Responsivity and Balanced Turns: The Foundation for Children’s Language Learning

 By Brittany Da Silva, Speech Language Pathologist and Andrea Koohi, Hanen Staff Writer

If there’s one thing that plays the biggest role in laying the foundation for children’s language learning, it’s responsive, back and forth interactions. Research shows that when the important adults in a child’s life are responsive interaction partners, the child is motivated to both start interactions and stay in them. And it’s during these extended interactions that children have the greatest opportunities to learn.

But what does “responsive” mean? You can think of it as a set of behaviours adults utilize in response to a child’s communication attempts. In order to be responsive, the adult must respond:

1. contingently: the response is based on what the child has just done/ said
2. with warmth: showing positive affect
3. promptly: responding within 1-2 seconds of the child communicating

Why is Responsivity Important?
Responding contingently, warmly, and promptly has a lasting positive impact on child development. Specifically, responsivity has been causally linked to optimal child outcomes in the following areas:

• Cognitive skills
• Attachment security
• Social-emotional competence
• Language development 

How Does Responsivity Impact Language Development?
Responsive interactions in infancy have been found to promote language development throughout the preschool years. They’re also linked to earlier achievement of the following expressive language milestones:

• Imitating words
• Spontaneously using words
• Expressive vocabulary of 50 words
• Two-word combinations
• Using language to talk about the past

Creating Intrinsic Motivation to Communicate
One of the most important results of being responsive to a child’s non-verbal and verbal messages is that the child becomes intrinsically motivated to communicate. That is, the child wants to communicate because it’s interesting and enjoyable, thereby motivating him/her to initiate and stay in long lasting interactions.

As clinicians, we need to master the art of responsivity with children to not only promote their language development ourselves, but also to model it for parents so that they can create responsive environments for their child throughout the day.
 

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References

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(2)    Deci, F. L. & Ryan, R. M. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-67.

(3)    Hirsh-Pasek, K., Adamson, L. B., Bakeman, R., Owen, M. T., Golinkoff, R. M., Pace, A., Yust, P. K. S. & Suma, K. (2015). The contribution of Early Communication Quality to Low-Income Children’s Language Success. Psychological Science, 1-13.

(4)    Landry, S.H., Smith, K. E., Swank, P.R., Assel, M. A. & Vellet, S. (2001). Does early responsive parenting have a special importance for children’s development or is consistency across early childhood necessary. Developmental Psychology, 37(3), 387-403.

(5)    Landry, S. H., Smith, K. E. & Swank, P. R. (2006). Responsive Parenting: Establishing early foundations for social communication and independent problem-solving skills. Journal of Developmental Psychology, 42(4), 627-642.

(6)    Leigh, P., Nievar, M. A. & Nathans, L. (2011). Maternal sensitivity and language in early childhood: a test of the transactional model. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 113(1), 281-299.

(7)    Lloyd, C. A. & Masur, E. F. (2014). Infant Behaviors Influence Mother’s Provision of Responsive and Directive Behaviors. Infant Behavior and Development, 37, 276-285.

(8)    Masur, E. F., Flynn, V. & Eichorst, D. L. (2005). Maternal Responsive and Directive Behaviours and Utterances as Predictors of Children’s Lexical Development. Journal of Child Language, 32, 63-91.

(9)     Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Bornstein, M. H. & Baumwell, L. (2001). Maternal Responsiveness and Children’s Achievement of Language Milestones. Child Development, 72(3), 748-767.

(10)    Weitzman, E., Girolametto, L. & Greenberg, J. (2006). Adult responsiveness as a critical intervention mechanism for emergent literacy: Strategies for Early Childcare Educators. In L. Justice (Ed.), Clinical Approaches to Emergent Literacy Intervention. San Diego: Plural Publishing.

(11)    Weitzman, E., Girolametto, L., & Drake, L. (2017). Hanen Programs® for Parents: Parent Implemented Early Language Intervention. In McCauley, R. J., Fey, M. E. & Gillam, R. B. (2ed ed.), Treatment of Language Disorders in Children (pp. 27-56). Baltimore, MA: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.