Social Principles of Communication Development

caregiver-infant attachment

close, nurtring relationship that provides basis for language development

dyad

interdependence on one another

(emotional for adult, biological for infant)

vocal

• Babies: Can make vocal sounds at birth; research suggests vocal development begins in the womb.

• Moms: Can recognize their baby’s cry within 48 hours after birth.

olfactory (smell)

• Babies: Can recognize their mother’s smell within minutes after birth.

• Moms: Can recognize their baby’s smell within 2 days after birth

visual

• Babies: Notice where someone is looking from the first days of life.

• Moms: Recognize familiar caregivers during face-to-face interactions

physical contact

• Primary avenue for emotional communication between infant and caregiver and vise versa

• Infants would not survive without it

• Brings caregiver’s voice and face into infant’s field

feeding

perfect platform for evolution of social interaction

Infant Directed Speech (IDS) –aka: Parentese, Motherese

“baby talk”—adjustment in speech patterns in response to partner’s abilities

IDS highlights

content words (verbs, nouns), which increases likelihood that infants will remember them

caregiver responsibility

Responding consistently and sensitively to an infant’s sounds and communication attempts to encourage language development and motivate communication.

eye gaze

Patterns of infants’ use of eyes to influence caregiver behavior

mutual gaze

shared eye contact with a partner to signal increased interest in that person

gaze coupling

Alternating pattern of eye contact demonstrated in more advanced (later) conversational exchanges

deictic gaze

Infants use their eyes to “point” to objects that interest them

• initially reflexive in typically developing kids

• “under-grid our initial development of language”