While watching this week's video, I was struck when I heard, "Even Piaget confused physical ability with the ability to understand." This was mentioned in regard to his research involving babies and object permanence. After his study, he claimed that babies only began to understand the concept of object permanence at 12 months of age.
Baillargeon later demonstrated that babies already begin to comprehend object permanence as young as 3.5 months through her research.
I think too often we confuse physical ability with the ability to understand. I currently shadow occupational therapists at a pediatric rehabilitation center. Many of the children who go there have special needs. Over the past few weeks of my observation, I have picked up on some common terms that the OTs use when working with their patients. One of them is apraxia. There are different types of apraxia (most of the cases I have seen were related to speech), but all types involve difficulty with motor planning skills. The children are fully able to comprehend what you want them to do/know what they want to do, but are not able to execute certain purposeful movements. One OT is helping her patient try new foods (he is an EXTREMELY picky eater). She noticed that all of the foods he eats do not require him to chew...therefore he needed to work on chewing. She took him out into the garden where he could pick a cherry tomato, wash it off, and taste it. He took a bite, but soon after it rolled out of his mouth because he had difficulty chewing it. This little boy is very able and willing to learn, though, and hopefully after multiple sessions with the OT he will be able to eat more types of food.
Just because someone (adult, child, or baby) doesn't have the physical ability to accomplish a certain task, doesn't mean they don't have the ability to understand. The power of the human brain is not to be underestimated. We are constant in that we're inconstant. We learn, adapt, and strive to find our place in the world.
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