Look at Me! Talk to Me: When Babies Talk, Good Parents Listen

Researchers at the University of Washington have a theory based on something good parents have instinctively known all along: eye contact and encouraging sound is essential to human development.

So essential, in fact, that failing to make the human connection eyeball-to-eyeball and with responsive voices could increase the risk of autism, says Tara Parker-Pope of the New York Times. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/hoping-coos-and-eye-contact-can-thwart-autism/

The $11.3 million study will examine mother/baby interaction in families where another child has been diagnosed with autism. Half the moms will get special training in following communication cues from their babies; looking at them and talking to them helps them learn.

I wonder about the implications here for children at every age and stage and development -- and for the adults in our families.

http://www.coping.org/growth/esteem.htm
On coping.org, James J. Messina, Ph.D., & Constance M. Messina, Ph.D. cite ways to build self-esteem in our children. Near the top of the list? Both visual and verbal communication.

"Talk face to face with an individual ... Get on the other person's level for eye to eye contact when talking. Speak in a loving, caring manner to the individual. Interact with the individual at his level of understanding and ability. Listen carefully to the individual; offer empathy and understanding when he is troubled."

When my friend's son got in serious trouble, the teen's parents worked out a strategy that brought the father into close and immediate contact with the son. Instead of a punishing distance, banishing the teen from the social life of the family, the family moved in close to come alongside him, where there was eye contact and close-range communication, support for him at a time when he was more fragile than his angry teen attitude might have indicated from afar.

Raising thinkers means well thought-out one-on-one communication.

- J. Louise Larson http://raisingthinkers.blogspot.com/