IMAGINATIVE REALITY OBSERVED DURING EARLY LANGUAGE-DEVELOPMENT

The authors argue that our thinking about psychic reality is challenge d by research observations of the child during the period of early lan guage development. The toddler, at the beginnings of propositional spe ech, expresses the capacity for 'two kinds of psychic reality'. A worl d of imaginative pretence occurs quite early, and supplements the chil d's everyday experience. The toddler is not confused by these two expe riential worlds and, correspondingly, the use of imaginative activity is strongly supported by caregivers. While in some ways there is a ric h history of developmental observation and psychoanalytic thinking abo ut such early imaginative activity, its significance is only now being appreciated Imaginative reality refers to a process in which the chil d makes use of what is familiar in the remembered past in order to try out a world of new possibilities in the present that, to some extent, are oriented towards the future. Conditional modes of thinking that a re affectively meaningful are thereby engaged and practised in play. T he authors present vivid observations that illustrate the early imagin ative pretence mode of psychic reality. The observations are followed by a developmental discussion integrating recent research with psychoa nalytic theory. As would be expected, thinking about early imaginative reality leads to a variety of new questions for research and clinical work.