Developing the Observing Eye

Developing the Observing Eye

Cynthia Murphy-Lang was born and brought
up in Lincoln, Nebraska, where her ancestors
were part of the original homesteaders. She
moved to New York City with her husband Teacher Observation and Assessment
where she has been a teacher for 21 years in
the kindergartens of the Rudolf Steiner School in Early Childhood Education
and the Brooklyn Waldorf School. Currently
she is involved in a new initiative, the New
Amsterdam Early Childhood Center.
As a Waldorf early childhood teacher she has taught parent/child
classes, nursery and mixed-age kindergarten. She has been a first grade
assistant in Waldorf and non-Waldorf classrooms and an Educational
Support teacher, kindergarten through third grade. She received an MSEd
from Sunbridge College.
Cynthia believes that observation is possibly the most important
activity of teaching. It is a gateway to understanding child development
and recognizing how to provide a truly supportive environment for young
children. This book provides teachers with guidance and tools to make the
task of training our capacity of observation more accessible.

Cynthia Murphy-Lang
AWSNA Publications

by

The Association of Waldorf

Schools of North America Cynthia Murphy-Lang
Publications Office
65–2 Fern Hill Road
Ghent, NY 12075
Developing the Observing Eye
Teacher Observation and Assessment
in Early Childhood Education

1
2
Developing the Observing Eye

Teacher Observation and Assessment

in
Early Childhood Education

by

Cynthia Murphy-Lang

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 Behold the Child with Reverence,
Teach the Child with Love,
And let the Child go forth in Freedom.
– Rudolf Steiner

Printed with support from the Waldorf Curriculum Fund

Published by:
The Association of Waldorf Schools
of North America
Publications Office
65–2 Fern Hill Road
Ghent, NY 12075

Title: D
 eveloping the Observing Eye:
Teacher Observation and Assessment
in Early Childhood Education
Author: Cynthia Murphy-Lang
Editor: David Mitchell
Proofreader: Ann Erwin
Cover Design: David Mitchell
Cover Art: Anna Murphy-Lang
Photographs: Courtesy of Zoe Adlersberg, the New Amsterdam
Early Childhood Center, and the Garden City Waldorf School—
rights secured by author
© 2010 by AWSNA
ISBN # 978-1-888365-96-2

Printed by McNaughton & Gunn

Saline, MI 48176 USA
February 2010

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 Table of Contents

Foreword by Dee Joy Coulter, Ed.D.............................................. 7

Introduction ................................................................................ 9

To Assess or Not to Assess........................................................ 14

Components of Human Development

The Four Bodies of the Human Being........................... 22

The Threefold Human Being.......................................... 25

Breathing........................................................................... 26

Waking and Sleeping....................................................... 27

The Organs of the Senses................................................ 29

The Reflexes or Early Movement Patterns................... 37

The Beginning of School

The Early Childhood Program....................................... 44

The Child’s First Experience of School......................... 50

Working with Parents...................................................... 51

The Teacher’s Inner Work............................................... 52

Home Visit......................................................................... 53

First Day of School........................................................... 53

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 Conference Log................................................................. 58

Conference Questions for Parents ............................... 60

Observation and Assessment

The Nursery Child.......................................................... 61

Guidelines for Observation........................................... 65

The Middle Kindergartner............................................. 68

Middle Kindergarten Checklist..................................... 71

The Older Kindergarten Child...................................... 74

Kindergarten Transition Report.................................... 77

Kindergarten Assessment Checklist............................. 85

Kindergarten Asesssment Story.................................... 90

Ripeness for Elementary School................................... 94

What Do We Need to Know at This Transition?......... 96

The Importance of Record Keeping.............................. 96

Final Kindergarten Report............................................. 98

Acknowledgements ................................................................. 99

Appendix ................................................................................... 100

References................................................................................... 102

Bibliography.............................................................................. 106

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 Foreword

There are occasions when we look at something, perhaps an

x-ray of our own arm, or we listen to something, perhaps our raspy
breathing, and we wonder what it means. We are aware that to the
diagnosing doctor these indicators mean so much more. Albert
Szent-Georgi, a twice-awarded Nobel prize winner, described this
phenomenon well when he said, “Discovery is seeing what everyone
else is seeing but thinking what no one else has thought.”
This book is an invitation to discover what a highly skilled
Waldorf preschool and kindergarten teacher is thinking when he or
she sees. Cynthia Lang brings stunning clarity to the components
of human development as indicated by Rudolf Steiner. These
components lay the groundwork for the art and science of the
Waldorf approach to child observation.
She then moves on in a seamless fashion to prepare the reader/
teacher for the first encounters with the child, the parent, and the
classroom. The Waldorf teacher, already familiar with working
through sleep and dreams to organize the experiences of the day,
will find this section truly inspiring as Ms. Lang guides the teacher
through the key encounters and reflections on those encounters.
Finally, Ms. Lang broaches a very sensitive topic for the Waldorf
teacher: the possibility of structured observation that can serve to
document the readiness of a child for transitions from preschool to
kindergarten and from kindergarten to first grade. In the Waldorf
approach to education this advancement to the next level is not
a foregone conclusion, but a matter of readiness. However, if this
critical, subjective decision is made by the teacher without proper
involvement of the parents and clear documentation, it can be very
upsetting to some parents. Ms. Lang offers a true gift to the Movement
in this final section, as she presents structured assessment forms and
clear explanations of their use.

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 For the reader coming to the work of Rudolf Steiner for the first
time, and more familiar with the educational processes of the public
schools, this book offers a very different but equally fascinating
experience. The reader will find the writing to be richly poetic. It can
be experienced as a journey of discovery and insight, but a journey
that begins with a very steep climb. The first section discusses the
key variables of human development as Steiner presented them.
To the uninitiated, this is clearly the most challenging portion of
the book. The paradigms are so different from traditional science
that they simply need to be held for the reader as possibilities in
the beginning. As the book unfolds, they make progressively more
sense, and their usefulness for organizing perception is revealed.
The second section, a Waldorf view of the significance of
beginning school, a home visit, meeting the parents, preparing the
classroom and greeting the child, is very likely to set up a deep
longing in the reader. It can generate a wish that they had been held
in such a way, and a desire to encourage all teachers to move in this
tender and profoundly caring direction.
Finally, the third section will seem like a fascinating proposal—to
consider the possibility that assessment can be done with structure
and refined attention, but without the need for quantifiable testing.
As schools struggle with the burden of incessant evaluations and
accountability procedures that seem to cast doubt on the teacher’s
natural ability to meet the children and teach them, this section
reads like a breath of fresh air.
There is much that can be harvested from this book and adapted
to general use. May both groups of readers be inspired in their own
ways as they enjoy this fine contribution to educational literature.

— Dee Joy Coulter, Ed.D.

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 Introduction

The purpose of this book is to explore and develop a process

of educational assessment in the early childhood years for children
being educated in Waldorf schools. If we can observe how the
young child moves in form, develops, grows, and takes in the world
through his developing senses, it is conceivable that we will begin to
understand how the child learns.
It is my intent to develop an on-going process, a process that is
first of all based in observation, observations that are thoughtfully
pondered and explored through the questions they present. It is a
process that includes the child, the parent and the teachers, calling
forth a community of care that is specific to the present and future
needs of the growing and developing human being. It is a process
that recognizes the understanding of the human being as described
by Rudolf Steiner. Although the focus of this book is early childhood,
the understanding Steiner brought to the world is deeply embedded
in the Waldorf curriculum and progresses throughout the child’s
school life into adulthood.
This process does not deny the value or practice of individual
assessment; it includes assessment tools. But the understanding of
human development, observation and compassionate thinking are
the primary requirements of the process. It is not enough to simply
formulate a one-time assessment for school readiness or individual
need. It is not enough to assume that within a single assessment we
can determine who the child is and how the child is living within his
form or in the world. A one-time assessment will bind a label to a
child and will not necessarily reveal the gifts or hindrances the child
faces. An individual assessment alone cannot explore how the child
works with his hindrances and gifts. Nor can a single assessment
reveal how gifts may develop out of what appears to be a child’s
hindrance. A human being is not born ‘world ready.’ A human being

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takes time to find a place in the world. A human being is a book with
many pages, and each new life deserves to be read with reverence,
love and in freedom.
To begin, it is important to take a moment to understand a little
about Waldorf education and how and why Steiner chose the form
he did for transforming educational practices. It is also important to
explore what these educational practices demand of those of us who
endeavor to take them up.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, socialism was seen
as the cure for the class system that dominated in the industrial
age. It may be hard to believe, but in the United States there were
many children who did not receive an education even a hundred
years ago. Education was the right of the upper class and lack of
education was assurance that the lower class would continue to
exist. Socialism offered the view that all individuals deserved at least
an elementary school education. The public school system came into
existence and made education the right of all citizens. We do not like
to think of education this way, but actually public schools became
a means of socializing America’s children. Steiner was very aware
of the shortfalls of public education and the deepening rift between
practical work and spiritual life.

Our school system is marked especially by features that

reflect the tendencies toward decline in modern cultural
life. The social structures of modern governments have not
followed the requirements of actual life. For instance, they
have taken on a form that does not satisfy the economic
demands of modern humanity. They have also set this
same backward stamp upon the school system, which,
having liberated it from the religious confessions, they have
now brought it into complete dependence on themselves.
At every level, schools mold human beings into the forms
the state requires for doing what the state deems necessary.
(Steiner, 1906, p.1)

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Rudolf Steiner perceived the importance of education in building a
healthy social organism, and with the help of Emil Molt, he founded
the first Waldorf school and began to work to bring about changes
in all realms of practical and social life. What is really different
about Waldorf education? Steiner presented a picture of human
development which describes the human being as a four-fold
organism that is formed out of the elements of earth (physical body),
water (etheric body), air (astral body) and warmth (ego body). He
also described the being of man as three-fold: body, soul and spirit,
capable of thinking, feeling and willing. He ascribed to the human
being a wise, moral and timely development with a destiny and
purpose related to the earth. Out of these thoughts and observations
Steiner formed a divinely wise curriculum.

The real need of the present is that the schools be totally

grounded in a free spiritual and cultural life. What should
be taught and cultivated in these schools must be drawn
solely from knowledge of the growing human being and of
individual capacities. A genuine anthropology must form
the basis of education and instruction. The question should
not be: What does a human being need to know and be
able to do for the social order that now exists, but rather:
What capacities are latent in this human being, and what
lies within that can be developed? Then it will be possible
to bring ever new forces into the social order from the
rising generations. The life of the social order will be what
is made of it by a succession of fully developed human
beings who take their places in the social order. The rising
generation should not be molded into what the existing
social order chooses to make of it. (Steiner, 1906, p.2)

Although Steiner lived over a hundred years ago, his thoughts are
thoroughly modern and current. The education Steiner proposed
is only eighty-five years old, an infant in pedagogical practice.

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The greatest question is not if Waldorf education should exist; it is
currently the largest independent school movement in the world.
The question is how parents, teachers and administrators can join in
this task of creating an education that supports the free development
of their children and students. What does a community look like
that supports a Waldorf school? How do we sort out the massive
information coming toward us that is not actually new, but chains
us to the old mechanistic view of the human being? How do we
overcome long-held opinions that paralyze us in the fear of creating
new forms? How do we overcome our inability to enter into
community together for the sake of the children’s freedom and
ultimately our own freedom?
The answer lies in the children who bring us together. If we
can learn to keep the children at the center of our thoughts, then
perhaps we will begin to ask the questions that may help us to seek
transformation in ourselves. These children need us to be worthy
of their imitation. How do we do that? We do that by being willing
to go out on a limb and seek to know ourselves and transform
whatever leads to stagnation, chaos or war. We need to try to work
together and not deny one person because of differences, or personal
views of social interaction, or any aspect which creates difficulty.
We must work against personal power or the desire to be revered.
We must work not to seek results, but to love the work itself. “Work
undertaken for the sake of results is the least likely to produce them,
and learning unaccompanied by reverence is unlikely to advance us
far. Love for the work, not for the results, alone moves us forward.”
(Steiner, 1994, p.104) We must find the enthusiasm to bring the
world and all that it offers to the children. We must recognize that
young children need us to understand that they are nourished
through the senses and must have an appropriate diet as they begin
to explore the world. And we must recognize that children have a
process of development that is timely and lawful. We must struggle
to put all of this together for the sake of the children. Struggle is
the beginning of questioning. Struggle is the puzzle that leads to

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the destiny of the children who are writing their biography before
our very eyes. This community for the children can be a wonderful
symbiotic microcosm that leads all of us to personal development
and transformation and will eventually require social changes in the
macrocosmic community.
If parents, teachers and school administrators can see their
children as unfolding biographies (each child is a book that we
are reading) and that these children are chapters in the unfolding
biography of the school and the school is a chapter in the ongoing
evolution of the human being and the world that surrounds us, then
our shared observations and actions on behalf of the children will
form the school community that cares for the children. The actions
of all involved in the community must be focused on meaningful
work, the work human beings do and not on fixing the child. If our
actions are focused on work, then we will build a school community
which will reflect a healthy social life. We will be part of a community
that creates new forms out of a unique understanding of human
development.
Now having explored a little the impulse behind Rudolf Steiner’s
thinking when he developed Waldorf education, it is time to look
at assessment in the early years and the components of human
development he introduced.

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 To Assess or Not to Assess,
That Is the Question

In a recent conversation a Waldorf early childhood teacher asked

an anthroposophical school doctor if he thought we should be doing
first grade readiness assessments in the kindergarten.
Waldorf early childhood teachers make every effort to give
children in their care an appropriate environment which allows them
to grow freely in the early years. Inclusion and the formation of the
class are two of a Waldorf early childhood teacher’s primary tasks.
Labels and extreme individualization are avoided with determined
effort.
There is a belief among many Waldorf early childhood educators
that they have a responsibility to protect young children from
outside labels, tests, observations and screenings because this is the
only way the children can overcome or outgrow their difficulties.
Their concern is well founded. The mayor of New York City,
Michael Bloomberg, was given the power to take over the public
school system. He has made testing and accountability the byword
of education in New York City. In return for positive results in test
scores, he offers schools and teachers monetary incentives. Until
now testing has been focused on school age children third grade
and up. In August he sent an email to all public elementary school
principals offering to pay for a five-year study, testing children in
kindergarten, first and second grades in math and reading through
a ninety minute test using pencil and paper or a hand-held palm
pad. (Gootman, 8/26/08) Each year the government, through the
enactment of No Child Left Behind, a program run not by educators,
but by politicians, transforms our schools into warehouses for test
takers. Teaching to the test rather than teaching the children has
become the rule.

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 Along with this new standard for education comes earlier and
earlier assessments to determine the need for intervention that
often end up labeling children permanently. An understanding of
children, their readiness to learn and how they learn individually
cannot be part of a standardized testing and labeling program. Some
children do struggle, even in kindergarten, and the question that
arises is this: Is the inability to accept a need for early intervention a
blind spot in Waldorf early childhood programs or is it a salvation
of the child?
What happens when a child cannot fit into that beautiful
and inclusive environment? What happens when the child ruins
the circle, the puppet show or all the well-planned elements of a
Waldorf early childhood program? What happens when a child
presents behaviors such as pinching, hitting, refusing to speak,
kicking his boots off in the park, swearing and being disrespectful?
What happens when one child takes up all of the teacher’s time and
attention? What happens when, as rising first graders, they are very
far from being ready to work with the first grade curriculum? What
happens is the following: The teachers bring their frustrations to
their colleagues in faculty meetings and child study or to the parents
in a conference. Because there is not a process in place to determine
if something is going on besides poor parenting and bad habits, the
child is labeled a behavior problem and is sometimes asked to leave
the school.
The point I am trying to make is this: Children in Waldorf early
childhood programs are being informally assessed, especially
children who present behaviors which their teachers cannot cope
with in the classroom. When teachers react to behavior it is natural
to search for a cause for that behavior. There is a tendency to look
for a cause within the environment surrounding the child, usually
outside the classroom, since the teacher assumes the environment of
the classroom has been carefully thought out. The nature of the young
child is predominately imitative, so the behavior must come from
someone or some experience within the child’s home environment.

