3.3.1 Behaviourist approach
The behaviourist approach is centred on the interaction between the human and his/her surrounding environment and focuses on the study of observable behaviours and the role of the environment as a factor influencing behaviours (Watson, 1913). The original behaviourist approach rejects the use of references to mental states (Wat- son, 1925), arguing that behaviours should be studied directly. It defends the idea that behaviours can be explained as the product of learning, which, in the classi- cal behaviourist context, consists of conditioning. Conditioning is defined by Colman (2001) as “the process of learning through which the behaviour of organisms becomes
dependent on environmental stimuli”2. It can take two forms: the classical condi- tioning, defended by Pavlov (1927), and the operant conditioning (which introduces the notion of ‘reinforcement’), proposed by Skinner (1974). Skinner’s ideas actually
differed3from the original behaviourist approach established by Watson (1913, 1925).
In particular, he redefined the notion of ‘behaviour’ in order to include everything that an organism does, which includes thinking, feeling and speaking (Skinner, 1974). In contrast to the Watsonian pure behaviourist approach, the cognitive-behaviourist perspective, argues that mental processes are key factors in the behaviour (Tolman,
1932). Tolman (1932), who was one of the first contributors of this cognitive-
behaviourist perspective, even defended the notion of goal-directed behaviour and used the expression “purposive behaviour”. In this perspective, learning happens through meaningful behaviours.
3.3.2 Piaget’s constructivist approach
The constructivist approach has been mainly driven by Piaget (Piaget, 1928), in reaction to the behaviourist approach. Piaget did not deny the fact that learning was fairly influenced by the environment. However, he defended the idea that learning was mainly due to mental processes. According to Piaget (1928), the environment actually plays an important role in the sense that it enables the child to experiment with new situations and thus develop new skills. But these skills can only be actualised at specific stages of the development of mental processes: Piaget (1928) indeed argued that children’s cognitive development progressed through a series of stages that unfold in a definite sequence.
It should be underlined that Piaget mostly focused on the child’s cognitive de- velopment and did not emphasize much the role of social interaction in the cognitive development (which may also be a reason why his classification of play focused on the lonely child behaviour and did not highlight social aspects of play (Piaget, 1945)). Piaget’s schema of stages of development received a few critics. In particular, Isaacs (1930) was at first enthusiastic for Piaget’s theories on the cognitive development of
young children, but later criticised his schema4 (Isaacs, 1930). She reproached him
for using systematically the notion of ‘maturation’ without precautions, thus arriving to the point of explaining with the notion of maturation some phenomena which, in
2
The conditioning can be considered as a form of associationism. 3
Skinner branched off a new version of behaviourism, called radical behaviourism. 4
These critics were formulated in (Isaacs, 1930) and Piaget answered to those critics in (Piaget, 1931).
fact, according to her, depend on experience (Isaacs, 1930). In addition, Isaacs (1930) criticized Piaget’s tendency to rely on questionnaires, which, according to her, lead to stereotypical situations and interfere with the results. Instead, she argued in favor of her methodology, which relied on the observation of the children in their everyday life setting (i.e. Malting House School): according to her, the direct observation of the children and the cooperation between the children enabled a better objectivity in the observation of the thought of the child (Isaacs, 1930). Isaacs (1933)’ approach to play is, besides, particularly relevant to our focus on robot-assisted play for children with autism. According to her, “Play is a child’s life and the means by which he comes to understand the world he lives in” (Isaacs, 1933).
3.3.3 Vygotsky’s influence (socio-constructivist approach)
Vygotsky introduced the importance of social interaction in child’s development (Vy- gotsky, 1978). He stated that learning must take place within social interaction (Vy- gotsky, 1988). He defined the concept of zone of proximal development, as the zone of potential learning for an individual child at a given time. Concretely, it corresponds to what the child can possibly learn at a given time with the help of a peer or an adult. The helping approach offered to a child by an adult that is sensitive to that child’s current zone of proximal development is sometimes referred to as the ‘Vygot- skian tutorial’. Unlike Piaget who stated that the child should wait to have reached a given stage of development to be able to develop new skills, Vygotsky believed that the most valuable learning for children was the one which was slightly in advance of their development. According to Vygotsky (1988), children actually need to learn in order to be motivated and this stretching of their possibilities is a boost.
3.3.4 Bruner’s approach
Vygotsky (1896-1934) became internationally famous only in the 1960’s and Bruner has been one of the first psychologists to bring some of Vygotskian’s ideas in the United States. Bruner has contributed a lot in educational psychology and in partic- ular, developed the notion of ‘spiral curriculum’, which is also of importance in play: spiral curriculum is the idea that children will revisit play materials and activities over the years, but then use them differently because their development has pro- gressed. Bruner insisted on the importance of the medium of children’s play, stating that the material to be learned is ideally the highest motivation for learning.
approach considers that language, and by extension human thinking, come from the interaction between the individual and the culture in which he/she develops (Bruner, 1990). Bruner defines three modes of representation of the world; the first level is ‘enactive’, i.e. the action is linked to the manipulation of objects. The second level is ‘iconic’: the child uses pictures to make a representation of the environment. The third level, the ‘symbolic representation’, can be reached with the acquisition of language. At this level, Bruner argues that the culture will bring to the child the basis for his/her cognitive development. Unlike Piaget, Bruner considers that the environment and the culture play a preponderant role in the child’s development (Bruner, 1983). Moreover, Bruner insists on the fact that education is an interactive activity between the child, the teacher and the environment and he insists on the role of the adults in the child’s mastering of activities (Bruner, 1996).
3.4
Summary
In this chapter we have presented the main specificities of autism. Autism is a spec- trum disorder which means that we should take into account the singularity of needs and abilities of each child with autism individually. Through play, children can ex- periment with a variety of skills from different fields. Particularly, they can develop social, communicative and imaginative skills, plus the ability to deal with more ab- stract concepts through symbolic or pretend play. Children with autism can play but often encounter obstacles to develop their potential. Through play, they may experiment with a multiplicity of skills, in particular, imaginative, communicative and social skills. Moreover, play is a medium for self-expression. We have then sum- marized different approaches with respect to cognitive development. We have shown that some approaches tend to focus more and more on the importance of the social interaction in the process of learning such as the Vygotskian approach which states that learning must take place within social interaction (Vygotsky, 1988). Unlike Pi- aget who stated that the child should wait to reach a given stage of development to be able to develop new skills, Vygotsky believed that the most valuable learning for children was the one which was slightly in advance of their development and took the approach that children need to learn in order to be motivated and this stretch- ing of their possibilities is a boost. In the Vygotskian tutorial, the tutor (parents, carer, educator) can help the child to develop cognitive skills by extending its zone of proximal development.