EarlyInteractionandNonverbalCommunication

EARLY INTERACTION AND NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION INTRODUCTION Young infants and babies are not able to communicate by words in the way adults can. As a substitute, they use natural gestures, facial expression and vocalization, which are general. At the earliest stage, these are gross to start with - cries or wriggles – but their methods become more and more exact as they grown-up and their sounds amalgamate into words. Interaction with responsive adults is must to develop their communication. Early interaction and Communication: Early interaction: Early interaction refers to the interaction between an infant and caregivers before development of verbal speech and language. The word infant is derived from the Latin infans, which means, “ not speaking”. But a lot of communication occurs before verbal speech and language develop. Development of language depends on the development of earlier preverbal (before speech) interaction and communication. (Owens, 2001, pp.157) Communication: “Communication is a natural way in which people exchange ideas, ask for something or someone, comment on what is happening around them and express their feelings.” (Crishna, 1996, pp. 1) In case of infants – communication is the way in which they can request, protest, greet, comment, and ask for objects, attention, action etc. “ Communication does not suddenly start when the child begins to talk; it has been taking place from the moment he was born. Often the child and the adult may be quite unconscious that what they are doing is communicating.” (McConkey, 1986, pp. 41) People/children usually communicate- 1) By using speech: It refers to the verbal expression in a language that is realized by other surround the child and includes- Words ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­----------- Hello Phrases ----------- Hello, Mina Sentences ----------- Mina is sitting on the table 2) By using non-verbal means: Sound - which express happiness or sadness or a . response Eye gaze - by looking at an object when infants want it Facial expression - by smiling when infants are happy Body language - by turning away from things they do not like Pointing - by pointing with a finger or a hand to a person Gesture - by waving their hand to say hello Touching - by touching anybody to get attention (Crishna, 1996, pp. 2-3) We can say that though speech is most accepted and normal form of communication, it develops later after using a lot of non-verbal means in a child. These early non-verbal skills are very essential for a child in acquisition of language. Early interaction between infant and mother occurs with these non-verbal forms of communication. For example- non-specific crying which could indicate a need for food or comfort or relief from pain, But the mother or the caregiver, responds to this early, unclear message by trying to find out what the child wants. The mother may get that the child is hungry, wet, cold, pricked by a safety pin or plagued by a pain in his stomach. Stages in Early Communication Development: Between birth and age one · Can differentiate mother’s voice from stranger’s voice. · Cries to gain contact/cries for assistance, when happy/uncomfortable/in pain/ hungry (reinforced behavior) · Increasingly, chronological rather than instantaneous speech begins to develop. · Improved turn-taking outline (pauses for response) · Rituals and game-playing develop · Rituals (conventional routines of feeding bathing etc.) · Games = anticipation-based (Peek-a-boo, round the garden) · These sequences of mutual gaze, smiles, and vocalization are like “protoconversation” (similar to conversation) · Recognizes and responds to own name · Interactions become more about the infant, caregiver and an object (i.e. triangle reference) · Recognizes name of familiar people (mum, dad) · Says 2-3 words besides "mama" and "baba". · Use simple social gesture, e.g. wave bye bye, clap · Turns to search and localize used words such as all gone, no, bye bye (Bangla-shes, na, bye bye) Between one and two · Understands "no". · Uses 20 to 40 words, including names. Uses new words regularly. Removes shoes, socks, pants, and sweater Replaces familiar objects where they belong Sleeps ten-twelve hours at night Refers to self by name. Combines two words such as "daddy bye-bye". Waves good-bye Plays by self; initiates own play Builds tower of 6-7 blocks. Makes the "sounds" of familiar animals. Uses word such, as "more" to make wants known. Brings object from another room when asked. Between two and three Identifies body parts. Gives full name. Holds up fingers to tell age. Carries on 'conversation' with self and dolls. Asks, "What's that?" And "where's my?" Uses 2-word negative phrases such as "no want". Has a 450-word vocabulary. Combines nouns and verbs "mummy come". Understands simple time concepts: "last night", "tomorrow". Refers to self as "me" rather than by name. Tries to get adult attention: "watch me". Likes to hear same story repeated. May say "no" when means "yes". Talks to other children as well as adults. Solves problems by talking instead of hitting or crying. Answers "where" questions. Matches 3-4 colors, knows big and little Names common pictures and things. Uses short sentences like "me want more" or "me want biscuit". Between three and four Uses verb forms. Uses 'I', 'you'. Uses 'this', 'that'. Names at least one color. Counts to five. Verbalizes recent experiences. Can tell a story. Understands 'what', 'where' Uses 'what', 'where' and occasionally 'when', 'who'. Has a sentence length of 4-5 words. Has a vocabulary of nearly 1000 words. Understands "yesterday," "summer", "lunchtime", "tonight", "little-big". Begins to obey requests like "put the block under the chair". Knows his or her last name, name of street on which he/she lives and several nursery rhymes Between four and five Has sentence length of 4-5 words. Uses past tense correctly. Comprehends the concept of 'better than'. Uses size