Abstract
Communicating with Children from Birth to Four Years focuses on a range of ways to communicate with very young children by highlighting the developmental trajectories of young children’s developing communication and the important role that parents and educators play in recognising and supporting these early communicative abilities.
There is a growing body of evidence highlighting the importance of the early years as a critical period for learning. Neurobiological evidence demonstrates that the relationship with genes and experience influences children’s development, with children’s relationships with significant people now being recognised as critical to all aspects of their intellectual, social, emotional, physical, behavioural and moral development (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2004). As children grow and learn in varying home and educational contexts, they are immersed in different ways of communicating with others. The key themes presented through this book are: the need to observe and understand what is happening with the child’s communicative skills, the need to provide appropriate guidance and support and to promote opportunities to engage verbally and non-verbally during everyday activities.
Young children’s understandings about communication develop within their sociocultural and linguistic communities. Language learning is driven by and dependent upon the capacity to understand and participate in social situations. By viewing communication as a shared and co-constructed social experience, each chapter provides the reader with insights into the ages and stages of young children’s developing communication. The vignettes embedded within each chapter vividly demonstrate the many different functions and dimensions of communicating with young children – from responding contingently to the sounds and intentions of even the youngest pre-verbal children to promoting and strengthening children’s relationships with other children and adults, including their own family members. These vignettes are significant as they adopt an inclusive focus by employing a social–relational understanding of diversity in relation to culture, multilingualism, ability and experience. Another strength is that the author provides clear examples of how to extend a conversation with children while engaging in spontaneous moments. For example, she provides an example of a constructive conversation between a teacher and child about a stegosaurus using descriptive language of its appearance (‘line of spikes on its back to protect it from other dinosaurs’) to extending and responding to the child’s question about other dinosaurs with spikes and their names. Such language-rich experiences are critical in promoting sustained shared thinking, which supports and extends children’s learning (Siraj-Blatchford, 2007). The importance of these conversations and interactions has been highlighted in findings from international research such as the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) Project in Britain. The EPPE Project was a longitudinal study, which followed 3,000 children as they moved from preschool to school, and has been widely cited in early childhood research. A significant finding of the study was that the ‘quality of adult–child verbal interactions’ in the early years influenced children’s later developmental outcomes in school (Sylva et al., 2004: 5). The early childhood educator therefore has a significant role to play in providing positive child-centred conversations and becoming an effective communicative partner with young children.
A reader interested in the first four years of how children learn language will want to start at the beginning by reading the chapters sequentially in the six-month stages. The chapter headings also provide key elements of what is important at this stage; for example, developing personality describes the period when a child may exhibit preferences for people, songs, games or food. During this stage of development, the child is able to communicate their needs and wants to adults who are encouraged to engage in ‘active communication’ by responding ‘sensitively and appropriately’ to the child’s growing confidence (p. 35). Each chapter encourages a careful look at how language develops by emphasising that an understanding of children’s verbal and non-verbal communication, including their gestures, pointing, body language and facial expressions, can allow caregivers to support their social, emotional and physical development at the same time as supporting language and literacy development. Images of children in the corresponding developmental stage support and enhance the discussion which brings to life the capacities that these young children possess. Chalmers writes using clear and concise language which stimulates the reader to consider the various complexities involved in the unique period of a child’s early life as she attempts to unpack the communicative skills of young children for the purpose of understanding their intentions and how they negotiate their relationships with others. The author’s analysis has been guided by years of teaching as well as drawing on an understanding of child development. Practical strategies are offered for parents of young children as well as those entering study in early childhood.
There are, however, some aspects of the book that perhaps could have been improved. The overall lack of any theories to support the discussion was disappointing. Although Chalmers has drawn on developmental theory, no direct acknowledgment of this perspective was provided. Given that much recent research has drawn attention to the limitation of taking one perspective such as development without considering the social context (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2001; Makin et al., 2007), it seems that viewing communication as a social practice could have demonstrated a more contemporary way of understanding how young children communicate. Also, there was no research cited to support the discussion. Drawing upon current theory and research would have added depth and provided the reader with confidence that the author was familiar with contemporary research evidence. Finally, the author’s decision to remove references to gender was inconsistent and not explained. Masculine and female pronouns were replaced with the words ‘babies’ or ‘children’ in the chapters, yet the introduction adopted the pronoun ‘he’. The adoption of plurals does not allow for diverse groups of children to be identified. As this is a book which focuses heavily on language, it is a surprising choice of words and one that usually requires an explanation from the author.