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PARENT-INFANT COMUNICATION.   Term Paper ID:26875 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Analyzes research on infant brain development & the effects of parental communication & care before & after birth. Attachment & bonding, memory formation, communication skills, crying, stages of development, more.... More...

27 Pages / 6075 Words 18 sources, 42 Citations, MLA Format $100.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Analyzes research on infant brain development & the effects of parental communication & care before & after birth. Attachment & bonding, memory formation, communication skills, crying, stages of development, more. Paper Introduction: Communication Between Mother and Child Introduction: During the past few decades, there has been a revolution in brain research and in the understanding of human cognitive development. Research has shown ever-increasing impact from the environment on brain development, beginning immediately after conception and continuing during the child's early development. The brain is susceptible to many different kinds of influences, including structural, chemical, and hormonal influences (Healy, 1994). Starting with birth, the brain undergoes even further development, creating billions of synapses that promote thought, emotion, and physical activity. The capacity of those Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. First Steps, Putnam County. I will end with a discussion of the HealthyFamilies Indiana program, discussing how that program attempts to helpparents in this complex and difficult process.Attachment and bonding: Attachment and bonding, like brain development and the communicationprocess, actually start before birth. With depressed mothers, thebrains of children showed less activity in the region specialized forpositive emotion and more activity in the region of the brain thatspecialized in negative emotion. Problems can result, however, when thechild's communications are not particularly positive, or responsive. (1999). Infants respond favorably to mothers who hold them more and ignorethem less. The brain is susceptible to many different kinds ofinfluences, including structural, chemical, and hormonal influences (Healy,1994). For example, in the earliest stage,when the child coos, the parent should repeat the cooing sounds back to thebaby (Your baby wants you to know, 1991). I Am Your Child, The First Years Last Forever.Video. They are creatures of the moment, experiencing life throughtheir senses, but not able to store those experiences in consciousnesswhere it is retrievable. At this point, the baby is moreresponsive, crying when she or he sees strangers, while smiling at facesand voices that are familiar. Parents learnabout the development of auditory skills, pre-symbolic communication, andthe development of receptive language skills. Some additional research hasindicated, however, that there are actually different types or cries thatparents can learn how to interpret. During the first two months, the infant isable to make some sounds, begin to coo, and smile. By helping new parents, the HealthyFamilies initiative helps young children avoid damage and improve theirpotential for healthy growth and development. Although father's are able to develop equally strongrelationships with their children, these usually take longer to develop(Sutcliffe, 1994). . Finally, a pain cry is distinguished from the othersby a sudden onset, followed by a pause, then a series of gasping cries. The brain is often discussedin terms of "hardware" and "software", with the hardware being thoseaspects of the brain that are essentially fixed and part of the person.The software are the programs thatare entered into the hard-wired brain. (1999). In other words,they did not just imitate the adults after learning the signs; they learnedhow to use the signs appropriately and used them in order to communicate.There were also no instances of the child being delayed in learning speechitself; instead, they seemed to speak the words they had learned to signfirst. This is not the end of theprocess, however, since the nerve cells participate in attachments withother nerve cells and dendrites. PathwaysAwareness Foundation.Davis-Scott, P., Dunham, C. Thus, it may be necessary for them to work with their children,and with experts, in order to process those experiences in such a way as toallow the child the opportunity to rebuild a more positive foundation forrelationship. However, with an "anxious attachment",problems begin. Certainly this has implications for bilingual development. This sets the stagefor the development between nine and 12 months of the capacity to makecoherent sounds, usually starting with ma-ma or da-da. There is another major leap during the period between six and ninemonths. The childrecognizes familiar faces, smiles at people, and likes to play peek-a-boo.All of these are nascent forms of communication and relationality (Childdevelopment, 1998). The role of parents is as teachers of language, although not in theformal sense of teachers in the