THE MONTESSORI METHOD - online book

Scientific Methods As Applied To Child Education In "the Children's Houses"

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	314             THE MONTESSORI METHOD
	syllables, with which also the mother caresses him, saying: " ha, ha, punf, tuf! "
	and, finally, the dissyllabic word, usually labial: mama. We say that the spoken language begins with the child when the word pronounced by                     w him signifies an idea; when for example, seeing his mother and recognising her he says " mam­ma; " and seeing a dog says, " tette; " and wishing to eat says: " pappa." Thus we consider language begun when it is established in relation to perception; while the language itself is still, in its psycho-motor mechanism, perfectly rudimentary. That is, when above the diastaltic arc where the me­chanical formation of the language is still unconscious, the recognition of the word takes place, that is, the word is perceived and associated with the object which it rep­resents, language is considered to have begun. On this level, later, language continues the process of perfecting in proportion as the hearing perceives better the component sounds of the words and the psycho-motor channels become more permeable to articulation.