Developmental Trends: Basic Information Processing Abilities at Different Age Levels

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Infancy (Birth–2)

What You Might Observe:

• Some ability to learn evident from birth
• Adultlike hearing acuity within hours after birth
• Considerable improvement in visual acuity over the first year
• Preference for moderately complex stimuli
• Attention easily drawn to intense or novel stimuli
• Some ability to integrate information (e.g., learning that certain kinds of toys are stored in certain places in the playroom)

Diversity:

• Attention spans are partly due to differences in temperament, but persistent inability to focus on any one object may signal a cognitive disability.
• Exploration tendencies vary considerably: Some children may constantly seek new experiences, whereas others may be more comfortable with familiar objects.

Implications:

• Change some toys and materials regularly to capture infants’ interests and provide new experiences.
• Provide objects that can be easily categorized (e.g., colored blocks, plastic farm animals).
• Allow for differences in interest, attention span, and exploratory behavior; offer choices of toys and activities.

Early Childhood (2–6)

What You Might Observe:

• Short attention span
• Distractibility
• Some understanding and use of symbols
• Limited knowledge base with which to interpret new experiences

Diversity:

• Pronounced disabilities in information processing (e.g., ADHD, dyslexia) begin to reveal themselves in children’s behavior.
• Children’s prior knowledge differs markedly depending on their cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Implications:

• Change activities often.
• Keep unnecessary distractions to a minimum.
• Provide a variety of experiences (field trips to the library, fire department, etc.) that enrich children’s knowledge base.

Middle Childhood (6–10)

What You Might Observe:

• Increasing ability to attend to important stimuli and ignore irrelevant stimuli
• Increasingly symbolic nature of thought and knowledge
• Gradual automatization of basic skills
• Increasing exposure to environments beyond the home and family, leading to an expanding knowledge base
• Knowledge of academic subject matter relatively unintegrated, especially in science and social studies

Diversity:

• Many children with learning disabilities or ADHD have short attention spans and are easily distracted.
• Some children with learning disabilities have a smaller working memory capacity than their peers.
• Mild cognitive disabilities may not become evident until the middle or upper elementary grades.

Implications:

• Intersperse sedentary activities with physically more active ones to help children maintain attention.
• Provide many opportunities to practice basic knowledge and skills (e.g., number facts, word recognition), often through authentic, motivating, and challenging tasks.
• Begin to explore hierarchies, cause and effect, and other interrelationships among ideas in various disciplines.
• Consult experts when learning or behavior problems might reflect a cognitive disability.

Early Adolescence (10–14)

What You Might Observe:

• Ability to attend to a single task for an hour or more
• Basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics (e.g., word identification, common word spellings, basic math facts) largely automatized
• Growing (although not necessarily well integrated) knowledge base related to various topics and academic disciplines

Diversity:

• Many adolescents with information processing difficulties have trouble paying attention for a typical class period.
• Many adolescents with sensory or physical disabilities (e.g., those who are blind or in a wheelchair) have a more limited knowledge base than their peers, due to fewer opportunities to explore the world around them.

Implications:

• Provide variety in learning tasks as a way of keeping young adolescents’ attention.
• Frequently point out how concepts and ideas are related to one another, both within and across content domains.
• Provide extra guidance and support for those with diagnosed or suspected information processing difficulties.

Late Adolescence (14–18)

What You Might Observe:

• Ability to attend to a single task for lengthy periods
• Extensive and somewhat integrated knowledge in some content domains

Diversity:

• High school students have choices in course selection, leading to differences in the extent of their knowledge base in various content areas.

Implications:

• Occasionally give assignments that require adolescents to focus on a particular task for a long period.
• Consistently encourage adolescents to think about the “hows” and “whys” of what they are learning.
• Assess learning in ways that require adolescents to depict relationships among ideas.