classroom. Child's play. Your Baby and Child. This does not mean that both parties areequally responsible for the development of thedevelopment of the relationship; clearly, the mother has theresponsibility for this during the early part of the child's life. Some of child abuse results from this misinterpretation of thecapacities of infants and toddlers and their ability to control theuncontrollable. She noted that consistent loving care, touch,and paying attention to hearing and language were important factors. In the next stage, even more interaction is possible as the baby hasmore of a sense of focus. Itis during this period of time, according to Kuhl, that the brain is beingorganized in order to prepare itself for a specific language. She pointed outthat babies learn language long before they can actually speak language.They begin learning language from the moment of birth. Diversity was an importantissue. Finally,mirroring behaviors for the child is important as well as understandingemotional connections and helping children process them. Unfortunately, the parent's mood is also important in the child'sbrain development. It is important to be clear about this. Finally, the last step in the process leading up to the currentprogram was the development of Hawaii's Healthy Start program. Thus, early experiences candetermine how the brain is structured and how it creates functionalprocesses that may last for the individual's entire life. This is the child who isunable to bond with the mother and gives up the attempt to do so. Parents can take the time to allow their children to struggle with theprocess of memory retrieval and can accept children's selective memories asrepresenting what they are capable of currently understanding. (1991B). At that time, however, there was often theconnotation that the families were inadequate because of their immigrantstatus and poverty. . The child lacks security, may cling to his or her mother,and tends to be afraid. The next step in the development of home visiting was connected withthe Head Start program. Essentially,parents teach language by being responsive, rather than by imposingparticular lessons on the child. A baby's cry cancommunicate hunger, wetness, pain, boredom, loneliness, need, sickness, andother problems or desires (Anderson, 1999). In the optimal situation, thegrowing fetus is desired by the family, and the caregivers start to feelmore and more attachment to it as time passes. They represent a form oftouch that is destructive, disordering, developmentally inappropriate, andunhealthy; this leads to problems with the development of healthy brainchemistry. Healthy Families Indiana is one statewide program designed totake advantage of all the knowledge and experience gained from these othersources. When we are talking about earlybrain development after birth, and within the family, we are talking abouta time when hard-wiring is still occurring. The first is a secure attachment, which leads to healthy andeasier development for the child. On the otherhand, if the parents are not responsive, the infant may simply try harderinitially. North Central Regional Extension Publication No. Let us look at more of these stages developmentally for the first 18months of the child's life. Thelanguage process is complex, and there are many controversies aboutlanguage capacities and language learning, but fundamentally languages arelearned by children hearing other people speak words. Basically, babies do not have languageto record their experience. Hoyt (1999) talked about ways in which parents and other caregivers couldhelp children develop their memory as part of the cognitive growth process. The background to theprogram was existing research and experience, along with the model of theHawaii Healthy Start program. Teachers at an Ohio StateUniversity preschool taught children simple words for such things as juice,sleep, stop, and all done. For them, language is problematic. Finally, the babywatches the parent's mouth and tries to imitate talking. The early years establish the foundation for humanintellectual and social development and that still primarily begins withthe bond between mother and child. They may makesounds, but they may not be able to learn language as we think of it.Human interaction is necessary to the development of language. . Parents need toavoid overstimulation, since this tends to create a more disordered system. Garelli (1999) made the connection between mammalian distress signalsand human infant cries, noting that there are similarities between them andthat this is an important communication feature. In other words, the baby responded appropriately to the communicationsthat were received. This constant crying caninterfere with bonding as parents become frustrated. They were unneeded for their particular languagelearning. It is a long-termprocess that has many different steps in it, but at each of these steps,there is an important role for mothers and other caregivers. There are several options, and determining which of themis accurate is usually a matter of trial and error. If the baby cries in the middle of the night, just exactly whatis the problem? Parenting the First Year, Month 4-5, NorthCentral Regional Extension Publication No. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 41(4), 9 -912.Wilson, B.A. The baby also grunts,sighs, and follows a moving object with their eyes. The baby responds to sounds and makes soundsto gain attention. It will not relate to its parentsin the same way as a child without hearing impairment. At this time, the infantlikes to listen to the sound of your voice. The next stage represents an important phase in the development ofcommunication as relationality. Internet:(http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/youth/jan-june97/brain_5-29.html).Hoyt, C. The old idea of letting the child cry itselfout has been replaced by a recognition that this leaves the child withoutthe capacity to learn how to be soothed. Colic, in some respects, can be seen as a failure to communicateappropriately on the part of the child. And Reif, H. For example, when the mother is under stress during pregnancy,adrenaline is released and passes across the placenta,increasing its level of activity by up to ten times. Obviously a deaf childis not going to be responsive to sounds. The creation of the brain network is partof this active brain process. (1999). The third form of attachment is also a problembecause it is fundamentally non-attachment; this has repercussions both forthe child's social development and sense of self. Brain growth and development depends upon the child'sexperiences, and most of these experiences are within the family and withfamily members.Touch is an important aspect of these early relationships and has beenshown to be directly linked to the development of healthy brainconnections. By the end of the twomonths, the baby is babbling (Child development, 1998). These develop in context, with the primary early contextbeing the child's family (The First Years Last Forever, 1999). They are designed for at-risk families who may already be overwhelmed with theirlives, and for families who are becoming first-time parents. Weare also able to help them develop support systems that allow them to havesome time and energy to provide the stimulation necessary to their babies.Conclusion: It seems like the new research on infant brain development hasprovided impetus for the development of new initiatives to train parentshow to work more effectively with their babies.For example, the Oregon legislature considered a $52 million set of billsrelated to early childhood services, and the governors of Florida andMinnesota have requested $15 million in new funding for programs in theirstates. By the end of the first year, the child is able tosay a handful of words and is able to express affection nonverbally. When Dawson studied thedifference between the brains of infants whose mothers were happy and thosewhose mothers were depressed, she found considerable differences.Apparently different forms of stimulation impact different regions of thebrain. Oneearly problem begins when a child has the colic. The process of brain development is the foundation forcommunication and relationship, and communication and relationship caneither enhance or impede the process of brain development. As the years pass, the capacity to communicatebecomes increasingly important as the child attempts to form otherrelationships, accomplish school tasks, and find a place in the largeradult community. There is actually a home-based Head Start, whichis one of the largest programs in the country. Interactions ofAfrican American infants and their mothers: Relations with development at 1year of age. Healthy Families AmericaTraining Manual. (1997). . This is part of theproblem of brain development. All of these historical developments have led to the current state ofthe art. 321, Extension Service,Washington, D.C. Infants tend to generalize from theirexperiences and respond to experiences that seem similar with the same sortof reactions (Hoyt, 1999). The infant can be quite communicative, even without language.However, the communication often seems to lackspecificity, which can be particularly frustrating for newparents. Parenting the First Year, NorthCentral Regional Extension Publication No. It is not poverty nor race nor other factors that seem to impact thedevelopment of cognitive and communication skills as much as it isrelationality. In some instances, the home visitor was seen as anarrogant representative of the elite, a dangerous person who might threatenthe integrity of the family. The infants tend to cry less and sleep more. In otherwords, there has beensuccessful communication, of some kind, between parent and child.The child has expressed some desire, the parent has managed to identify andaddress that desire, and the child has been satisfied. In the video hosted by Reiner (1997), there was an interestingpresentation in which a mother first interacted with her child visually andverbally, and the child responded to that very positively and alertly. One of those is breast-feeding, which is pleasurableto both mother and child. NY: Alfred A. Infants have the capacity to learn