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However, when we look outside the child exclusively in search of a
cause or a place to lay blame, we form opinions. Opinions are based
on assumptions, not observable facts. Nevertheless, our opinions
become our assessments of the child. “We must always remember
that where we have already formed a conclusion we cannot learn
anything. If we desire only to judge, we can learn nothing.” (Steiner,
1994, p.105) These opinions remain with the children and sometimes
cause rejection because we do not understand what the children
are telling us with their behaviors. We do not have a process for
observation which helps us to gather information about the child
that might enlighten and guide us towards a way of working with
the children differently. Perhaps even finding a way to support them
so that their pain is eased and their hindrances are overcome or
transformed into abilities.
A healthy and reasonable assessment of the child using
observation and an imaginative process in a protective classroom
environment, performed by the child’s teacher and perhaps
an educational support teacher who has a background in early
childhood education, is much more supportive of the child’s healthy
development. The next question is: What do we need to know?
Perhaps it would be helpful at this point to take a look at how
mainstream special educators define educational assessment. An
educational assessment process is put in place to determine the
presence of a suspected learning disability. The process includes
the following parts: collection, analysis, evaluation, determination
and recommendation. The first step in an assessment process
involves collecting or gathering information from parents, teachers,
school or medical records and a review of the child’s educational,
social, developmental and environmental history. Once this
information has been gathered, the next step involves analyzing or
thinking about the information to determine a need for evaluation.
Evaluation can involve testing of the child’s academic, intellectual,
psychological, emotional, perceptional, language, cognitive, and
medical development in order to determine areas of strength and
weakness. Through testing one can determine the presence of a

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learning disability and finally make recommendations for placement
or an individual program of intervention. (Pierangelo and Giuliani,
1998, Special Educator’s Complete Guide to 109 Diagnostic Tests) It is
important to note here that in the mainstream school environment a
professional is usually assigned to perform the assessment, and the
educator’s involvement is relegated to filling out a questionnaire,
usually a rather long questionnaire, regarding the behavior of the
child at school. However, if an educator can fill out the form, she can
also develop for the school a rudimentary assessment process.
Any good early childhood teacher knows the importance of
parent support. Parents hold in their memory the introduction and
the first pages of the biography of the child that has just entered or is
about to enter school: the birth, illnesses, developmental milestones,
relationships, home environment—all of these bits of information
form a picture of the child’s life before entering school. Listening
skills and good conferencing methods and a process for meeting the
child are all that is needed to collect some of the information that
supports the first stage of assessment.
The differences between the mainstream and a Waldorf inspired
assessment process are what a Waldorf teacher finds important and
how the teacher goes about collecting the information. It does not
need to be clinical; there can be an artistic, warm and enthusiastic
method for gathering this information.

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 Part two of the collection process involves classroom observation.
When a child enters school, it is a valuable practice for the teacher
to take up the task of observation each and every day. Observing
a few children each day, using planned criteria and recording the
observations until each and every child in the class has an entry,
trains the ability to observe, can uncover surprising information and
provides a baseline for writing year-end reports. In the first year of
school it is important to observe how each child enters the classroom.
It is important to determine the developmental appropriateness of
the child’s form and movement. As the child enters middle to upper
kindergarten, observations of social development, relationship to
work and play as well as physical development become important.
We can see that when confronted by this first aspect of assessment—
collection—that any teacher would use, a Waldorf teacher can
garner a great deal of information about the children she is teaching
through developing and managing a process of observation and
record keeping.
When we consider the remainder of the mainstream process
of assessment, analysis and evaluation, determination and
recommendations, the picture is a little different. The thrust of
the mainstream process is to determine if the child needs outside
intervention, and that determination is made by analyzing the
collected data and choosing, if it is appropriate, to request outside
evaluative tests which will hopefully determine the problem and
lead to recommendations of the appropriate interventions. This part
of the process in a Waldorf school involves a heartfelt, meditative
consideration of the information, asking the question: Why is
this child behaving in this way? If the child is pinching, how is
this child being pinched? As much as possible a Waldorf teacher
continues to work within the framework of the classroom to provide
interventions that do not isolate the child from the class. The thinking
is, if an intervention is good for one child, it will probably benefit the
entire class. Hopefully, there are other professionals on the staff of
the school, a doctor, an educational support/extra lesson teacher,
a curative eurythmist and sometimes other therapists, as well as

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colleagues who will provide support when the teacher thinks the
child may need further assessment or intervention. But first the
teacher must have a process for observation in place.
One of the Waldorf teacher’s earliest criteria for observation
involves early movement patterns. If even one child has not
developed beyond these early movement patterns, then this child’s
need opens the door to providing movement opportunities for the
whole class. These opportunities can be provided in the morning
circle or during outdoor play. During these times the child can
imitate and experience early movements such as expanding,
contracting, rolling, pushing up, creeping, crawling, stretching
and bending, as well as higher level movements such as jumping,
hopping and skipping. Usually, Waldorf teachers provide the
children with many opportunities to practice healthy movement
sequences. However, the more conscious we become of the different
aspects of developmental movement, the more we will be aware if a
child is struggling or is hindered by a failure to develop skillfulness
from a lower movement sequence to a higher one. All children need
practice and reinforcement, but so much can be learned by simply
choosing to observe certain aspects of the child’s movement and
recording observations.
Form is the other aspect available to the Waldorf teacher for
observation. Children grow from the head into the limbs. The three-
to-four year old is usually predominately head, with undifferentiated
limbs. The head expresses a cosmic unity and gives the impression
that the child is somewhat closed off or separate from the world.
For example, the young child often plays alone or will start alone
and warm to friendships from the safety of the snack table. They do
not have true conversation at table, but more of a free association.
What can be observed by the teacher is the above/below polarity
of the form of the child. The healthy child is all head giving the
impression of general roundness. However, more and more we see
children who present different pictures. Some children are small,
thin and wiry; often these children have limbs and hands that are
weak. Some children are strong and round and heavy; often these

19
children seem to be too big for the room or do not have a good sense
of their strength and power. Another aspect of form involves the
inherited body and how much or how little the child resembles one
parent or the other. Children with older parents often have a distinct
physical resemblance to a parent. Steiner spoke in the lectures on
Curative Education of the importance of overcoming this inherited
body. This can be more difficult when the parent is older and more
material, and presents a baby with a body from that same material;
a body that is rigid, less plastic and pliable. Steiner spoke of the
need of the child to transform the inherited body to suit the needs of
the individual soul and destiny (Steiner, 1998, pp.22–23). The more
rigid the body is, the more hindered the child will be in this task.
Education here can be either a remedy or a hindrance. An education
that is not fixed and rigid can help in this first human task of making
the body a home for the soul.
The young child can be observed from the standpoint of
initial relationship to the environment, form, movement, and
an independent holistic point of view. If the teacher would, as a
practice, begin each day by choosing different aspects to observe
and write a sentence or two about each child from the point of view
of these different criteria, by the end of the year a school baseline
picture should be clear.
Of course, as much as possible, all teachers need to train their
observations. The younger the child, the more he is undergoing
frequent change and growth. Young children just entering school are
entirely condensed and undifferentiated. We speak of them as being
a sense organ because they reflect and experience whatever is in the
environment deeply. Older children can be more diversified, but up
until the age of five, the little child is wide open. If you surround
him with busyness and bright, coarse colors, he becomes all ‘eye’
and cannot separate himself from the visual input. This is naturally
overwhelming. What does an overwhelmed child do? What does an
adult do if truly overwhelmed but react? Why, if we as adults react,
can we not accept that a child will do the same? An adult may maintain
control by pinpointing the cause of her overwhelming experience

20
and by compartmentalizing or
exiting the environment; the
young child cannot do this.
Some children are overwhelmed
by visual input, some by noise
and others by smell; not all
children in a class react to the
same input. Some children are
more sensitive to different types
of environmental input, and it
is very important to begin to
observe how each child reacts
to those different aspects of the
environment.
I once had a five-year-old
child in my class who was calm
all morning until the food tray came into the room for lunch. He
screamed and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door. The food
on the tray was a stew with a combination of vegetables and meat.
This child was sensitive to strong aromas. The rest of the children
did not notice the aroma and could not understand why the
sensitive child ran away. This experience initiated a conference with
the child’s parents, and together we came up with a classroom plan
to help him overcome this sensitivity. The parents agreed to take
him home for lunch. This was supposed to be a temporary solution,
but the child was not able to join us for kindergarten lunch until the
end of the school year. He was invited into the classroom early every
morning before the other children arrived and before we started to
cook any food. He was involved in all aspects of cooking, especially
on days when soup was being made. Eventually his sensitivity to
smell diminished, and by the end of the kindergarten year, although
he carried his lunch from home, he was able to stay in the classroom
for lunch without reacting to the aroma of the food as it was brought
into the room.

21
 Components of
Human Development

The Four Bodies of the Human Being

Rudolf Steiner offers us a complex and comprehensive picture
of how the human being is incorporated into his body. The human
being is composed of four bodies: physical, etheric, astral and ego.
The physical body we can see and touch is related to the mineral; the
other three bodies can be seen, but are not necessarily visible in the
same way as the physical body. A great gift of living or working with
young children is that, as the child grows and develops, one can
gain glimpses or become conscious through observation of human
components that we typically do not see. The etheric body can be
made visible through growth, upward movement and the expression
of health and well-being or vitality, a rosy glow. The astral body can
be made visible in relationships, first to the environment and in the
manner the child breathes in the world and lets it go and in the child’s
relationship to consciousness and unconsciousness in sleeping and
waking, in the ability to mimic or imitate and in the quality the child
expresses in speaking. Finally, once the child has overcome gravity,
stood upright and learned to speak, then the ego body asserts itself
from within and the child can say, “I.” The warmth of the ego is at
first self-centered or selfish. This fire of making the body home for
the soul, and the ego consciously living within it can be seen in the
demands for independence of the two- to three-year- old. This can
give the ego body visibility.
If we wish to train our eye to see the etheric body, we must train
ourselves to think of the effect of the etheric body in one who is newly
born. In the newborn child, the etheric body makes itself known
through movement and the first breath which transforms the color
of the skin. It gives the child a quality of life and liveliness. Through

22
it we can judge the well-being and aliveness of the newborn. When
we die, the etheric body separates from the physical, thus allowing
the physical its stony element. A dead person appears stony and
fixed. Life is color and movement. Through the etheric body the
human being is related to the plant world which expresses life in its
greenness and movement in growth.
Through the astral body, the human being is related to the animal
world. Animals are instinctive creatures. When a child prepares
for birth through the early months of life, survival is dependent
on attachment. The astral body makes itself known through all
the instinctive movements the infant makes to bring itself to
uprightness, through the imitative role it takes on in relationship to
the surrounding world, and through the experience the child gains
through the senses of touch with beginning exploration. The child
experiences the beginning of a feeling life through imitation. By
imitating expressions of feeling in the surrounding world through a
relationship with parents or caregivers, the child explores the life of
feelings. The closest the human being comes to the instinctual aspect
of the animal is the bodily based, early movement patterns which
bond the child to care givers who protect and give nourishment.
The difference is that these movements become inhibited when
the human being overcomes gravity, stands upright and takes on
distinctly human characteristics.
The ego body, which is connected to yet higher and developing
aspects of the human being, is that seed of self that rules our
awareness of our being, so that we are something more than purely
a physical-being related to the earth, or a life-being related to the
plants, or an instinctive-sense being related to the animals. The
ego works primarily outside of the body of the developing human
being. This ego body makes itself known through warmth and self-
consciousness. The warmth of the body is something that requires
ongoing protection until the child is much older. At first the newborn
spends most of this time sleeping, and even when the baby is awake,
one cannot be certain about the quality of the child’s consciousness

23
other than it is somewhat plant-like. The newborn is certainly not
conscious in the same way an adult is conscious. The newborn
dreams into life. (Steiner, 1996a, p.41)
Then the child begins to move. The child’s first movements enable
him to explore his body and the surrounding world of his family.
These initial explorations give way to movements that gradually
bring the child into an upright posture and free movement. Now the
child can explore the surrounding environment. The child strikes out
in his explorations under the care and guidance of his loving family.
Through imitation speech becomes the new frontier and quickly, if
all is well with the child, he begins to play at speech.
Once the child enters into the world through movement and
speech, he meets resistance. The child has a very rudimentary
experience of being something other than the world in which he is
exploring. This true sense of self is not firmly incorporated until the
age of nine. Only after nine can the child really begin to own and
name an experience with the feeling life of the soul. However, the
ego body makes itself known along the way. We can recognize the
beginning of the incorporation of the ego body at the moment the
child is heard to say ‘I’ when speaking of himself; only a human
being can speak ‘I’ of himself. At this moment the child becomes
human and related to the earth, and the ego or being of man begins
working from within.
These are the four bodies of the human being made visible
through thoughtful observation of a child’s growth. Scientists
have also observed the activity of these bodies. For example, in the
middle of the last century Dr. Virginia Apgar developed a test which
was named after her and continues to be the first test and score the
human being must take and pass in almost any type of medical
setting after birth. (Apgar, 1953) Dr. Apgar originally developed
this test for research purposes to assess the effects of different
birthing presentations and procedures, such as anesthesia, forceps,
and surgery on the health of the newborn infant. The assessment is
twofold and is characterized first by breathing time and crying time

24
and then by five objective signs
assessed within one minute after
birth: heart rate, respiratory effort,
reflex irritability, muscle tone and
color. This medical test assesses
the relationship of the soul to the
physical body through heart rate
and breathing, the relationship of
the etheric body to the physical
body through tone and color, and
the relationship of the astral body
to the etheric through reflex irritability or muscle instinct. What a
doctor needs to know at the time of birth to determine the health
of the child can actually guide us to observe the activity of the four
bodies of the human being that Steiner so eloquently described.
Studies of the four bodies offer us a picture of how the human
being is formed. The human being is more than a physical body.
Throughout the whole of life, she or he expresses capacities which
are the seeds of different aspects of the higher human being. These
capacities can be described as they develop through three seven year
cycles.

The Threefold Human Being

The capacities of the healthy human being that are developed
throughout the three seven-year cycles are thinking, feeling and
willing. Thinking is connected to the nerves and senses, feeling to
the rhythmic system, and willing to the limbs and digestion. As the
child grows, these capacities of the soul are built and balanced. All
three are connected and develop over each seven-year cycle but in
each cycle one capacity at a time is the focus for development. In the
early childhood years from ages three to seven, while the metabolism
and limb systems are developing and maturing, the capacity of the
will is the focus. From ages seven to fourteen, the feeling life and the
rhythmic system are the focus of the child’s development. From ages

25
fourteen to twenty-one, the capacity of thinking and the nerves and
sense organs mature.
It is important to point out here that once the human being
enters the realm of these three soul capacities, thinking, feeling and
willing, he firmly leaves behind the kingdom of animals. The animal
cannot think, feel compassion, or will through intention. The ego
has entered the body at age two-and-a-half or three, and beginning
from that moment the long development of the soul begins. Waldorf
education is an education for the soul and these three capacities are
human soul capacities.

