I have long thought that simple gestures explain more clearly to very young children what response you are expecting from them. I got excellent feedback for my daily efforts at the daycare where I work when a 20 month-old, who I consider one of my ‘rescue’ babies, sat at a table reading a truck book I had given him. He looked over at me, patted the chair next to him and simply said “sit”. He was asking me to sit and read with him!
I have used the same gesture with all the children since they were about 9 months-old (why am I the only one who knows to do that over and over again?) when trying to get them to sit and eat or sit beside me when I’m reading to them. I usually say “Sit Mary” or whatever their name happens to be, and at the same time I align the chair I want them to use and pat the seat of that chair, or pat the rug beside me at reading time. So now my rescue baby truly gets it and he’s the first with that response — after 10 months of facility care!
Needless to say, in February 2009 the University of Chicago released the results of research indicating that gestures used with toddlers often results in those children having a much larger vocabulary at age 5. And here I thought it was just me! However, the research also makes reference to ‘high socio-economic status’ being a factor in families that use more gesturing.
I venture to suggest that socio-economic status has less influence now that the majority of very young children are left in full time care with individuals who have very little experience in caring for that age group and also are very poorly paid. Money or parents’ income now has nothing to do with gesturing as part of communication; neither does the cost of the daycare programme.
What affects the development of toddler vocabulary is the full time, consistent, dependable care of a loving and knowledgeable caregiver – the age of the caregiver doesn’t matter, but experience does.
Long ago I remember observing a friend casually pointing out something to her daughter (then about 14 months of age) and thinking at the time that her daughter’s line of sight wasn’t even close to where the mother was pointing and thus the child saw nothing. The words and gesture were wasted because the mother was unaware of what her child could or could not actually see. Should I also mention that the child later had multiple stepfathers, several early care and teenage traumatic care situations and has had tremendous emotional problems into her adult life? What else did her mother miss?
As a matter of course I always drop to the eye level of any child I’m with, or pick them up to my eye level, BEFORE I point something out to them. I also align my finger to their eyesight and the object (a gesture) and it only takes a minute of observation to recognise that the child understands what I’m saying and pointing to — oh, that’s also joint attention!
At which point it’s also interesting to say “Can you say…‘bird’?” (or the name of the object) — a child making excellent progress will attempt to say the one, two or three syllable word you give them, some children will just parrot your whole question and some won’t have a clue as to what you’re asking of them and make no response (many of those are over 2 years old! Do we then refer them for therapy to resolve the ‘delay’?)
My ‘rescue’ baby has also recognized (gestured) that a dishwasher has a ‘propeller’/blades that make it work, so his mother told me! She told him “No, the dishwasher isn’t a helicopter”! But she got the connection (her joint attention means she is on his wavelength) and he obviously has made the connection between the action, the ‘gesture’ if you will, of a helicopter blade and the impeller in a dishwasher. Albeit a connection that’s hard for most adults and parents to comprehend.
Where his brain will go I don’t know but I do know that the child already has a finely functioning brain, a long attention span, understands that gestures (and words) have power and I’m happy that his parents recognise his potential. With the right attention at school — mine! — I hope he will be OK in the future. I’m the only staff member who was alert to his strange hand flapping at 9 months, to everyone else he was just strange but ‘easy’ to manage (he rarely cried) and was therefore neglected by all other staff. He has been in an otherwise mediocre daycare facility, mercifully only two days a week, and thankfully I’ve been able to watch over him.
I think his parents will continue their warm, loving and close (gestures!) observations of their son and hopefully he won’t lose ground when either of us moves on.