Helping Children Learn to Communicate

October 26, 2011

This blog continues my series to share the research of child development researchers and neuroscientists who have genuinely inspired me in my 11-year journey to create Mind in the Making. Their work is truly "research to live by."

I am sharing the story of Anne Fernald of Stanford University because her studies provide important insights into helping children learn to communicate. This is an increasingly salient issue in our times where there is widespread concern that communicating has been reduced to spitting out sound bites rather than illuminating the complexities of situations, texting rather than connecting, and reducing thoughts to 140 characters.

Anne Fernald has been a pioneering researcher in studying the origins of human communication, but she didn't start out to do this kind of work. Her original interests were in literature. All of that changed when she went to live in Germany, far from home, surrounded by a language, German, that she initially didn't understand. The stark contrast in the culture and the language caused her to look back not only on her own culture and language in new ways, but also to begin to probe the very nature of communication. This was accelerated by the birth of her two children. Fernald says, "Our children were born there. Becoming a parent in another language is a wonderful experience because it gave me distance."

On Halloween, Will Your Child Take The High Road or the Low Road?

October 24, 2011

Julie A. Riess, Ph.D., is the Senior Advisor on Child Development and Education at Families and Work Institute. She is a developmental psychologist and the director of the Wimpfheimer Nursery School at Vassar College.

This article was originally published in the Poughkeepsie Journal by Gannett Publications on October 29, 2006.

Boo!

Did that scare you? Make your heart race a little faster? Cause you to startle? Probably not. Out of context, with no great lead up story or visual imagery, "boo!" is just a word on a page. But if that word was spoken by Vincent Price at the climax of a horror movie or written as the cliffhanger in a Stephen King novel, you might have already been sweating, eyes wide and shallow of breath.

Lessons in Love and Loss From My Dog

October 16, 2011

Julie A. Riess, Ph.D., is the Senior Advisor on Child Development and Education at Families and Work Institute. She is a developmental psychologist and the director of the Wimpfheimer Nursery School at Vassar College.

This article was originally published in the Poughkeepsie Journal by Gannett Publications on October 16, 2011.

His name was Sammy. Sammy Sosa Riess. It isn't quite clear why, since he never hit a baseball in his life. I suppose it was because he was born near Chicago, in a year when Sammy Sosa was inspiring baseball fans everywhere. Sammy brought hope, laughter and renewed energy when he took up residence in a lukewarm Cubs fan household. Puppies are like that.

Building Babies Brains: A “Back to the Future” Tale

October 02, 2011

Julie A. Riess, Ph.D., the Senior Advisor on Child Development and Education at Families and Work Institute. She is a developmental psychologist and the director of the Wimpfheimer Nursery School at Vassar College.

This article was originally published in the Poughkeepsie Journal by Gannett Publications on October 2, 2011.

Have you ever held a newborn in your arms and thought, "What a nice blob?" Have you bounced a 4-month-old on your knee and thought, "Geez, being a baby must be so boring!" Maybe you've rolled a ball back and forth to a 9-month-old and thought, "I bet my dog is smarter than this baby at playing ball!" Perhaps you've heard a 1-year-old speak their first word and thought, "It took you long enough!"

In our modern society, the incredible abilities of babies are sometimes considered commonplace, or even yesterday's news.

Creating Literacy Skills Through Shared Meaning

September 27, 2011

Julie A. Riess, PhD, is the Senior Advisor on Child Development and Education at Families and Work Institute.

Portions of this article were originally published in the Poughkeepsie Journal through Gannett Publications on 7/24/11 and 8/7/11.

Did you know that from the first moment you speak your baby’s name or sing a lullaby you are developing your baby’s early literacy skills?

We tend to think of literacy as “reading and writing” but more broadly literacy refers to the creation of shared meaning and shared communication. The dance of communication between infant and parent is essential to building a world of shared meaning for the child.