Children at Charity tested in project

              In 1959 they began giving mental tests to babies at Charity Hospital.
Today these same babies, who have reached the exalted age of 4, afe still being tested.
It's all part of a nationwide project in which mothers and their offspring are closely followed through the years in the hopes of gleaning worthwhile information concerning certain childhood disorders.
The federally-sponsored project is called the Collaborative Child Development Program and Charity Hospital is one of 15 nationwide centers.
Many Specialists
Many specialists with interests in child development are involved in this project including obstetricians, pediatricians, nue-rologists, pathologists, psychologists, sociologists, speech and language experts, nurses.
The actual mental testing is being done by psychologists both from Tujane University and Louisiana State University medical schools.
Result? of the tests are sent to Washington D. C. where they are first run through computers, then carefully correlated. When the entire project is complete, medical experts and scientists will have at their fingertips a vast storehouse of information concerning approximately 50,-000 mothers and their babies.
Locally a tentative comparison has already been made between children tested at the age of 8 months and the same children tested at age 4.
This comparison indicates that a Mby, who was bright when he was 8 months old, will probably be bright at age 4. It also indicates that a child who is not too bright at age 4 wasn't particularly bright as a baby.
Tests Are Cited
Watching these tests in progress is a completely fascinating experience.
Take a certain 4-year-old whom we shall call Charlotte.
This young lady stared taking psychological tests at Charity when she was 8 months old. The tests were much simpler then of course. In one of them the psychologist dangled a bright-colored ring before the baby girl's eyes. Then she laid the ring on the table in front of the baby. When Charlotte pulled at the string to get at the ring, the tester announced this was a perfectly normal reaction.
Next Charlotte was offered a bright-hued, plastic cup. She not only picked up the cup by the handle, she also held it to her lips. We thought this proved she was super-duper smart. But the psychologist said "No," that most normal babies will place j a cup to their lips.
Charlotte was one of count-; less infants tested during 1959: for such things as motor skills,! speech development, eye-hand! coordination, power of observa-j tion, concentration and emotion- j al and mental reactions.
Today Charlotte is one of many 4-year-olds taking more advanced tests.
The same psycnoiogisi tested Charlotte as a baby is testing her today. She is Tu-lane psychologist Marie-Louise Daste, assistant professor, department of otolaryngology, Tii-lane School of Medicine.
Drawings Shown
During last week's testing, Mrs. Daste placed a small dog, a tiny doll and a diminutive automobile atop a table. While Charlotte closed her eyes tightly, the psychologist covered up the little automobile with a pasteboard box.
"Tell me what's under the box, Charlotte," she requested.
"A little bitta car," the 4-year-old 'replied.
Mrs. Daste next showed Car-lotte line drawings of such familiar objects as boats and airplanes. She asked her to identify each of them/The psychologist said a child usually finds it easier to identify an actual plane than a line drawing of a plane.
Charlotte's aesthetic taste came in next for testing. Mrs. Daste held up two sketches. One depicted a little girl with neatly combed hair. The other depicted a little girl with un-tidv hair.
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"Which one is prettier?" the psychologist inquired.
Charlotte, being a young woman of good taste, pointed to the sketch of the little girl with neatly combed hair.
Other Choice
But, explained Mrs. Daste, this doesn't always happen.
"Often a child from a low income family, who has had little of beauty in her life will choose the little girl with the unkempt locks," said the psychologist. "She may like this best because it reminds her of herself."
The 4-year-old was next asked to describe what she saw in a typical fireside picture.
"I see a Grandma telling her grandchild a story on a cold night," Charlotte replied.
Shows Maturity
This response, explained the psychologist, showed a great deal of maturity on Charlotte's part. A less mature child, she added, would have said something like, "I see a little girl. I see an old lady."
During the discrimination test Charlotte was asked what was missing from a picture of a one-eared rabbit and what was missing from a picture of a three-legged table. Next she was instructed to pair off identical objects. Then peering through a tiny peephole in a cardboard shoebox the little girl identified what she saw in the box. The psychologist watched closely to see which eye Charlotte would use. This is   called   an   eye   dominance
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test.
Motor Skills
Motor skill tests followed in quick succession. Charlotte fitted square pegs into their proper holes on a peg board. She strung bright blue beads on a shoestring. She drew a straight line, a circle, a cross, and tried to make a square. Then, with a determined expression on her face,   she   tried   walking   a
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blocks of various shapes were used to test Charlotte's ability
, ,-to see likenesses, a skill necessary PHOTO: CHILDREN TESTED UNTIL THEY REACH AGE OF 7 As a test of his motor skill, 4-year-old Stanley Magee fits square pegs into holes in hoard. Watching him are Dr. John Roitzsch, assistant chief of the psychology section of the Collaborative Child Development Program in New Or­leans,  and  Psychologist  Marie-Louise  Daste.