any language from the moment ofbirth (Reiner, 1997). They then begin tolearn what those words mean and finally are able to connect those wordstogether themselves in a meaningful way (Leach, 1997). In terms of traumatic memories of difficult experiences, it isimportant for parents to remember that these stay with infants and youngchildren. However, by theage of one year, the Japanese children were no longer able to do so.Because Japanese does not distinguish between these two sounds, theirbrains had discarded the neural connections that helped them distinguishbetween the two sounds. Attachment is often distinguished from bond, as she noted,particularly when talking about psychological difficulties arising frominsecure attachment during the early years. The second and third years are the turning-point in terms of languagedevelopment, since they represent the time when children start to learn howto use sentences to communicate with others. The focus is on the voluntary use of home visitation programs inorder to prevent future problems in at-risk families. How Memory Develops. (1997). They learn the particular language that they hearthe most, with some infants learning more than one language at a time. There is other evidence that this six-month period is crucial tolanguage development. One important thing toremember is that the process is time-linked. Instead, the child remainsintensely upset for longer periods of time. This is still the case, with home visiting inEurope being well-developed (Wasik et al., 199 ). . However, this changes at some pointand the retrieval process becomes instantaneous (Hoyt, 1999). 321, Extension Service,Washington, D.C.Your Baby Wants You To Know. The child can say short sentences, ask for things byname, name body parts, and express many needs and desires (Childdevelopment, 1998). Researchhas shown ever-increasing impact from the environment on brain development,beginning immediately after conception and continuing during the child'searly development. Thecommunication process, involving two separate individuals, begins with thechild's cries, the mother's verbal responses, and the mother's and child'sfacial expressions and other nonverbal communications. Parenting, October, pp. Still, it can impedethe process unless parents are very patient and understand that the infantis not behaving deliberately and does not have anything like an intentionto upset the parent or manipulate the parent. Instead, it is a complex, ongoing process between twoindividuals in which both parties affect the development of the bond andform different kinds of attachment. Communication Between Mother and ChildIntroduction: During the past few decades, there has been a revolution in brainresearch and in the understanding of human cognitive development. These mutual attachment and bonding behaviors are theprecursors to, or actually rudimentary forms of, communication behaviors.The infant rewards good behavior on the part of the parents by beingresponsive, by being less difficult, and by crying less. (1997). Baby Bonding. How can parents assist in this process in ways that support goodcommunication and positive social relationships? Thechild is also able to understand language more efficiently, followingsimple directions (child development, 1998). Workers attempts to connect with women at the earliest point possible,in some instances talking with pregnant women. Ourprogram emphasizes parent-child interactions and my task is to help improvethose interactions. There is a great deal that parents can do to nurture positive braindevelopment in general. The impact of communication on the relationship: Sutcliffe (1994) made the important point that bonding, andattachment, is a two-way process. The Reiner Foundation.Sutcliffe, J. Quite a bit happens between two months and six months. The psychological theorydealing with attachment was developedby Winnicott, and Sutcliffe (1994) explained it as emphasizing thatchildren can form one of three different types of attachment with theirparents. Shealso noted that it is important for parents to watch during the day forteachable moments, such as when dressing the child or fixing dinner. The child is responsive, understanding what is asked of it, andmakes talking, rather thanbabbling, sounds. (1994). In both instances, there wascommunication occurring, although the infant could not give feedback aboutexactly what she was responding to. Educationwas seen as important in changing the situation of the family and thesociety as a whole. It is important at thispoint, however, for the parent to persevere (Sutcliffe, 1994). 