My last post was about the viral video of the twin baby boys having a ‘conversation’.
Someone then sent me a link to this blog post from the Children’s Hospital Boston where the Speech-Language Pathology Services co-ordinator, Hope Dickinson MS, CCC-SLP explains what’s really going on.
Here’s a short extract from the post:
As a speech pathologist, what do you take away from this video?
It’s fun because these two are demonstrating great mimicking of multiple aspects of conversation. It really demonstrates how very young children communicate and know how a conversation works, even before they have the words to use. They will eventually begin to replace the babbling strings with words. If you listen closely, you’ll even hear a couple of words: One says “mama” when looking at the camera, and one or both say “up” more than once when picking up a foot.
One thing they are using wonderfully is turn taking, as in first one “talks” and then pauses and the other responds. They are also imitating the various intonations we use in conversation and speaking. There is fantastic rise and fall to their pitch and tones. Sentences or exclamations end loudly and emphatically, and there is also some questioning (rising) intonation. They are using gestures to supplement their talking, much like adults do. Their body distance is even very appropriate for most Americans; not too close, but not too far either.