Cognitive Micro-Skills: The Skills Schoolwork Is Built On

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-13

What we mean by cognitive micro-skills

Cognitive micro-skills is our own name for a group of skills. You will not find it on a school report as a diagnosis. It is not a type of child.

In our view, reading, writing and math draw on other skills too. These include taking things in, holding them in mind, and speed. Whether building those skills improves schoolwork has not been established. We do not claim it.

Reading improves with reading instruction. Keep any skill work alongside reading or math teaching, not in place of it.

The seven skills we describe

On our processing pages, we describe seven skills. The seven are our own grouping. They are not a way to diagnose a child.

Most of the seven have a page of their own. Our page on processing difficulties has more.

Visual processing

Visual processing means making sense of what the eyes take in. That includes telling similar letters apart. It also includes keeping your place along a line. A child's eyes can test fine, and this can still be hard.

In our view, an eye exam is worth doing early. Ask for one that includes near vision.

Our page on visual tracking has more. Our page on visual memory has more. Our page on the term visual processing disorder has more.

Auditory processing

Auditory processing means making sense of what the ears take in. That includes telling similar sounds apart. It also includes following one voice in a busy room. And it includes holding what was just said long enough to use it. A child's hearing can test fine, and this can still be hard.

In our view, a hearing check is worth doing early. Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently.

Our page on auditory processing has more. Our page on auditory memory has more.

Working memory

Working memory means holding something in mind while you use it. A child who loses a two-part instruction may follow a one-part instruction perfectly.

Our page on auditory and visual working memory has more.

Processing speed

Processing speed means how fast a child takes something in and responds. From the front of the class, a slow answer can look like no answer. To us, slow is a speed, not a motive.

Our page on processing speed has more.

Proprioception

Proprioception means knowing where your body is without looking. You may hear it called body awareness. Some children trip, fall or drop things a lot. That is a behavior. The behavior alone does not tell you why. In our view, if coordination worries you, raise it with your child's doctor.

Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it.

Our page on proprioception has more. Our page on crossing the midline has more. Our pages on fine motor skills and gross motor skills have more.

Executive function

As we describe it, this is a set of everyday jobs. They get work started and keep it on track. Some children know what to do and cannot start.

Our page on a child who can't get started has more.

Emotional regulation

Emotional regulation is what happens when the work gets hard. In the families we work with, it often shapes what parents see. That is why we include it.

Practice reaches what it practices

Practice reaches the thing it is practice at. Suppose a program promises better reading or math from an exercise that is not reading or math. Check that claim. The exercise may still be worth doing for its own sake.

Reading improves with reading instruction. Keep any skill work alongside reading or math teaching, not in place of it. Do both.

How our own skill work is built

This part tells how we built our own work. It is not a study result.

Our listening program is a set of audio exercises a child follows at home. It is built to run alongside reading and spelling instruction, not in place of it. Listening practice builds listening, and that is what these exercises train. No study of this program exists. So nothing is claimed for it on reading, spelling, attention or social skills.

Some of our programs include coordination and body-awareness movements. They are adapted from kung fu. Each one is broken down into steps on video. A parent with no kung fu background can do them with the child. Coordination practice builds coordination, and that is what these exercises train. Keep any movement work alongside reading and handwriting teaching, not in place of it.

Our own program, Brain Bloom, includes exercises for visual, motor and spatial skills.

No study of any Learning Success program exists.

Our page on how Learning Success is built has more.

If your child has lost a skill

Some children could do something and now cannot. That is different from a child who has not built the skill yet. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

When to ask for help

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Schoolwork well below what school expects.
• A teacher who raises a concern about learning.
• Extreme upset about schoolwork.
• Complete avoidance of school or learning.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

If no skill has gone, start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.