Cognitive Gender Differences
Verbal Skills
The average 20-month old little girl has twice the vocabulary of the average 20-month old boy. Because toddler girls begin to talk sooner and more clearly than boys [3] they have more practice. That earlier speech probably is the source of the stereotype that girls have better verbal skills. However, it is important to remember that boys will catch up later although if nothing is done to help boys improve, they may always seem like they are less verbal than girls. It is very important for boys to be included in conversations with parents and other family members. Girls are likely to have something to say, but boys may need to be encouraged.
Some verbal skills such as analogies appear to have a male advantage [4, 5]. One belief is that some female’s ruminative cognitive style leads them to consider every choice in an analogy and be more likely to change their answers [6]. Males were more likely to find the answer and move on. Remember, this will be true for many children but not for all. However, if there are problems in verbal ability, males are much more likely to be diagnosed with stuttering [7] and problems with handwriting [8]. There are some indications that boys have trouble with reading [8] although more recent information indicates that the problem is more obvious when a child is reading orally; on reading tests, boys and girls performed the same as long at the test did not require writing, an area in which boys had more trouble [8]. Some reading problems in boys may simply need time and reading to your son every night will help him more than anything else you can do.
There is no difference in Males and females have similar verbal intelligence in spite of the fact that males are less likely to read for pleasure than females are. The problem is that by the time males have caught up to females in verbal skills, they may have never acquired the habit of reading and continue to believe that their verbal skills are not at the same level as those of females.
Spatial Skills
If women are stronger in verbal skills, men seem to have some advantage in certain spatial skills. One study found that 3- and 6- month old girls had more responsive left cerebral hemispheres and the same age boys had more responsive right hemispheres [10]. In right-handed individuals, the language center of the brain is focused on the left side while spatial skills are found in the right hemisphere. Thus, the finding from Shucard & Shucard may help us to understand why a little girl will want to TELL you about something she is excited about, whereas some boys may prefer to SHOW you what they are excited about. A little boy will easily be able to learn to throw a ball and, since he is good at it, he is likely to throw other objects as well. If this is a problem, give him bean bags, soft foam balls, or other throwing toys designed to travel slowly and land softly. Girls may need somewhat more encouragement to throw. You can make a game out of it by helping your daughter to toss her toys into the toy box.
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