A Parent's Guide to Intellectual Development in Children

By age 5, most kids have the intellectual capacity and eagerness to follow a school's age-appropriate curriculum. Lessons in language, mathematics, science and other disciplines become increasingly challenging with each passing grade, as a child's attention span correspondingly grows longer. For example, the average 6-year-old should be able to concentrate on a task for 15 minutes, while a 9-year-old can usually stay focused on a topic for up to one hour, explains MedlinePlus, a website published by the National Institutes of Health.

  1. 5-To-6-Year-Olds

    • Very young school-age children -- up through first grade -- should be capable of completing five- to seven-word sentences that are simple in nature. For example, a 6-year-old might say "The man next door looked sad." The inquisitive kindergartner or first grader is also beginning to ask more sophisticated questions like "Why did the moon's size change?" Most first graders can proudly count up to 200 and count backwards from 20, notes the Child Development Institute. The typical 6-year-old can distinguish odd numbers from even numbers.

    7-To-9-Year-Olds

    • A 7-year-old may seem to ask "Why?" every time you turn around. The average 7-year-old has an insatiable desire to know more about a topic, object, place or person. Second and third graders use increasingly creative and complicated approaches to solve problems; for example, a third grader might say "I don't think I can add up these numbers. Maybe using marbles will help me figure this out." The average 7-year-old can do simple mathematics like 6 + 2 = 8 or 10 - 3 = 7. Eight and 9-year-olds can count to at least 1,000 and are developing multiplication skills that stretch beyond the introductory 2 x 2 = 4. Grammar and pronunciation becomes more adult-like as a child moves through the elementary school years.

    10-To-12-Year-Olds

    • A 10-year-old normally has the intellectual capacity to follow five consecutive commands, points out MedlinePlus. For instance a child this age can go out to the garage, grab the small ladder, carry the ladder over to the shelf that holds the hammer, use the ladder to grab the hammer and bring it to you in the basement. A 10-year-old also likes to read, write, learn facts of interest, and collect things such as coins or stamps. Near age 11 or 12, the older school-age child is able to see the bigger picture in a situation; "Mary didn't say hi to me today. It might not mean that she's mad at me. Maybe she's upset about her parents splitting up."

    Considerations

    • Elementary-age and pre-adolescent children are in the third stage of development referred to as "concrete operational stage," according to growth stages formulated by developmental biologist Jean Piaget. Children in this age group gradually become less self-centered and more aware of what's taking place around them. Kids at the older end of the concrete operational stage are beginning to show more interest in the community and the world; they may look over a newspaper or check out the TV news.

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