20 A METHOD OF MEASURING THE DEVELOPMENT 



Papa. (2 syllables.) 



Hat. Pair of shoes. (4 syllables.) 



/ am cold and hungry. (6 syllables.) 



/ have a handkerchief with me. (8 syllables.) 



My name is Gaston. Oh, the naughty dog. (10 syllables.) 



It rains in the garden. John has finished his task. (12 syl- 

 lables.) 



We are enjoying ourselves greatly. I have caught a mouse. 

 (14 syllables.) 



Let us go for a long walk. Give me the pretty little bon- 

 net. (16 syllables.) 



Charlotte has just torn her new dress. I have given two 

 cents to that beggar. (18 syllables.) 



It is not (necessary to hurt the birds. It is night, all the 

 world rests in sleep. (20 syllables.) 



A child of three can repeat a sentence of six syllables ; 

 it cannot repeat one of ten. 



CHILDREN OF FOUR YEARS. 



I. Gives own sex. — "Are you a little boy or a little girl?" 

 This is the very simple question which we use. Three-year- 

 old children do not all succeed in answering it. The correct 

 response is: "A little boy" or "A little girl." Sometimes the 

 child merely says yes or no. It is then necessary to ask two 

 distinct questions: "Are you a little boy?" "Are you a little 

 girl?" It takes very little to confuse at this age. 



Children of three years may fail, but a normal child of 

 four always answers this question of sex correctly. How- 

 ever, we expect a great change in the mental state to take 

 place between the third and the fourth year. 



II. Names key, knife, penny. — Another test of spoken 

 language, but differing from the language suggested by pic- 

 tures; it is much more difficult. In a picture the child chooses 

 what he wishes to name, and names those objects which he 



