What is Cognitive Development in Equal-Life?

Cognition is defined as “the mental action or process of acquiring information and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.” Cognition is thus not a unitary dimension and consists of various interrelated but separable cognitive functions.

For cognitive development, in Equal-Life we focus on executive functions; i.e., cognitive processes that enable volitional control of goal-directed behaviour like selective attention, cognitive flexibility, working memory, reasoning, problem solving, and planning, language and literacy functions, including phonology, syntax, semantics, listening comprehension, reading, and spelling, verbal precursors of literacy (verbal short-term memory, phonological awareness) and school/academic achievement.