The development of body imagery and the impact of functional movements in the mentally retarded child

Abstract

The movement of a newborn child is spontaneous, repetitive, and purposeless, occurring in space in response to visceral stimuli and the resulting muscular tension and emotional pressure. It carries no symbolic meaning (although, according to the psychoanalytic school, this is only proven through theoretical debates, this movement possesses unconscious values, or is an expression of unconscious contents). Its expressive value is negative; its volition cannot be judged due to the absence of bone marrow in the epiphyses of long bones. However, with growth, the disappearance of primitive reflexes, the maturation of the nervous system, the appearance of myelin in bones, and the control of muscle tone along the trunk axis, the first tools of communication (shouting, smiling, crying, etc.), which De ajuriagurra calls the "precursors of dialogue," can then be discussed in terms of meaning for this movement. Let us consider... For example, smiling, initially, is a relaxed, kinetic cluster that appears around the lips during sleep after a suitable meal, in response to the state of comfort resulting from the removal of the tonic pressure due to the satisfaction obtained. Then, gradually, and with the recorded discrepancy in the number of hours of sleep, it becomes a phenomenon even during wakefulness, without acquiring any symbolic meaning (we call it colloquially an "angelic laugh"). Then, thanks to what is called the "significant reflex effect," it becomes socially significant, as it becomes associated with satisfaction and fullness, and with the acceptance the child receives, first from the mother, and then from those around him. This movement is responsible for the development of posture, and what concerns us here is the posture that is related to muscle tone, and therefore related to body perception. If the goal is to provide a concept of body imagery, then this study, by virtue of its theoretical commitment, will go beyond this simplified introduction, as the concept has already been clarified when addressing the study's terminology and will be further explained later. Instead, we will refer to the history of the term, and in particular, assess its importance and compare the various perspectives that have addressed the origins of body imagery.