1. Background
Methods Discussion
Previous research states that nonverbal
aspects of communication – such as warmth
and affection, tone of voice and facial
expressions– are important influences on an
infant’s language skills (Grebelsky-Lichtman,
2014). Since there is current emphasis on
teaching parents to talk to children more, less
emphasis has been placed on the other aspects
of communication such as nonverbal (Nielsen,
2014). This study seeks to understand
whether nonverbal aspects of parent-infant
interactions will affect infant’s language
development.
Do nonverbal qualities of parents
communication influence the infant’s
expressive and receptive language
skills?
Question
Sample: 42 parent-infant dyads, with the
infants ranging from 10 to 14 months of age
with an average of 12 months.
Procedure: The parents and infants were
observed at home or a child care center.
Parent-infant interactions were videotaped
for a five-minute free play.
Measurements: Parents nonverbal qualities
were coded based on the Care Giver
Sensitivity Scale (see table 1). The infants
language skills were assessed using the
Bayley Language Scale (Bayley, 2006), which
is a standardized language assessment for
infants and toddlers.
A scale was created using certain items off of
the Sensitivity Scale to assess the nonverbal
qualities of parent communication. These
items had good reliability, α = .823
References
Analysis and Results
Grebelsky-Lichtman, T. (2014). Parental Patterns of Cooperation in Parent-Child
Interactions: The Relationship Between Nonverbal and Verbal Communication. Human
Communication Research, 40: 1-29.
Huttchenlocher, J., Waterfall, H., Vasilyeva, M., Vevea, J., & Hedges, L. (2010). Sources Of
Variability In Children’s Language Growth. Cognitive Psychology, 61(4), 343-365.
Nielsen, K. (2014). Phonetic Imitation by Young Children and Its Developmental Changes.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, 57, 2065-2075.
The fact that the correlation between nonverbal communication and
receptive language is .122 and the correlation between nonverbal
communication and expressive language is .306 goes against our
hypothesis that nonverbal communication helps children with
receptive language (learning concepts). The fact that expressive
language has the stronger correlation shows that nonverbal
communication doesn’t help children understand concepts, but it helps
them communicate it to others. We also expected a stronger overall
correlation but in order to accurately determine the strength of the
correlation between the two we will need a bigger sample size.
The Importance of Parent’s Nonverbal Communication to Support Child
Language Development
Rachel Nelson and Simone Alhagri
Under the direction of Claire Vallotton, Department of Human Development and Family Studies
Nonverbal qualities of Parent Communication Nonverbal qualities of Parent Communication
The overall correlation was .238 which is
trending on significance. The correlation
between nonverbal communication and
receptive language is .122 and the
correlation between nonverbal
communication and expressive language
is .306.
Our hypothesis was that nonverbal communication will enhance language development, as a result, we expected to see
a strong correlation between nonverbal communication and receptive score ( underlying thought). Unexpectedly, the
correlation was weaker than we thought and there was a strong correlation between nonverbal and expressive.
Eight of the most appropriate items were chosen from the Sensitivity Scale ( see figure 1) and used to calculate the
Bivariate Spearman’s Rho Correlation since the patterns were skewed ( see figures 2 &3)Two histograms were made
showing the overall correlation