and colour adjectives in sentence form. Has a vocabulary of nearly 1500 words. Points to colors red, blue, yellow and green. Identifies triangles, circles and squares. Understands "In the morning", "next", "noontime". Can speak of imaginary conditions such as "I hope". Asks many questions, asks "who?" and "why?" Outline of stages of early communication: Perlocutionary stage 0-8 months: · Infant has no goal awareness · Attends to and responds to stimuli · Uses undifferentiated behaviors (e.g. crying) · Deliberate communicative attempts increase gradually (gestures, reaching) Illocutionary stage 8-9 months: · Coordinated plan to achieve goals · Infant uses eye contact and repetition · Uses gestures · Uses protoimperatives (requests-reaching, pointing) · Uses protodeclaratives (maintaining joint attention-pointing, showing) Locutionary 12 months: · Begins with first meaningful words and gestures together · Words accompany or replace gestures to express · Symbolic interaction occurs · Elicited speech sounds sometimes words STAGES OF EARLY COMMUNICATION Coupe and Goldbart (1988) discuss 6 stages of early communication. These are- Stage 1. Pre-intentional-Reflexive stage: The carer to the individual’s very early and reflexive behaviours assigns communicative intent and meaning. These are produced in response to internal and external stimuli (especially auditory and visual stimuli) eg. Startle reflex, sucking reflex. At the reflexive level, the person appears to sleep a lot. However, when awake the individual will gaze at people or objects, which come into his or her visual field (15-20 cm). When the caregiver makes eye contact with the individual it is known as “mutual gaze. Stage 2. Pre-intentional-Reactive stage: The carer to the individual’s reactive behaviours assigns communicative intent and meaning. The individual reacts to people objects or events within his or her environment. He or she reacts to stimuli from all senses. There is now an expanded range of body and lime movements and vocalizations e.g. trunk turning, hand to mouth behaviours and a greater variety of facial movements. He or she learns to repeat a pleasurable action. The carer will talk to the individual and the content of the conversation will relate to the activity that they are involved in e.g. “Here is your dinner’’- at dinner time. The individual responds to different tones of voice and to different facial expressions. He or she will search for sound sources, especially speech or music. Any sound or movement made by the individual will have a major effect on the carer’s behaviour. At this stage, the first smile appears. Mutual gaze is changing and leading into shared attention where the individual and the carer may appear to be “looking” at the same object or event and the carer will comment on it. Stage3. Pre-intentional-Proactive stage: The individual’s efforts to act on the environment become signals to the carer who then assigns communicative intent and meaning. At this stage, there is the beginning of acting purpose fully on objects. The individual begins to realise that objects exits even if they cannot see them. He or she can retrieve partially hidden objects and can recognise some objects by function e.g. cup/drink. The individual will look for reach for desired objects and people. A repertoire of different behaviours is developing, for instance, hitting, shaking and mouthing various objects. He or she will attempt to repeat actions, which brought about novel changes. The individual can shift his or her attention to more than one thing at a time. He or she is beginning to understand another person’s expressions and actions. The individual will also continue a movement during a pause in familiar interaction e.g. If being rocked, s/he will continue the rocking a break as a signal to reinstate the movement. He or she begins to imitate simple gestures e.g. waving, clapping. Towards the end of stage, the behaviours become more intentional the individual sees what he or she wants and goes for it, although the way he or she does it may not always be successful. Stage 4. Intentional-Informal stage: The individual acts on the environment to create a specific effect. By the time the individual reaches the early intentional stage of development he or she knows how to use an object to get the carer’s attention or how to use another person to get an object that he or she wants. Object permanency is established and the individual will actively try to look for objects that disappear. He or she will also use a repertoire of behaviours including alternating gaze to get his or her needs met le. Looking back and forth between the communication partner and the item or activity that is wanted as a way of requesting it. There begins to be a range of communicative functions e.g. protests, greeting, positive and negative attention seeking. Receptively, the individual recogninises and responds to common gestures e.g. come here, go away, wave. He or she also shows simple imitation skills. Stage 5. Intentional-Formal stage: At this stage the individual is beginning to integrate the information from his/her senses. He or she will drop or throw something deliberately, monitor the action and look to see where it falls. The individual is more able to solve problems through trial and error. Objectives are beginning to be used appropriately e.g. use of a straw, a comb, a purse. The individual learns that the same object will do different things depending on how it is used e.g. papers tears, paper crumples. Reaching for something turns into pointing to something. The individual is able to communicate a wide range of intentions or functions to others in a way that is more conventionally understood e.g. through gestures, single words and vocalizations. He or she will show or give objects as a way of initiating or maintaining an interaction with another person. He or she will understand the key words in a sentence particularly when used in context. Stage 6. Intentional-Referential stage: The