Infants and Toddlers Can Learn To Talk Around The Clock™

It’s a boy!

How do you help families? “One size” doesn’t fit all Customize early intervention Each family and child is unique Family-designed plans create lasting, significant results

What do we know about babies that might help us “do our homework,” and design plans for families?

Recent Research Tells Us that Babies: · Respond to sensory stimuli as neural connections are made in specific parts of the brain · Recognize human faces · Respond to vocal promptings Search for eye contact to seek and maintain bond with caregiver

Interaction Strategies Babies attend to and act on environment Babies observe, listen and learn from people Babies explore and experiment

Comprehension Strategies Attend to a common focus Listen selectively to adult language Let Mom or Dad know if they like or don’t like the message they are receiving

Language Production Strategies Babies selectively imitate only what they understand Babies talk a lot to invite feedback from the listener Babies notice correspondence between words and mouth movements (by 5 mos.)

What do we know about the parental role in the development of babies?

Adults Seek to Establish 2 Social Events with Baby: Joint attention Turn taking

What role do parents play in the teaching of language? Parents teach language as one of the primary goals of human cultures Parents involve baby in give and take pattern of conversation Parents assign meaning to baby’s non-language behaviors to meet baby’s needs

What other roles do parents play in the teaching of language? Parents use “motherese” Parents increase the number of words used to describe and control as babies develop Parents incorporate prosodic features Parents respond to child’s intentional communicative acts

What is the Effect of Hearing Loss on the Language Learning Process? Flexer has described the “invisible acoustic filter” Impacts verbal language acquisition Impacts linguistic skills of reading and writing

Newborn Hearing Screening Identifies Babies at Birth Makes it possible to access hearing early Creates opportunities for intervention to begin earlier Creates challenges for parents Creates challenges for professionals

What will really make a difference in the life of a young child learning to listen and talk?

We have learned about the interactive process of the parent teaching the baby to talk. But… when one partner fails to reciprocate as anticipated: The interaction is compromised Parent-child interactions must be systematically developed

The Bottom Line is This: The parents and other significant people in the child’s life are the ones who will implement the program for the child--- Unless you plan to move in!

Questions to be Answered What are the key components to early intervention? Why were some families successful? Why did other families struggle? What techniques did master teachers use in the classroom?

Signature Behaviors Eight Signature Behaviors to develop parent-child language interaction Eight Signature Behaviors to maximize the auditory potential

Language Signature Behavior Level 1 What is the first behavior parents need to establish throughout the day to set the stage for language and listening development? Positioning

Language Signature Behavior Level 2 Once the parent is positioning the child for optimal communication throughout the day, he/she is ready to: Recognize the Child’s Signals

Language Signature Behavior Level 3 Now the parent is: 1. positioning the child for easier interaction and communication, and 2. recognizing his/her child’s attempts to communicate Model Language

Language Signature Behavior Level 4 Now the parent is: 1. positioning the child face-to-face 2. recognizing the child’s signals, and 3. modeling language to match the child’s wants and needs What else can parents do to stimulate language growth? Name Objects and Actions

Language Signature Behavior Level 5 Up to now, the parent has been: Positioning the child Recognizing the child’s signals Modeling appropriate language Naming objects and actions Now the parent needs to be able to assess Comprehension

Language Signature Behavior Levels 6 and 7 Taking into consideration the language the child is understanding, what else can the parent do to expand the child’s experiences and help the child develop language and speech? Self-Talk Parallel Talk

Language Signature Behaviors Level 8 The parent incorporates all the seven previous Signature Behaviors throughout the day and shifts easily and appropriately from one to the other. Hooray! The child is beginning to talk! What should the parent do now? Expand the Child’s Language

Eight Listening Signature Behaviors Arranged in hierarchical order Set the stage for auditory development Provide support for language development Carefully integrated with all language development practice

The Eight Listening Signature Behaviors are: Parent will understand hearing loss and amplification Parent will establish full time hearing aid/CI use Parent will maintain device in good working condition Parent will minimize auditory distractions

Parent will provide meaningful experiences with sound Parent will call the child’s attention to sounds Parent will know which sounds the child discriminates Parent will associate sounds with meaningful language and concepts

Help Babies Access Hearing by: Providing consistent auditory stimulation Developing child’s memory for sound through meaningful experiences Speaking directly to the child to help the child tune in to talking Helping the child make the connection between the sound of Mom or Dad’s voice and the meaning of the interaction

To use the hierarchy of Signature Behaviors in Language and Listening Observe and interact with the family Target appropriate behaviors for practice Practice targets during naturally-occurring times of the day Provide variety of practice throughout the day so interactions become habit

Layered or Cumulative Effect If you are working with a family that is struggling, re-assess. Maybe the parents need to go back and rebuild their foundation of Language or Listening Signature Behaviors from the bottom up. Without a firm foundation of skills, it will be difficult to achieve a successful, interactive and pleasurable parent-child relationship.

Tick Talk Tick Talk Tick Talk! The clock is ticking. Time is precious. Help parents and babies both play their roles in the learning process fully and skillfully. Help families create meaningful episodes of interaction throughout the day that will end in fun and learning.

Bibliography Boysson-Bardies, Benedicte de (1999). How language comes to children; from birth to two years. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, A Bradford Book. Flexer, C. (1999). Facilitating hearing and listening in young children 2nd ed.). San Diego: Singular Publishing Group, Inc. Simmons-Martin, A. and Karen Rossi (1990). Parents and teachers: partners in language development, Washington D.C.: Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf. McLean, James and Lee Snyder-McLean (1999). How Children Learn Language, San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing Group, Inc. Rossi, K. (2003). Learn to talk around the clock, a professional’s early intervention toolbox, Washington D.C.: Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Karen Rossi, M.A., Early Intervention Specialist Director, Omaha Hearing School Omaha, Nebraska