Response to Visual
Novelty
Explanation of
Purpose:
This blog documents the
responses of a child, Christine, to various novelty stimuli. This is an
informal observational narrative. The writer has a background as a teacher,
holds a M.Ed., and is a mother of five children. The child shows some developmental
abilities that the writer hopes to document over time to form a basis and
understanding of the child's abilities, and perhaps at some point, an explanation
for the oddities of the child’s variations from high or advanced ability to delayed or disabled
presentations of the same skills.
Background of this
Observation:
On March 22, 2016,
Christine, age six months, was presented with a never before seen book; Flying High by Sue Whiting. The book is three dimensional, with
six differently colored plastic jet airplanes, each approximately two inches in
length. All jets appeared on the cover of the book, and then, as the book is
opened, holes appear to reveal cut out spaces for the airplanes. As each page
is turned, one jet 'disappears'.
Christine has seen
airplane models before. Her father builds them and has hung some in her room,
and she has seen models during a tour of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., but
she has not seen them presented in color in a book previously. She has been
presented with other books before, but not ones with airplanes.
The book was presented
directly in front of her while she was in a seated position. Once it was
presented, her heart rate increased, and she reached for the book with both
hands, with the left hand in a slightly raised position compared to the right
hand. The cover of the book was opened to reveal six cut holes on the left side
where the airplanes had been seen through from the cover side. The right side
contained the six airplanes. With her left hand, she reached for the cut out holes
first, rather than the airplanes. Approximately two seconds later, she reached
for the airplanes on the right with her right hand, and made an audible sound
of excitement, now holding each page.
As her mother verbally labeled
the airplane colors, she continued to lift her hands up and back down on the
pages in about the same location, repeatedly. At one point, she turned around
and lifted her head to face her mother. As each page was turned for her, one
airplane 'disappeared' with the previous page. When the fourth airplane
'disappeared', Christine grabbed the page with both hands to stop the motion of
the page turning.
By the last page, her
heart rate had dropped a bit, and her behavior changed from banging her hands
on the pages simultaneously as described above, to grabbing the remaining
purple airplane with her right hand and moving her fingers along its edges, her
focus more fixed on the individual airplane.
It should be noted that
each page provides a similar background of various shades of blue and colored
con trails. On one page, a cartoon crowd appeared, and Christine noticed and
looked at the crowd.
Normally, she is more
verbally expressive, but she was notably not this time.
Conclusion and
Speculation:
Christine receives
occupational therapy to work on a variety of goals, but she shows considerable
ability and coordination. Christine shows some bilateral control of the
shoulder grapple muscles, brief eye contact with the reader by turning her head
momentarily, and excitability at a novel book. Her sight is sufficient for her
to immediately detect differences in book pages and cut out, demonstrated by
her quickly grabbing the cut out when the cover was turned. She responded to
the action of the pages turning by grabbing a page as it was turned, showing
planning, and a purpose of action and thought. She made only one sound of
excitement at the beginning of the book, but made no attempts to repeat or
mimic the words read to her or the colors identified for her by the reader. She
altered her behavior by the end of the book to a more focused fine motor
activity of grabbing the individual plane, closing her fingers around it, and
then moving her fingers along its edges, shows more control than her initial
action of banging the earlier pages as a whole with an open hand.
From my studies as a
professional educator and mother, I think her behaviors show fairly typical
development, with some indications of high intelligence and coordination, which
I can address in later blogs. I might write about some of her perhaps atypical
presentations in future blogs,
If others with a
background in infant and childhood development which to respond, please do so appropriately.
The book can be seen here on Amazon: http://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=flying+high+sue+whiting
