Accelerated development of object permanence in Down's syndrome infants.
Six infants with Down's syndrome, aged 3-19 months, were taught to solve object permanence problems. The instruction took place in the infants' homes and in a child development centre, and was conducted both by parents and by a child psychologist. Object permanence tasks ranging over stages 3-6 of the sensorimotor period of intelligence were utilized in the intervention, which lasted for up to 8 months. The infants were able to progress rather rapidly on these tasks. When the instruction was terminated most had mastered multiple visible displacements, which index the fifth stage of sensorimotor intelligence.
D002657:Child Development; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011340:Problem Solving; D013850:Thinking