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C00002 00002	timoth[f86,jmc]		notes on Timothy's development
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timoth[f86,jmc]		notes on Timothy's development

1986 dec 9
	Timothy acquires words in an order that seems mysterious.
So far we have bye-bye, dog, bird, cracker, Big Bird, bang, light.

	His ability to manipulate objects begins with a subroutine for
picking things up.   As far as I can remember putting what was picked
up in his mouth always represented a separate act, as did waving the
thing around and inspecting it.  All this is indicated by his reaction
to light switches.  Sometimes he would operate the switch, but this
was clearly a by-product of the routine for picking it up.

	If babies were to be given switches --- to operate lights
in their rooms, for example --- the switches should be handles that
are pulled with a separate pull for turning the light off.

	At close to a year he got a subroutine for putting one
object into another, e.g. putting the pen into its cap.  Very
shortly he could do some of the tasks that involve putting
an object into a correspondingly shaped hole.

	The general observation is that the ability to make elementary
movements follows the ability to make certain compound movements.

Dec  7
	The Kotowski's brought T a set of Melmac dishes including
big and little plates, a cup and a fork and spoon.  T played with
them in the sense of bringing the cup to his lips, holding the
fork and spoon by the handles and scraping them over the plate.
When T is carried to the front door from the outside he tries
to push the buttons on the combination lock.  Clearly he can now
try to imitate many procedures he has observed.

	The theoretical models of learning to achieve goals are
too narrow for good success, and nature has evolved better ones.
Nature's models involve separation of skill acquisition from
achieving goals.  Imitation and play are important.  If children
practiced a skill only at times when the skill was relevant to
achieving a goal, they would learn far less than they do.
Another important feature of human and animal mentality is the
formation of intermediate states that become independent of
their causes.  For example, when one animal is angry at another,
it may attack even though it is likely to suffer injury or
death.  Correspondingly, love acquires an existence and force
independent of what triggered it.  We need an evolutionary
model of these phenomena, but they give a decisiveness to
human and animal action that would not be present if each
situation were optimized separately on the basis of survival,
food and other ``basic drives''.

Dec 25
	At around a year T showed a large increase in protests
and demands.  These are expressed non-verbally at 13 months
even though verbal behavior is increasing rapidly.  Maybe this
is the reason why T stopped climbing; demanding by uttering
cries became a better way of achieving the goal.  If he were
left alone more, he might climb again.

1987 Jan 8

T is climbing again, though perhaps not as adventurously as before.
He climbs from the hood of the car to the roof and climbs into the
headboard.  He won't climb where he has to hold on with his hands
to prevent falling backward.

Memory span is important.  T can remember a goal, and hence resent
its frustration, longer now.  It is still doubtful whether going
somewhere in the car can be regarded as a part of an event, e.g.
going to the ice cream shop or whether being in the car is a state,
i.e. can he want to go in the car as a way of getting to the ice
cream store.  Actually he probably doesn't anticipate the ice cream
store yet, because he hasn't been there often.  He now uses the
word ``car'' both as an act of naming an object and as a name for
getting in the car.

Jan 10
This evening he was bored and fussing, but when I said "Let's go
in the car", he cheered up instantly.  He can now anticipate.
He is fascinated by the car's controls and spent 15 minutes after
we returned from the Chinese restaurant fiddling with them.

Feb 22
He has difficulty with learning "tree" though not in pronouncing it.
Perhaps "tree" is a difficult perceptual concept for lack of a
definite pattern, i.e. he can't see the tree for the leaves and
branches.

For the last week he has been able to repeat words when he wants to -
not well, but he clearly has learned something from a single hearing.

When I got him blocks and built towers, at first he was angry at
them and knocked them down and kicked the leftovers.  After a few
days he began to try to build them, but can't yet put blocks on
blocks that are on end.  I should build horizontal towers first for
him.