Binet-Simon Tests of Thirty-Nine Months Old Child
- Author:
Arthur Dermont Bush, M.D.
University of Vermont, Burlington, Vt. As an addition to the growing literature concerning the BinetSimon tests, and as a further contribution to measuring the efficiency of the scale, the following study of a normal thirty-nine months old child is offered.
The child, B?, is a sweet, winsome little girl, happy of disposition, very loving and lovable, strong and well of body (having had no illness since birth more serious than bowel disturbances and “colds”), keen and bright of mind, quick to comprehend and eager to learn. Until this summer she has had few playmates, losing thereby somewhat of social development but gaining greatly in comparative freedom from interfering cross-currents. At no time have any attempts been made to force her mental development, though there have been studied efforts at making her little games educational in character. At the age of two she was given a Montessori outfit, as an experiment. She quickly learned the simpler plays, as the stairs, cylinders, insets, and color cards. Very early with her dawning intelligence her parents reasoned with her not only as to the wherefore of things but also as to the why of conduct. This method has greatly stimulated the child’s associative faculty, and has bred a habit of weighing and comparing.
In all evaluations of the Binet-Simon tests, due consideration must be given to the child’s training and environment. Binet and Simon state that all their norms were determined in those primary schools in Paris which are located in the poorer quarters. It would seem that such norms must be under a normal average?as Binet and Simon tacitly admit. Then, too, the original tests were made but once and by a stranger?all of which conditions must inevitably produce a mean lower than a reasonable average; as, no doubt, investigations among children more fortunately circumstanced and by investigators well known to the children tested will continue to show. It is therefore to be expected that a child who has been the object of much loving attention, and who is tested by her own parents, would probably show a mean considerably higher than the present Binet-Simon standard. It should be added that the mother of B? was formerly a principal and teacher of six years’ experience, and the father is likewise a teacher.
The tests as used on B? were taken from the authorized translation by Clara Harrison Town of the article by Binet and Simon entitled “La Mesure du Developpement de 1’Intelligence chez jeunes Enfants” which appeared in the April, 1911, number of the “Bulletin de la Society libre pour l’Etude psychologique de l’Enfant.” These 1911 tests differ in several particulars from the tests of 1908, some of the tests of 1908 being advanced, while others are postponed to a later year. It being assumed that the 1911 tests represent a more exact standard as determined by Binet and Simon, that series has been taken for these tests, the results of which follow with running comments. Unless otherwise indicated, the questions are given by F?, the father, and answered by B?, the child. Test for Children of Three Years.?Alpha.
I. F?”Show me your nose.” B?Points to her nose. F??” ” ” ” eyes.” B? ” ” ” eyes. F_” ? ? ? mouth.” B? ” ” ” mouth. In addition to the above B, on request, points to cheek, chin, forehead, ear, neck, head, elbow, shoulder, arm, forearm, hand, fingers, thumb, body, breast, belly, back, hip, “bottie,” thigh, knee, leg, ankle, foot. II. Repeat two digits. F?”Say after me: 3-7” B?says: 3-7 F? ” ” ” 6-4 B? ” 6-4 F? ” ” ” 4-9-2 B? ” 4-9-2 F? ” ” ” 1-8-5-3 B? ” 1-8-5-3 F_ a a ? 5-8-3-7-4 B? ” 5-8-3-7-4 F? ” ” ” 4-7-2-8-5-9 B? ” 4-7-2-8-5-9 Repeating three digits, or at the most four, seems to be the Binet-Simon norm for three years. III. Enumerate objects in a picture. Binet-Simon give three exceedingly poor pictures (see originals). To the first F?says: “What do you see in this picture?” B?”Man, wheels, water, snow, sand, rocks, post, church.” This is simple enumeration, but when F?says: “What is the man doing?”