Breathing
The movement and balance between these three capacities comes
about through breathing and the organs of the senses. When a child
is born the first thing the child does is take a breath. Breathing is
the first physical activity all of us take part in upon entering life on
earth. Taking a breath and breathing are two different things. The
child has been surrounded by a watery world in the womb and any
experience of breathing is due to the fetal connection to the mother’s
own breathing. Being born means that the child moves from a
watery world to an airy world, and from living in total relationship
to the mother to semi- or helpless independence. A newborn baby
is simply cast into a world where the main element of life, air, is a
substance that could not be more foreign to the child. The fact that a
newborn can make this transition at all is a miracle and one of those
awe-inspiring moments in the life of any adult involved in any birth.
Breathing is a rhythmic relationship between inner and outer,
point and periphery, expansion and contraction. Breathing in is
related to the present, current and earthly human. Breathing out
is related to the cosmic whole, both past and future. When Steiner
speaks of the importance of the breathing process, this relationship
which takes place within the human being, he also describes it as an
activity that one must learn. (Steiner, 1996a, p.41) Through breathing
we take in and relate to the outer physical world, and it is an activity
that makes it possible for the ‘I’ or spirit to be incorporated into the

26
body by developing a relationship in which the threefold system
of the human body is drawn together harmoniously. Through the
middle system, the rhythmic system, both the nerve/sense system
and metabolic/limb system are brought into relatedness and
harmonious balance. The three parts of the human being are entirely
penetrated by breathing.
During an in-breath, the cerebral-spinal fluid bathes the brain
and during an out-breath, it is drawn back into the body. The rhythm
of breathing also has an impact on the movement of the limbs
and digestion. Through breathing blood circulation is connected
to the metabolic process and the blood is entirely responsible for
assimilation of the outer world into the physical body taken in
through the digestive process. If you observe that a child is too
awake or too asleep, or that the child’s movement is not rhythmical
or harmonious, or that the child has poor digestion, you can trace
the cause directly to a lack of harmony and rhythm in the child’s
breathing. “When we bring the breathing into harmony with the
nerve-sense process, then we draw the spirit-soul into the child’s
physical life. Roughly stated, we can say that children cannot yet of
themselves breathe properly, and that education consists in teaching
proper breathing.” (Steiner, 1996a, pp.40–41)

Waking and Sleeping

Along the same lines, the child begins to incorporate a right
rhythm in sleeping and waking. Sleeping and waking are similar to
in-breathing and out-breathing in several ways. First of all sleeping
and waking is a process that a child must learn. Young children
do not sleep in the same manner as adults. They do not take in the
world in sleep, process it and transform it. Instead, they dream into
the spiritual world. Since the young child is so informed then by the
spiritual world, we parents and teachers have very little to teach
young children that they can take in and digest. Rather, we have
the task to help them find a right relationship between sleeping and
waking. We provide the right environment, the right rhythm and
the right attitude to meet the needs of the young child. Secondly,

27
 sleeping and waking are polarities
which have a rhythmic relationship
to the nerves and senses system
that is conscious or awake and to
metabolism which is unconscious or
asleep. Balance between sleeping and
waking is crucial to the development
of thinking. If the child is too awake
or too asleep, he cannot create within
himself an environment for growth
and development through education.
Finally, the three systems of the human
being—and through them the world—
are penetrated by the ego by letting go
and engaging through sleeping and
waking. (Steiner, 1996a, p.41)
Studies of the brain are beginning to substantiate the importance
of this relationship between sleeping and waking. The hippocampus,
which is a part of the brain that extends into both hemispheres, appears
to be the hub for learning and memory. It does not store individual
memories but rather sorts memories, filters what is important to
include or ignore, and makes new associations. Recent experiments
point to the important role sleep and particularly dreaming have in
the process of memory. “Recent experiments also show that sleep,
specifically the sleep associated with dreaming, is important to
human memory. In Israel, researchers Avi Karni and Dov Sagi at
the Weizmann Institute found that interrupting REM sleep sixty
times in a night completely blocked learning, but interrupting non-
REM sleep just as often did not. These findings and others suggest
that REM sleep is crucial for organizing pieces and the associations
between them needed for forming lasting memories.”(Ratey, 2002,
pp.188–189)
Audrey McAllen devoted much of her life to developing
exercises based on the indications Steiner gave as the teacher’s task

28
in teaching children to breathe and sleep harmoniously. (Steiner,
1996a, p.42) “The sleep environment of the child’s soul is the ‘after
echo’ of the daily experiences working in the body of formative
forces and thence harmoniously or disturbingly into the physical
body.” (McAllen, 2004, p.35)
During the first seven years of life, children take into themselves
everything they are exposed to with absolute devotion, particularly
through the physical senses. “Their whole sensory system grasps
hold of the world they live in.” (McAllen, 2004, p.33) If the child
is exposed to too much stimuli in the surrounding environment or
through our teaching, sleep will be disturbed. If sleep is disturbed,
then memory, an element of learning, is also challenged.

The Organs of the Senses

Steiner expanded our understanding of the human experience
by providing us with a picture of twelve senses to perceive the world
around us: sense of life, sense of movement, sense of balance, sense of
touch, sense of smell, sense of taste, sense of sight, sense of warmth,
sense of hearing, word sense, sense of thought, and ego sense. As he
developed his ideas of the human sense world, he did not initially
consider the sense of touch a separate sense. Rather he described
it as an activity that was involved in all of the senses. Later in his
work he included touch as one of the lower or foundation senses. He
explored the senses in many ways, for example, in hierarchical order
or as polarities across the circle of the senses. As an example, if we
view them in polarity, the sense of touch is opposite the sense of ego.
The sense of touch allows the human being to determine boundaries,
while the ego sense breaks into the boundaries of another. (Soesman,
2000, p.145) The sense of touch is one of our first organs of sense, and
the ego sense is the last to develop. In some ways touch is a sense
that makes us more earthbound or world-related, and the sense of
ego is unique to the upright, independent, human being.
Steiner worked his entire adult life to develop the picture of
the human senses. He viewed the acquisition and maturity of the

29
twelve senses to be vitally important to a healthy relationship with
the world. It is through the senses the human being penetrates and
comes to understand the world and ultimately takes up his place in
it. Through the twelve senses the human being is able to perceive the
world in its many aspects—color, movement, sights and sounds—
and re-member or re-unite the parts into a whole. (Steiner, 1996a,
pp.144–45) Sense perceptions experienced through the healthy,
developed organs train the thinking and judgment of the human
being.
The capacity to think comes alive because the different perceptions
of the world, which are received through the organs of the senses,
force the human being to unite with the world or make a connection
to it. For example, when we smell, we take in something of the
surrounding environment (the world), we experience it inwardly,
and we react to it through sympathy or antipathy, attraction or
revulsion. We may take some sort of action based on our perception
of the sensation, such as stay in or leave the room. A surprising quote
from a recent book, A User’s Guide to the Brain by Dr. John Ratey, a
professor of Psychiatry at Harvard University, supports this view:
“Human experience begins with information about the world that
flows in through our senses, but depends on how the information
is combined with internal states
to produce action.” Although Dr.
Ratey’s focus is more on the actual
motor activity, the fact that he has
this view affirms Steiner’s view
that the senses connect us to the
world and that the information is
combined or put together internally
within the human being. Perception
through the senses leads to action
or inaction.
The organs of the twelve senses
develop throughout childhood up

30
until the age of twenty-one. Each of the three cycles is a phase for
the development of a particular set of four of the twelve senses: birth
to seven, the four lower senses—life, touch, balance and movement;
seven to fourteen, the middle senses—smell, taste, sight and warmth;
and fourteen to twenty-one, the higher senses—hearing, word,
thought and ego. The maturing of the senses allotted to each of these
phases depends upon the healthy development during the previous
phase. As an example, sight depends on a relationship to balance and
movement which is developed in the first phase of early childhood.
Although this may be difficult to grasp, conventional science has
well documented this connection. For an annotated bibliography of
some of this research, see Appendix A.
Children in non-Waldorf schools are being asked in early
childhood settings to sit more than an hour at a time and complete
worksheets. The belief is that the more you practice test-taking
skills, the more likely you are to score higher on standardized tests.
Children in these schools do have movement breaks, but these breaks
are often not opportunities for free movement. In time at school then,
children are given fewer and fewer opportunities to practice balance
and movement. In the introduction of her book Reflexes, Learning and
Behavior, p.xvi, Sally Goddard states: “Movement lies at the heart of
learning. Learning, language and behaviors are all linked in some
way to the function of the motor system and control of movement.”
Karl König founded the Camphill movement for disabled
children. In one of his lectures he spoke of the act of writing: “If
we turn now to the act of writing, we will find that it is one of the
most complicated and hidden of all human activities. In writing the
ear is replaced by the eye because writing is a kind of speaking, not
with mouth and larynx, but with eye and hand. Writing has two
main sources: the eye and everything that is connected to it, and the
motor activity of arm, hand and fingers.” (König, 2002, p.33). The
eye, which is an organ of the middle senses, does not mature until
the middle years of childhood, elementary school, but in order to
write, the arm and hand need to be mature and ready to support the

31
eye with free movement. If children are not given the opportunity to
develop this free movement, then there will be a breakdown in skill
and capacity for writing. Further, there is a movement component
to eyesight: expansion/contraction, touch, etc. If the child does not
have the ability to move in a general or gross motor realm, how can
we expect him to develop skill in the specific or fine motor realm?
An interesting study could come about by observing the effect on
eyesight and hearing when children are not allowed to move for
hours on end. There are certainly enough opportunities for this sort
of research in non-Waldorf school settings.
Currently in non-Waldorf school settings, the lower senses—
movement, balance and will—are not often incorporated into the
curriculum or even considered to be supportive to academic work.
The will is spoken of as will-power, or strong will, but not as a capacity
that is paramount to human development and that enables the
individual to be educated. On the other hand, Stanley Greenspan and
T. Berry Brazelton have written much on the feeling life of children;
Jean Piaget studied and wrote about the cognitive development of
children; and Rudolf Steiner viewed the development and maturity
of the will as an aspect important to the education of the child. Steiner
also speaks about a relationship between will and feeling in the
young child. In The Foundations of Human Experience, p.123, he says,
“When children kick or wiggle, they make exactly those movements
that reflect their feelings at that moment. The child is unable to
separate movement [which is a ‘will’ sense] from feeling.” If the
child cannot make appropriate boundaries through a healthy touch
sense, then the entire day is about failed interactions with others. If
the child cannot stand upright and relate to the world in a balanced
manner and move through the world, then reading and writing and
all of the middle senses—sight, smell, taste and hearing—will be
delayed or impaired in the early years of elementary school. “For too
long teachers have concentrated upon the psychological problems
of the child, or the socio-economic environment, instead of asking
the question, does the child have the equipment which he needs

32
to succeed at the educational level asked of him and the methods
imposed on him.” (Goddard, 2002, p.131) Movement and balance
are currently being considered in mainstream thought for addition
to the sensory picture, especially as neurologists study the brain and
occupational therapists explore the difficulties some children have
with tactile sensitivity or reactivity related to it and difficulties with
balance and movement.
In the early 1970s Jane Ayres, an occupational therapist who
worked with neurologically disabled children and adults, described
the proprioception sense and the vestibular sense. She described the
proprioception sense as being “the sensation caused by contracting
and stretching of muscles and by bending, straightening, pulling
and compression of the joints between bones. Sheaths that cover the
bones also contain proprioceptors. The term comes from the Latin
word ‘proprius’ meaning one’s own. The sensations from one’s
own body occur especially during movement; but they also occur
while we are standing still, for the muscles and joints constantly
send information to the brain to tell us about our position.” (Ayres,
2000, p.35) Ayres described the vestibular sense as that sense which
“tells us exactly where we are in relationship to gravity, whether
we are moving or still, and how fast we are going and in what
direction.”(Ayres, 2000, p.36) This relationship is determined by
gravity receptors and the semi-circular canals in the inner ear and
how information they receive is processed in the brain.
As the focus of this book is an assessment or process for
observation during the years of early childhood education, the four
lower senses are of primary consideration. That is not to say the
other senses, particularly the middle senses (sight, smell, taste and
hearing) cannot be observed. A young child sees, smells, tastes, and
hears, but these sensations are experienced only after birth. They are
new to the child in each environmental experience; initially the child
cannot differentiate between different types of sensations because
the organs are still developing and differentiating. A young child
focuses on sense experiences one sense at a time, becoming entirely

33
 given over to a taste sensation
or a smell sensation. Because
young children sense the world
with their entire beings, they
become all eye when the most
intense experience is color and
they become all nose when
the most intense experience is
smell. These sensations are in
the exploratory range for young
children.
On the other hand, the four
lower senses are at a different
level of maturity than the middle senses, because the child has
experience with touch, life, movement and balance in the womb. If
we look at the first concrete activity of being born, breathing, the
infant must have a relationship to movement and balance in some
rudimentary way in order to take a breath and to maintain an initial
and albeit un-rhythmical balance between in-breathing and out-
breathing. Further, after taking a first breath the health (sense of
life) of the child is judged by the heartiness of the sound of his cry,
his color, his ability to suckle or respond to touch and movement.
(Apgar, 1953) Immediately upon joining the physical world, the
child is judged through observation of the lower senses—the senses
of life, movement, balance and touch.
When the newborn enters the world, these four lower senses
provide the gateway and support for their survival needs. Beyond
survival, without active and healthy lower senses, the infant will not
thrive in a way that will allow for healthy growth and development,
and this will have an impact on the child’s ability to learn and enter
life as a human being free to live and act in the world. As the child
begins to move in the world, “they explore space, first crawling on
hands and knees, a stage which experience has shown is vital for the
development of the coordination system on which the depends the

34
development of writing and reading skills.” (McAllen, 2004, pp.35–
36)
The four lower senses are necessary to the maturity of the other
eight senses. Balance and movement are necessary to seeing, hearing,
smelling and tasting. The eye ‘sees’ an object by moving around the
object with the eye (movement), adapting to light by expansion and
contraction of the lens (balance). Health and attention can also be
observed in the eyes (life).
Steiner called the four lower senses the senses of will. The will, as
an independent capacity, is active and not conscious of the intention
to act. If we look at the young child we could observe a will-driven
nature. If healthy, the young child is active and unconscious of what
drives those actions. If you ask young children why they misbehave
or strike another child, they do not know. If you ask them why
they are playing, they do not know. They are not conscious of their
intention even if we adults think we can understand ‘why’ they are
acting in a certain manner.
The four lower senses give the child the power to overcome
gravity and penetrate and transform the physical structure. Through
the sense perceptions the child learns to make his body his home. All
of the senses inform the child about the environment and the earth,
but the four lower senses inform the child about himself.
To understand this world of the senses and make use of that
understanding as a teacher, one must first have a very rudimentary
understanding of how the child enters the world. What do we see
first in the infant? We see a unity, an entire universe in the cosmic and
singular roundness of the head. The limbs seem to be an afterthought.
They are soft and flailing, not penetrated or under the control of the
child. Most animals are born with the instincts to be capable adults
within the first year of life. The human being takes years to develop,
twenty-one years to be exact. Steiner described those twenty-one
years in three seven-year periods, and within that time the human
soul must penetrate first the physical body in the first seven years,
the rhythmic system during the second seven years, and finally the

35
 nerves and senses in the
third seven years.
In the first seven-year
period the surrounding
environment is entirely
penetrating the child with
all of its force. The ego of the
child must gradually learn
to meet the environment
through its own will forces
and to take up the physical
body. At first the child seems
to dream into life (Steiner,
1996a, p.41), asleep more
than awake. The infant is not yet related to the world in any sort
of conscious manner. The length of this time often depends on the
quality of the child’s entrance into the world. If he had a normal
birth process and was allowed bonding time, the child’s connection
to the world of the family will be more concrete. A child who was
born by Caesarian-section often seems to hover in a placid ‘womb’
state; while a traumatic or stressed birth experience will require time
for healing. The birth process awakens and connects the child to the
world he is being born into, namely his family.
Why is this important? Because the well being of the child is
related to the etheric or life body and it is within this body all the
cosmic forms and rhythms for growth are living. The etheric realm
is related to the plant world. The plant grows into a form that is
wise and lawful. Its growth is rhythmic, with the leaves appearing
at intervals and its development universal, or expressing patterns of
growth that repeat in every plant. The human being has an important
connection to this universal etheric body, and the more the child
is protected within it, the more quickly and easily he relates to the
world he has entered.

