Abstract
The present study was designed to investigate the relationships between sentence comprehension strategies and cognitive development shown by Piaget. The subjects were 39 mentally retarded children with IQ (or DQ) ranging from 8 to 73. The sentences used on the comprehension test were reversible. The subjects were asked to move a toy animal according to the sentences they hear. Depending on the results, their types of sentence comprehension strategy were determined. Cognitive development was evaluated using a test for conservation of numbers and decentration.
The major findings were as follows:
1) Semantic strategy, word order strategy and particle strategy used to recognize active sentences were acquired during the preoperational period of cognitive development.
2) The subjects reached an operational period in which they could recognize passive sentences. They also acquired decentration.
