Abstract
Statement of Problem
Research and theory for at least 20 years have demonstrated that gestural signing in hearing, typically-developing children occurs both spontaneously and with prompting (Acredolo & Goodwyn, 1985; 1988; 1990a; 1990b; Acredolo, Goodwyn, Horobin & Emmons, 1999; Bonvillian, Orlansky, Novack, & Folven, 1983; Folven & Bonvillian, 1991; Goodwyn & Acredolo, 1993; 1998; Holmes & Holmes, 1980; Petitto, 1988; Volterra & Caselli, 1985). Additionally, the research of Acredolo and Goodwyn indicates that encouraging symbolic gesturing among children may have a beneficial effect on cognitive development (Acredolo & Goodwyn, 1998), early language acquisition (Goodwyn, Acredolo, & Brown, 2000), general behavior (Goodwyn, Acredolo, & Brown, 2000), and social development (Goodwyn, Acredolo & Brown, 2000; Namy, Acredolo & Goodwyn, 2000).
However, there is currently no systematic research examining the use of signing in child care settings by teachers of infants and toddlers. The proposed study is designed to fill this gap in our understanding by looking at the frequency of using gestural communication in child care settings serving infants and toddlers, as well as looking at the relationship between characteristics of infant teachers, child care settings and family demographics and how it connects with infant-toddler communicative and symbolic development.
Sources of Data
Data for this research study were gathered through surveys of participating child care centers and parents of infants and toddlers. The surveys consisted of two parts. The first part was utilized to gather demographic information from the participants. The second part of the surveys gathered more in-depth information on the use of gestural communication and its impact on the infant/toddlers in the centers. Participants for the study were gathered through existing contacts and by obtaining a list of teachers of infant/toddler child care programs in Sacramento, CA through Child Action, a research and referral agency in Sacramento.
Conclusions Reached
Evidence from this study supports previous research findings regarding the use of gestural communication and its impact on language development. The results showed that gestural communication in the infant toddler child care center may have a positive impact on a child's language development. From this it can be concluded that the use of gestural communication should be promoted in child care centers.