Evening star., 1938-05-01


of achievement: they would bang the blocks
on the table and transfer them from hand to
hand.
The most astonishing part of the work was
that nearly every baby responded in precisely
the same way and at precisely the same age.
This indicated an exciting new fact: that the
mind did develop at even stages and that
NAL progress. 1t also meant that for the first
time scientific explorer had penetrated the
jungle of the infant mind.
Still Dr. Gesell wasn't satisfied. AS he knew
only too WE'LL the human eye was fallble.
There were doubtless, many significant points
he failed to make notes on. So he began using
motion-picture cameras to record reactions.
Let's see how all this works out today. For
sake of example let us suppose that you are
about to adopt baby - an adventure which
involves an enormous risk The fear that the
infant may be of inferior intelligence haunts
YOU So before signing final papers you take
the baby to the Yale Clinic.
Possibly it will be placed in the gauze igloo
already mentioned. While silent observers
watch, nurse will put toys before the infant.
One of these is the pill-in-th -the-bottle test. At
one age the infant will regard the sugar pill
intently, at another he will shake the bottle.
At forty-four weeks he should be able to tip
the bottle and get the pill out
Possibly the crayon test will come next. The
testing tools here are crayon and sheet OF
paper. At thirty-six weeks the infant should
put the crayon in its mouth, at forty-tour tap
the paper with it and at fifty-two make
scrawls At eight months it should attempt to
trace over simple patterns drawn on the paper
by the nurse.
The advantage of these tests is apparent:
they detect any deviation in an infant from
we'll established norms while the mind is still
plastic enough to respond to simple psychiatric
treatment Furthermore, they are furnishing
psychiatry with revealing new material. To
illustrate, let us look at the case of l4-year-
old boy retarded mentally by birth injury.
A motion picture camera study OF this boy
showed movement and characteristic position
of his arms to be precisely those of 4-week-
old infant Presumably the boys mental de-
velopment had stopped at that point.
In many cases workers in the Yale clinic can
give baby a clean bill of mental health after
one observation period. Other times much
longer observation is required. There are. 1t
should be noted, no hard and fast rules in
voved any more than there are hard and
fast rules for estimating the import OF the
sounds doctor hears when he puts
stethosoope to your heart. Dr. Cesells tests
merely act as guiding lines But the lines are
secure enough to predict with almost uncanny
accuracy what mental capacity to expect
when baby grows up.
1T is quite erroneous to suppose that excel
lent care and environmental advantages can
in themselves determine the caliber of the
child" DR.. Gesell says of adoption. only
careful. consecutive examinations can deter
mine the general developmental outlook OF
any child Such tests will confirm normality;
they will also discover subnormality when it IS
altogether concealed. They will sometimes
reveal superior endowment when it is least
suspected because of the poor repute of the
child's origin.
Though it is impossible to cast horoscope
it is unnecessary to proceed blindly ...'
The man who created this new branch of
science is tall, pleasant and singularly hand
some His mop of white hair sets off youth
full face with striking results. About 1000 in
fants and young children pass through his