Regulation

Sustaining a calm, alert state allows the brain to learn.  When in a state of reaction, melt down or survival, the brain has limited capacity to learn.  Resources are allocated to surviving the moment—not thriving in it.

There are many ways to maintain emotional regulation.  Taking turns in interaction enables coregulation between two people.  When one calm nervous system interacts with another, the nervous systems can both become regulated.  Experiencing emotion or social interaction while maintaining a calm, alert state of mind is often overlooked.  Professionals frequently assume these foundational skills are in place.  Becoming adept at recognizing subtle cues and responding accordingly can make a significant difference in a person’s ability to easily learn.

The ability to maintain a calm, alert state of mind is foundational to learning how to communicate, learning language, learning speech sounds and developing skills during mealtime.

Attention Span

Attention span is developed early on through a process of turn taking within interaction. 

Yes.  It’s that simple. 

Attention span was meant to be developed within the context of relationships—not academics.  Taking turns in interaction not only develops attention span but deepens social interaction skills, communication and imitation.  Recall of information is dependent upon the ability to attend. 

Does your child learns a skill, then forget?  Does your child spend weeks developing one skill only to forget another after it is achieved?  Attention span and turn taking may have been overlooked. 

In typical language development, after a 50 word vocabulary a child has mastered the skill of learning language.  I’m often finding that language development has been altered in older children.  The child may have a certain number of words or be able to repetitively use familiar phrases but does not easily learn language or clearly articulate speech sounds. 

Many children skip developing attention span and develop splinter skills (i.e., skills out of developmental sequence) to become verbal.  This creates an altered developmental trajectory, requiring more therapy and increased effort to learn.  Among other things, this impacts learning of basic concepts, reading and reading to learn.

Social Interaction

I now consider the ability to notice and respond to others a foundational cognitive skill. 

We are meant to learn from each other.  Much of learning is through the process of imitation. 

What happens if we cannot notice or respond to others?  Inability to notice and respond to others cripples the ability to easily learn.  Further, our mirror neurons (those neural pathways developed through watching others) do not get adequately developed. 

Has it been difficult to teach your child new skills?  Supporting basic social interaction may be beneficial.  We are wired for social connection.  Language and speech were meant to be learned with ease through imitation.  Eating was meant to be a social skill. 

If we don’t notice or respond to others, we cannot learn from them.  This includes language, speech and feeding skills.

Ideation

Thought precedes language.  To communicate using language, first there must be an idea.

Without ideas, language has no purpose. 

Without ideas (and social interaction) there is no communication. 

Expanding ideas is dependent upon foundational social interaction.  We learn new ideas from noticing others in our environment.

Children (and adults) lacking the skill of ideation are often labeled as “lazy”. 

Without ideas, we cannot have subsequent motor planning (execution of an idea through the movement system). Motor planning is required for sequencing movements of the body, including clearly articulated speech sounds.  Is your child lazy, or do they just lack ideas?

Without adequate ideas, a human cannot effectively advocate for themselves. 

Without the skill of ideation, a person is unable to problem solve.  Inability to problem solve often results in emotional dysregulation, apathy and inability to initiate or persist while learning new tasks.

Cognitive Flexibility

Responsiveness to new ideas is cognitive flexibility.  Cognitive flexibility enables effective problem solving.  If unable to notice or follow through with new ideas, the same frustrating cycle becomes repeated.  Repeating an infective cycle often results in frustration, anger, hopelessness and emotional dysregulation.

Cognitive flexibility allows a person to notice and correct speech sound errors. 

Cognitive flexibility allows a person to problem solve when overwhelmed during a mealtime experience.  It also allows the exploration of new foods.

Problem Solving

Effective problem solving is dependent upon adequate ideas, attention span and cognitive flexibility.  The ability to problem solve is correlated to the ability to maintain emotional regulation.  Emotional regulation allows a person to meet a problem with exploration and curiosity instead of anger, fear or despair. 

Problem solving allows a child to explore new foods without becoming dysregulated. 

Problem solving allows a child to figure out how to imitate speech sounds clearly. 

Problem solving allows a person to effectively communicate with others, verbally or nonverbally.

Conclusion

Have these foundational cognitive skills been overlooked in your child?  Filling in these gaps can help you and your child find ease in expanding speech, language and feeding skills.

These foundational cognitive skills enable your child to thrive the rest of their life.  These skills create a lifelong learner and support returning to a natural trajectory of development.  A natural trajectory of development enables ease and curiosity within the learning process. 

I believe learning was meant to be fun. 

I believe the human mind is naturally adept at learning.

Challenges within the process of learning often indicate foundational cognitive skills are underdeveloped.  I continue to be amazed how much growth occurs when these skills are supported through simple strategies within daily routines.

For more information about my work, visit my website at www.morganhickey.net