Development from 8-10 years is an exciting time! Take a peek at some of the major achievements of this age. By the end of this period your child:
Should be able to:
- Take multiple perspectives and understand differing points of view (cognitive development)
- Recognize their own learning strengths and struggles, and apply increased focus and attention skills to study skills, math, and reading abilities (academic skills)
- Read fluently, apply and check comprehension strategies (language & literacy)
- Relate to peers, adjust to social rules, and evolve from free play to more structured interactions and expectations (social development)
- Show a marked decrease in creativity along with notable conformity of thought (creativity development)
Will probably be able to:
- Mentally combine information, reverse thinking to go from an end result to its causal agent, and make logical arguments (cognitive development)
- Apply inductive reasoning skills (the ability to form generalizations), where children use specific information to form a general conclusion (e.g., On these 10 dogs I have seen have fleas, so all dogs must have fleas.) (academic skills)
- Express written and spoken ideas that are persuasive, interesting, and engaging (language & literacy)
- Engage in elaborate fantasy play, interactive games, rotating leaders, and cooperative goal setting (social development)
- Engage in new kinds of problem solving when prompted (creativity development)
May possibly be able to:
- Understand abstract or hypothetical concepts and arguments (cognitive development)
- Apply deductive logic abilities, where children use a general premise to form a specific conclusion (e.g., Most people are right handed. Sally is a person, so she must be right handed) (academic skills)
- Understand irony and apply inferences independently (language & literacy)
- Identify and describe emotions; reflect on others’ motives (social development)
- Engage in divergent thinking and formulate open ended questions (creativity development)
