An infant’s early attempts at speech is one indication of a lively intellectual growth, but there are many other indications which a careful observer can notice. The baby experiences sensation very keenly. He feels hot and cold, hard and soft, steady and unsteady, pleasant and painful sensations. He experiences inner sensations- those of digestion, defecation, and the like. He experiences outer sensations from contact with objects in his environment, and through sensations of sight, sound and smell. In the first year, one can almost see him comparing different sensations, connecting one attribute with another, and recognizing similarities and building up percepts and concepts.
All, of course, very rudimentary, but very soon he seems to reflect the sound of cups and spoons with the feeding process, the sight of his coat with going out, the sound of water running with preparations for his bath. This is a type of associative thinking, implying memory and recognition and forethought. Very soon, too, he shows a capacity to solve some of his own problems-how to get his spoon into his mouth, how to kick his bootee off his foot, how to push his rattle through the bars of his cot.
Some of these activities is in the nature of trial and error, but he quickly learns to repeat the performance at will. Just as Kohler’s chimpanzee learned how to use a stick to secure the fruit he wanted, so the human infant discovers how to pull, push and reach what he wants by his own efforts, and by the use of the “tools” around him.
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When a baby sits stolidly in his cot, apparently unaware of the events in his environment, without attempting to explore or experiment, one may usually judge that something is wrong.
He may be ill, or he may be generally retarded, and by six months most doctors can judge obvious signs of mental defect -both the physical and mental stigmata will be obvious in the case of a Mongol, a Cretin, or a Hydrocephalic.