ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the earliest developments in children’s thought and language. It also considers the nature of thinking and the contributions of perceiving, acting and feeling to early forms of abstraction. From the perspective of the infant learning to speak with symbols, “the signals the infant learns to produce are the same signals he comprehends when produced by others, and therefore in using these symbols he anticipates how they will be interpreted”. Jim Russell suggests that cognitive development can be construed as children’s progress in making a division between what is true of their experiences and what is true of the world. Only once children are able to effect instrumental co-ordination with objects at around eight to ten months of age, are they able to “use” people to obtain things or to use an object to solicit the attention of a person.