36
The Reflexes or Early Movement Patterns
Beginning with the birth process itself, we can observe universal
movement patterns that develop in the womb, enable the child to
enter and move through the birth canal and ultimately guide the
child to uprightness and movement in the world. These movement
patterns are commonly referred to as the developmental reflexes.
From the most primitive to the most complex, the immature
movement patterns are: Moro reflex, palmar and plantar reflexes,
asymmetric tonic neck reflex (ATNR), rooting reflex, spinal Galant,
tonic labyrinthine reflex (TLR), and the symmetrical tonic neck reflex
(STNR). The birth process reinforces ATNR and all of the reflexes so
that they are established and available during the first months of life
as a bridge to higher level patterns of movement or skills.
The developmental milestones of creeping, crawling, sitting,
standing, walking and speaking depend on the presence, healthy
development and eventual integration and inhibition of these
early movement patterns. Studies have shown that these immature
movement patterns are hierarchical and limited in their useful life.
“The inhibition of a reflex frequently correlates with the acquisition
of a new skill.” (Goddard, 2002, p.2) If the presence of the early
movement patterns extends beyond certain developmental periods
or fails to support purposeful development, this signals neuro-
developmental delay. Physical and behavioral hindrances are the
outcome of a failure to overcome these early movement patterns.
These hindrances point us in the direction of the movement pattern(s)
responsible for the delay and can guide and structure remediation.
In the first weeks after conception the fetus can be tested and
made to react to stimulation beginning with touch of the upper lip
and moving gradually over the entire surface of the body. The fetus
reacts to touch by withdrawing or moving away from the stimulus.
As tactile awareness becomes more general, the withdrawal reaction
lessens. One could say that tactile awareness is the first ‘skill’ that
the fetus learns that overcomes the most primitive or basic reaction.
From the beginning of the development of these early movement

37
patterns, the progression is based on the acquisition of previous
‘skills,’ and their inhibition will also be dependent upon acquisition
of new skills.
The Moro reflex is the first of the immature movement patterns
to emerge, at around nine to twelve weeks after conception. In utero,
the Moro reflex is thought to play a role in preparing the breathing
mechanism and at birth for stimulating the first breath and helping
to open the newborn’s windpipe. (Goddard, 2002, p.5) After birth
the Moro reflex is “an involuntary reaction to threat, a survival
mechanism that alerts, arouses and causes a reaction that summons
help.” (Goddard, 2002, p.5) It must be pointed out again and again
that all stimuli are new and therefore ‘sudden’ to the newborn. The
newborn cannot ‘analyze’ and assess or determine if the stimuli
is a threat. Just as the fetus reacts to all touch stimuli until nine to
twelve weeks in utero, the newborn infant with the protection of the
Moro reflex, reacts to all tactile (touch), visual, auditory or vestibular
stimuli.
The Moro reflex initiates arousal through a series of movements.
The arms move upward and outward or away from the body with
open hands. There is a momentary freeze and the arms and hands
contract in a clasping gesture. The outward movement (expansion)
is accompanied by an in-breath, and the inward movement
(contraction) is accompanied by an out-breath.
Through arousal of the Moro reflex, the sympathetic nervous
system develops and with practice overtakes the role of the reflex
which should be inhibited by two to four months of life. If the reflex
is not inhibited the child will startle easily, show hypersensitivity to
sensory stimuli, and may have irregular breathing patterns.
The Moro reflex is the most basic of the immature movement
patterns. It is the first movement pattern to develop and extremely
important to the survival of the infant. The other early movement
patterns develop out of the Moro reflex and if symptoms of any of the
higher patterns exist, it is assumed that the Moro reflex has not been
inhibited. All the early movement patterns are important and have

38
an impact on development and if not inhibited can be responsible
for educational delays.
The palmar and plantar reflexes emerge around eleven weeks in
utero, should be fully present at birth and inhibited at two to three
months of life. They are reactions to touch stimulus. They respond
as part of the movement pattern of the arousal of the Moro reflex.
When the palm of the hand or the sole of the foot is gently stroked,
the hand grasps or the foot curls. These reflexes are “thought to be a
continuation of an earlier stage of evolution” when it was necessary
to “cling to the mother for survival.”(Goddard, 2002, p.8)
The palmar reflex will react involuntarily when the child sucks
(Babkin response). There is a relationship between the mouth and
hands. If this reflex is not inhibited, further development of manual
dexterity and speech formation may result. If the palmar reflex is not
inhibited, independent thumb and finger movement are not possible
and the ability to hold an object, and eventually a pencil, will be
impaired. Since a relationship can be observed between sucking and
grasping, proper formation in speech may prove impossible. ‘Over-
flow’ or movements of the mouth when a child is learning to write,
is a sign of an active palmar reflex.
Asymmetrical tonic neck reflex emerges at eighteen weeks in
utero, should be fully present at birth and inhibited at six months
of life. Head movement from side to side stimulates this early
movement pattern. When the head of the baby turns to the left, the left
leg will stretch and the right leg will flex; when the head turns to the
right, the right leg will stretch and the left leg will flex. “In utero this
movement pattern facilitates movement (the kick), develops muscle
tone and provides vestibular (balance) stimulation.” (Goddard,
2002, p.10) ATNR participates in the birth process enabling the baby
to move through the birth canal, adjusting to the rhythm of labor.
This early movement pattern, along with the Moro reflex,
is crucial to the early survival of the newborn child. The ATNR
causes the newborn to turn his head from side to side while in the
prone position, thus facilitating breathing. It also develops muscle

39
tone one side at a time and allows for the beginning of eye/hand
coordination. If it is not inhibited at six months, it will interfere
with the development of more complex skills and it will be difficult
for the child to overcome the vertical midline barrier. The midline
barrier is useful for development; without it the child would not use
both hands and might grow dependent on just one chosen side of
the body. “This barrier remains active until about age six or seven. It
is at this time that handedness is firmly established, and the brain is
undergoing a growth spurt that triggers the transformations leading
to concrete thinking. The body is readying itself for the vast array
of asymmetrical tasks that lie ahead.”(Coulter, 1999, p.63) If ATNR
were to remain in place, it would be impossible for the child to crawl
or eventually walk in a cross pattern movement, upright balance
would be insecure, and passing an object from one hand to the other
(crossing the vertical midline) would be difficult if not impossible.
The rooting reflex emerges around twenty-four to twenty-eight
weeks in utero, is fully present at birth and should be inhibited by
three to four months of life. This early movement pattern is stimulated
by stroking the cheek of the infant and will cause the baby to turn
its head toward the stimulus, open its mouth and extend its tongue
in preparation to suck or nurse. This reflex is strongest in the early
hours after birth, and if not stimulated it will diminish. This reflex is
crucial to successful nursing in the early days of life. An uninhibited
or retained rooting reflex can lead to difficulty in eating (chewing
and swallowing) and with speech articulation. Since the rooting
reflex is also related to the palmar reflex, the child may have poor
manual dexterity if either of these movement patterns is impaired
or retained.
The spinal Galant reflecx emerges around twenty weeks in utero,
is actively present at birth and should be inhibited at three to nine
months of life. When the baby is placed face down (prone) and the
area to the right or left of the spine is gently stroked, the baby will
lift and rotate the hip forty-five degrees on the same side toward
the stimulus. If both sides of the spine are stimulated, the Pulgar

40
Marx reflex is elicited; the movement involves flexion of both legs,
elevation of the pelvis and emptying of the bladder or movement
of the bowels. It is believed this reflex is useful during birth and
like the ATNR helps the baby move and adapt during the birth
process. Little is known about this reflex, but if it is not inhibited, it
may be responsible for bed wetting, inability to control movement
(fidgeting) and poor coordination.
The tonic labyrinthine reflex has two aspects: The forward
TLR emerges in utero and is responsible for the fetal position
posture. This posture should be inhibited by four months of life.
The backward TLR emerges at birth and engages the head of the
fetus in the birth canal. The extended TLR should be inhibited by
approximately six months of life or once the baby has established
control of the head. TLR is linked to the Moro in the early months of
life. Both are vestibular in origin and are “activated by stimulation
of the labyrinths, movement of the head and alteration of position in
space.” (Goddard, 2002, p.17)
TLR provides balance between the womb and the world. This
early movement pattern allows the infant to stretch out of the fetal
position and develop muscle tone that will eventually allow the
child to take control of the head. If the child cannot grow out of this

41
early movement pattern, internal balance will be severely affected,
and the child will have difficulty navigating and processing visually,
spatially, sequentially.
Symmetrical tonic neck reflex or STNR emerges at around six
to nine months of life and should be inhibited by nine to eleven
months of life. This early movement pattern also has two aspects,
flexion and extension. When the child is on all fours, flexion of the
head causes the arms to bend and the legs to extend. When the child
pushes the head up into extension, this causes the legs to flex and
the arms to straighten. (Goddard, 2002, p.21) Since this reflex does
not emerge in utero or at birth, it is not considered a primitive reflex,
but instead bridges the gap between early established survival
patterning movements and more developed movement such as
creeping, crawling, standing, walking, etc. It is a reflex through
which the infant can establish a posture that will overcome the
prone position and gravity. Without the help of STNR, which can
emerge only if the other early movement patterns are in place, and
ten without its eventual inhibition through practice of higher level
movement patterns such as crawling, an upright posture, balance
and coordination will be adversely affected.
These early movement patterns have a time and place in the
embryonic and early life of the human being. They are related and
develop out of each other, and they are of necessity inhibited by
higher movement and normal development. Many children today
have issues with retention of one or more of these early movement
patterns. The reasons for these challenges are multiple, beginning
with pregnancy and extending into environmental and parenting
practices. Many of the behaviors and weaknesses children present
in school can be directly linked to a failure to move beyond these
patterns and, yet again, a failure to give the child free movement
opportunities.
Jane Swain is a pediatric physical therapist and an associate
director of Sophia’s Hearth Family Center in Keene, New
Hampshire. She has studied especially the work of Emmi Pikler,

42
whose Pikler Institute offers parent-child classes to support the
healthy development of children. and also runs an orphanage in
Budapest, Hungary. Jane Swain visited there to observe their care-
giving practices. Among other things the infants are given extensive
opportunities for ‘self-initiated’ activity or movement. Jane Swain
comments that she “did not see abnormal retention of the primitive
reflexes.” When she inquired about the retention of the reflexes, the
staff said: “This is not an issue.” Not so in almost every classroom in
America, where it is quite unusual not to see symptoms of retained
reflexes. Sadly, retained early movement patterns are becoming
pervasive in this country, often simply a symptom of the failure to
provide infants and children time to move freely. (Swain, 2008)

This concludes the first part of this book in which the effort has been
to develop the aspects of child development out of both Rudolf Steiner’s
picture and from current ongoing scientific and educational studies. The
remainder of the book is devoted to a plan for assessment which a teacher
can maintain in the classroom.

43
 The Beginning of School

The Early Childhood Program

School is mandatory after age six, but many children begin school
between ages three and six. Why do parents send young children
to school? Early Childhood programs exist mainly because parents
are either seeking a community where they can meet other parents
and share their parenting experiences, or they need childcare for
their children, or more recently because they view early childhood
programs as a gateway to a better education. Since these needs and
views are unlikely to change in the near future, it is important to
develop a picture of what a healthy school environment might be
for the young child.
Rudolf Steiner outlines the needs of the growing child: “Up
to the seventh year, approximately, i.e., up to the change of teeth,
we find the education must proceed from imitation, the child’s
impulse to imitate. In my booklet, The Education of the Child in the
Light of Anthroposophy, I emphasize that what the child sees and
hears from the adults in his environment in these first years is far
more important for his education than all moral rules and other
forms of instruction.” For the period after the change of teeth and
before puberty, Steiner continues, “By freeing ourselves from all
prejudices and looking purely at actual human development and its
requirements, we find the most important educational impulse at this
time is what we call authority. A healthy education for this period of
life comes about when the child is in the presence of adults whom he
can trust and believe, and when he can form his principles and rules
of conduct on the authority of those adults who are close to him.
This must occur without any pale, intellectual ideas and without
demanding from the child an unripe critical faculty.” For the period
between puberty and young adulthood, Steiner declares, “The most

44
important condition for human development to be the maturing of
the intellect, and especially the ability to look up to an impersonal
ideal in one’s soul, that is, to a purely spiritual educational impulse,
one which stands above what the human being can be at this age.”
(Steiner, 1995, pp.1–3)
Since the No Child Left Behind Act was instituted (in 2001), the
emphasis in early education has been on teaching children to read
and write earlier so that they can pass standardized tests successfully
during elementary school.

The purpose of this title [No Child Left Behind Act] is to

ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant
opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach,
at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic
achievement standards and state academic assessments.
(Ed.Gov. – United States Department of Education)

This Act has placed the education of children squarely in the hands of
politicians who are mandating earlier and earlier testing of children
for reading and math on federal, state and citywide levels. What
capacities are required for successful test taking? Besides reading
and writing and the ability to follow directions, critical thinking and
a developed ability to judge between multiple answers are necessary
to answer test questions successfully. The ability to sit quietly and
remain focused during a time sequence of at least twenty minutes
is required, as is an emotional security to deal with the regimental
delivery of test instructions. In the current educational climate ruled
by the No Child Left Behind Act, young children are expected to use
capacities that they have not yet developed, let alone learned to use.
Children are expected to be capable of critical thinking before
the maturing of the intellect. Nor is there recognition that thinking is
a learned capacity and that children are maturing and growing into
capacities during childhood. There is merely a token recognition
that children can have developmental differences and individual

45
learning styles that may complicate standardized test-taking and,
therefore, scores. Those determining the form of education, as it now
stands, assume that training of the intellect is its primary task. They
do not take into account how or when a child learns the capacity of
judgment nor do they recognize the role of imitation in the education
of the child.
According to Steiner, children who go to school between birth
and the change of teeth should be met with an education that
depends on upon the ‘impulse to imitate.’ Restated, the impulse is
for imitation and not authority. Authority becomes the impulse of
the education of the child after the change of teeth. What does an
early childhood classroom look like? What are the characteristics of
a teacher who stands before the young child in whom imitation is the
active learning impulse? What are the characteristics of a program
that supports the development of the young child?
Let us look again at the picture of human development that was
outlined in the first half of this book, namely, that the human being’s
first activity upon birth is to take a breath and awaken into the world;
that the human being has four developing bodies (physical, etheric,
astral, spirit) which are maturing through the years and ripening at
specific points in the human biography; that the human being is also
a threefold being with a body, soul and spirit and three capacities for
earth life, thinking, feeling and willing which develop a bond to the
earth. The human being is being nurtured through the senses that
also represent developing organs which can be developed either
wrongly or not at all, or through healthy means. And finally, the
human being has a need to move through early movement patterns
to overcome gravity and become human. The early childhood
environment must therefore take into account all of these criteria for
the healthy maturing of the child.
The classroom is first and foremost the environment for the
education of the child. Of course the environment is produced by
human beings, the teacher(s) and sometimes the parents, but it is
important that the early childhood classroom be an environment

46
that is beautiful, peaceful,
safe and sensory rich (not
sensory overwhelming).
Although the early
childhood classroom can
hum rather noisily internally,
it is important that the
classroom itself be protected
from noise and painted
with soft colors and that the
toys and furnishings are of
natural materials, and the
colors, smells and textures
do not assault the senses.
Rather, the senses must find
the environment inviting, interesting and appealing. There needs to
be space to move and time for different experiences of movement
such as those provided by both indoor and outdoor play. The toys
must provide the children with a means of imitating the activity in
the classroom and take into account the different needs of the ages
of the children.
Since children need basically the environment of the home at
this age, the school environment typically should imitate the most
positive of home activities: helping the child towards independence
in self care, learning to cook and make bread, working together
to keep the house clean and a complementary time for play and
interesting craft activities. If the kindergarten is imitative of home life,
then the children in the early childhood years should be surrounded
by a family represented by children of different ages. Children
learn from each other, and a mixed age kindergarten provides
many opportunities for such learning. A mixed-age kindergarten,
beginning when the child is ready to separate (usually around age
three), if the law allows, until the change of teeth would be the most
supportive environment for the young child.