321, Extension Service,Washington, D.C.Your Baby Wants You To Know. Childrenare born with the capacity for language, but it does not develop on itsown. They discovered that as early as nine months,infants were able to communicate by signing spontaneously. In other words, the developing fetus isstrongly affected by environmental influences through the mother's responseto those influences. Online newshour. When the parent reads the childappropriately, the infant will give that back to the parent. The capacity of those connections depends upon whether or notthe infant receives the right kind of stimulation (Hochberg, 1997). The brain is also both influenced by and influences the communicationprocess between the child and the parent, and ultimately the child and allother human beings. However, it is possibleto aid in the child's general cognitive development, and memory process,by providing good experiences to the infant, opportunities to repeatactions and activities, and opportunities for preschoolers to tell stories. Inthe following pages, the intent is to explore several subjects related tobrain development, attachment and bonding, and the process of developingcommunication capacity. Eachof these is an opportunity to name objects for the child and mention colorsand other concepts. This does not mean, however, that infants are without recognition, orthe precursors to memory. Whenever parents respond to their child'ssounds, imitate those sounds, speak to the child, read to the child, playgames with the child, or in other ways use sound and language to have apositive relationship with the child, this is teaching language andcontributing to its effective development. In addition, children under the age of 5 are a mostvulnerable population. He distinguished betweensome of the infant distress cries. Another study reinforcing the plasticity of this period of braindevelopment, and its significance, was one reported on by Wilson (1999).She noted that researcher at Ohio State University had discovered thatbabies as young as nine monthsold could be taught to use sign language. Using music can be valuable because it apparently isrelated to the development of math and spatial reasoning. This is certainly one reason why sexual and physical abuse are sodamaging. Bonding begins in utero andextends right through delivery and into the early postpartum period. This focuses on schoolreadiness and enrichment for 3-5-year-olds. The baby recognizes his or her name. The response to this attempt may promote continuedattempts to communicate with the caregiver, while lack of response may leadthe baby essentially to give up on trying to get needs met in any healthyway from another human being. If this bond is fully developed, thechildforms a secure attachment, which allows for better intellectual andsocioemotional development. One example is a program of clinical and home training forparents of hearing-impaired infants developed through Infant HearingResource. This is, in other words, part of thedevelopmental process, which is interactive, rather thansingular. National Committeeto Prevent Child Abuse.DeBord, K. By the early 19 s, home visitors were entrenched in the socialservice system, although with new belief systems and intentions. Again and again, studies show that mothers who arecommunicative, expressive, and have high quality relationships have infantswho are more highly cognitively developed and are better at expressive andreceptive communication. This isthe child who later may have difficulty with commitment, communication, andrelationships. It doesmean, however, that the child's temperament and personality have aninfluence on the mother's response. Because of lack of options, however, this repetitiveness maynot be well-received, and the parents may become irritable or even lessresponsive to infants they perceive as always crying and difficult. They apparently store much of thisinformation in short-term memory and there is often a period of strugglewhile they learn how to retrieve it. Gentle, soothing touch enables the child to be calmed anddevelop an ordered brain network. In the United States, however, home visiting maintained some of itsstigma until the 196 s when it became more acceptable as a means to helpfamilies maintain their wholeness with children with handicappingconditions without placing them in institutions. There are a number of things that canimpact the relationship, hurting bonding and attachment, and interferingwith brain development, language development, and social development. It could have been affect, tone ofvoice, or some other element of verbal or nonverbal communication. Parenting the First Year, Month 5-6. In the preceding section, there was adetailed discussion of some of the infant's attempts to communicate and howparents could respond to that. It is not possible to changethe order to child development or get the child to remember things at anearlier age than is developmentally appropriate. I have a personal interest in brain development and communicationbetween mothers and their children as a mother myself. For example, research indicated that babies whose parents respond mosteffectively to the crying behavior get a response from their infants thatis also positive. (1999). In the first stage, the child starts thecommunication process by crying in relationship to needs and desires, butthis is not the limit of it. There aremany stories, some apocryphal, about children raised in isolation fromother human beings. She noted that contemporary research has identified many factorsinvolved in the bonding process, and has emphasized that it is really notinstinctive. It is this