Arnold Gesell

The tonic neck reflex in the human infant

Summary 1. The tonic neck reflex (T.N.R.) is an asymmetric postural attitude, so basic that it is found in lower animals as well as in man. It involves the total action system, but particularly arms and head. 2. It is a normal characteristic of the human infant during the first 12 weeks of waking life, spontaneously manifested in the supine position. At 20 weeks it is normally supplanted by symmetric head and arm postures. 3. Marked persistence of the T.N.R. beyond the first half year is indicative of retarded, arrested, or defective development. 4. In association with basal ganglion lesions it is a prognostic indication that the child will not “learn” to walk. 5. The T.N.R. is a natural but not a stereotyped reflex. It undergoes progressive growth changes. It serves useful adjustments in the fetus as well as the infant in neonatal life. It is morphogenetically so fundamental that it has clinical value both as an index of maturity and as a symptom of neurological abnormalities.

Feeding Behavior of Infants

greater emphasis. In the treatment of hookworm, carbontetrachloride is listed among the drugs advocated without emphasizing its occasional fatal toxicity and without warning against the use of fats and alcohol in the diet close to the time of administration. Preliminary purging is advocated in connection with all anthelmintics although it is generally conceded that this is unnecessary with some anthelmintics and is often harmful with carbontetrachloride. In connection with the bite of the black widow spider the statement is made that the site of the bite becomes red and swollen, whereas in the reviewers experience there is usually no local inflammation whatsoever. The rise in blood pressure associated with this condition, which is of diagnostic importance, is not mentioned. The book is beautifully printed and bound and both the authors and the publishers are to be congratulated on its accomplishment. It will undoubtedly become a standard textbook in its field. HENRY E. MELENEY

The embryology of behavior : the beginnings of the human mind

Preface 1. The search for beginnings 2. Birth and age 3. Zygote and embryo 4. The genesis of behaviour 5. The archaic motor system 6. The growth of fetal behaviour 7. Breathing behaviour 8. Muscle tonus 9. Electrotonic integration 10. The fetal-infant 11. The circumnatal infant 12. The diurnal cycle of sleep and wakeness 13. Species and individual 14. The dynamic morphology of behaviour 15. The hierarchical continuum A photographic delineation of behaviour patterns and growth sequences Appendices Selected references Index.

Monthly Increments of Development in Infancy

* A preliminary report read at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D. C., December 31, 1924.

The Doctrine of Development in Child Care

of infancy into one more touchstone for understanding the origin of species. I like to recall that in 1881 he wrote with characteristic courtesy, an eightpage letter. to the Secretary of The American Social Science Association, expressing his interest in the Register of Infant Development which this association was then compiling. He suggested that very little was accurately known about the mental and bodily development of infants, but that such knowledge &dquo;would probably give a foundation for some improvement in

Pediatrics and the clinical protection of child development

Summary This brief survey of the practical applications of developmental diagnosis is sufficient to indicate the strategic position of pediatrics in the scheme of medicine. There is growing demand for a periodic type of developmental supervision which will require a more systematic diagnosis of behavior symptoms in the clinical protection of early child development.

What are Levels

© 2013 D. Raine, The Higher Education Academy On achieving power, the coalition government was quick to fulfil its election pledge to abolish as many quangos as reasonable in the shortest possible time. Among the first to go was the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. One of the principal roles of the authority had been to set the criteria which were used by the awarding organisations (AOs) to develop their A-level (and GCSE) specifications. The AOs themselves set the papers, arrange for them to be marked and make the awards. In principle, another quango, Ofqual, polices the system and, in particular, monitors the standard of the papers. However, Ofqual is underfunded and has no subject expertise. As a result, it is generally accepted that in physics standards have fallen, an observation easily verified by comparing current papers with those of two decades ago.

NEWMAN, HORATIO H., FRANK N. FREE MAN, and KARL J. HOLZINGER. Twins: A Study of Heredity and Environment. Pp. xvi, 369. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1937.

an adjective and then into an adverb. &dquo;Aggressiveness&dquo; would denote a person who is &dquo;aggressive,&dquo; one who acts &dquo;aggressively.&dquo; And much of the difhculty would be avoided if it were assumed that the adverb comes first. Every group tends out of widely differing organic units to produce a type: the army, the police force, the labor union, and so forth. Terms of approval encourage conformity with expectations, and epithets act to discourage deviations. And when these types are described, we have again the words that denote personality traits. The book is interesting and valuable. The author would be the last to claim that the problems are solved, and it is fortunate that he did not wait till his system was complete. If the behaviorists cannot learn from the sociologists, perhaps the sociologists can learn some things from the behaviorists, and, through the cooperation of

4.00

Summary I have purposely dealt with the broader considerations which underlie the medical aspects of child development research, for general principles, if they are sound, must have major weight in the long-range projection of research plans. The scientific advantages which come from a clinical type of organization may be summed up as follows: 1. A diagnostic and advisory clinical service as a basic part of a research unit brings the unit into natural working relations with parents and with community agencies. 2. Such a service, dealing both with normal and exceptional children, helps to disclose significant cases and trends which repay intensive developmental study and clinical research. 3. Such a service leads to the accumulation of consecutive records over a period of years. It favors biogenetic studies. 4. Close working relationships with associated clinics favor coordinated effort and a correlation of developmental data. 5. Increased accessibility to the technical resources of the basic sciences of anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry facilitates investigation in these fields with special reference to problems of child development. 6. A clinical orientation can promote investigation and experimental demonstration of procedures which may be used in the developmental supervision of infants and preschool children; and in the management of children who need special care, including ill, convalescent, and handicapped children. 7. Finally, a clinical type of organization fosters assimilation with the existing agencies for the study and protection of normal development. It is in harmony with the integrating trends of clinical pediatrics and of medical research in general.

Clinical aspects of child development research

disease, so in the solution of behavior problems we must confine our attention to data bearing upon the nature and solution of problems in that field. The diagnosis is the succinct, comprehensive and definite conclusion reached by a consideration of the data in the field concerned. In other words, the diagnosis should, as far as possible, satisfy the just demands of all significant data. A concluding word must be said in regard to follow-up work. It is most exasperating to expend time and effort in an attempt to reach a just diagnosis in a problem case and to suggest methods of treatment which promise well for the child concerned, only to find that there is no one available with sufficient interest or intelligence to carry on the treatment suggested. All too frequently the findings of psychologists and psychiatrists have been placed in the hands of relatives or friends who either fail utterly to understand the findings or are unable to carry out the directions given as to the treatment of the case.