Cognitive Development of School Age Child

The cognitive development of the school age child is progressing rapidly. The two main cognitive processes at this time, which allow the child to become a more effective communicator during the school age years are non-egocentrism and decentration. Non-egocentrism is the child's ability to take on the perspective of others. Until school age, the child is egocentric and is unable to see things from anyone's perspective but his own. Non-egocentrism allows the child to use …

…result of non-egocentrism is the use of conversational repairs. Whereas a pre-school child, if he is not being understood, will simply repeat exactly what he said before, the school age child looks for other ways to make his meaning clear. He might rephrase what he said, define terms, or establish the cause of the breakdown in the conversation. Finally , the diactic terms also reflect the child's ability to take on the perspective of the listener