All issues > Volume 34(12); 1991

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1991;34(12):1647-1654. Published online December 31, 1991.

Body part identification in 1-to 5-year-old children.

Rhie Choi¹, Ju Seok Maeng¹, Dong Hwan Lee¹, Sang Jhoo Lee¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Soon Chun Hyang University, Seoul, Korea

Received: June 27, 1991;  Accepted: August 23, 1991.

Abstract

Until recently, minimal information on the development of body part identification in young children has been available although several developmental assessments include items that involve pointing to or naming body part. The purpose of this study was to examine the sequence in which body parts are learned and can be identified by very young children. The 360 children who 1-to 5-year-old were tested during the two periods in Seoul and Kumi. The 200 children were requested to name to 20 body parts for the first period and the 160 children were requested to point to 20 body parts on a doll or self body for the second period. The 20 body parts represented appropriate categories, such as cephalocaudal, proximal-distal, and parts vs. joints. The analysis of the results indicated significant difference in the ability to identify body part by age and area, but no significant difference by sex. The greatest increased in scores occurred between the age of 1 and 2 years. There appears to be a developmental progression in the number of body parts than children can identify. The percentage of subjects at each group who identified different body parts is presented, indicating the sequence in which body parts are learned.

Keywords :Body part identification