3V1773.3

3V177303 At the Center (11/30/82) Barbara Porter came yesterday with five kids (one mine) to the Center. Peggy brought Wendy with her and acted very friendly with her. Barbara brought sons Gregoire and Laurant and Gregoire’s friend Alden. The kids, of course, played differently. The three boys were aggressive and Laurant (older by a couple …

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3V1415.1

3V1415.01 Reading Vocabulary (12/7/81) In P202, I gave Peggy her first “reading test.” She showed clearly that she recognized -in their very specific contexts- these words(19) : RECALL (by keying it) RECALLING (by contrast of the display screen) READING (on display screen, shares “ing” with recalling) BLOCKS (on tape cassette, keying, and on prompt card) …

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3V1380.1

3V1380.01 Drawing and Writing (11/2/81) Peggy has made many drawings lately, of which I have saved a large number, writing down her explanations as made and dating them. This is a small but important collection for documenting Peggy’s developing command of writing. On this day, Peggy wrote a “message” on one piece of paper, showed …

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3V1275.1

3V1275.01 Computer “rods” (7/20/81) Seeing the trouble she had with the rods always falling over, I asked is a Rods microworld would be easier to manipulate and thus intellectually more accessible to her. So I proceeded to make one, substituting (a later idea) the blinking of numbers in place of partial blanks — that is …

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3V1267.1

3V1267.01 Computer-based cuisenaire rods (7/12/81) Peggy enjoyed playing with the Cuisenaire rods during out experiment P181. Either in that one or the next P182, Peggy first accomplished a set of “stairs.” After the end of the experiment, she continued playing with rods and I heard her mention (at a point where she omitted the 3-length …

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3V1247.2

3V1247.02 Past tense and conditionals (6/22/81) For the past month or so, Peggy has been forming past tenses in the typical non-standard way — ie. RUN, RUNNED. (I will have to see if I can get her to discuss this in the next session, P181 now) — to get at the question raised by Seigler …

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3V1239.1

3V1239.01 Discovering “Turn” (6/14/81) After what seemed initially an unproductive session (P177), Peggy discovered the word TURN. Looking through the RED lettered cards (probably for some other word) she selected and keyed it. The TRUCK (or VAN) which was the current objects reversed as directed and Peggy exclaimed, “It turned !” This does not argue …

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3V1234.3

3V1234.03 Reading: one word at a time (6/9/81) Peggy played with the computer — off and on — during most of the day. Mostly she was “on.” (She even left the supper table to play with her “world”) although she took a break now and again to have a snack or to join Robby and …

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3V1188.1

3V1188.01 Piecemeal discovery from playing with TI BLOCKS (4/24/81) Peggy’s grasp of what she could do with this micro-world has been delightfully piece meal. The first and most striking thing was learning to make the blocks walk. I seem to recall this happened in the first session. The next discovery was the BACK command. It …

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3V1185.1

3V1185.01 Computer at home: TI-99 (4/21/81) I finally brought home a TI-99 from the Logo lab. The machine’s storage extension is very flakey and the tape recorder would not work well for the first week or so. Consequently it was hard to program little systems for Peggy. We began using the computer in experiments with …

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3V1184.1

3V1184.01 Blocks microworld: Moving Blocks (4/20/81) Peggy has experienced a number of insights in her developing control of the little blocks microworld. The record of her discovery of “BK” is in P169. This is a significant and meaningful operation for her when the block has a forward velocity. In the case “BK” interrupts the velocity …

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3V1181.1

3V1181.01 Blocks microworld: “Clever little blocks” (4/17/81) Peggy was introduced to computers with P168 and P169. We talked a little today about what she was doing with the computer upstairs. She replied that she was “making the blocks walk.” I asked if she was able to make the blocks turn yet. She replied, “No, they …

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3V1171.2

3V1171.02 Letter roller: compared to Rubic’s cube (4/7/81) Peggy has played with Rubic’s cube for several weeks, first destroying the complete pattern by a single or double twist, then “fixing” the cube by reversing the operation — uniformly with great pride and delight. We, of course, applauded her efforts. This was not at all surprising …

