Recognition, Formulation, and Integration in the Development of Interrogative Strategies among Normal and Retarded Children

Abstract

DENNEY, DOUGLAS R. Recognition, Formulation, and Integration in the Development of Interrogative Strategies among Normal and Retarded Children. CmLD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 1068-1076. 2 studies are reported in which children's use of the constraint-seeking interrogative strategy is examined along with separate measures of their abilities to recognize and formulate constraint-seeking questions and to integrate the information resulting from such questions. The first study examined these abilities in normal children; the second compared institutionalized retarded and normal children, matched for mental age, on these abilities. The studies showed that the constraint-seeking strategy and related underlying abilities increased across grade levels and mental age levels. Differences between retarded and normal children were found in both their tendencies to employ constraint-seeking questions and their efficiency of problem solving through effective use of the resultant information; differences in all underlying abilities were also found. Results were examined to determine whether a recognitionformulation-integration sequence might characterize the development from hypothesis-seeking to constraint-seeking interrogative strategies; although this sequence appeared to fit some of the findings, scalogram analyses led to the conclusion that a fixed interdependent sequence in the attainment of these underlying abilities was untenable.