Sensori-motor intelligence in Argentine babies: A preventive perspective of infant development

DRA. ALICIA OIBERMAN, LIC. SOLEDAD SANTOS, LIC. NIERI, LILIANA, LIC. MARIELA MANSILLA;; LIC. IVANA DELLIOHANZ

Cap Town

Congreso; World Association for Infant Mental Health 13th Biennial World Congress; 2012

World Association for Infant Mental Health

The purpose of the workshop is to present a test for the assessment of cognitive development of infants and the results of a research project in Argentina. On the one hand, baby tests have been used for a long time and they have been considered a landmark in the assessment of the infant’s development. They assess the psychomotor development in four areas: motor, coordination, language and social. Although these scales for the assessment of the psychomotor development have contributed to improve diagnosing, treatment and prevention of the infant’s mental health, they did not succeed in considering the cognitive development of the youngest children properly. Therefore, we proposed to create a specific test that would allow the assessment of cognitive development, particularly the sensory motor intelligence. The test was developed in 2002 in Buenos Aires, Argentina and it is named “Argentinean Scale of sensory motor intelligence (EAIS)”. EAIS is based in the theory developed by Jean Piaget, which considers that there are two main periods in the development of intelligence: before and after the constitution of the symbolic (or semiotic) function. The first period is called sensory motor intelligence. The sensory motor intelligence is the ability to solve problems through activities in which perception, attitudes, tone and movements without symbolic evocations – that is, before the verbal language appears – are mainly part of. EAIS evaluates four series: exploration of the objects, searching for the missing objects, using proxies and combination of objects, and is administrated to infants aged between 6 and 30 months old. Because we have a specific tool to assess sensory motor intelligence, we are conducting a research project in order to study and analyze the characteristics of sensory motor intelligence in Argentinean babies. The mentioned research is called: “National (Argentinean) assessment of the sensory motor intelligence in babies of 6 to 30 months old” and its main objective is to assess the periods involved in the construction process of the practical intelligence in Argentinean babies from different provinces, as well as the elaboration of national and provincial percentiles, administrating the Argentinean scale of Sensory motor intelligence (EAIS). In the analysis of the results obtained in a sample of 719 babies from the provinces: Buenos Aires, CABA, Chaco, Cordoba, Entre Rios, Mendoza, Misiones, Rio negro, Salta, Santa Cruz y Santa Fé, it could be observed that 20% of the infants obtained results indicating risk or delay in the sensorymotor intelligence process. We will present the results of the research and analyze the variables that may influence in the development process.