What does it mean to be one? - Practical Pre-School Books

mother did. They imitated their mother’s expression but were also active in their
own facial expressions and waving hands and feet.
• Babies were able to pause and look expectant. They had learned something of the
timing of a conversation, because their mother communicated regularly in this way.
• Babies reacted to changes in their mother’s tone. They were also very aware if
their mother’s attention was distracted, as was sometimes deliberately created by
an interruption in some studies. Babies made physically active and sound-making
attempts to regain her full attention.
• There was also evidence that the babies had a subtle grasp of the give-and-take of
a proper exchange. When babies were shown a video of their mother, they soon
changed from happy communication to signs of confusion, and then distress. The
only interpretation was that the reactions of the familiar face on the screen failed
to fit what the baby had just ‘said’. The timing was awry, the video of the mother’s
reactions were not attuned to the emotional tone of her real baby. Young babies very
soon became aware of the mismatch.
The 1970s and 1980s studies used mother and baby pairs and called the subtle adult
communication with babies ‘motherese’. However, this kind of adjusted communication, that
is so very suitable for babies, is not the sole territory of mothers, nor of women. Nor is the
communication style used only by parents, so ‘parentese’ is not much of an improvement as
a term. Men, as fathers or early years practitioners, are completely capable of adjusting their
communication in this way. So it is better called a phrase like ‘infant-directed speech’. Older
children, who probably copy familiar adults, also sometimes produce this kind of talk with babies
they know, not always their own siblings. The delighted reaction from the baby is encouragement
to continue.
The characteristics of effective infant-directed speech are as follows:
Being a helpful adult
The video-based research of
babies is three decades old, but as
relevant as ever. The vital insights
about early communication and the
sensitivity of babies are applicable
to the exchanges between caring
adults (of either sex) and a baby.
• Even babies of a few months
old are keen to communicate.
They are responsive to
affectionate attention from an
adult – and also from familiar
older children, who can be very
patient in chatting with babies.
• Babies’ alertness at this stage
is based on hearing familiar
voices, reassuring talk and
singing from the earliest weeks.
• The adult needs to stay close
and never see communication
with a baby as something
that can interrupted by more
‘important’ tasks.
• You have to be close to babies so that your faces are in close proximity and they can
see your eyes and facial expression. You might be chatting in this way as you change
their nappy, sitting with them on your lap or beside them as they lay on their back on
a comfortable floor.
• It does not matter what you say, so long as you look interested. Use ordinary words,
there is no advantage, and some drawbacks, if you introduce ‘baby talk’ and change
words, like saying ‘bikky’ or ‘gee gee’.
• Keep what you say simple and your phrases short. Pause and look expectant, so that
the baby learns it is now her turn to ‘say’ something.
• Be more expressive than in usual speech, both in how you say the words and in your facial
expressions. Use your eyes, mouth and facial muscles to add to the communication.
• Babies seem to like voices to be slightly higher pitched than the normal adult tone. On
average, women have a higher pitched voice, but men can go up a bit in pitch without
straining or sounding odd. For instance, watch three-month old Charlotte and her father,
as he changes her nappy and chats, in Firm foundations for early literacy (Siren Films 2009).
• What works best is sing-song style, with a circling and repetitive quality. You repeat
or half-repeat a phrase that has caught the baby’s attention, such as, ‘Is that a
raspberry? Did you blow a raspberry at me?’
• Follow a relaxed rhythm, so the baby has the time to express their sounds, make
their facial expression or wave their hands at you. If you go too fast, then you end up
talking over the baby’s contribution to the conversation.
• Be ready to follow the baby’s lead, in sounds or facial expression. You are partners in
this exchange and it is a delight to babies (and toddlers as well) when you copy them.
What
does
it mean to
be
one?
17
What
does
it mean
to
be
one?