Valerie Dejean
New York, NYphone: 1-877-4AUTKID
Discussion: Sensory Integration Dysfunction, Auditory Processing Disorder, Motor Planning, Dyspraxia
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Valerie DejeanNew York, NYphone: 1-877-4AUTKID Discussion: Sensory Integration Dysfunction, Auditory Processing Disorder, Motor Planning, Dyspraxiahome |
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The Evolution of Language
First Came Episodic Thought The first type of cognition was episodic thoughtor "memory of episodes." Episodic thought is memory that is present inmammals and a variety of other animals such as birds. In fact, it is highlyevolved in apes. In this type of thought, an event (episode) is rememberedin a literal, situation-specific manner. There is no reflection or representationof these thoughts. However, episodic thought is useful in many aspectsof animal behavior. For example, a dog learns to sit on command throughrepeated trials: the word "sit" is said, the dog is placed in the seatedposition, and a treat is given. As the dog begins to develop a "memory"of this activity, he learns to assume the seated position when he hearsthe word "sit." Through repeated trials, the dog commits this episode tomemory and thus responds appropriately to the command. However, when thedog is not being asked to sit, he is not thinking about sitting, nor ishe remembering what it was like to sit or wondering whether he'll be askedto sit again soon. |
Selections from Valerie Dejean's new book on Autism, Tomatis and Sensory Integration Motor Planning |
Children with apraxia and language challengesseem to use their episodic memory well. In fact, this may explain why "discretetrial format" approach is a successful intervention with these children-it ostensibly helps the child develop a large repertoire of learned skills.However, this is also one of the drawbacks of exclusively using this systemof learning. Children need to learn to generalize beyond an episode sothat they can adapt to new situations.
Mimetic Culture
For a period of about 1 millionsyears (according to Donald), humans transitioned from episodic thoughtto symbolic communication as we know it today. This intermediate stageis known as the Mimetic Culture-the time in which pre-verbal humans beganto communicate with each other using "mime." Imagine spending the entireday using charades to communicate with others and you have a pretty goodidea of what the mimetic culture may have been like. The objective of mimeis to represent an event. The famous mime Marcel Marceau used his bodymovements and facial expressions to clearly represent words or activities,charming his audiences with his ability to convey whole stories withoututtering a word. According to Donald, "Mimetic thought is the ability toproduce conscious, self-initiated representational acts that are intentionalbut not linguistic. Mimesis is fundamentally different from imitation inthat it involves the invention of intentional representations." It is thisintentional communication that appears to be compromised in individualswith apraxia. These children don't tend to use the kind of gesturing thatis present in mimetic thought structure.
Mimesis involves a wide variety ofactions and modalities- tones of voice, facial expressions, eye movements,manual signs and gestures, postural attitudes, patterned whole-body movements(Donald)- and therefore requires multi-sensory processing (sensory integration)in order to be carried out successfully. This may be another reason whysome children do not engage in these pre-linguistic forms of communication;the effort required to coordinate that many body movements and sensoryactivities is more than they can put forth. For example, many non-verbalchildren do not clap their hands since hand clapping involves bilateralcoordination (coordinating both sides of the brain and body simultaneously).Since they cannot do the gesture, they may also not fully understand themeaning of the gesture.
From Episodic To Mimetic To Symbolic
What led from mimetic thought tosymbolic communication and language? According to Donald, mimetic thoughtevolved quickly into a system of standardized gestures. In other words,gestures became symbolic. When a person puts her finger to her lips, itmeans the same thing to you as it does to a Kalahari Bushman. However,it is not the same as acting out an event; it is instead a gesture thatrepresents "Be quiet." Likewise, language is simply a group of symbols(letter/sounds) that represent a thought or item. It is completely symbolic.
Some individuals do not have a developedcapacity for symbolic thought and therefore are not yet ready to use wordsto represent thoughts, feelings, and actions. These individuals tend notto point or wave "bye- bye." In fact, many may learn to wave "bye-bye"through discrete trial, yet not fully grasp the meaning of what they aredoing. It is here that we see the connection between mimetic thought andpraxis: Praxis involves ideation, or the creation of an "idea" of whatone wants to do, followed by the organization and execution of a plan inorder to do it. Praxis allows for intentional, purposeful communicationand interaction with our world. Mimetic thought, the pre-verbal aspectof intentional communication, is in some ways the first step to intentionalcommunication. It is critical, then, that parents and professionals notskip over the pre-linguistic aspects of communication when working on languagedevelopment.
Sometimes parents (and professionals) areso focused on waiting for that precious first word that they miss theirchild's pre-verbal communication. This pre-verbal communication is thefoundation for verbal communication and deserves as much attention andenthusiasm. A non-verbal child who suddenly begins to point to his cupfor a drink is "asking" for his cup. The words will likely follow in duetime, but the pre-verbal asking is just as significant.
Pre-verbal children who go through a SensoryIntegration combined with auditory training program, often develop intentionalyet non-verbal communication prior to developing language. These childrenbecome better able to coordinate their bodies in order to communicate,and better able to process and use the sensory messages they receive. Thispre-linguistic communication is the framework for the development of wordsand language. For many it is only a short time before words emerge whichjoin, embellish and eventually replace the gestures. Once children experiencethe power of their words, they become highly motivated to communicate.Auditory stimulation combined with microphone work helps individuals tofurther hone their newfound voices, as therapists assist with vocabularyand sentence development.