WHAT ARE COGNITIVE ABILITIES?

With «cognitive abilities» we mean the group of mental activities and processes, like problem solving, reasoning, thought and deductive skills that coordinate our knowledge, in other words the mental representations of principles, procedures and theories of a set of domain-specific knowledge, which promote the acquisition of further adaptive skills.

ALL THE BOOKS IN THE «COGNITIVE ABILITIES» SERIES

Comprising five books, the series edited by Emanuele Gagliardini, offers educational tools aimed at the remediation and development of mental abilities and processes such as perception, thought, learning, reasoning, memory, attention, numerical cognition and problem solving.

Click on the cover to find out more about the individual books.

Each book about specific mental abilities and processes contains highly specific practical worksheets which are graded by levels of increasing difficulty and are mainly designed for children between the ages of 4/5 to 10/11 with pervasive developmental disorders (language disorders, motor co-ordination disorders, specific and non-specific learning disorders, memory disorders, attention disorders, autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disabilities) and for adults with congenital cognitive difficulties or difficulties following neuroanatomical traumas and/or lesions.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO ACQUIRE A GOOD LEVEL OF COGNITIVE COMPETENCE?

The higher an individual’s level of cognitive competence, the greater their chances of learning specific abilities such as reading, calculation and writing, through the implementation of executive functions used to ensure efficiency and stability in processes involving the planning, control and coordination of mental abilities.
The development and remediation of these abilities through practice give the individual better chances in responding to the numerous demands they are subject to on a daily basis, at work, school, in their relationships with others in general or with themselves, automising individual performances.