Valerie Dejean

Discussion: Sensory Integration Dysfunction, Auditory Processing Disorder, Motor Planning, Dyspraxia

 The Link between Praxis and Language Development

 You walk into a friend's house just as she has put her babydown for a nap. You are about to speak when she places her finger in frontof her lips and says, "Shhhh." You sit down on the couch and wait quietly. 

Scenarios like this happen every day: A mother gives her daughter the"thumbs up" from across the room after a success; a youngster opens andcloses his fist to wave "bye-bye" to Daddy; construction workers in a noisyenvironment use gestures and pointing instead of words to communicate witheach other. Modern communication occurs not only through words but alsothrough symbolic gestures. In fact, individuals can have an entire "conversation"and never utter a single word.

 Many experts feel that non-verbal symbolic communication is thefoundation of language development. The pre-linguistic child communicateswith her parents in a variety of ways in order to get what she wants. Ifshe's hungry, she may point to the refrigerator and then to her mouth;if she's thirsty, she may point to her cup or make a sipping sound. Evenwhen she first begins to use words, she typically uses a single word orsound to represent an entire action: "Hun-gee" for IÕm hungry or"Tup" for I want a drink in my cup. 

Lack of language development on the expected timetable can cause greatconcern to parents and caregivers. In these situations, parents want tolook for signs of pre-verbal, intentional communication such as pointing.A child who is intentionally communicating through non-verbal gesturesis likely getting ready to begin communicating verbally. A child who isnot may need to focus on developing non-verbal communication skills beforewords can be expected. 

The use of symbolic communication (intentional gestures) in pre-verbalchildren resembles the evolution of language development. Understandingwhat bridged the gap between the primate mind and the modern representationalmind can help us understand where some of this fails to develop in thechild with apraxia and language difficulties.

Motor Planning
SensoryIntegration Disorder
Dyspraxia
Changeswith Tomatis
Before Words
Evolution of Language
Praxis
Central Auditory ProcessingSymptoms
Auditory Processing