47
 The best model for the teaching staff in early childhood is the team
approach rather than the lead teacher/assistant. The lead teacher/
assistant model belongs in the realm of the elementary school and
the principle of authority rather than the principle of imitation. One
problem between the lead teacher and assistant in the kindergarten
might have to do with salary. Other than possibly higher increments
for experience or training, the base salary of the teachers in the
kindergarten classroom should be the same. The needs of a teacher
who is learning or developing should be met through adequate
student teaching and internships. But active kindergarten teachers
should be paid the same and have similar work expectations. The
number of teachers in the classroom could be determined by both
the number of children and the ages of the children in the classroom.
The children who are three have different needs than the children
who are four, and each teacher could take the lead by working with
a specific age group. All of the teachers in the class should come
to know all of the children through opportunities for observation
and study. A team approach offers a wonderful opportunity for
child care and child study within the mixed age group. The team
approach also makes the mixed age group much more manageable
and successful. Certainly teamwork requires a different process and
skills of management, communication and interaction. However,
since the impulse of imitation demands the children see adults
working together cooperatively on meeting their needs and forming
the classroom, team teaching offers an excellent opportunity for
creating an example worthy of imitation.
Since the impulse to imitate is what trains the will, the will is the
capacity which the child is developing during the early childhood
years. The teachers of young children have a deeply important task
to consider, namely preparing themselves to be worthy of imitation.
This task calls upon the teacher to always be conscious in every
activity they perform in the presence of the children. The teacher
must work at the most ordinary of tasks humbly, artistically and
joyfully. The teacher must think about and sacrifice themselves,

48
disciplining those human activities of breathing, sleeping and
waking, moving and speaking to be worthy of the imitation of the
child who beholds them in the classroom.
Through their work with young children, early childhood
educators have a tremendous opportunity for active self
development. Steiner describes this opportunity in the following
way:

Spiritual science is something that acts according to the

model of a being encompassing a higher Self, just as we
embrace other beings in sympathy with their sorrows
and joys without losing ourselves. When we know
our expanded selves with which we penetrate to other
individual beings, then we can speak about children in the
following way: Besides what we take hold of as educators
developing out of our normal consciousness, something is
already working on the child as a higher being outside of
his normal self. If we focus on this, we will perhaps find
another kind of education at work on the child, whereas in
our normal education we turn only to the personal self of
the child. (Steiner, 1995, p.10)

The curriculum in a Waldorf early childhood classroom evolves

around the development of the will through the activities of
movement, speech and gesture, play and work. The youngest child
in the class has the freedom to move and each individual child’s
initial experience of play is honored and protected. The middle
kindergartner explores and imitates whatever is in the environment
through fantasy play. The older kindergartner develops ideas
through social play balanced in rhythm with the artistic, practical
and meaningful work of kindergarten. When we make space for
free play, we are honoring and revering the highest human quality.
Steiner speaks of play as being that which works on the child as a
higher self.

49
 It is children’s play, the meaningful, well carried out play of
all children, that the higher Self works on. With the child’s
play we can only create preconditions for an education.
What is accomplished in play happens basically through the
self-activity of the child, through everything that cannot be
confined to strict rules. Indeed, the essential, educational
aspect of play is based on the fact that we call a halt to
our rules and to all our arts of education and leave the
child to his own impulses. For what does a child do when
we leave him to his own impulses? When playing with
external objects the child can try out whether this or that
will work through his…activity. He brings his own will into
activity, into movement. Because of the way in which the
external objects behave under the influence of the will, it
then happens that the child educates himself for life, simply
through play. … The more that play has to do with what
cannot be comprehended but is simply beheld in its living
character, the better it is. (Steiner, 1995, p.11)

The Child’s First Experience of School

When is a child really born? A sensitive parent will tell you that
a child is known long before conception. What a parent shares with
a teacher about their child before they are born into school is special
and very important to developing the relationship the child has to
school. The interest and manner in which that first teacher receives
that information can be invaluable to all teachers who follow. What
do we really need to know in the beginning and all along the way?
What are the questions we need to ask at each developmental point?
What are the chapters in this book called “human being”?
In the beginning, it is important to listen to what the parent wants
to share. It is important to honor the relationship that the parent and
child have and understand the change that is about to take place.
“Tell me about your child” is the first question at the first conference
between teacher and parents. As the parent shares the details of the

50
child’s first years of life, it is important to listen to each detail as if
it were a facet of a precious crystal, for to a parent, this short time
they have shared with this child is entirely life transforming. It is
important not to criticize even inwardly how they have parented
their child. It is important to try to listen without taking notes and
write down the impressions later upon reflection. Write the story as
you remember it. Kindergarten teachers can have parents write their
special memories as part of the birthday celebration, but from the
initial interview, it is best that the teacher reflect upon what has been
said and how the parent said it. It is good to ‘sleep on it’ and write
impressions the next morning. There will be ample time for concrete
observations, but an impression of this first interview will guide
you tenderly into a relationship with the environment the child has
shared called ‘family’. It is even important to have this interview
before the first home visit, because the interview will offer clues for
entering into the environment where this family has grown together.

Working with Parents

Teachers are required to be ‘trained’ these days. We go to school,
study hard and walk away from that concentrated time thinking
we know everything there
is to know about the subject
of teaching children. In fact
we only ‘know’ theory, and
this includes teachers who
have participated in Waldorf
trainings. Those of us who have
not been parents need to delete
the words ‘should’ and ‘must’
from our vocabulary and not
offer criticism before they have
experienced some practical
time teaching children and
sharing those children with

51
their parents. Even then, providing parents with ideas and solutions
rather than criticisms and rules, will be a more productive means of
interacting. Nursery teachers must particularly keep in mind that
they are the beginning of the social environment called school. Many
parents are very tentative about sharing their child with the school.
School changes everything. In some ways theses changes are good,
in other ways they are perceived as much less positive. Some parents
never choose to share their children so we must be always grateful
for the choice parents make to share their child with us. We need to
meet the parents with humility and gratitude.
It is important to enter into this relationship with parents and
child with the deepest reverence. Certainly you will meet parents
who will have made the greatest mistakes possible according to
your training, but the fact is that this child chose these parents. This
child is also choosing his first teacher to guide the family into the
environment of school. The nursery teacher must understand that
parents are intimately involved in the growth and life of the child
and whatever occurs in the environment of family has to do with
family karma that must be recognized with a certain acceptance
from teachers. Nursery teachers must receive the family in ‘flowing
sensitivity’; our soul formation must be neutral and “balanced
between sympathy and antipathy.” We must be “constantly
receptive to impressions” and “show a relationship to much of what
comes to meet” our soul. (Steiner, 1994, p.105)

The Teacher’s Inner Work

So we have had the first interview and then reflect on the
interview in our meditative life. Before going to bed, first imagine
“the angel who stands behind you as an individual gently laying
hands upon your head.” Then imagine above your angel a circle of
Archangels who are deeply interested in the task of teaching human
beings. Then imagine a point which is the Archai who are interested
in the evolution of mankind. (Steiner, 1996a, p.46) Then bring to mind
the interview you shared with the child’s parents; recall everything

52
you are able to remember. “What human beings receive from the
higher worlds comes to them during sleep.” (Steiner, 1996a, p.42) In
the morning, when you have the impulse, write down what you can
of this first interview. Remember to write it down with awareness
that everything written is something concrete in the world. This is
the first paragraph in the first chapter in the child’s book of school
life.

Home Visit
The second phase is the home visit, and once again it is good to go
through the same process as with the first interview. Enter the child’s
home with reverence and gratitude and bring your impressions into
your sleep, for we are continuing the process the angels started
before birth, and they have much to tell us. “We want to be aware
that physical existence is a continuance of the spiritual life. What we
have to do in education is a continuation of what higher beings have
done without our assistance.” (Steiner, 1996a, p.37)

First Day of School

Now we are at the first day of school. We have had our first
interviews and our home visits. We have carefully prepared our
classrooms, polishing all of the wooden toys, ironing the silks,
memorizing our circle and preparing ingredients for bread. We have
invited the angels to participate. The door opens and as we greet the
children we receive new impressions. How does the social organism
of ‘class’ come together and what is it that each child brings to that
organism? In a way, on that first day of school, we enter the ring of
the Archangels. And this becomes the third paragraph in the child’s
first year of school.
These precious first three paragraphs are perceptions of the
threshold. Children guide us in an immediate way to the threshold
and we can learn so much about their relationship to the threshold
by sharing this time with them consciously. We need to ask questions
of the parents and we need to observe and ask questions within

53
ourselves. The developing human being has many different sides
and although it is important how we record and process what we
observe, it is also important that we as kindergarten teachers find a
way to convey the unfolding story of the early development of each
child. This story will unlock many doors and guide us to avenues
that will help the child engage in the very human experience of
breathing into life.
As we begin to engage in observation, it is best to try to see the
child’s relationship to the environment. How does the child enter the
room? If the child has been through some sort of bridging program
at the school, separation is probably not a problem. However, each
classroom experience presents a new picture of ‘school’ for the
child. In the first three weeks of school, it is good to observe each
child, perhaps two each day, being open to impressions that come
and recording observations: Are the children separating from their
parents? How does each child enter the classroom? Does the child
seem happy or sad, angry or glad? Does the child get ready for
school or sit on the bench waiting for help? Does the child become
involved with other children or hang back? What role does the child

54
take up in the school environment? Does the child observe, charge
into play or want to help the teacher? When you have made these
observations and recorded them, you have a picture of how the child
related to school in the beginning and you have something to tell the
parents in the first formal school conference.
Parent conferences are vital in the first year. It would be good
to have scheduled quarterly conferences the first year and be open
to requests for additional conferences from parents. (This is a
requirement for early childhood teachers who are teaching nursery-
age children.) If parents are met frequently in the first year, then
conferences from the second year on can be fewer and are more
efficient. The first conferences also provide a base-line of information
for the teacher about the child that only the parents hold. There are
many questions that need to be asked, and it is best to ask them over
a stretch of several conferences rather than assuming you can hear
everything about the first three years of the child’s life in the first
conference This information should come to the teacher through
conversation rather than a questionnaire. The relationship to school
is a new one for the parent as much as it is to the nursery child. Each
child is different and even if the family is presenting you with their
third child, how that child relates to the school can be an entirely
different picture from the first or second child.
The first conference after school begins could be a sharing
of how the child is doing in school. If you have recorded your
observations in writing, not only will you have a beginning picture
for the school, but you can share a true picture of each child with
the parents. Just as you have observed the children, it is also good to
keep a conference log, writing your impression of the meeting you
had with the parents, noting their reactions and concerns, which can
also be a stepping off place for the next conference. (See an example
of a “Conference Log” at the end of this section).
It is a good idea to separate each conference thematically, asking
questions about different aspects of the child’s beginning. For
example, pregnancy, birth and early development questions could

55
 be covered in the first
conference. The second
conference might attend
to the child’s relationship
to eating and sleeping
which relates more to the
initial social experience
of the child. Most schools
require parents to fill out a
health form and certainly
the teacher should read
the form and discuss
questions of medical needs
that might impact the child
in the classroom at the
first, not the second conference. But basically, our questions to the
parents open the door for a narrative picture of the child’s beginning
development. (See “Conference Questions for Parents” at the end of
this section.)
New families are often independent from their extended family.
Some young parents are close to their families and others may have
many ideas about parenting that are reactive. That is, they parent
exactly the opposite of the parenting style of their own parents. The
prevailing view of these phenomena is that most parents have lost
their instincts for parenting. Actually, they have lost their generational
continuity. In earlier times, human beings learned to parent from
their own parents. On the whole, we have become independent or
estranged from generational ties. Keeping this in mind, it is probably
not the best course of action to meet the parents of the children we
are teaching with the assumption that they are learners needing to
be taught the “users manual” for their child. When talking about
parenting style, we can pose the questions and listen to what the
parents share without much comment or judgment. Information
about healthy parenting can be imparted topically during general

56
parent meetings and lectures. If this information is attended to in a
more general manner, it will be more likely to have an impact and
the whole school community will be aware that the topics have been
broached.

57
 Conference Log

Teacher: C. Lang
Class: Nursery Class

Date: Observation or Outcome

9/7 10am Home visit Alyssa

Shares bedroom w/brother (1)
9/7 6pm Home visit Kristin
Only child/large master bedroom
9/10 11am Home visit Adam
Only child, TV in bedroom
9/10 2pm Home visit Ben
Macrobiotic family/warm home
9/11 9am Home visit Alexander
Two homes/2 complete bedrooms
9/11 10am Home visit Casey
Empty playroom draw on walls
9/11 11am Tea with returning children
Jessica chatty—out of shell
9/11 1pm Home visit with Halley
All family there/small apt.
9/13 2pm Home visit with Arielle
Only child/Mom works at home
9/18 6pm Food issue meeting – Three parents and
Kindergarten teacher were present to discuss
individual and general food issues. Issues will be
brought to the preschool faculty meeting to
determine resolutions.
9/18 7pm New Parents’ Meeting
9/20 7pm Conference with Emily’s parents, who are
concerned that their child is so much bigger than
the other children. They thought perhaps she

58
 belongs in the kindergarten. Emily’s social
behavior and inability to dress herself or
complete any task independently suggest that
she is in the right class.
10/2 7pm Class meeting – 100% class parent turnout,
discussion of classroom rhythm and how to
support it at home.
10/11 6pm Conference with Kirsten’s parents discussing
mother’s terminal illness and how to help child
10/12 am Adam sits in W and seems to have balance
problems
10/12 6pm Phoned Adam’s mom to discuss observations – she
is willing to work with me doing movement
exercises at home – gave permission that I could
share my observations in the care group

59
 Conference Questions for Parents

Name of Child: Date of Birth:

Pregnancy and Birth:
Mother: Father:

What is the birth order of the child?

Were you trying to have a baby or was this child a bit of a
surprise?
At what point in the pregnancy did you become aware that
you were pregnant?
What was it like when you found out you were pregnant?
What qualities distinguished your pregnancy? Did you have
morning sickness? Did you have a lot of energy?
Did you work throughout your pregnancy?
What type of work did you do?
At what point in the pregnancy did you stop working?
Did you exercise throughout your pregnancy? If you exercised
what type of exercise did you do?
Did you crave foods during your pregnancy?
Did you have traditional pre-natal care or did you go to a
midwife?
Did you and your husband/partner go to prenatal classes?
Did your pregnancy go to term?
Was the baby born in the hospital, midwife in the hospital or
home birth?
Who was present at the birth of your child?
Would you share the story of your child’s birth?
Did you nurse or was the baby bottle-fed?
Would you share your experience feeding your child?
Did you have any difficulty with post-partum depression?
What was it like developing a rhythm for your baby?
Did you have a non-family member child caregiver directly
after birth or did you have family help?
Would you describe the situation you had in the beginning?

