2020 Volume 61 Issue 2 Pages 177-187
The author studied the relationship between cognition through interaction with objects and language development in preschool children with intellectual developmental disorders. Thirteen children (6 girls) with intellectual developmental disorders of various severity participated in this study.
Methodology consisted of presenting the children with toys during individual play with the author and observing how they interacted with them. Language development was examined using the Japanese MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI). Observation of the children's interactions with objects revealed combinations of visual exploration, manipulation, relational-nonfunctional, functional-conventional and symbolic actions, categorization and object substitution. Concerning the relationship between the children's actions and expressive words, object substitution developed in parallel with an increase in expressive words according to the CDI. These results indicated that children's procedures for interacting with objects changed, which suggested changes in their cognitive development. It is thought that the children's interactions with objects reflected a process involving strategizing, planning, thinking, and imagination. The results of this study also suggest that abstraction of interactions with objects may be related to children's language development regardless of whether or not the children are diagnosed as having an autism spectrum disorder.
