Professionals such as speech-language pathologists will consider both subjective and objective data on the child's skill level before finalizing a cognitive goal set. Subjective information is gathered through observing the child's interactions with peers and their family, and speaking with the family members regarding their own goals for the child's progress. If the family has specific concerns, it is often helpful for the professional to use these as a starting point. Objective data is gathered through the recording of data based on one-to-one interaction with the child and through the use of formal assessments to determine the child's current cognitive skill level. Cognitive goals for non-verbal children that take into account both subjective and objective measures will be helpful for the child.
A non-verbal preschool age child can work on eye gaze as an extension of cognition. Eye gaze indicates attention toward an object or individual, and at the higher level, eye gaze is a method of communication. One example goal for a non-verbal child with some grasp of eye gaze would be to request objects using eye gaze in a classroom environment.
Attention is another important cognitive skill often targeted in non-verbal preschool children. Therapy professionals can work on directing a child's attention to a particular event or on the act of joint attention or sharing a focus between the professional and the child.
Another way of targeting attention is as a secondary skill to a primary goal. If a child is working on pointing and gesture-based communication, attention is an intermediate step on the way to achieving more advanced goals.
At an advanced level, memory-related goals are targeted. It is imperative that professionals match the skill level of the child to their respective goals. Simple memory-related goals may include the ability to recall objects as presented in isolation, while more advanced goals may include good performance in a silent game of "Memory" -- the card-matching game for children. Working memory is an important cognitive skill you can target nonverbally.