Pointing Gesture Essay

At this point we can begin to understand the limitations of body language, facial expression and gesture when language is not available. Although they allow for instant communication they cannot help a child to understand what is being seen or provide a way in which afterwards the child can communicate what she has seen. This means that children who only have the basic communication skills of body language, gesture and facial

In David Eagleman’s documentary, “Why Do I Need You?” he describes the importance of social interaction in the development of our brain. It is fundamental to interact with others and work holistically because it helps our brain to grow ultimately benefiting both the individual and society. Understanding people’s facial expressions, something so quick it is almost done unconsciously, is a vital aspect in communication. Eagle man demonstrates how individual from a young age, as early as twelve months, can understand the importance of socialization from their “inborn instincts” and through the observation of others to decide who to play and not play with. We thrive from understanding people’s social signal and without it it can become very hard

Gestures are actions produced with the intent to communicate and are typically expressed using one’s fingers, hands, and arms, facial features, and body motions. There are two primary categories for gestures: deictic and representational. Iverson, Longobaridi, and Caselli (2009) declared, “deictic gestures indicate referents in the immediate environment, and their meaning is thus context bound.” Deictic gestures are often divided into contact and distal gestures. Contact gestures were defined by Crais, Watson, & Baranek (2009) as gestures that, “require contact between a child and object or caregiver, such as giving a toy or pushing away an adult’s hand (p.96).” These are considered early gestures. Distal gestures, in contrast, “require no contact with the caregiver or object, such as pointing, showing, and reaching” (Crais, Watson, & Baranek, 2009, p.96). These are typically seen at approximately 10-12 months of

At the age of a year to 17 month children start to get interested in looking through books for a small amount of time. They begin to follow simple directions and answer simple questions with gestures. Children this age recognise familiar objects ,people

The physical development of a baby in its first six months of life shows limited range of movement but the beginnings of an ability to respond to stimulus around them. They show their reaction to people, sounds and movement by turning their head toward whatever attracts their attention. They will watch an adult’s face whilst feeding, but have already begun to shows signs of recognition as they will smile when familiar people are around them either because they can see them

Cognitively, the way infants process information undergoes rapid changes during the infant’s first year. For instance, the Piagetian theory of cognitive development includes (1) the sensorimotor stage in which infants, through trial an error, build their understanding of things around the world (e.g. imitation of familiar behaviour); (p. 203, Chapter 6); (2) building schemas (e.g. a 5 month old child can move or drop an object fairly rigidly, whereas an older child can do the same action but with more intentional and creative movement);(p. 202, Chapter 6) and (3) the concept of object permanence (e.g. an infant knows that an object exists even though it is hidden encourages the child’s perceptual skills and awareness of the objects ‘realness’ in the world (p.

The development of attachment bonds to other biological figures plays an important role in emotional development. Throughout life, an individual will form several relationships, some of which will be sincere and intimate while others will be superficial. However, collectively these relationships provide the foundation of our communities, families, and friendships and become essential to our survival as a species. A secure attachment bond can be classified as the interactive emotional relationship between a caregiver and infant involving the emotional responses of the caregiver to the infant 's cues (Bowlby, 1969). These emotional responses can be expressed in a variety of forms including gestures, sounds, or even movements. Thus, this interactive emotional relationship between the caregiver and infant brings the two closer together creating an environment that allows the infant to feel safe and secure, further developing their ability to communicate and interact with others (Bowlby, 1969).

seen and provide a way that afterwards the child can then understand and be able to communicate what they have seen effectively. These skills are all very crucial in helping children and young people to learn and manage how to listen and understand different concepts. They can then have a chance to develop their own opinions and ideas to then be able to participate in different decision making and problem solving in appropriate ways. Babies are nonverbal so to begin with they use sounds and facial expressions to communicate to adults expressing themselves and their needs (e.g. smiling, cooing and gurgling). Toddlers then start to have a small understanding and can use words and gestures to make connections to people and be able to develop their knowledge and understanding

Laura Schulz’s presentation, The Surprisingly Logical Minds of Babies, explores the idea of how babies and young children are able to learn so much in such a short span of time. In Schulz’s presentation, the viewers see multiple video experiments where she introduces babies to different balls and toys that make noises. I choose to explain and break down the first experiment, that she discusses. In the first experiment Schulz has a colleague reach into a bucket with mostly blue balls and a few yellow balls. The colleague pulls out three of the balls and when she takes each ball out she squeaks them. The colleague then pulls out a yellow ball and hands it to the baby. The child copies what Schulz’s colleague has done, but however the

Gazing plays a central role in the social and cognitive development of a child. It is documented that from the age of 3 months, a child will begin to develop perceptual learning. An example of this hypothesis was tested with an actor holding a stuffed kitten in front a 1 year old. The 1 year old stared at the kitten longer, therefore the infant’s desire for what the actor was holding caused the infant to interpret the actor’s behavior as

Research has shown that the way the caregiver and infant interact has a significant effect on the maturation of the infant's nervous system,

The motivation to point out and share aspects of the world with others seems to be a unique characteristic of human beings. In the months leading up to an infant's’ first birthday, the ability to demonstrate gestural communication can be discerned from pointing. Infant pointing is thought to be an important part of the prelinguistic period, preparing children for the emergence of language. A prerequisite for the production of pointing gestures is a shared experience between both the signaler and the recipient of the gesture, that is, a simultaneous engagement with the same external referent usually referred to as joint attention (Carpenter, Nagell, & Tomasello, 1998). The standard definition of joint attention according to Tomasello (1995) signifies deep mentalistic understanding from both parties. In other words, “two individuals know that they are attending to something in common,” (Tomasello, 1995, as cited in Racine, 2012, p.26). This may very well be the case when considering linguistic children and adults, however, is questionable when looking at prelinguistic infants who have yet to develop the

Language and communication impairments are primary features of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and are the some of the earliest emerging behavioral markers of ASD. “Research with typically developing populations highlights the importance of both infants and maternal gesture use in infants’ early language development” (Talbott and Flusberg, 2015, p.1). Investigations of infant siblings of children with autism, who are at increased genetic risk, have shown delays in language and gesture production during their first year of life; these children are later diagnosed with ASD. Therefore, due to the commonness of language and gesture difficulties amongst high risk siblings and the impact of language on functional outcomes, it is important

They discovered an early social behavior to connect a baby’s ability to learn new language sound is called gaze shifting. Gaze shifting is when a baby makes eye contact at the same object as the other person such as a tutor. They did studies on infants with a tutor, and toys to measure how fast their brain can response and capable of doing. According to Brooks, infant gaze shifting serves as a building block for more complicated language and social skills. Researchers

Gestures benefit the receiver and the sender, often taking the place of words. This type of nonverbal communication can be used to convey an understanding, aid in revealing complex ideas and to get attention. Gestures can be done to show listening and comprehension, such as a head nod. These can also help to explain, answer or promote what is being said verbally in a visual way. An example of this would be in a conversation with someone. The person speaking may gestures money by rubbing their fingers to their thumb, to highlight the subject of money which is being spoken upon. Another example would be in the discussion of distance or large size extending hands and arms out from the body, thus emphasizing the extreme amount being discussed.