Monday, March 9, 2015

Take a bath! Or: Imaginative play shows internal language.

This is just a short note of something that made me smile. In music class Peter stole all of my sticks we were supposed to be using to produce different sounds. Instead he proceeds to make a square with the sticks on the floor, then tell me it's a bath, then pretend to wash his foot in it.

Yes, it was cute. Yes, he wasn't doing what the rest of the class was doing.  But, to create an image in one's head and then a representation in reality, and communicate what is being represented, all of that requires the brain to plan, remember, and execute. All of that requires higher thinking skills that go beyond echoing a sentence, all of that requires that a brain have language. So this little action made me smile and showed me there is plenty going on in that head.