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Enhancement of object‐permanence performance in the Down's syndrome infant
Author(s) -
MORSS JOHN R.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2214.1984.tb00165.x
Subject(s) - task (project management) , object permanence , restructuring , object (grammar) , presentation (obstetrics) , psychology , pediatrics , developmental psychology , medicine , computer science , artificial intelligence , cognitive development , cognition , surgery , finance , neuroscience , economics , management
Summary Four infants with Down's syndrome (aged 19–33 months) were presented with a restructured version of an object‐permanence task. Restructuring consisted of the embedding of single trials of the task within a sequence of simpler, related steps. Following failure on a standard presentation of the task, three Down's syndrome (DS) infants demonstrated success on trials embedded in the training sequence. Comparison was made with the performance of normal infants (aged 14–19 months) matched in terms of failure on the pre‐test. Only two out of nine normal infants registered success on the embedded trials. Results are discussed in terms of the differences between the DS infant and the normal infant, and the former's reliance on the deliberate structuring of his learning environment by a parent or educator.