B?”The man is walking; he is pulling a cart.” The next two pictures in the Binet-Simon test (one, a povertystricken couple on a bench in a park; and the other, a prisoner looking out of his cell window) were discarded as being quite foreign to B?’s experience. In their stead were substituted Millet’s, “Feed252 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC. ing her Birds,” and Millais’ “Effie Deans.” To the first “Feeding her Birds:”
F?”Tell me about this picture.” B?”Children are playing; and the mother is writing; and the little children are watching her.” Interest ceased. To the next picture, “Effie Deans:” F?”Tell me about this picture.” B?”There’s a dog; and a man; and a lady. They are hugging each other. He has his hand on her?on her arm.” Here she turned her attention to the outer cover of the Ladies’ Home Journal for January, 1914. “Oh look, Papa, see the little baby.” “Yes, dear, what is he doing?” “He is hearing the watch say ‘tick.’”
It should be stated that both pictures “Effie Deans” and “Feeding her Birds” were new to B?. Binet and Simon state that “Description is the level of seven years, while response by enumeration corresponds to the level of three years.” B?’s responses are certainly descriptive and somewhat interpretative. IV. Give family name. F?”What is your name, daughter?” B?”Bettina Bush.” F?”What is Mother’s name?” B?”Ursula Bush.” F?”What is Father’s name?” B?”Dr Bush.” F?”What does Aunt B. call papa?” B?”Arthur Bush.” Additional
F?”Where do you live?” B?”Right here.” F?”Yes, but where is here?” B?”Main Street.” F?”Where does Auntie B. live?” B?”In Athol.” F?”Where does Uncle Cyril live?” B?”In Boston” (near Boston). Y. Repeat a sentence of six syllables. F?”Daughter, say after me these words” (from Binet-Simon) “I am cold and hungry” (6 syllables). B? repeats. “My name is Gaston * * * Oh, you naughty dog” (10 syllables). B? repeats. “Let us go for a long walk?Give me the pretty little bonnet” (16 syllables). B? repeats it, with a grin. Again. “There is snow in the garden and the little flowers have all gone asleep” (18 syllables). B? repeats, correctly. Binet-Simon say (p. 19): “A child of three can repeat a sentence of six syllables; it cannot repeat one of ten.” Evidently the BinetSimon three-year test is too young for B? at thirty-nine months. BINET-SIMON TESTS 253 Test for Children of Four Years.?Beta. I. Give own sex. F?”Bettie, are you a little boy or girl?” B?”I a little girl.” II. Name selected objects, consisting of a penknife, a door key, and a copper cent. F?”What are these?” B?Pointing to each in turn: “A knife, and a key, and a ‘penny.’” III. Repeat three digits. B? repeats six; see Alpha II. IV. Compare two lines, one 5 cm., the other 6 cm. in length. F?”Which of these two lines is the longer?” B? unhesitatingly places her finger on the 6 cm. Frequent repetitions with variations show no error. Test for Children of Five Years. Gamma. I. Compare two weights.
Binet-Simon use four boxes, similar in appearance and volume and weighing 3, 6, 12, and 15 gms. We used what was available, namely, sets of blocks similar in appearance, measuring 66 x 53 x 4 mm. and weighing 8.25, 11, and 20 gms. B? was asked to pick out the heaviest of the three and then the heavier of the remaining two, this latter requiring appreciation of a difference of less than 3 gms. This test was repeated several times, using different sets of blocks each time, B? responding in every case without error.
Copy a square.
This is beyond B? as she has not had any training in the use of a pen, or in fact any instruction in the use of a pencil or crayon. The results show perception of form and approximate size but no ability to guide the pen.
It might be added that B?, quite voluntarily, has learned to thread a darning needle with string and then pass stitches along a given area.
