Infant-caregiver Communication

Before infants use words, they engage in rich communication with their caregivers through gestures, vocalizations, emotional expressions, and in other ways. This entry describes the development of infant-caregiver communication during the first 2 years of life, including the baby's grasp of interactive practices, and how developing communication is influenced by the child's growing awareness of the adult as a psychological being who communicates and receives communication from the baby.

Sally, 3 months old, is strapped into her bouncy seat, and her mother is sitting across from her. Sally coos and smiles at her mother, and her mother responds with a wide-eyed smile and a responsive coo as Sally bounces. Her mother laughs and brings her head closer, saying, “You like that!” Then the telephone rings. Sally's mom answers and begins to talk. Sally makes another squeal, but her mom says, “Shh. Shh.” and pats Sally's belly, then moves her hand away and starts writing on a pad of paper. Sally kicks her feet again and smiles at her mom, but gets no response. After a few more attempts, Sally turns away with a sober expression and brings her fist up to her mouth. A few moments later, Sally's mother hangs up the phone. “Where were we, little one?” she says to Sally, but Sally keeps her head turned away. Her mother starts singing a soft song, and after a few moments Sally turns toward her mom's voice. Sally smiles and kicks her feet when the song is over. Sally's mother responds with a smile.

This example of face-to-face interaction is characteristic of 3- to 6-month-old infants and their caregivers. At this early age, infants are in tune with the social world and are practicing the rules of social interaction that include their growing abilities to take turns and engage others in positive interactions through these simple forms of play. Through these interactions, infants also start to develop a psychological awareness of others that will blossom at the end of the first year and throughout the second year. It is partly through the infant's developing psychological awareness that others are communicative partners and recipients of the infant's communicative efforts that caregiver-infant communication develops and takes new forms.