Summary. According to Piaget, cognitive development is characterised by the simultaneous and concurrent emergence of constructs that require the same underlying intellectual processes. Such syncronies in development—structure d'ensemble in Piaget's terms—are a fundamental feature of his stage theory. In the present study, the structural features of sensorimotor intelligence were assessed among three groups of retarded infants and toddlers administered the seven Uzgiris and Hunt Piagetian based scales. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA)—a procedure designed to partition variables into optimally homogeneous groups—was performed on two measures of relationship (stage congruence and intercorrelations) among the responses of the subjects on these scales to determine the methodological utility of the statistical procedure. The results proved positive, and yielded information useful for discerning the unique patterns of organisation of sensorimotor intelligence among the three groups of children. The potential utility of HCA as an analytical technique for studying Piaget's structure d'ensemble stage criteria is illustrated.
T HE TERM development implies a high degree of continuity and stability in behavior change across time. Yet, in general, the preschool years are characterized by instabilities in development and lack of continuity in behavior change. In examining the implications of developmental discontinuities and instabilities for the assessment of infant and preschool-aged children, this article emphasizes the interpretation of assessment-related data. The term assessment will be used broadly to mean measurement activities whose goals and functions include screening, diagnosis, prognosis, and both qualitative and quantitative description of an individual's patterns and styles of performance-the purpose of these activities being to design interventions specific to the needs of the individual (Dunst, in press-a).The article examines several different types of stability-instability and continuity-discontinuity, and focuses on three categories of assessment procedures: psychometric intelliAppreciation is extended to Jean Benson and Phyllis Dale for assistance in the preparation of this article.
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