|
|
| |
| By Susan Goodwyn, Ph.D. THE TODAY SHOW | |
|
| | | | ||
|
|
If... the baby is not using gestures in a developmentally appropriate way, then there is much more concern for the child’s overall mental development.
|
ALTHOUGH BABIES CAN make gestures as early as 3 or 4 months (for example, extending an index finger toward the mom’s mouth when she is talking), it is not until a child uses these gestures with the intent to communicate that we consider them precursors to language development. Intent is evidenced by a baby making eye contact with a person, looking to see if the communication is acknowledged, and repeating the gesture if it is not acknowledged. Use of non-verbal gestures to intentionally communicate tells child development professionals that the baby has developed the cognitive capacity called intentionality. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| 
Use of representational gestures (baby signs) is evidence that the baby has developed the capacity to form concepts and to use symbols to represent those concepts. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Intentionality, conceptualization, and symbolic representation are necessary cognitive pre-requisites to developing language. Child development professionals (pediatricians, speech pathologists, educational psychologist) assess a baby’s use of non-verbal gestures as an indicator of the baby’s cognitive development. Example: An 18-month-old baby is not yet saying any words. The challenge is to determine whether this child is just a “late talker” or has more serious development disabilities. If it is determined that the baby uses non-verbal gestures in a developmentally appropriate way, then it can be concluded that the child’s cognitive development is on track and that language will most likely develop normally and the child will “catch up” to same-age peers. If, on the other hand, the baby is not using gestures in a developmentally appropriate way, then there is much more concern for the child’s overall mental development. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
In either case, a program of intervention should be developed and implemented. In the case of the “late talker,” speech pathologists are encouraging parents to teach their babies to use baby signs as a means of opening up communication, reducing frustration that results from the inability to communicate, and to allow the child to be actively engaged in the language enterprise. That is, the child can stay on track developmentally until the vocal system catches up to cognitive development. For those children who are found to have more serious learning problems, evaluating the child’s use of gestures helps the professional to isolate the underlying cognitive deficit and develop an appropriate enrichment program. Baby signs has proved beneficial to both the assessment of and intervention with language-delayed children. Other special populations in which gestures have been extremely useful are children with Down syndrome, autisim, and Klinefelter’s syndrome. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Gestures are very helpful to families with normally developing babies, who for a period of time during which their ability to communicate outstrips their ability to talk, are “handicapped.” Sometimes parents think signing will make their babies less motivated to “talk.” On the contrary, baby signs research has shown that language and intellectual skills are more advanced in babies who have used baby signs. And these benefits have been found to be long-lasting. Significant differences in children’s IQ test scores (12 points greater in baby signers) were found to continue well into the elementary school years. Susan Goodwyn, is a professor of child development at California State University, is co-author of the book “Baby Minds” and “Baby Signs.” |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
