Modern Literacy -“The hand prompts the mind….of a toddler!”
As a first time mom of a newly turned two year old, these concepts of language and communication are very vivid and applicable to my life right now. My daughter has been very late with many of her milestones, including talking. She speaks very few words, yet seems to communicate perfectly well with my husband and I.
This week in particular I found the readings especially coincidental with the timeline of my life. The one article that struck me as especially poignant was by Gary Frost, in particular the one discussing humanity’s use of our hands. In Reading by Hand, Frost suggests that primate dexterity has been around even before human fossils. With my experience in teaching and as a mother, I have noticed that hand dexterity is one of the first things developed in the act of reading and even the act of communicating effectively. My daughter has been able to thumb flip through a book since one and a half and turned the pages of a book in the proper direction since one. Yet, she does not verbally communicate with us very often. She babbles but also uses her hands to express herself. A typical “move” would be her holding her hands up in question while talking to us. As Frost suggests, maybe, “the hand prompts the mind” (2000).
When it comes to watching students learning to read and socialize, hand dexterity is so evident. Students use their hands to write as well, needing dexterity to hold a pencil effectively. Communication in presentations at the elementary level asks students to express themselves in a non-verbal way, using their hands to express themselves. “At first the hand-to-concept path seems difficult to define and historians remark on the lack of documentation of the hand skills. The needed realization is that dexterity itself is a medium of information.” (Frost, 2000). This fact gives hope to the idea that dexterous individuals are also highly literate and intelligent. Viewing this concept from a modern point of view, with the introduction of texting and video chat, the dexterous individual is capable of great communication skills. Watching an individual text with great speed and dexterity is a nod to the idea that the hand works in conjunction with the brain in terms of communication. I also wonder if the same ideas evolved from facial recognition in relation to communicative skills. Watching someones facial cues can be almost more telling than the actual words they are saying.
Finally, Frost also suggests that primates developed their hand skills such as foraging and building fires which eventually would lend those developed skills to dexterity in communications; “The hand signs engendered layers of social interaction. Slowly, the slow brain began to develop, just to keep up with the disciplined hands.” (Frost, 2000). This speaks directly to our development as humans. Babies learn to use their hands before anything else as a communication tool. Pointing, pushing and gesturing are marks of an intelligent toddler, even before they are able to speak.
Frost, Gary. (2000). futureofthebook.com. Retrieved, 17 October 2015, from: https://web.archive.org/web/20060511022120/http://www.futureofthebook.com/storiestoc/
Hi Elizabeth;
I found your post very interesting and found myself thinking of my niece and how she communicates as I read your response. My niece turned one a week ago and does not yet communicate through recognizable words; however, she has of course been using hand gestures and facial expressions to communicate since her birth. As you have pointed out, “…hand dexterity is one of the first things developed in the act of reading and even the act of communicating effectively.” My sister and her husband read daily with my niece, and she too has begun to turn pages on her own. Her turning does not correspond with what is being read, of course, but the general idea is there and shows she is developing this interactive motion as she has seen her parents do. My sister and her husband have also introduced sign language as a way of communicating with their daughter; not because she is deaf, but as a way of increasing communication development. She can indicate through her signs some basic needs, such as that she is hungry and that she would like a drink of water. She also often responds with a nod or shake her head to indicate yes and no when asked a question. As do most babies, she loves to mimic, for example, she claps her hands when she does something well (which of course is a direct result of our own reactions to her successes so far), and now smiles and waves to say hello and goodbye to people. While she is not yet able to communicate words like, “please” or “thank you,” and her speech is limited to “mamama” and “dadada” babbles, I find it both interesting and amazing that such a tiny person is able to communicate through some basic sign language already.
I was also very interested in Frost’s reference to neurologist Frank R. Wilson’s idea that, “…practiced manipulation actually embedded concepts in the mind and these began to compile into a useful database… Slowly, the slow brain began to develop, just to keep up with the disciplined hands.” (Frost, 2000). The more time we can spend interacting with children and encouraging children at a very young age to communicate through gestures, the better prepared they will likely be for the world ahead of them.
References:
Frost, G. (2000). Reading by hand (Futureofthebook.com via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine). Retrieved, 18 October, 2015 from: https://web.archive.org/web/20060511022245/http://www.futureofthebook.com/storiestoc/hand
Elizabeth,
A fascinating post. I am definitely going to take more notice when watching my son’s hand gestures from now on. I went through Frost’s ‘Reading by Hand’ and was drawn to one of a quote at the beginning of the passage in which Frost has cited Frank R Wilson. “Use of the hands has shaped “the brain, language and human culture (2000).” Seeing as how hand gestures are used so differently in regards to both meaning and frequency I wonder how these gestures would have developed over time.
I remember when I first arrived in the Middle East I was first informed about the usage of hand gestures. Pointing directly at a person can be viewed as extremely disrespectful, while showing somebody the ‘middle figure’ can wide you up in prison. Although, in Western Society, these gestures can be seen as offensive, the degree to their offense is greatly downplayed. Why would there be a difference and when did these differences take place? An even more extreme example is calling a person over using your index figure. Commonly used in Western Society, but in many areas in South East Asia this is only used to call a dog towards you. How has such contrast been created in the case of one simple hand gesture? Needless to say, I will make sure I caution my son in regards to the hand gestures he uses when he is travelling internationally.
References:
Frost, G. (2000). Reading by hand (Futureofthebook.com via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine). Retrieved, 18 October, 2015 from: https://web.archive.org/web/20060511022245/http://www.futureofthebook.com/storiestoc/hand