III. Repeat sentence of ten syllables. B? repeats sentences of 18 syllables; see Alpha V. IV. Count four pennies. B? counts quickly and readily up to ten pennies, though apprehension of number is not strong above three, and practically disappears at five; beyond five, numerals represent little more than a fixed regularity of sound sequences. V. Game of patience with two pieces. In this test, two rectangular visiting cards, X and Y, are taken. Y is cut on its diagonal, and the two pieces are then so placed that the hypotenuse of one triangle is at a right angle with that of the other, the 30? angle of one touching the 60? angle of the other. The child is then required to rearrange the cut Y so as to form a figure like X. B? was indifferent to the game at first; but when directed to cover X with Y did so promptly. The parts of Y were then arranged as at first and B? was again directed to make a figure like X. She did so without hesitation.
Test for Children of Six Years.?Delta. I. Distinguish between morning and evening. 11.00 A. M. F?”Is this morning or evening?” B?”Morning.” 5.00 p. m. in December, lights on. F?”Is this morning or evening?” B?”This is night.” Being sceptical as to the child’s knowledge on this point, the test was made a considerable number of times, and uncovered one error which was corrected when reference was made to the question of dinner (noon). II. Definition in terms of use. This is the Binet-Simon series of five questions; all answers verbatim and unprompted. F?”What is a fork?” B?”It’s a fork?something like a fork?it’s beside a knife?eats with them.”
F?”What is a table?” B?”Well; in the dining-room is a table. It’s for dishes and rice. It’s for food, don’t you know?” F?”What is a chair?” B?”Well, in the dining-room is a chair. Up here (in the study) is a chair. It’s to sit in.” F?”What is a horse?” B?”Well?don’t you know what you told me about a horse? Well?on the street is a horse. He looks like a pony. lie has to ‘get up’ so he can go fast. He goes so fast he has to hold the reins. He doesn’t run, so the dogs bark. And Mollie doesn’t like it, thee knows.” (An interesting shift from real life to story-book.) F?”What is a mama?” B?”Well?a lady is a mama. Ladies cook, thee knows. They wash dishes. She really does dishes and those things.”
III. Copy a diamond-shaped figure. B?’s first attempt is not very successful, but shows improvement over her previous attempt to copy a square. IV. Count thirteen pennies.
B? did this successfully several times, previous to her third birthday; but in this series of tests she has counted accurately to ten only.
V. Compare faces from the aesthetic point of view. Binet-Simon give a series of six faces in alternating grouping of homely and insipidly pretty. B? selected the pretty one unhesitatingly. Test for Children of Seven Years.?Epsilon.
I. Indicate right hand and left ear. At thirty-nine months B? did not know this. She learned it very promptly when instructed.
Describe a picture. For B?’s success, see Alpha III.
III. Execute three commissions on one order. BinetSimon formula. After repeating the admonition to follow exactly the directions, and in the order given, F?said: “Now, daughter, take this key and put it on the chair; then go and close that door; then get that box and bring it to me.”
With shining eyes and happy face, the three commissions were promptly and accurately performed, though there was noticeable a strong impulse to snatch the nearby box before closing the door; this impulse was repressed, however, and the right sequence of commissions carried out.
IV. Count nine sous, three single and three double. Not done by B?.
Name four colors.
Binet-Simon have chosen four colors: red, blue, green and yellow; and each of these the child is required to name in the order they may be pointed out.
Long before she was three, B? would accurately select and name the following: white, black, gray, tan, violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, brown and red. Her early acquaintance with so many colors is probably due to playing with the color cards of the Montessori outfit, the sixty-four cards of which she could correctly sort and assemble at the age of thirty months.
Test for Children of Eight Years.?Zeta. I. Compare two remembered objects. The Binet-Simon tests are too difficult, but F?”How is your sled different from Dorothy’s?” B?”Well, it’s different. Mine is red and Dorothy’s is green; and Dorothy’s has berries on it.” II. Count from 20 to 0. Too advanced. III. Indicate omissions in pictures. Binet-Simon give four pictures. No. 1 has a nose missing; No. 2, an eye; No. 3, a mouth; and No. 4, both arms (though a 256 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC. child might readily think the arms were folded behind the back). B quickly observed and mentioned the missing features of No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, even insisting that No. 1, a profile, had but one eye. No. 4 caused no apparent concern, so F?said: “Could the woman hold a baby?” B?replied: “No-o; she has no hands! But the baby could hold on to her, papa.” IV. Give day and date. Too advanced.