Individualized Family Support Plan that Healthy FamiliesIndiana uses in working with its families. Let us look at just one function that is impacted by early experience. They also respond favorably to thefather's interventions withresponsiveness. In other words, if there are particularly unpleasant or traumaticevents that happen during this period, these will become generalized in theinfant's memory and become part of thefoundation of that child's later reaction to the world. To quote from our operation'smanual: Health Families America (HFA) is a national initiative to establish auniversal, voluntary home visitor system for all new parents to help theirchildren get off to a healthy start (1997, Section 1, Page 1). What we know is that the brain, at birth, already has about 1 billion developed nerve cells. Again, theservices are offeredon a voluntary basis, not forced upon parents. In addition, Head Start andthe Healthy FamiliesAmerica programs often link up to provide support for children and familiesthroughout the preschool years (Davis-Scott, et al., 1996). (1991). Communication between mother and infant.Internet:(http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/3 41/communication.html).Healthy Families Indiana. Starting with birth, the brain undergoes even further development,creating billions of synapses that promote thought, emotion, and physicalactivity. Thisprogram had multiple purposes, similar to those of Head Start, but witheven more emphasis on parent-related outcomes. The homevisit aspect of the program can last for up to five full years, helpingparents through most of the important early developmental stages. Scientists theorize that this means thatlater in life the individual with depressed caregivers will be more likelyto respond negatively when stressed or when experiencing difficult events.In addition, they are likely to feel lesspositive about positive events in their environment (Hochberg, 1997).Developing communication: Obviously the communication process between mother and child does notbegin with language, or at least with the spoken word (although themother's language skills and communication pre-birth have an impact). (1999). There is indicationthat the speed of parental response is vital in helping the child learn howto soothe himself or herself. And Lodder, D.E. There is aparticular emphasis on new parents, because these are the individuals whoare most eager to learn, and who often feel the greatest need forinformation. When looking at these developmental stages, it is easily apparent howimportant the interactive part of the learning process is. Internet:(http://www.hsc.missouri.edu /~son/midwife/docs/BABYWATCH/story5.html).Child Development. Sutcliffe (1994) provided a good definition of bonding, noting that itis: . . North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, Raleigh, NC.Garelli, J.C. Another mechanism, according to researchers, isthe child's crying behavior, which may be at least partly designed topromote proximity to the mother and other caregivers (Anderson, 1999). There doesseem to be a basic feedback system built-in to the infant's system thatreinforces the parent's efforts. As adults, wegenerally cannot remember back before that age, which is the period thatexperts term "infantile amnesia". This is an important step in thedevelopment of relationship through communication. Perhaps one of the more significant aspects ofthis developmental period is that the baby seems to be making moreconscious sense of sounds. Baby Talk. There is also crying which is less easy to comprehend or deal with,associated with colic. Connectedwith global cognitive were similar factors, including maternal warmth,sensitivity, responsiveness, encouragement, stimulation, and elaboration(Wallace et al., 1998).Healthy Families of Indiana: As mentioned earlier, my interest in this particular issue stems frommy work as a Family Support worker with the Healthy Families program. In Indiana and other states, the Healthy America, Healthy Start,or Head Start programs, are continuing to expand their efforts to reach newparents and provide information about good infant care to give morechildren optimum opportunities for growth and development.Anderson, K. For example, a study of mother-infantinteractions in 92 African-American dyads, with 7 percent below thepoverty line showed that the most significant factors incommunication were the overall quality of the home environment and maternalratings of stimulation and elaboration. They are provided withactivities for teaching the objectivesto their children. One obvious interference with the early bonding process is postpartumdepression, particularly in its more severe manifestations. DeBord (1997) listed several differentcharacteristics of a nurturing environment.Some of these are obvious. In which both play an active role, a mutual loving, secure relationship is established that gives both parties emotional fulfillment, self-esteem, stability, a link of dependency . That process seems to follow a universal pattern, with children notdeveloping true memory until after the age of about two. Again, this