60
 Observation and Assessment

The Nursery Child

Typically assessment is something that the school or teacher
requests from other professionals. However, it is important
that teachers know what to look for to determine when outside
intervention is an appropriate necessity. Often the child’s teacher is
the initiator of outside assessment. Is it always necessary to reach
outside the classroom? Is it possible to develop a process to determine
the individual needs of the children, work within the classroom to
make adaptations and meet those needs and allow the child to grow
and possibly work through the perceived difficulties?
When it comes to assessment during the preschool years, we
have tools available as teachers. We have are our ability to observe
with our senses the visible phenomena and then bring what we
observe and our questions before our meditative eye or into our
thinking. Young children present many questions and often express
something quite opposite to that which we would expect from our
adult experience and perspective. We can guide our observations
toward three areas: the form (thinking); the way the child relates to
the world through his lower senses (touch, life, self-movement and
balance) and begins to be involved in a social experience (feeling);
and the organizational development of the body or how the child is
growing (willing).
Looking into the nursery at the youngest children entering the
kindergarten, our attention is drawn to their form and movement.
The social life is in still in seed form. The three- to four-year-old
has a form that is round and the head is emphasized or larger
than the rest of the body. If you juxtapose this against the oldest
children in the Kindergarten, age six to six and a half, you can see
they have obtained a three-folding of their physical form and appear
relatively differentiated (head, torso and limbs) and balanced. This

61
differentiation and balance should also be apparent in social and
physical capacities, as well as the child’s approach to the world
which should be reasonably well developed at this stage.
The physical form of the youngest children seems to be mostly
head. Their bodies, torso and limbs seem to be growing out of
their head and their limbs and bodies are typically soft, round
and undifferentiated. The second impression we often have is
that socially they are isolated in their own little world and if
they make contact with someone other than their parents, it is
a shock or a surprise or forever a new experience. (Lievegoed,
1985) Finally, when we observe their limbs, we notice that, upon
achieving uprightness and movement, they immediately try to
imitate the speed of the adults in the environment and they run,
grab and bump in a clumsy and inaccurate manner. It is almost
as if they reach stability through chaos. What mother doesn’t
know how frustrating it is when her child begins to explore the
environment in earnest?
We now have before us in the two and a half year old, the
almost-school-age child, a threefold human being with an
emphasis upon the head, a rudimentary interest in others and a
primitive capacity to explore the world. Do we then rip the child
out of that beginning exploration and do an assessment? No, in a
Waldorf early childhood program, the next four years are about
the environment adapting and changing to suit the needs of the
growing child rather than the child adapting to the environment.
If there needs to be accommodation then, it needs to be through
the parent outside of the classroom or the teacher within the
classroom.
One could well point out that there are many young children
these days who are going for outside assessments, or put in
occupational therapy or even play therapy. Although there
is nothing really wrong with therapy and certainly there are
situations that require it, of what use is it to place a child in an OT
gym twice a week and not incorporate the therapeutic movement
or sensory diet into the child’s environment and daily rhythm?

62
What is good for one child is likely good for all the children, but it is
entirely certain that the social environment of family and classroom
is more useful towards integration into the world than isolation or
separation. Individual therapies can often segregate the child who
then senses he is different from his peers. Differences are indeed part
of life experience but should not isolate. It should not be the first
conclusion we come to that there is something wrong with the child.
We adults, teachers and parents, need to help the young child enter
into the world through observation and questioning, then adaptation
of the environment and personal work. The children whom I have
met who truly are ill or disabled strive to get better and we should
honor and be honored by the fact that they want to be part of our
world.
One way to begin to develop a process for observation,
assessment and intervention, is to determine different areas and
criteria of observation guided by the growth and development of the
children. When observing the three- to three-and-a-half-year-old,
our observations should be guided by the child’s form: whether he is
developing in the lower senses and if there appear to be difficulties
with movement, balance, or touch, and whether the child has gone
through and overcome developmental milestones at the appropriate
time and in the appropriate sequence. When observing the middle
kindergartner, age four to five, beginning social engagement,
visible growth and development of the body, and a clear interest
in kindergarten activities will guide our observations. Finally, the
oldest kindergartner, age five to six or six-and-a-half by the end of
the school year, will have a stretched, lengthened and differentiated
form, a real capacity for work or play, developed speech, an ability
for imaginative and sequential thinking, and a sense of belonging to
the class.
Of course it is not enough just to observe; our observations bring
up questions or riddles for which the answers will be what is needed
to help the child continue to grow and develop. These questions can
be brought into our sleep, faculty or early childhood meetings, or to
the care group if one exists. Sharing the child with others and desiring

63
to understand the child are the first steps towards taking action.
Action involves adaptations of the classroom, or transformations of
our thinking, or interaction with the community, all on behalf of the
child.
One of the greatest hindrances to young children is the retention
of early movement patterns or the developmental reflexes. These
movement patterns are naturally overcome in sequential order and
should certainly be entirely inhibited by the time the child enters
preschool. Thanks to Peter Blythe and Sally Goddard, we have easily
observable symptoms that point to retention of early movement
patterns. If these symptoms do exist, incorporation of early movement
patterns such as rolling, creeping, crawling, balancing, etc. can be
emphasized in playtime, work, or crafts. (See the “Guidelines for the
Observation of Retained Early Movement Patterns” at the end of this
section. This report can also be an individual record of observation
for file keeping.)
These observations can be taken up generally or individually,
but it is good to become familiar enough with the symptoms
that might suggest retained early movement patterns so that
classroom intervention can take place. Opportunities for all kinds
of developmental movement practice are important to incorporate
in all nursery classrooms. When observing the children it is good
to record observations both initially and, if symptoms are present,
to regularly observe if general intervention has enabled the child to
overcome these immature movement patterns. Observation coupled
with conferences with parents can lead to a deeper understanding of
why the child has retained these movement patterns. If the reflexes
have not been observably overcome by the end of the nursery year,
the child may need more practice or a deeper intervention. This
could be left until the beginning of the middle kindergarten year.
How further intervention is determined is beyond the scope of this
book, but the first step might be to bring the child to the faculty
or care group. If there is a school doctor, a curative eurythmist or
an extra lesson teacher, an individual plan could be developed and
incorporated into the school day.

64
 Guidelines for Observation:
Retained Early Movement Patterns Report

Name of Child:
Date of Birth:
Teacher: Today’s Date:

Observable symptoms suggestive of retained reflex from higher

order to lower in a kindergarten-age child:

Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (STNR)

This reflex emerges 6–9 months, inhibited 9–11 months. It helps
the baby overcome gravity by getting up off the floor on to hands
and knees. This reflex is not in primitive category or the postural
category. It could be called a transitional reflex. Flexion of the
head on the forehead against the floor causes infant to bend arms
and extend legs. Extension of the head in the upright position
causes infant to bend legs and the straighten arms creating a
‘crawling-ready’ posture.

Symptom Present Not Present

Poor posture £ £
Tendency to slump in chair £ £
Tendency to lay head on table £ £
Simian (ape-like) walk £ £
‘W’ leg position when sitting on the floor £ £
Messy eater £ £
Clumsy – drops and spills £ £
Unable to imitate £ £
Unable to catch or throw a ball £ £

Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex (TLR)
This reflex is vestibular in origin. Forward reflex emerges in utero,
inhibited 4 months – fetal position. Backward reflex emerges at
birth when head enters the birth canal and is inhibited gradually
from 6 months to 3 years (helps infant to overcome fetal
positioning). It is related closely to the Moro reflex and influences
muscle tone throughout the body. This reflex has an impact
on the control of the head in an upright position, balance and
movement forward and back.

65
 Symptom Present Not Present

Posture – stoops/looks at the ground (forward) £ £
Posture – tendency to walk on toes (backward) £ £
Weak muscle tone (forward) £ £
Stiff and jerky movements (backward) £ £
Poor sense of balance £ £
Poor sense of coordination (backward) £ £
Tendency to motion sickness (gets carsick) £ £
Doesn’t like to move quickly (forward) £ £
Bumps into things £ £

Spinal Galant
This reflex emerges 20 weeks in utero, is actively present at birth
and inhibited 3–9 months of life. When the infant is lying face
down, brushing ones finger along one side of the spine will
cause the child to flex and rotate hip on the side of the stimulus.
Present on both sides. May help move the fetus down the birth
canal.

Symptom Present Not Present

Fidgeting (ants-in-pants syndrome) £ £
Poor concentration £ £
Inability to retain classroom rhythm £ £
Hip rotation to one side when walking £ £
Toileting accidents £ £
Bedwetting £ £

Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (ATNR)

This reflex emerges 18 weeks in utero, is actively present at
birth and inhibited at 6 months of life. Movement of head to
one side will cause the infant to extend the arm and leg on
the side the head is turned to, and flex the arm and leg on the
opposite side. This reflex assists in continuous motion in utero,
positioning the fetus when it moves down birth canal and the
birth process reinforces the reflex. It also develops muscle tone
and provides balance (vestibular) stimulation. After birth ATNR
stimulates eye-hand coordination and higher order skills leading
to crawling and uprightness and balance for walking. C-section
babies may show many symptoms because it is stimulated
during the birth process

66

Symptom Present Not Present

Balance affected by head movement £ £

Difficulty with cross-pattern movement £ £
Difficulty crossing the midline £ £
Mixed laterality £ £

Palmar Reflex
This reflex emerges around 11 weeks in utero, is fully present
at birth, and is inhibited at 2–3 months of life. It develops the
capacity to grasp and release, refines finger control and is
replaced by pincer grip at 36 weeks of age.

Symptom Present Not Present

Poor manual dexterity £ £

Lack of independent thumb and finger
movement (cannot shake hands) £ £
Palm of hand hypersensitive £ £
Child moves mouth when trying to write/draw £ £

Moro Reflex
This reflex emerges 9 weeks in utero, is fully present at birth and
is inhibited at 2–4 months of life. An involuntary reaction to
threat causes the infant to startle and move limbs in an outward
reaction, then clasp arms to body.

Symptom Present Not Present

Poor balance £ £
Physical timidity £ £
Visual confusion/sensitivity (overwhelmed) £ £
Auditory confusion/sensitivity (overwhelmed) £ £
Overwhelmed and reacts to smells £ £
Cannot go from general to specific £ £
Allergies £ £
Dislikes and reacts to change £ £
Holds breath £ £
Hyperventilates £ £
Insecure and dependent £ £

67
The Middle Kindergartner
The four- to five-year-old child represents the heart of the early
childhood program. Children of this age are ready to meet the
curriculum provided in a Waldorf setting. Since not all children are
equally ready to be in kindergarten, and that includes children who
have come from Waldorf parent/child, bridging or even nursery
programs, it is important to look at what a kindergarten-ready child
looks like.
Physically, the healthy kindergarten-ready children have lost
the unity of roundness and have developed limbs. Their form is still
soft, but there is a distinct lengthening of their limbs. Their gaze is
often still cosmic, but one has the sense that they, unlike the three-
year-old, observe the adult even though they do not meet the gaze
of the adult. They seem to defy gravity when they run, jump and
generally move. They can be independent from their parent. A
middle kindergarten child is usually comfortable and can adapt to
the environment of the kindergarten if it is a safe environment which
is well thought out to meet the needs of the young child. They can
sustain a morning program of four hours without a nap or long rest.
They can go to the bathroom and dress themselves. They should be
sturdy and healthy with a robust or rosy coloring and they should
not be susceptible to frequent illness. (Almon, 1988)
The initial impression one should have of children who are
entering the middle kindergarten phase of school is that they have
reached a certain level of independence and are now ready to for
social play and work. This social engagement through play and
work tends to be the main focus of the curriculum in the middle
kindergarten. A child’s social capacities are often the focus of our
observations and interventions during this middle kindergarten year
even if the children are in a mixed-age kindergarten. The blessing of
the mixed age kindergarten is that the children of all age groups
have available exposure to multi-level opportunities for movement,
skill development, and social and language development. So while
the middle kindergartner is mainly practicing at work and play,
he can also observe and take part in tasks and activities that the

68
older kindergartner is ready for. A mixed-age kindergarten is a
wonderfully rich environment for the development of the senses
and offers many opportunities for observation and imitation.
When the children begin the middle kindergarten school year,
during the first month the teacher’s observations should be directed
again at the early movement patterns. There will be new children
entering the school who will need assessment. There will be children
who raised questions at the end of the nursery school year who may
need further intervention or who may have overcome these patterns
during school break. These initial assessments will be useful for
targeting individual needs and developing and incorporating
movement opportunities in the classroom. If the children have not
overcome these early patterns, activities that require more complex
movement will be challenging if not impossible. Some behaviors can
also be alleviated by working to overcome these patterns. Finally,
if these early movement patterns remain into the middle year of
kindergarten, the child may need more intervention than can be
provided in the classroom. There are many therapies available.
Outside intervention can include cranial sacral work, rhythmic
massage, curative eurythmy or anthroposophical medicine. Once
movement needs have been addressed, the transition into healthy
play and work will be smoother and more fruitful.

69
 The middle kindergartner continues to be both a sense being
and a will being. What this means is that everything within the
environment of the child will be taken into the physical body through
imitation and the child will incorporate what he experiences in the
outer world into his physical body and his organs. However, since
the middle kindergartner has taken on a bit more form, as defined
by the lengthening of the limbs, and if the child is generally healthy
and the environment is healthy, then the child can begin to be more
selective.
Between the fourth and fifth years there is a notable transition in
the children’s play. As the children begin this year at the age of four,
their play becomes fantasy oriented. Objects become an impulse for
play and can even suggest play—a stone can become a potato which
the child cooks over an open fire or it can become a baby cradled in
the child’s arms. This imaginative play and the impulse to imitate
guide the child into fledgling social interactions. The curriculum of
the classroom, story telling, the songs and games of the circle, the
kindergarten work and the play of the older children also guide the
four- to five-year-old, through the impulse to imitate, to acquire new
skills for play through language acquisition, problem solving and
developed physical skillfulness.
A checklist can be used to develop a process of observations of
the middle kindergartner. (See the “Middle Kindergarten Checklist”
at the end of this section.) This checklist is meant to be a guide for
the teacher offering a middle kindergarten picture of the child. The
reflexes might be observed in the beginning of the school year, and
the list checked again as the child nears the fifth birthday. However,
the intention is to also provide a means of observation relative to
the middle kindergartner that could support conferences with the
parents which will be less frequent than in the nursery classroom
year. These observations are also intended to provide a picture of the
health of the child and the health of the classroom, as well as year-
end report writing.