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3V1171.1

3V1171.01 Letter names versus Meanings: now even “the mommy letter” is blind coded.(4/7/81) In the last experiment, P167, Peggy made a distinction I have observed otherwheres since. When asked the name of any letter, she would reply “D”, no matter what the letter was, no matter what meaning it had for her. For example, she …

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3V1169.1

3V1169.01 Recognizing “By” in another context: Asterix book (4/5/81) Peggy asked me to read “Asterix in Britain.” On page 6 (bottom) there appears a balloon with “Attack by Juno” in large capitals. As I was reading near the top of the page, Peggy pointed to “BY” and said, “That says ‘BY’.” Now it appears that …

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3V1155.1

3V1155.01 Cuisenaire rods: playing with them after experiments (3/22/81) Guessing games Peggy had used Cuisenaire rods in the immediately previous videotape. Somehow she got hold of them again and I became aware that she was laying them out [Bob had, I think, tried to see if she would build a “stair.”] As she did so, …

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3V1147.1

3V1147.01 Letter H: “Is this for jump ?” (3/14/81) ‘Is this for ‘jump’ ?’ Peggy asked, bringing me the letter ‘H’ from her set on the floor. I explained that ‘H’ was for ‘Happy.’ (maybe I should have said for ‘Hop’ — but would she recognize that as different from ‘jump’ ?) The letter names …

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3V1122.1

3V112201 Same vs. Different: different animals, same activities (2/17/81) Peggy sat in my lap, playing her animal game (see examples in videotape, e.g. P162). I tired of it and she volunteered, ‘I know…let’s play a different game.’ I agreed enthusiastically, so she got from her toy box two different animals, sat in my lap and …

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3V1109.2

3V1109.02 Trip to Logo: typical stories (2/14-15/81) Peggy, Robby and I went to MIT after story hour. Danny Moore came to the lab late in the afternoon and I tended Peggy while Robby played with him. What I recall of this time is that Peggy and I went to DSRE for my Spencer Foundation letter, …

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3V1102.1

3V1102.01 Playing with toys: using animals as manipulatable actors (1/28(81) Recently Peggy has frequently climbed on my lap after dinner, bringing a small collection of animal toys with her. Frequently the horses (Calico and Blue Mane) and Gretchen’s old rabbit and mouse are the main actors. Peggy takes one animal and gives me another, e.g., …

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3V1084.1

3V1084.01 Counting Irregularities (1/10/81) Peggy “counts,” ie. recites the number names in a quasi-standard fashion. (omitting “seven” more often than including it.) Although she has put objects in one to one correspondence, she has not done so successfully in the standard sense. She counted on her fingers today showing no non-standard variations. First she counted …

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3V1069.2

3V1069.02 Counting and one-to-one correspondence (12/26/80) Having bought her two of Beatrix Potter’s books for Christmas, I have read them over and over to Peggy. At one point in the story of Peter Rabbit, old Mrs. Rabbit goes to the bakers and buys ‘five current buns.” I decided to see how Peggy would follow or …

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3V1066.1

3V1066.01 Reading letters: new development (12/23/80) Peggy often gives evidence of not distinguishing words from letters. (See especially her play with letters in the past videotaped sessions). Consequently, it was quite surprising today to hear Peggy saying letter names as she poked around in Scurry’s food bag. My best appreciation was that she pointed at …

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3V1058.1

3V1058.01 Counting objects: near standard sequence with omissions (12/13/80) Miriam and Peggy went to visit Mrs. Smith. She keeps toys in her house for children she takes care of. Peggy selected a ring pyramid and Miriam (as she later tells the story) inverted the rings. Peggy began re-stacking the ring and spontaneously reciting number names: …

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3V1043.1

3V1043.01 Singing “offstage”: The Fox (11/30/80) I tried to get Peggy singing “The Fox went out on a chilly night” during P149 today. She refused. But this evening, alone in a chair in the living room while the rest of us were there but otherwise occupied, Peggy began reading/singing the story. She did fine at …

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3V1022.1

3V1022.01 Like a birdie (2) (11/9/80) In P146 today, Peggy remarked ( ) that Daddy Long Legs could fly like a birdy… we should keep our eyes open for other uses of “like” and the specific contexts so that we can observe the development of her use of simile.