individual starts to have an internalized mental representation of the word around them; He or she is able to solve simple problems by thinking about them rather then through trial and error. Deferred imitation skills are established e.g. can imitate unfamiliar actions after an event. The individual may also be able to mime or act out an event. Joint action routines are established where the individual learns that interactions follows a familiar sequence of events and can anticipate these and indicate when the sequence is varied e.g. dressing, grooming, mealtimes. For instance, with dressing- the caregiver uses the same order- singlet first, then t-shirt or jumper, underpants, socks, pants and shoes. The function of a range of objects is known and objects are used purposefully. Objects may also be used to established or maintain a social interaction or because he or she needs help with an activity e.g. bring a key to open cupboard where a favourite item is kept. Hierarchy of learning language: Speech Expressive language Receptive language Play Attention Interactional Behaviors: Some interactional behaviors are essential for communication development of a child. These are- Joint reference: Also known as “joint attention”. Joint reference means- two or more individuals share a common focus together on one point of interest (object/event/person). (Owens, 2001, pp.184) The baby and mother insert in a system to ensure joint selective attention at earliest stage. For an example, the mother will shake an object before her infant to be a focus for the infant’s attention it. These routines are accustomed to achieve eye contact, the first step in Joint reference. Joint action: Infant and the caregiver build up dual behaviors in a familiar context through out the first year of life. The routinized actions (i.e.- game playing and daily routine) are called joint action. Conversational skills and turn taking are learned. Rules of communication can be learned within a familiar and pleasurable social sequence. Game playing: Caregiver and the infant begin to play almost from birth. Depending on caregivers and child’s interest, the games become ritual exchanges that mention upon or sensitively mark common patterns of interaction. Routines: It means- the conventionalized and predictable scripts or scaffolds for interpretation and behaviors in which caregiver provide order. Conceptual foundations of later language development is achieved within familiar daily routines and events (bathing, toileting, dressing, feeding etc.) Turn taking: Turn taking is very essential aspect of interactional behavior for rurther development of conversational skills that is language development. It occurs in early breast-feeding. A ‘turn” may entail vocalization, movement of body parts, facial expression etc. It occurs in games with pauses for infant responses (tickling, lifting, bouncing etc.). It develops protoconversation (similar to conversation) with alternating vocalization, then gestures and words. Babytalk/motherese/parentese: Motherese is a special style of talking with children which contains short and simple form of sentences, special body movement and special facial expression. Characteristic of motherese: · Small core vocabulary · Short length of utterance · Infant vocal behavior is treated as meaningful · Much use of verbal rituals and repetitions · Talk refers to the here and now · Much use of greetings · Mother pauses even if the child doesn’t respond · Much use of pitch and loudness Activities to Encourage your Child's Language Encourage the child to express opinion by using gesture Talk simply, clearly, and slowly to your child Give him/her opportunities to make choice Play simple games with your child Comment on what you did or how you think your child feels. Talk to your child as you care for him or her throughout the day Use a lot of pictures Tell rhymes and sing songs. Allow the child to use symbolic or invented word e.g.- mew sound to indicate cat Talk to your baby about everything you're doing while you're with him/her Reward and encourage early efforts to communicate Give reinforcement for child’s response Continue to say social stories. Praise your child when she talks about her feelings, thoughts, hopes and fears. Look at family photos and talk to him about your family history. Listen to her when she talks to you or tries to express something. GLOSSARY Approximate- near, estimated Blink- flash Core- center, middle Dissimilar- different Exact- precise/accurate Increasingly- gradually Imitation- reproduction Intentionality- goal directed behavior Interaction- interface, contact, relation Manipulation- handling, management Non-intentional- not goal directed or purposeful Overhang- protrusion Preverbal- before speech Protest- objection, complain Prick- puncture, perforation Plagued- beset Predilection- preference, liking, fondness Pause- silence Pitch- terrain Predictable- expected Protoconversation- similar to conversation Quiver- tremble, shake Ritual- formal procedure Repetition- echo, recurrence Remoteness- distance Retort- comeback with, rejoin Responsive- approachable, reactive Reflexive- automatic, impulsive Stimulate- arouse, inspire Settle- clear up Startle- surprise, shock, alarm Substitute- alternate Significance- importance Stiffen- harden Tickle- irritate, prickle Unconscious- unaware Wriggle- writhe REFERENCES 1) Owens, R.E. (2001), Language Development: An Introduction, 5th Ed, Boston: Pearson Education, pp. 157-194 2) McConkey, R. & Price, P. (1986), Let’s Talk, London: Souvenir Press (E & A) Ltd., pp. 41-80 3) Crishna, B. (1996), Communication for the child with Cerebral Palsy, Calcutta: Indian Institute of cerebral palsy, pp. 1-6 4) Bloom, L. & Lahey, M. (1978), Language Development and Language Disorders, New York: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 69-97. 5) Coupe, J. Golart, J. (1988), Communication before Speech, London: Chpham and Hall, pp. 19-30 6) Sheridan, M., (1997), From Birth to Five years, London: Routledge.