canhurt the bondingprocess, ultimately affecting communication and language development. We communicate a great deal of information this way,including much of our intentions and our feelings toward other people.This means that the infant is not as limited as we might think incommunicating with parents, and parents should not ignore the potential forcommunication from the moment of birth. (1991A). There is a cry for hunger, one forpain, and one for attention or love from the parent (Reiner, 1997). Homevisiting became an important activity in other countries, too, includingDenmark, Norway, and France. Withpostpartum depression, the mother may feel detached from the baby,overwhelmed by the situation, and may even enter into a temporary psychoticstate. The baby alsobabbles to itself, to toys and to people. When Babies Cry. Another problem can result if the child is developmentally delayed orhas any one of a number of handicapping conditions. London: Virgin Publishing Ltd.Wallace, I.F., Roberts, J.E. Memory is notinfinitely malleable. The baby turns toward sounds, listens to itsown voice, and makes more than one sound at a time. On the other hand,when the mother is relaxed, or feeling pleasure and producing endorphins,this, too, crosses the placenta, creating the same impact on the baby as onthe mother (Sutcliffe, 1994). Parenting, 13(8A), 16.Your Baby Wants You To Know. This can become a problem in the developingrelationship and in terms of early communication between parent and child. They do not understandwhat the baby is trying to communicate to them, and they may giveup on the effort of understanding and relating. With happy mothers, the region of brain specialized for joy andpleasure showed a great deal of activity. What is the Healthy Families program? I visit each family once a week in their homeenvironment. This early process determines much of thebrain's potential, with estimates being that 9 percent of the brain'sgrowth and development occur during the first three years of the child'slife (Reiner, 1997). (1991). Internet:(http://www.kent.edu/deafed/961112a.htm).Leach, P. (1998). Thismeans of helping families under stress has been part of American socialwork history since the 19 s. That answer might besmiling, cooing, babbling, or waving the arms, but it is the beginning oftwo-way conversation and communication (Learning to talk,1991).Talking: Leach (1997) noted that although many infants may not make one singlerecognizable word before their first year is finished, the time between sixmonths and one year is crucial to language development. The childcontinues to coo and chuckle, beginning to laugh out loud. In this curriculum, which is designed for infants from -4 yearsof age, the parents areprovided with a sequence of learning objectives for infants which issimilar to that for normally-hearing infants. This helps both with the bonding process and with thechild's development of effective communication skills (Lawrence, 1999). On the other hand, an angry cry is similar in form, but with adifferent sequence. In order to maximize theopportunity for communication here, and language development, talk to thebaby in simple sentences while continuing to repeat back the sounds thatthe baby makes (Your Baby Wants You To Know, 1991a). According to Reiner (1997), healthy brain connections are made throughhealthy human connections. Inthe second interaction, the mother dealt with the child with a flat affect;the child responded to that by becoming disturbed, flailing its arms, andgenerally becoming disorganized and upset. Both attachment behaviors and communication behaviors seem to beconnected to infant crying. The intent is to ensurethat women always feel that they have a support system, and that there issome place that they can turn for information and experience. One of the obvious problems is the form of the baby's communicationand its level of responsiveness. (1998). Therefore, they have no memory of thoseexperiences. In other words, they provide an elementary form of reward totheir parents for good behavior. We are able todistill information about the new brain research and communicate it toparents who are eager to provide good environments for their children. They are not only damaging emotionally to the child, but theycan be directly damaging to brain development. If, however, the parentresponds to distressed crying immediately, the child is comforted, gainsfaith in the world, and learns more readily how to calm down and comforthimself or herself. For hunger, the cry progresses from anarrhythmical low-intensity cry to a louder and more rhythmicalform. 96-1 2.Lawrence, B.J. In ordinary cases, however, bonding and attachment proceeds throughseveral mechanisms. However, the child does not havecontrol over this communication problem, and it is a problem that graduallyabates, generally by the end of the first six months. By the end of three years,the child has a vocabulary that is continually increasing, with about 1 words or more in it. Our intent is to workcooperatively with families to provide them with the information, andsupport, that they need in order to raise healthy infants. It canbe a vicious cycle.Brain development in early childhood: During the past two decades, our entire outlook on brain developmenthas changed. 