A SENSORIMOTOR ANALYSIS OF EARLY ONSET CHILDHOOD PSYCHOSIS.
Item
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Title
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A SENSORIMOTOR ANALYSIS OF EARLY ONSET CHILDHOOD PSYCHOSIS.
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Identifier
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AAI8112352
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identifier
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8112352
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Creator
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ERTEL, DAVID.
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Contributor
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Prof. Gilbert Voyat
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Date
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1981
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical
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Abstract
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The purpose of this thesis was to analyze the structure and form of basic cognitive processes in psychotic children. To this end, the Uzgiris and Hunt Ordinal Scales of Cognitive Development in Infancy were adapted and administered to two groups of severely disturbed children: the first group consisting of ten "psychotic" children, the second group consisting of five "borderline" children. Although these tests of cognitive development were initially developed for infants up to 18 months of age, they were employed in this study to test two basic hypotheses: (1) children who are traditionally regarded as untestable would perform with interest and consistency on cognitive measures which did not supersede their cognitive capacities; and (2) a pattern of cognitive deficiency in basic sensorimotor functioning would appear in children who age-wise (5-8) should be at transitional or concrete operational levels of thought. Both of these hypotheses were strongly supported by the results as all of the children actively participated in the various tests, performing well up to a certain point until their successes gradually gave way to failure and frustration. Age was not significantly correlated with test performance, and reliability between raters ranged between 90 and 95%.;The Uzgiris and Hunt scales, which are Piagetian-inspired cognitive instruments, assess the six developmental constructs which are basic to all cognition. These are: (1) The Development of Visual Pursuit and the Development of Object Permanence; (2) The Development of Means for Obtaining Desired Environmental Events; (3) The Development of Vocal Imitation; (4) The Development of Gestural Imitation; (5) The Development of Operational Causality; and (6) The Development of Object Relations in Space. These six constructs typically coalesce, during normal development, in a highly intercorrelated network of skills which culminates at the end of the sensorimotor period in the development of symbolic representation. Though this was the case for the control group of "borderline" children, there was a striking absence of cohesion for the psychotic group. In essence, it appeared as though a child's performance on any one scale was independent of his ability to succeed on any of the other scales. Though it appeared that the psychotic children had their most severe deficits in the domains of vocal and gestural imitation, there was considerable variation in performance across children; and the most striking finding remained the absence of a "developmental glue" which normally brings the disparate achievements of the sensorimotor period together by the culmination of this developmental epoch.;The results of this study are discussed with respect to their possible ramifications for the therapy and education of psychotic children, as well as their implications for understanding the nature of their representational systems and internal experiential worlds.;The results of this study are discussed with respect to their possible ramifications for the therapy and education of psychotic children as well as their implications for understanding the nature of their representational systems and internal, experiential worlds.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
