Observing Communication: Infants

This week, I conducted an observation in an infant classroom in a military child care setting.   I noticed that the environment was set up in a way that would allow the mobile infants to move around freely while there were also spaces for the younger infants to rest and not be stepped on by those older mobile children.  Typically, there is one teacher for every four infants (8 infants in each room) but today, there are 3 teachers, allowing for more attention to the babies.

One teacher works to change all of the diapers, while the other two interact with the babies.  What struck me more than anything was the fact that although the teachers were attentive to the needs of the children, the majority of their conversation was to each other (talking about their plans for the weekend or their families or something they'd watched on the television).  When the infants would coo or cry or babble, the teachers would then react, but they did not initiate the conversation.

Room for Improvement.  The teachers should have talked more to the infants.  For example, the who was changing diapers sang to each of the children, however, she did not make a point to engage in true conversation with the children.  Kovach & Da Ros-Voseles mention that ,"telling the baby what you are doing together during caregiving times is another is another important way to communicate" (2011, p. 49).  Kovach also emphasizes the importance of touching a baby before picking them up as a sign of respect.  The teacher picked the children up from wherever they were and took them over to the diaper changing station.  Also, instead of taking the easy way out by singing, she could have said, "I am going to change your diaper now.  I have wipe and a diaper.  First, I'll take your dirty diaper off and..."  Although the baby would not have understood what was happening, this interaction would have given him the language he needed as a starting point.

Although the infants did not seem to care because they were familiar with and seemed to have liked the teachers, not talking to them over time would not be beneficial for them learning communication skills.  They would understand how conversations work, but would not actually learn how to engage in the back and forth.

Looking back, I can remember communicating with my peers mores than I did with the children.  This was the easier thing to do in order to help pass the sometimes long days.  However, as I learned more about communication and the importance of giving children language (even sign language), I started talking to the children more.  Now that I work regularly with older children, it is easier to talk to them; actually, they rarely give me a chance to initiate conversations because they almost always have something to tell me about what is going on with them.  When I do get a chance to work with the younger children, I will make a point of talking more to them and definitely get into the habit of being more descriptive about what is happening around us.

Kovach, B., & Da Ros-Voseles, D. (2011). Communicating with babies. YC: Young Children, 66(2), 48-50.