321, Extension Service,Washington, D.C.Reiner, R., host. It wasapparent, though, that the baby was able to respond to her mother and thatthe likelihood was that the baby would respond with similar communications. Parent-Infant Communication. Thisprogram was developed by the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse inpartnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities. However, there have been programs developed to deal with thissituation. How Parents and Caregivers Can Nurture Positive BrainDevelopment. The process whereby as a result of on-going interaction between baby and parent. In addition, the Congresspassed Public Law99-457 in 1986 which mandated development of an Individualized FamilySupport Plan for community-based service delivery (Wasik, et al., 199 ). And the capacity to realize their potential in life (p. The brain is not fully developed when the child is born andessentially, those parts of the brain that have to do with thinking,remembering, emotions, and social behavior are almost completelyundeveloped. (1997). In other words,this is an interrelationship and it requires more than one person andongoing interaction between mother and child that is positive and life-giving. Parenting the First Year, Month 3-4, North Central Regional Extension Publication No. One of the things scientists have learned is that it isimportant for parents to get treatment fordepression, including post-partum depression, for the child's sake as wellas for their own sake. In otherwords, the mother can encourage the baby to communicate by talking to thebaby and then waiting for some sort of answer. (1996). According to the research, every sound that the baby makes is amovement toward language, toward true communication. The mother can improvethe prospects for each of these by beingaware of what the baby is doing, giving the baby a chance to practice withthe mother, and reinforcing and affirming the babbling and communicationefforts (Your Baby Wants You To Know, 1991b). Besides continuing to talk to the child, even when he or she does nothave language to respond, experts note that it is important to give theinfant a chance to understand conversation by responding to his or herutterances and allowing the infant a chance to respond to yours. This has an impact on brain development, physicaldevelopment, and psychological, or emotional, development. Kuhl (Hochberg, 1997) reported on language studieswith Japanese and American infants dealing with distinctions between the"Ra" sound and the "la" sound. The infantrecognizes his or her own name, although unable to say it yet and can copysounds made by others. This clearly interferes with ongoing bonding and attachment. According to Reiner (1997), the vast majority of all our communicationis nonverbal anyway. Knopf.Learning to talk. During the next six months, the child increases the vocabulary to upto a dozen words and may be able to use those words to express what he orshe wants. This is one of the most significant aspects ofbrain development. These infant experiences affect the emotions and social interactions.During the ages 2-5, however, toddlers begin to learn language and theability to understand concepts. For the most part, however, the infant's crying is the first attemptto communicate. In each stage,the parent can make the difference. The child also likes to be read to and understands whatis being read (Child development, 1998). As she noted, thelimbic system is the part of the brain that regulates emotional impulses.This is the most primitive part of the brain, and one less amenable tochange. Both sets of infants were able todistinguish between these sounds at the age of six months. They feel powerless,unable to make a difference. Iprovide educational materials to the families, which I review with both theparents so that they understand the material and are able to make best useof it. Participants Training Manual for FAWsand FSWs, August, 1997.Hochberg, L. (1996). (1999). As early as six months, they can be trained toperform specific movements that they are able to remember for a few days.They are also able to remember experiences that are particularly intense,and respond to similar experiences in similar fashion. I have aprofessional interest in the same topics as a Family Support Worker forHealthy Families Indiana. 1 ).Although she noted that this seems like an unwieldy definition, Sutcliffeindicated that it is difficult to be any more concise about a very complexconcept. It leaves its mark. Parentssometimes attribute intentions to infants that are well beyond theircapacity. There is a greater understanding now of how the braindevelops after birth, and the importance of environment in developingvarious brain functions and capacities. At the center of the Healthy Families program is the home visit. It all begins with the relationship between the child and the mother,starting in the womb. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.