This tape was transferred from a 16mm film original by Colorlab for the National Library of Medicine, March 2005, NLM call number HF 1429
from The Photograph Library of The Yale Clinic of Child Development, Arnold Gesell, M.D., Director
The Mental Growth of a Mongol
One Year
An infant secured to a chair with a strip of cloth around his chest is tapping his hands on a table, his fingers spread.
He touches the table and waves his arms.
A small cube is placed in front of him.
He looks at the object, then looks away, then picks up the cube.
He drops it, grabs for it, and then retrieves it again.
The baby continues handling the cube. A second cube appears in his hand. He drops a cube on the floor more than once.
A third cube is placed in front of the baby.
Now baby has no cubes. He rubs his hands on the table where the cube(s) had been.
A small dinner bell is placed on the table.
Baby reaches for it, picks it up, handles it, and holds it in front of his face.
Now an upside down mug is placed in front of him, then taken away.
Baby is lying on his back and an adult is holding a rattle just above him. He reaches for it, grabs it, waves it around.
Rattle is gone and adult helps baby sit up.
Now baby stands, with assistance.
[2 years]
The child is back at the same table.
He spreads his hands across the table, then handles a cube, then two, then more, followed by the mug.
All objects are removed. The child examines the table, looks around, rubs his face.
The dinner bell is placed in front of him and he handles it, banging it against the table occasionally.
An adult hand shows him how to ring it up and down.
He handles it again, mouths it, bangs it.
An adult takes the bell back and demonstrates again.
Now a large ring with a string attached is placed in front of the child, and he plays with it. Then a board with cut-out shapes appears.
The child removes the circle shape and plays with it, perhaps trying to place it back in its correct cutout.
The child is sitting up, with the rattle placed just out of reach. He rolls around, reaching for the rattle, and eventually grasps it.
The child is sitting up again, facing in the other direction.
[Three Years]
The toddler is back at the same table, handling different numbers of cubes and a mug. An adult indicates he should place cubes in the mug.
Child sits at the table with his thumb in his mouth. Initially there are no objects on the table, then a small glass jar is placed in front of him.
The shape-board appears again and the boy is given the circle, which he fits into the correct location.
The ring with string attached appears and the bell along with it. The toddler handles each object as well as the two together.
He leans back in this chair and shakes the bell while facing the wall behind him.
While he is facing away, the table is removed.
The child is shown walking in a circle with adults standing nearby.
[Six Years]
The six year old child is dressed and sitting at the table again.
Again cubes and other objects are placed in front of him and his reactions observed. He immediately places one cube in his mouth.
He continues placing cubes in his mouth, sometime removing them himself, or having them removed by the adult.
The small glass jar is placed before him, and he raises it to his mouth as if to drink. When the adult discourages him, he seems agitated for a moment.
The bell and then the ring appear and he plays with them. Then the shape-board again. He raises the objects to his mouth.
He seems to have more trouble placing the circle shape in the correct opening.
The boy stands up and his face is close to the camera.
Film ends.