3V1010.1

3V1010.01 Playing with coins: progressive discrimination (10/26/80) After P143 (where we played with many coins) Peggy found the pile of change and asked me to join her in playing with them on the floor. As we did so, Peggy separated them and said, “I’m picking the big pennies out and putting them on the floor.” …

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3V1006.2

3V1006.02 One to one correspondence: words and things (very impt)(10/22/80) Gretchen was reading to Peggy from “The Big Book of Real Trains.” At the bottom of each page is a little picture reviewing each of the cars introduced in the previous pages, each having an engine at the head. As Gretchen read and turned the …

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3V1004.1

3V1004.01 Role Reversal: reading to others (10/20/80) Bringing some wood inside, I nearly tripped over Scurry at the porch door. Continuing on, I came close to Peggy also, who censured me “Don’t step on me, Daddy. Don’t step on Scurry. She’s a good kid, too.” Scurry is Peggy’s most accessible playmate (and the only controllable …

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3V1001.1

3V1001.01 Letter names: beyond those important as people symbols (10/17/80) I gave Peggy the small coffee table for her use as a desk, put her puzzles there and a pile of paper from which she takes pieces to scribble on. She did so today. When first drawing, she would bring me her papers and ask …

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3V0978.1

3V0978.01 BANG vs. RING: limits of word recognition (9/26/80) Peggy has been able to identify as “BANG” the word in “The Calculus Affair” when it appears in a yellow cloud of color. She did not (in P140 in 9/29/80) distinguish it from the word “CRACK” so displayed (although she may have done so earlier, (cf. …

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3V0975.1

3V0975.01 Reading to herself (9/23/80) Peggy has been doing this for quite some time — usually when others are occupied otherwise. Today, in P139, I got her to read to me (which she would never do before). Her “reading” has seemed a reconstruction of recalled dialogue and text mixed with observations of the pictures (or …

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3V0965.1

3V0965.01 BANG and RING: extending word knowledge (9/13/80) Peggy can recognize these two words as distinct. She clambered onto my bed this evening, asking me to read her a Tintin story. We came, inter alia, across several “bangs” to which Peggy remarked, “That say, ‘BANG’.” As we read on, we came to a picture of …

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3V0942.2

3V0942.02 Counting letters: social context of alphabet learning (8/21/80) So Peggy names her playing with them — and she frequently asks some one to do that with her. She apparently has in mind companionship alone and precious little else. Since the only thing she does with letters are: 1. identify individuals; 2. scatter them around; …

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3V0933.1

3V0933.01 Describing actions: fluid script application (8/12/80) Over this past week, Peggy has often played with her Fischer-Price dolls. This has joined with her new interest in Legos so she has made (with Miriam’s help and mine) in making couches and houses for her dolls. Most striking about Peggy’s play with dolls is her language …

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3V0932.1

3V0932.01 Reading aloud to herself: characterization; French also (8/11/80) Peggy has often read aloud to herself, does not feel self-conscious about doing so (But is reluctant to read to ME as witness on P134). Her reading procedure seems to call upon two sources of information. The main (at least dominant) one is the picture accompanying …

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3V0896.1

3V0896.01 Letters as symbols for people’s names (7/6/80) In session P127 and P128, Peggy revealed the congeniality of her conceiving of and remembering letter names as associated with members of our family. Today she sat on the floor and help up a ‘P’. “That’s me, right?” she asked and later “That Robby?” (for a ‘B’). …

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3V0522.1

3V0522.01 Tirades disappeared; “comments” instead (6/28/79) What happened to the ‘tirades’ and recording of them? The attempt at recording failed because they dropped out of Peggy’s behavior — rather, they took a reduced form which is more appropriate to call “comments.” The characteristic of a comment is its length — typically two or three sentences …

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