V. Repeat five digits. B? repeats six; see Alpha II. Tests for Children of Nine Years. I. Give change for 20 sous. Too advanced. II. Define in terms superior to use. Too advanced. III. Recognize all the pieces of money. Too advanced. IV. Enumerate the months. Too advanced. V. Understand easy questions. The three proposed by BinetSimon are given to show the way a child might answer them. 1. F?”What should we do if we were to miss the train?” B?”Run after it.” F?”But it goes so fast we couldn’t catch it.” B?”Oh, if we run hard we can catch it.” 2. F?”What would you do if Dorothy were to hit you without meaning to?”
B?”I should cry.” (She is sensitive to injustice.) F?”But Dorothy didn’t mean to.” B?”Then” (laughing gleefully) “I would run after her and hit her.” (Evidently conceiving a game like tag, since the idea of being hit without bad intent must imply a game.) 3. F?”What would you do if you broke Dorothy’s doll?” B?”I would tell her I didn’t mean to.” (Genuine concern.) Tests for Children of Ten Years.
These tests are, of course, all too advanced; yet one of them is selected to indicate its relative position. This one is No. 3, and is designated “Criticism of absurd phrases.” Binet-Simon quote German alienists as asking this question: “Is the snow red or black?” When this question was propounded to B?, she instantly replied, with some impatience: “The snow is white.”
Estimate of B?’s Relative Age, from the Foregoing. Binet-Simon (p. 60) lay down two rules: (1) “A child has the intelligence of that age all the tests for which he succeeds in passing.’ (2) “After determining the age for which a child passes all the tests, a year is added to the intelligence age, if he has succeeded in passing five additional tests belonging to superior age groups; two years are added if he has passed ten such tests, three years if he has passed fifteen, and so on.”
B? passes all the tests for a child of four; she also passes four of the five-year level; two of the six-year; three of the seven-year; two of the eight-year, and one of the nine-year?making twelve tests passed in age levels superior to the level passed successfully in toto. This would make B?’s age intelligence, at three years and three months, equal to the average Binet-Simon child of six years. No such conclusion, however, seems warranted. It will be recalled that the Binet-Simon standard has been obtained from relatively inferior children, and hence does not fairly represent an average norm. Moreover, the results obtainable by a stranger among several children, and in a limited period of time, can not be placed in the same category with those results obtained leisurely by a parent in the quiet of a home. Again observations made by Decroly and Degand (Archives de Psychologie, 9, 1910) of the equivalent tests of the 1908 series show that tests Beta II, Delta II, Delta V, and Epsilon III can all be done by the average middle-class child at the age of three; and Epsilon V at the age of four; also that Alpha IV, Beta I, and Gamma IV depend on training. It might be added that most of the tests depend on training, inasmuch as with but a few weeks training B? could be prepared to pass all the tests up to and including the eight-year level. It would seem, then, that the age-levels of the Binet-Simon standard are at least a year later than a normal average, for how else explain B? attaining the Binet-Simon six-year level, and the criticisms of Decroly-Degand? From these tests of Binet-Simon as applied to B?, and from comparative observations made on children somewhat older, it would seem that B?’s intelligence age was not beyond that of the average child of her station of the age of four and one-half to five. This fact, we would urge, does not so much do credit to B? and her parents, as it works discredit to the parents of the average child. B?’s mental state is in nowise extra-normal or beyond what it should be. She has not been pushed in her work or her play; but her questions have had informative answers, her activities have had educational explanations, and her play has had discretionary guidance. This is every child’s right; it is every parent’s responsibility.
It is greatly to be desired that a large number of tests among children of the middle class shall be made as a balance to the tests now offered by the Binet-Simon school. From an average of these series a more nearly accurate norm may be established.
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