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Babytalk: The Pioneering Book That Will Change Childcare Forever - Softcover

Ward, Sally

 
9780712680981: Babytalk: The Pioneering Book That Will Change Childcare Forever
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0712680985 ISBN 13: 9780712680981
Verlag: GB Gardners Books, 2000

Inhaltsangabe

This represents the most important research into childcare of the decade and BabyTalk's down-to-earth sensible approach shows how all parents can apply Dr Ward's programme. Children who had gone through the programme accelerated their language and comprehension skills at least a year beyond their age with a dramatic increase in their IQ.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Dr. Sally Ward is Head of Speech and Language Therapy at Christopher Place, a new centre in London for children with speech and language disabilities. Children are brought to her clinic from all over the world. She has also appeared in a number of television and radio programs. Dr. Ward has three very articulate grown-up children.

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Birth to Three Months

The newborn baby arrives totally helpless and dependent, but nonetheless amazingly well equipped in a number of ways to interact with the adults around him. He shows an emotional inclination toward people from the very start of life and soon engages them in the communication process.

He recognizes his mother’s and father’s voices on his very first day,1 from how they sounded while he was in the womb. He also will respond to a television or radio show that has been frequently played in his vicinity!2 (He has in fact been hearing for the past two months, as the auditory system is functional from the seventh month of pregnancy.) The newborn’s hearing is not yet as sensitive as that of adults;3 he shows a reflex turning toward low quiet sounds, which will later be lost.

Within days, he can distinguish recordings of his own cries from those of other babies and can discriminate between the sound of a real baby crying and a computer simulation, crying harder in response to the former. At this stage too, he shows a preference for speech that is high-pitched and very tuneful, with lots of rises and falls.4, 5 By the age of one month, he is showing interest in listening to a wide range of sounds and will “fixate” on one sound for some time. An extraordinary feature at this stage is that by the age of four weeks, he can distinguish between phonemes, which are the smallest units in the language to signal meaning. This means, for example, that he knows there are two different sounds when he hears the words “pat” and “bat” spoken, although the difference is only a tiny one.6 By two months, babies can even discriminate male from female voices. It is tempting to conclude that the infant arrives closely attuned to speech, but it is also possible that speech is suited to the innate characteristics of the human condition.

At the same time he is exploring sound, the new baby shows a parallel interest in people. Faces engage his attention, having many of the qualities that he finds most attractive—movement, three dimensions rather than two, contrast between dark and light, and curved lines.7, 8, 9 By the age of only thirty-six hours, he already shows a preference for watching a video of his mother’s face over one of a stranger, demonstrating amazingly rapid learning.10 He also prefers to watch the movements made by people rather than those made by animals or inanimate objects.11 The newborn baby has an extraordinary ability—lost a few weeks later—of imitating tongue protrusion and mouth opening.12 He can also imitate facial expressions of sadness, happiness, and surprise.13, 14, 15 Nobody quite knows why these abilities exist at this time, or why they disappear.

In the early weeks, the baby cries and produces other vocalizations like hiccups and burps, all related to his bodily functions. Although these sounds are not used to communicate intentionally at this stage, the adults around him respond to his noises, paving the way for true interaction a little later. The baby learns that different behaviors receive different responses. For example, he cries and fusses, and his mother says, “Oh, you want your diaper changed,” or he looks toward a toy and she says, “You want to see teddy,” as she brings it toward him.

The magical first smile is seen at about six weeks. It is an extremely powerful stimulus to the adults around him, who are prepared to do almost anything up to and including standing on their heads to evoke one! At this stage, the amount he vocalizes and the frequency with which his facial expressions change does not differ according to whether or not he is looking at an adult. He will smile to a range of stimuli, and not only at people.16 He may now start an interaction sequence with an adult by catching his eye and conclude it by looking away. Cooing emerges at this time, usually signaling that he is contented.

From the age of eight weeks, the baby’s gaze and the little sounds he makes are more frequently directed at adults, and by twelve weeks, he shows a very well established preference for people rather than any other stimulus in his environment. He vocalizes much more to them than to anything else and most of all to his mother.17 He is now, for the first time, responsive to his mother’s facial expressions and tone of voice and can change his own facial expressions. He is more inclined to smile at familiar adults than at strangers.

Over the period of the first three months, babies develop the capacity to produce more and more complex sounds, starting with the vague vowel-like squeaks of the newborn to the more complex expressions of pleasure and occasional vocalizations of two or more different syllables. By three months, he produces the most delightful laughter and will now respond to a smile by smiling back. (Please remember, though, that babies do develop at different rates, and that in the early stages, even whether he was born a week early or late makes a difference.)

In the first three months, social interaction typically occurs between infant and adult, without other objects or events serving as a focus of the interaction. This will be one of the big changes to come in the baby’s continued development.

Language and General Development

THE FIRST MONTH

Soon after birth, the baby shows his responsiveness to the adults around him. When he is fussy or crying, he can be quieted by being spoken to, by being picked up, and by eye contact. Nature has arranged things so that he focuses best at the distance he is from his mother’s face when he is in her arms.18 He already shows interest in listening, ceasing his activity as a sound comes nearer. By the end of the first month he will fixate on a nearby sound. He cries frequently, but soon starts to produce some vowel sounds other than crying. His noises are not in any way communicative at this stage, but rather reflect his bodily state. He clearly signals his degree of alertness and comfort with the presence or absence of crying or fussing and will actively seek eye contact with adults.

In terms of general development, he is beginning to make rudimentary attempts to explore his world.19 He will turn his head toward a light, and although he has no binocular vision as yet, he already perceives that size and shape are constant even though objects are seen from different angles and distances. He can, at this very early stage, discriminate between a cross, a circle, and a triangle.20

He has very little control over his body, using jerky and involuntary movements. As is the case in all vertebrates, the general direction of behavioral organization is from head to foot, so that he can hold his head steady for a few seconds if he is supported at the shoulders, but has little control over his legs. He shows some reflex behaviors that will become increasingly purposeful—for example, clenching his hand on contact with a rattle. He shows a complete and coordinated, albeit temporary, walking reflex when he is held upright.

THE SECOND MONTH

In this period, the baby is showing more and more interest in both his environment in general and people in particular. He now often turns his head and looks in the direction of voices and appears to listen intently to anyone speaking. He seems to respond to tone of voice, and by the middle of this month will sometimes smile when he is spoken to. His “voice” is also developing. Cooing emerges during this month. Cooing is quieter and more musical than crying and can be heard when he is content. It consists of a consonant-type sound followed by a vowel-type sound, with occasional repetition. At this stage, the baby may develop special vocalizations signaling hunger, which is the first time his sound has a particular...

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Verlag
GB Gardners Books
Erscheinungsdatum
2000
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0712680985
ISBN 13 
9780712680981
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
307
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
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