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105
Colour Disc Matching.—This consists of a sheet of thick cardboard with four
sunken circular spaces coloured red, blue, green and yellow, with 4 discs similarly
coloured which will readily fit into these spaces:—
The test may be given verbally or by example, e.g., for the deaf. Verbally,
the child was told "to put these little things in their proper places." In the case
of the deaf all the coloured discs were put in their appropriate places and taken out
again, then signs made to the child to do likewise. No importance was attached to
the speed at which it was done, but it was found that, if there was going to be success
at all, the time taken was 10 seconds with normal children. Results showed that of 14
normal infants between 3 and 4 years of age with verbal instructions, 9 responded
correctly at once, 2 were correct at a second attempt and 3 failed completely even
when the test was demonstrated to them in addition. Of 18 mentally defective
children with a mental age of 5 and upwards, all were successful and the time taken
was never more than 13 seconds. Young imbeciles with a mental age of 2 years or
less failed completely even after prolonged trials. The conclusions are that the test
should standardise about the age of 3 years, should certainly be done in 15 seconds
and is readily applicable to almost all types of children.
The missing object test.—This consists of 6 pictures of simple every-day
occurrences:—
(1) Dog chasing a cat. (4) Girl feeding chickens.
(2) Girl bowling a hoop. (5) Two children playing ball.
(3) Boy flying a kite. (6) Child blowing bubbles.
The objects italicised were cut out, so that a circular hole remains in each
picture and there were six separate discs representing the omitted objects. Six
additional discs representing objects inappropriate to all and any of the pictures
were also prepared. The directions given were: "Look at these pictures, they
are not complete, put in what is missing." No time limit was given and it was
not intended as a speed test. In fact, the children were cautioned to do it carefully.
In practice, however, it was found that three minutes was ample time if there was
going to be success at all. For the deaf and others to whom verbal instruction is
impossible the child is shown one picture wrongly completed and then corrected.
Signs are then made to the child to continue.
Forty-eight normal children from 6 to 7 years of age, obtained an average of
5.75 correct in 1.6 minutes. From this it may be seen that the vast majority of
these children were absolutely successful. Testing many children of higher ages,
it was found that there rarely was a failure. It may be taken then as established
that the test is a very fair one for the ordinary child of 6 years and the rare exceptions
may be attributed to attempts at excessive speed. As to the lower limit, 6 children of
4 years old failed utterly. Of twenty 5-6 year olds, 8 were completely successful,
12 were partially successful, while there were no absolute failures.
Of 20 mentally defective children taken haphazard, with mental ages of 5 to 9,
there were 6 successful, all of whom reached the 7 year level in the Binet scale.