ABSTRACT
Clinical observations have shown that manipulations of the concrete devices can help the researcher to observe the language and cognitive developments of normal and handicapped subjects. CT-scans showed well localized bilateral cerebral lesions covering all the zones associated to language. A first group of researches is based on manipulations of Cohors-Fresenborg's Dynamical Mazes. This device enables the subject to build finite automata. Lefebvre also observed that all subjects who manipulated Dynamical Mazes developed significantly better visuospatial abilities. Future researches will try to observe if pegboard exercises can be used to help dyslexic children to acquire some better reading skills. The clinical and experimental results presented above show the relevance of using concrete objects provided with technical constraints to observe how young normal and handicapped subjects solve logical and language problems. The results obtained show that concrete representations of a formal systems favor the development of some cognitive skills. This enables our team to reconsider well accepted models.
