Acting, observing and understanding
Cognitive development begins with experiences that help us notice what is happening, anticipate, relate information and understand that our actions can have consequences. A simple action followed by an immediate response can be the starting point for discovering cause and effect and for participating more actively in the environment.
From these first relationships, activities can progress towards attention, memory, association, discrimination, sequencing, choice, problem solving and other cognitive abilities.
What you will find here
This category brings together resources that encourage active participation, understanding relationships and cognitive exploration, adapting the level of challenge to very different abilities.
You will find:
- Cause-and-effect activities in which an action produces a perceptible response.
- Resources for attention, observation and anticipation.
- Activities for matching, associating, sorting and discriminating.
- Resources for memory and sequencing.
- Activities involving choice and decision-making.
- Games and materials for reasoning and problem solving.
Cause and effect can be explored through very simple actions: pressing, touching or activating something and observing that light, colour, sound, movement or another response appears. For some users, recognising that “I did this” can already be a meaningful achievement and an important opportunity for participation.
Other activities can introduce several options, sequences, rules or problems to solve, progressively increasing their cognitive demands.
The aim is to offer meaningful opportunities to act, observe, understand relationships, make choices and discover the consequences of one's own actions.