70
 Middle Kindergarten Checklist

Name of Child: ________________________ Date of Birth: ____________

Teacher: ___________________________ Date of Assessment: ________

Category Immature Progressing Mature Concern N/A

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Head to body ratio 1:5 £ £ £ £ £

Lengthening of limbs £ £ £ £ £

Knees visible £ £ £ £ £

Collarbone visible £ £ £ £ £

Visible musculature in legs £ £ £ £ £

Beginning waist incision £ £ £ £ £

Abdomen flattens £ £ £ £ £

Beginning S curve in spine £ £ £ £ £

MOVEMENT

Walking £ £ £ £ £

Running £ £ £ £ £

Galloping £ £ £ £ £

Skipping £ £ £ £ £

Jumping £ £ £ £ £

Hopping (2) £ £ £ £ £

Hopping (1) £ £ £ £ £

71

Category Immature Progressing Mature Concern N/A

BALANCE

Stand with both feet
together £ £ £ £ £

Stand on one foot £ £ £ £ £

Can walk in a line £ £ £ £ £

Can walk without touching
anything £ £ £ £ £

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Imitates language heard in
environment during play £ £ £ £ £

Imitates gesture during
circle £ £ £ £ £

Immersed during story
and circle time £ £ £ £ £

Can articulate needs £ £ £ £ £

PLAY AND IMAGINATION

Fantasy based £ £ £ £ £

Begins to incorporate others £ £ £ £ £

Immersed in imagination
throughout morning £ £ £ £ £

Can be redirected
imaginatively £ £ £ £ £

72
Category Immature Progressing Mature Concern N/A

ARTISTIC

Paints and colors without

form £ £ £ £ £

Incorporates color into play £ £ £ £ £

Incorporates craft activities

into play themes £ £ £ £ £

Can warm and sculpt

beeswax £ £ £ £ £

INDEPENDENCE AND TRANSITIONS

Can move with the class

during transitions £ £ £ £ £

Can incorporate change

without reacting £ £ £ £ £

Can dress self £ £ £ £ £

Can take care of bathroom

needs independently £ £ £ £ £

Can get ready to go home £ £ £ £ £

Can wait patiently £ £ £ £ £

73
The Older Kindergarten Child
The older kindergarten child, ages five to six, is actively preparing
for school. The older child usually begins the final kindergarten year
immersed in fantasy play but is aware of the children who were his
playmates at the end of the previous school year. It is now that true
friendships begin. The children are happy to be together again. They
band together and begin to repeat themes for play or challenges to
be met. As the year passes their play moves out of fantasy, and they
spend time developing ideas for play. The stone no longer takes on
imaginative characteristics, but becomes a means for building a dam
or forming the foundation of a house, or whatever idea they want
to build.
The older child often goes through a midyear crisis with play
and needs to be met with work and opportunities to develop
fine motor skills through crafts. This is an important time for the
kindergarten child, and one could say a question of elementary
school ripeness looms large if the child does not stop and work at
becoming a student. As the initial crisis passes, a balance of work
and play now needs to be provided throughout the remainder of the
final kindergarten year.
The transition from the kindergarten to the elementary school is
one that needs to be carefully observed and documented. Although
the kindergarten and the elementary school represent different
aspects of child development, it is important that the first grade
teacher, who in a Waldorf school will follow the children for eight
years, has a picture of the early development of each child in the class.
All too often there is little communication between the kindergarten
and the elementary school. However, a process for observation in
the kindergarten from the beginning of school entrance until the
transition into the first grade offers a starting place for community
interaction.
The process during the school year for kindergarten transition
observations could include a team made up of the kindergarten
faculty, an extra lesson/special education teacher, the doctor, the

74
curative eurythmist and an experienced first grade teacher who
represents the teacher of the rising first grade if that teacher cannot
be present or is a first-time class teacher.
The Transitional Kindergarten Report is intended for the child
of six who is showing signs of moving toward elementary school
ripeness. It can be divided into sections which outside observers can
perform for the teacher. Some sections require the observation of the
kindergarten teachers who spend time daily with the children. (See
the “Transitional Kindergarten Report” at the end of this section.)

The year-end Kindergarten Assessment is intended for

those children who are being considered for first grade. (See
the Kindergarten Assessment Checklist and the Kindergarten
Assessment Story at the end of this section.) Using this checklist and
the information compiled over the kindergarten years, the faculty
can meet and discuss the readiness of students for admission to first
grade. If a process has evolved over the kindergarten years, there
should be clarity of any delays long before the middle or end of
the final kindergarten year. Each school can develop its own way
of meeting to discuss first grade readiness. However if a process

75

of observation has been maintained and reviewed throughout the
kindergarten years, a clear and developing picture of individual
children should evolve.
The Kindergarten Assessment is the culminating picture of
the kindergarten child and creates a baseline or first picture of the
elementary school child. Some aspects of child development should
be in place long before the child enters first grade. As an example,
if the early movement patterns have not been inhibited, becoming
aware of this during the second grade assessment is far too late for
the child’s healthy development and success as a student.

76
 Kindergarten Transition Report

Name of Child: ______________________Date of Birth: ________

Teacher: _______________________Date of Assessment: _______

Category Immature Progressing Mature Concern N/A

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Head-to-body ratio
(age 7 - 1:6) £ £ £ £ £
Three-folding of body
(head-trunk-limbs) £ £ £ £ £
Neck incision £ £ £ £ £
Waist incision £ £ £ £ £
Lengthening of limbs £ £ £ £ £
Touch top of ear w/arm
over head £ £ £ £ £
Visible joints (knuckles
and kneecaps) £ £ £ £ £
Beginning of visible
musculature £ £ £ £ £
Visible arch in foot £ £ £ £ £
S curve in back £ £ £ £ £
Second dentition
(number of teeth) £ £ £ £ £
Individualized facial
features £ £ £ £ £
Gaze direct and eye to eye £ £ £ £ £

SPEECH AND LANGUAGE

Clarity and enunciation £ £ £ £ £

Speaks in complete
sentences £ £ £ £ £
Expresses ideas clearly
and fully £ £ £ £ £
Uses if/therefore
(cause/effect) £ £ £ £ £

77
Category Immature Progressing Mature Concern N/A

Talks about play

(visualization) £ £ £ £ £
Enjoys rhymes and
limericks £ £ £ £ £
Can tell a story £ £ £ £ £
Observable physical
abilities £ £ £ £ £

FOUR LOWER SENSES

Sense of Balance:
Stand with both feet
together £ £ £ £ £
Stand on one foot £ £ £ £ £
Can walk in a line £ £ £ £ £
Can walk w/out touching
anything £ £ £ £ £

Sense of Movement:
Walks cross laterally £ £ £ £ £
Marches cross laterally £ £ £ £ £
Runs cross laterally £ £ £ £ £
Hops on either foot £ £ £ £ £
Bunny hop
(both feet together) £ £ £ £ £
Walks backward £ £ £ £ £
Gallops £ £ £ £ £
Skips £ £ £ £ £
Climbs stairs alternating
feet £ £ £ £ £
Runs with a fluidity of gait £ £ £ £ £
Makes transitions easily £ £ £ £ £
Accepts changes £ £ £ £ £
Reacts well to new
experience £ £ £ £ £

78
Category Immature Progressing Mature Concern N/A

Sense of Life:
Always at school £ £ £ £ £
Healthy rosy coloring £ £ £ £ £
Warm hands £ £ £ £ £
Wet hands £ £ £ £ £
Falls asleep easily £ £ £ £ £
Breaths normally £ £ £ £ £
Stamina/endurance £ £ £ £ £
Is a harmonious member
of class £ £ £ £ £
Participates in activities
happily £ £ £ £ £
Eats food made in the
classroom £ £ £ £ £
Has friends in the
classroom £ £ £ £ £
Has positive relationships
with adults £ £ £ £ £
Has a sense of humor £ £ £ £ £
Can look after personal
needs £ £ £ £ £
Is comfortable alone £ £ £ £ £
Sense of privacy
(tells secrets) £ £ £ £ £

Sense of Touch:
Can imitate £ £ £ £ £
Has a sense of body
in space £ £ £ £ £
Can follow directions
(group) £ £ £ £ £
Can follow directions
(individual) £ £ £ £ £
Completes activities
independently £ £ £ £ £
Experiences limits and
boundaries £ £ £ £ £

79
Category Immature Progressing Mature Concern N/A

Has compassion for others £ £ £ £ £

Tells a story in sequence £ £ £ £ £

Observable Capacities:
Shoes on correct feet £ £ £ £ £
Kempt and tidy £ £ £ £ £
Hair brushed/combed £ £ £ £ £
Can tie shoes successfully £ £ £ £ £
Zips successfully £ £ £ £ £
Buttons successfully
and sequentially £ £ £ £ £
Visible bruises/scars £ £ £ £ £
Can catch a ball £ £ £ £ £
Can throw a ball £ £ £ £ £
Can unpack or pack
independently £ £ £ £ £
Can draw with details £ £ £ £ £
Can sew a running stitch £ £ £ £ £
Can finger knit £ £ £ £ £
Can retell a story £ £ £ £ £
Shakes hands thumb in
opposition £ £ £ £ £
Participation in the
curriculum £ £ £ £ £
Recognizes consequences £ £ £ £ £
Internalization of classroom
routine £ £ £ £ £
Respect for property of
others £ £ £ £ £
Respect for personal
property £ £ £ £ £
Has the ability to share £ £ £ £ £

Morning circle:
Enters into activity
willingly £ £ £ £ £
Participates in activity £ £ £ £ £

80
Category Immature Progressing Mature Concern N/A

Play:
Seeks out friends for play £ £ £ £ £
Includes children not within
circle of friends in play £ £ £ £ £
Can share
Can plan and negotiate play £ £ £ £ £
Develops imaginative
stories for play £ £ £ £ £
Can continue a story
into next day £ £ £ £ £
Has a sense for the dramatic £ £ £ £ £
Has a sense for what
is humorous £ £ £ £ £

Clean-up:
Enters into the activity
willingly £ £ £ £ £
Knows what needs to
be done £ £ £ £ £
Can give a task full
attention £ £ £ £ £
Can follow through
multiple steps £ £ £ £ £
Has the ability to complete
a task £ £ £ £ £
Can follow instructions
if given £ £ £ £ £

Baking:
Enters into activity
willingly £ £ £ £ £
Participates in activity £ £ £ £ £
Can remain focused
during activity £ £ £ £ £
Can complete activity
with class £ £ £ £ £

81
Category Immature Progressing Mature Concern N/A

Crafts:
Enters into activity
willingly £ £ £ £ £
Participates in activity £ £ £ £ £
Can observe and follow
directions £ £ £ £ £
Can remain focused
during activity £ £ £ £ £
Can ask for help £ £ £ £ £
Can complete craft
independently £ £ £ £ £
Quality of work £ £ £ £ £

Drawing:
Holds crayon using
tripod (3 fingers) £ £ £ £ £
Has an idea for the
drawing (goal) £ £ £ £ £
Two-fold symmetry £ £ £ £ £
Horizontal repetitions
(mountains) £ £ £ £ £
Sky and Earth
(above – below) £ £ £ £ £
People and houses
rest on earth £ £ £ £ £
There is three-folding
in figures:
Person: Head/Torso/Limbs £ £ £ £ £
House: Base/Triangle
Roof/Chimney £ £ £ £ £
Tree: Trunk/Leaves/Apples £ £ £ £ £
Draws with detail £ £ £ £ £

Painting:
Begins to mix colors £ £ £ £ £
Develops designs in paint £ £ £ £ £
Two-fold symmetry £ £ £ £ £

82
Category Immature Progressing Mature Concern N/A

Beeswax:
Can warm the beeswax
easily £ £ £ £ £
Can sculpt forms inspired
by story £ £ £ £ £

Circle:
Enters into activity
willingly £ £ £ £ £
Participates in activity £ £ £ £ £
Imitates the gesture of
the teacher £ £ £ £ £
Moves with the teacher £ £ £ £ £
Moves with the class £ £ £ £ £
Speaks the verses with
the teacher £ £ £ £ £
Sings the songs with
the teacher £ £ £ £ £
Internalizes circle £ £ £ £ £

Snack:
Enters into the activity
willingly £ £ £ £ £
Participates in activity £ £ £ £ £
Can pour from pitcher
to cup £ £ £ £ £
Can carry cup without
spilling £ £ £ £ £
Can eat without making
a mess £ £ £ £ £
Can clean up willingly £ £ £ £ £

Story:
Enters into the activity
willingly £ £ £ £ £

83
Category Immature Progressing Mature Concern N/A

Listens to the story

attentively £ £ £ £ £
Is able to sit quietly
and focus £ £ £ £ £
Internalizes story £ £ £ £ £

Outdoor play:
Can get ready
independently £ £ £ £ £
Can line up with a partner £ £ £ £ £
Can help teacher with
equipment £ £ £ £ £
Is responsible with
equipment £ £ £ £ £
Can respond to directions £ £ £ £ £
Can react appropriately
to discipline £ £ £ £ £
Can resolve conflicts
verbally £ £ £ £ £

Transitions:
Makes transitions easily £ £ £ £ £
Is flexible £ £ £ £ £
Accepts changes £ £ £ £ £
Can wait patiently £ £ £ £ £
Reacts well to new
experience £ £ £ £ £
Thinks before doing £ £ £ £ £
Can listen to the teacher £ £ £ £ £
Can move with the group £ £ £ £ £

84
 Kindergarten Assessment Checklist

Name of Child: _______________________ Date of Birth: ___________

Classroom Teacher: ____________________________________________
Date of assessment: ____________________________________________
Teacher leading the assessment: _________________________________
Teacher observing the assessment: _______________________________

Physical Yes No Not

Progressing

Head-to-body ratio 1:6 £ £ £

Three-folding of body
(head/trunk/limbs) £ £ £
Three-folding of face £ £ £
Gaze direct eye to eye £ £ £
Touch top of ear w/arm over head £ £ £
Neck incision £ £ £
Waist incision £ £ £
Limb lengthening £ £
Visible joints (knuckles
and knee caps) £ £ £
Visible musculature £ £ £
Arch in foot £ £ £
S curve in back £ £ £
Second dentition £ £ £
Other observations:

Gross Motor: Cross lateral Rhythmic Coordinated Other

Walking £ £ £ £
Running £ £ £ £
Galloping £ £ £ £
Slide/Glide £ £ £ £
Skipping £ £ £ £
Jumping £ £ £ £
Hopping (2) £ £ £ £

85
 Gross Motor: Cross lateral Rhythmic Coordinated Other

Hopping (1) £ £ £ £
Crawling £ £ £ £
Stairs £ £ £ £
Catching Ball £ £ £ £
Throwing Ball £ £ £ £
Other observations:

Origin of Movement

Foot Choice (dominance): £ right £ left £ alternate

Balance Check

1 foot, eyes open £ yes £ no £ other

2 feet, eyes closed £ yes £ no £ other
1 foot, eyes closed £ yes £ no £ other
2 feet, arms crossed, eyes closed £ yes £ no £ other
1 foot, arms crossed, eyes open, speak £ yes £ no £ other
1 foot, arms crossed, eyes closed, speak £ successful £ struggles
Beam walk £ successful £ struggles
Sideways, look at feet £ successful £ struggles
Sideways, do not look at feet, speak £ successful £ struggles
Forward, heel to toe, may look at feet £ successful £ struggles
Forward, heel to toe, look straight
ahead £ successful £ struggles
Forward, toe to heel, look straight
ahead, speak £ successful £ struggles
Other observations:

86
 Reflexes

STNR
Hip movement £ yes £ no £ other
Bending of arms £ yes £ no £ other
Leg extension £ yes £ no £ other
Other observations:

Galant
Bend back toward movement £ yes £ no £ other
Hip movement £ yes £ no £ other

ATNR
Opposite arm bend £ yes £ no £ other
Movement in arm £ yes £ no £ other
Other observations:

TLR
Maintain balance £ yes £ no £ other
Roll over L or R £ yes £ no £ other
Head stay curled £ yes £ no £ other
Other observations:

Landau
Sustain raised head £ yes £ no £ other
Sustain raised trunk £ yes £ no £ other
Sustain raised legs £ yes £ no £ other
Sustain raised arms £ yes £ no £ other
Other observations:

Midlines

Horizontal (pick-up gems) £ yes £ no £ other

Vertical (bean bag toss) £ yes £ no £ other
Other Observations:

87
 Body Geography

Mirrored movement
Head both hands £ yes £ no £ other
Shoulders both hands £ yes £ no £ other
Right hand on right hip £ yes £ no £ other
Left hand left knee £ yes £ no £ other
Knees both hands £ yes £ no £ other
Toes both hands £ yes £ no £ other

Directed movement
Right hand on right ear £ yes £ no £ other
Right hand left shoulder £ yes £ no £ other
Left hand on right knee £ yes £ no £ other
Knees both hands £ yes £ no £ other
Toes both hands £ yes £ no £ other
Other observations:

Look for confusion or hesitation

Pick up stones £ successful £ hesitation £ confusion

Bean bag toss £ successful £ hesitation £ confusion
Form drawing journey £ successful £ hesitation £ confusion

