28 A METHOD OF MEASURING THE DEVELOPMENT 



word or two sufficed. Now we are about to ask for a phrase, 

 for an object can not be defined without forming one. The 

 definition is not solely an exercise and test for language ; it 

 serves to show us the idea which a child has formed of an 

 object, the manner in which he has conceived it, the point 

 of view which is to him the most interesting. 



The child is asked successively : "What is 



1 — a fork? 2 — a table? 3 — a chair? A — a horse? 5 — a 

 mamma?" These objects have been chosen from many because 

 we have found that they lend themselves to a useful classifi- 

 cation of responses. 



It is not easy to perform the test with very young 

 children. They often respond by stubborn silence. We have 

 said to them in vain : "You know well what a table is, a 

 chair, you have used a fork," and concluded a little rashly, 

 that knowing these objects they should be able to tell what 

 they are ; this does not always succeed in breaking their si- 

 lence ; some point to a nearby table and say, "It is that." 



If our purpose was a study in general psychology a good 

 classification of responses could be made. For the purpose 

 of diagnosis we have only three distinctions to establish : 



1. — Silence, simple repetition, designation by gesture. We 

 have just given an example of designation by gesture. As 

 to repetition, it is self explanatory ; it consists in repeating the 

 given word. "What is a fork?" — "It is a fork." Sometimes 

 the child takes it into his head that in this way he will avoid 

 all difficulties, one can be certain that he will use it for the 

 whole series of definitions; he has found a path of least re- 

 sistance and he is faithful to it. There is not the least spirit 

 of malice. The child believes that he has responded seriously 

 and suitably to the questions asked him, and he even feels 

 quite pleased with himself. Do not undeceive him. With a 

 perfect optimism say to him : "That is very good," and mark 

 the result as being a complete absence of response. This re- 

 sult is not extraordinary in psychological experimentation; for 



