Abstract
The idea that infants communicate prior to their first words is not new to anyone who has spent time with infants. However, the recognition that preverbal children can communicate both intentionally and symbolically prior to speech, through use of infant signs, also known as symbolic gestures or Baby Signs®, has opened a window into the mind of the infant for scientists, parents, and early childhood educators. For a parent, a child’s use of signs can reveal the mental contents—desires, needs, memories—of the individual infant whose mind they most want to know. For scientists, symbolic gestures can reveal the general capacities of the infant mind—what preverbal children are capable of thinking, feeling, remembering, and representing about their lived experiences. For early childhood educators, who are charged with caring for groups of young children, and with continually enhancing their own knowledge of child development to develop as professionals, infant signs are a tool to both understand individual children in their care, and learn about the often underestimated social, cognitive, and communicative capacities of preverbal children. In this chapter, we describe our theoretical frameworks for understanding the use of infant signs, summarize existing research on infant signs in early childhood settings, reflect on the effects it has on professional development, and describe the principles and practices for using signs effectively. Finally, we discuss our concerns and current questions about this practice.
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Notes
- 1.
Symbolic gestures are simple hand gestures, typically with an iconic relationship to a specific referent.
- 2.
University laboratory schools are ECEC centers typically located on university campuses and run by universities for the purposes of: (a) demonstrating high quality care and education; (b) educating student caregivers and teachers through supervised practicum experiences; and (c) facilitating research on child development and education for university students and faculty. More information is available from the National Coalition for Campus Children’s Centers: http://campuschildren.org/about.html.
- 3.
This anecdote was previously published in Vallotton (2011a, p. 119).
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Vallotton, C.D., Harewood, T., Karsten, A., Decker, K.B. (2014). Infant Signs Reveal Infant Minds to Early Childhood Professionals. In: Harrison, L., Sumsion, J. (eds) Lived Spaces of Infant-Toddler Education and Care. International perspectives on early childhood education and development, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8838-0_12
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