Auditory Memory

First £ yes £ no
Second £ yes £ no
Third £ yes £ no
Other observations:

Dominance Hand Ear

First shell £ Right £ Left £ Right £ Left

Second shell £ Right £ Left £ Right £ Left
Third shell £ Right £ Left £ Right £ Left
Other observations:

88
Eyes - Dominance Hand Eye

First kaleidoscope £ Right £ Left £ Right £ Left

Second kaleidoscope £ Right £ Left £ Right £ Left
Third kaleidoscope £ Right £ Left £ Right £ Left
Eyes – Hole in paper £ Right £ Left £ Right £ Left
Other observations:

Eyes - Convergence

Do eyes track together? £ yes £ no

Circle £ yes £ no
Back and forth £ yes £ no
Up and down £ yes £ no
At an angle £ yes £ no
Other observations:

Double image: How many inches from nose? _____________

Attach the following drawing samples:

£ Journey in form drawing
£ Eye color affinity (blue moon/red sun)
£ Cross test
£ PHT

89
Kindergarten Assessment Story
Once upon a time a little boy/girl lived in a village in a far away
land. This little boy/girl had a wonderful life in the village. Above all
the best part of his/her life was listening to stories told by a woman
that everyone in the village called Grandmother. She told many
stories, but the one the little boy/girl loved the most was a tale about
a faraway kingdom where there lived a king who loved everyone.
Finding this kingdom was extremely difficult, but once you found it,
you would be happier there than you could ever imagine.
Above all, the little boy/girl yearned to find this kingdom and
one day when he/she was almost seven years old, he/she asked
Grandmother, “How can I find this kingdom?”
Grandmother replied, “The way is extremely difficult, but I think
you are almost ready to begin. Let’s see if you are. The king of the
kingdom will expect you to salute him in a certain way. I will show
you now. (Hand over head and touches ear) You may try to salute
the same way. Don’t forget this salute. The king will also ask you
to shake hands, so let’s practice. Yes, I think you are ready for the
journey and I can help you prepare for it.” So Grandmother and the
little boy/girl began to practice for the journey.
“First,” said Grandmother, “the way to the kingdom is long and
we must become strong and skillful.”Come. Follow me. We will start
by walking. I will place two stones on the ground, and we will walk
in a circle using these stones as guides. Let us make three circles.
Follow me.
“Now we will run, but when we run in the forest, we must be
able to stop quickly if we see an animal. So this time we will start
where one stone is and run to the other stone. You must run to the
second stone and not go past it. Let’s try this three times.
“Now let’s imagine we see wild horses along the way. Let’s
follow them galloping in a circle around the stones three rounds.
“Sometimes we will find narrow ledges to walk on, especially
when we climb the mountain to the kingdom, so this time we will
slide sideways between the two stones. Come, follow me. We will go
back and forth three times.

90
 “Now, sometimes you will be in a meadow and you can make
better time if you skip through the meadow, but let us skip in the
same way we walked—in a circle around the two stones. Let’s skip
around the stones three times.
“Then there are times we will need to jump high to get an apple
from the branches of a tree. Let’s jump—one, two, and three.”
“Then sometimes we will need to jump over puddles. These
three lines represent puddles. Let’s jump over them. We will jump
back and forth three times.
“Sometimes we will need to hop on one foot when the path is
really narrow. Can you hop back and forth on one foot three times?
“Sometimes you will need to crawl through long tunnels, some
of them as long as three times this room. Let’s crawl through the
tunnel by going in a circle around the two stones three times.
“Along the way you may find many staircases. We shall practice
going up and down the stairs three times.
“When you arrive at the castle of the kingdom, you will find
that the king has a son. The young prince loves to play catch. We
will practice so you will be ready to play catch with the prince. (Play
catch.)
“When you are traveling, you will sometimes do many things
that you might not do here in our village. You must be able to stay
very quiet, sometimes standing on one foot and closing your eyes
to hear better in the forest. You must be very strong to do this. Let’s
practice different ways of standing quiet—so quiet that a mouse
wouldn’t even notice you.
“Your eyes must be able to follow a butterfly, even in the dark.
Let’s practice watching this little butterfly, but you must be down
on the ground for the butterfly to come near you. Let me show you.
(Balance check)
“You may lie down on your back and rest your eyes. Can you
stretch your feet and head at the same time and wiggle your toes at
your smile? Now curl up like a caterpillar and see how long you can
stay this way. (STNR/ATNR: Spinal Galant Check)

91
 “The forest is enchanted and the great eagles will sometimes
carry you over the darkest part of the forest, but you must stretch
out your arms and legs and hold you head high just like a great eagle
to help them carry you. Let’s practice for a long flight over the forest.
(TNR/TLR)
“Now, sometimes you will find hints that you are going the right
way as you travel to the kingdom. One hint is that you will find little
gemstones in the grass. These are very special stones and if you do
not treat them gently they will turn into dust. It is important that
you gather what you find and carry the stones to the king as a gift.
Here is a little pouch for the stones. Pick up stones one by one from
the floor and put them gently into your pouch.
“When you arrive at the castle, the guard at the gate will want to
know that you are honest and of good will. He will ask you to prove
that you mean no harm and can follow directions. I will pretend to be
the guard and you must do exactly what I do. (Mirrored Movement)
Now listen carefully to my words and follow my directions. (Directed
Movement) Finally, he will ask you to show him how clever you
are with you hands, because it is important that you are clever and
capable when you meet the king. (Bean bag toss)
“Now we have practiced traveling for such a long time, let’s sit
down and have a little rest. You will need a map to find you way
back to the village. Here is a piece of paper and crayons. (The paper
will have the corresponding forms for the child to imitate already
drawn.) Let’s make a map of our travels. First we walked over fields
where the flowers were growing. You may use a green crayon and
draw the flowers like this. First follow with your finger, now draw
it by yourself.
“Then we traveled through the forest where we saw many trees
that had large roots. You may use a brown crayon and draw the roots
like this. First, follow with your finger, now draw it by yourself.
“Then we hopped over puddles. You may use an orange crayon
and draw how we hopped like this. First follow with your finger,
now draw it by yourself.

92
 “Then we climbed many mountains. You may use an orange
crayon and draw the mountains like this. First follow with your
finger, now draw it by yourself.
“We crossed a stream. You may use a blue crayon and draw the
water to look like this. First watch me, then follow with your finger,
now draw it by yourself.
“The stream will take us to the ocean. You may use a purple
crayon and draw the waves to look like this. First follow with your
finger, now draw it by yourself.
“After a long time we see the castle. You may use the golden
yellow crayon and draw the top of the castle to look like this First
follow with your finger, now draw it by yourself.
“On the top of the castle there is a red flag with a golden star.
You may draw the flag now. You may put your name on the bottom
of your picture.

“You must have very quick eyes and sensitive ears while you
are traveling to the kingdom. Let’s practice listening. Here are three
shells that I found on the beach. I’ve heard that the sound of the
ocean is in every shell. Pick up each one and tell me if you can hear
the ocean. (Auditory Memory)

“Now here are three telescopes. Pick up each one, one at a time
and look through it. Here is a little butterfly. Follow it with your
eyes.

“Now I have put a little hole in this piece of paper, hold it up to

your eye and tell me what you see through the hole. (Vision)

“When you reach the castle the guard at the gate will want to
know if you have coins from every country in the world. Here are
some coins. Make certain they are real coins. Turn each one over
carefully. Now that you are certain they are real coins from every
country in the world, pick each one up and put it carefully into this
little box to give to the king.

93
 “You will always need to look to the sun and the moon to find
your way on your journey. On this piece of paper draw a blue moon
and a red sun. Now choose a crayon and draw a line down the center
of the paper. In one of the spaces draw an x anywhere on the paper.
(Dominance Form)

“You have done very well and practiced hard. You are almost
ready to take the journey to the castle. But first I must know that
you will always remember where you come from. I am going to ask
you to draw a picture, but first we must practice a few more things.
(Clapping and jumping exercise)

“Now sit down and draw a picture of a person, a house and a

tree on this piece of paper. (Person House Tree Picture)

“Finally, do you remember how you must salute the king? Show
me now.”

Ripeness for Elementary School

The question which presents itself when it comes to first grade
readiness is: “Why can’t we simply change the acceptance age for
first grade to seven after Easter?” This readiness milestone is clearly
and concisely laid out by Rudolf Steiner and many educators, and
studies support a later age.
As Waldorf teachers we have a responsibility to understand the
pictures given to us by Steiner in The Foundation of Human Development
regarding the evolutionary development of the human being. The
integrating of the four bodies of man, the relationships between
our spirit and our physical aspects, and the constant recapitulation
we undergo as we obtain new capacities which connect us to
evolutionary human history.
So why can’t we simply honor this seven-year milestone? Money
is the problem. There is a fear that if we do not follow the same rules
that are followed in public education, we will lose enrollment. These
early enrollments are doing damage and yet we do not stand up for
what we know to be true—that is, that the human being is simply

94
not ready for elementary school until he has turned seven years old.
We use excuses to justify our failure to not comply, such as parental
pressure (money), precociousness (competition), and karma. Karma
is possibly the worst of reasons since the child is probably with the
children he is meant to be with, but they are all entering school
together too early.
There is one other problem: The kindergarten is not prepared
to offer a curriculum which will meet the needs of the developing
human being past the age of six. Many teachers fight to hold back
children whom they sense are not ready, and then in the end are
compelled to move them on because they cannot continue to meet
their needs.
What would meet the child who is not yet ready for elementary
school but cannot be met in the kindergarten? A gardening program
or a farming program, age-appropriate handwork and craft projects,
and cooking would sufficiently help the children integrate their
bodies and be ready for learning in the classroom. A transitional
kindergarten is really what is needed for children who are six. I have
often thought that if the three-year-old is not ready for a mixed-age
kindergarten, then the polarity on the older end of the kindergarten
probably needs something more or different as well.
Often the children who are not ready to move on in September
are children born in the summer. These children, often boys, show
signs of readiness, but the signs are inconsistent. Many summer
children could be ready to move midyear. It is important to consider
the summer child because often they do not need an extra year
of kindergarten but they do need time. A study done by James K.
Uphoff and June E. Gilmore in the Midwest showed that summer
children were more likely to read later, to show signs of behavior
problems, to be placed in special education categories, and to repeat
grades. They even recorded a higher number of teenage suicides
among summer-born children. (Uphoff, Gilmore, and Huber, 1986)

95
What Do We Need to Know at This Transition?
We need to know that children have the capacity to meet the
expectations in the elementary school successfully. Children need
to be ready for the authority of the teacher in first grade, to meet
the teacher’s gaze, shake the teacher’s hand and follow the teacher’s
lead. Children need to be fully incorporated into their bodies by first
grade. They must have a three-folding in all parts of their bodies so
they can sit in an upright posture at a desk and write and draw and
manage the rhythmical movement in the curriculum. They must be
capable of body-based learning and have fine motor skills to learn to
knit and hold a pencil. Children also need to have the social skills to
move and work with their classmates and the consciousness to focus
beyond their desk.
Some children will rise to first grade before they are ready and
some children will have hindrances to overcome. Even when such
children are admitted to first grade, there should be a picture that they
have the maturity to work with the hindrance and still be successful
as an elementary school student. This picture can be perceived
though a long term observation process in the kindergarten.

The Importance of Record Keeping

The process for observation and assessment that needs to happen
during the early childhood years is such that it informs the teacher
of the child’s development and progress. The teachers, through
informed observation, can conference more effectively, write reports
more effectively and interact with colleagues more effectively to
support the healthy development of the children who are in their
care. By developing conference logs, check lists and assessments,
a teacher can follow the biography of an individual child and
determine the health of the classroom when a child is in need of extra
care. Early childhood is a time of constant movement and change. It
is important not to set too much in stone, but it is also important to
have a recorded picture of the child’s early development, something
more than the memory of the teacher or the parent. (See an example
of a parent-friendly “Final Kindergarten Report” at the end of this

96
section.) The experience the child has when introduced to the world
is a vital part of the human biography and early childhood is the
beginning chapter of the child’s life.
A process for observation and assessment is also an important
and supportive baseline for research that substantiates the work
being done in Waldorf schools. This work is important and vital
to the development of human beings and the social direction and
development of the world. Waldorf schools need to present a true
picture of the developing human being and effectively prove how
the curriculum meets that picture. What better way to do this than
through recorded observation and assessment?

97
 Final Kindergarten Report

Name of Child: _______________________________________________

Date of Birth: ____________________
Dominance: Right £ Left £ Not Established £

Checklist Yes No
Touch top of ear £ £
Waist and neck incisions £ £
Visible joints £ £
Three-folding of limbs £ £
Arch in foot £ £
Individualized facial features £ £
Second dentition £ £
Walk a beam £ £
Catch a ball £ £
Throw a ball £ £
Hop on either foot £ £
Walk in cross pattern £ £
Climb stairs alternating feet £ £
Tie shoes/knots or bows £ £
Button and zip jacket £ £
Able to sew £ £
Able to finger knit £ £
Enjoys telling jokes £ £
Sense of privacy £ £

Comments:

Teacher:________________________________ Date:______________

98
 Acknowledgements

This book is dedicated to Paolo Marino who lit the fire of

enthusiasm within my soul for this path in my teaching, and toall
of the children I have had the privilege to spend time with in the
classroom. You are my teachers far more than I was a teacher to you.
I also dedicate it to my family: my husband Michael, my daughter
Anna and my son Samuel. Without your love and support I would
never have found the courage to continue teaching.
As in all endeavors there are many people to thank. I would like
to thank my editor, David Mitchell, who gathered my words and
formed them into this beautiful book.
I am particularly grateful to Dee Joy Coulter who steadfastly
stood by my side as I wrote. Dee was always present supporting my
work, encouraging me to move forward, and protecting my process.
I am also exceedingly grateful to Stevie Ross who was a trustworthy
first reader of my manuscript. I could not hope for a greater friend
or a more supportive colleague.
Finally, I want to express my gratitude to Rudolf Steiner who
opened the way to truth, beauty and goodness in education and
developed a curriculum that recognizes individual human freedom.

99
 Appendix

Andersen, R.A., Essick, G.K., and Siegel, R.M. (1985). Encoding

of spatial location by posterior parietal neurons. Science, 230,
456–458. This study explores the receptivity of the visual field,
concluding that visual neurons are the most receptive when the
visual context is fixed on center.

Brodfuehrer, P.D. and Friesen, W.O. (1986). From stimulation to

undulation: a neuronal pathway for the control of swimming
in the Leech. Science, 234, 1002–1004. This is a study of how
movement is initiated, concluding that movement is a reaction
to a process of detection on the cellular level no matter what the
name of the cell.

Cohen, B., Rapan, T. and Waespe, W. (1985). Dynamic modification

of the vestibulo-ocular reflex by the nodulus and uvula. Science.
228, 199–202.

Koshland, D.E, Goldbeter, A. and Stock, J.B. (1982). Amplification

and adaptation in regulatory and sensory systems. Science,
217, 220–225. This is a study of the effect of environment on
living organisms, concluding that there is not a different cell for
regulation and sensation and amplification and that adaptation
occurs because of a response to the environment.

Poggion, T. and Koch, C. (1987). Synapses that compute motion.

Scientific American, 256(5), 46–52. This is a study of how nerve
cells in the eye process the information they receive from the
environment, concluding that something in the space between
cells detects motion which is what initiates visual experience,
and determines our visual understanding, and puts our
perception of what we ‘see’ in context. There is an optimal

100
 visual field; vision depends on movement, which is detected
not by the cell but between cells. We respond to sensations by
tuning in and adapting to what is in the environment, there
is a relationship to movement, and intentional movement is
a reaction to detection of environmental change on a cellular
level.

Raloff, J. (1988) Lead effects show in child’s balance. Science News,

135(4), 54.

101
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