How toddlers think with their hands: social and private gestures as evidence of cognitive self-regulation in guided play with objects.
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Authors
Basilio, Marisol
Rodríguez, Cintia
Publication Date
2016-07-26Journal Title
Early Child Development and Care
ISSN
0300-4430
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Language
English
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
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Basilio, M., & Rodríguez, C. (2016). How toddlers think with their hands: social and private gestures as evidence of cognitive self-regulation in guided play with objects.. Early Child Development and Care https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2016.1202944
Abstract
The role of language as a tool to support the self-regulation has been widely studied, yet there is little evidence on the role of prelinguistic communication in the early development of self-regulation. To address this gap we developed behavioural indicators of preverbal cognitive self-regulation, and described how can parents support it through guided play. We observed 16 children at 14, 16 and 18 months interacting with two complex toys, either independently or with a parent. A microanalytic coding captured a total of 721 gestures, of which 473 were classed as self-regulatory. Children used gestures to support self-regulation in planning monitoring, control, and evaluation. Analysis of parental mediation revealed a relationship between supporting autonomy, providing challenge, responsiveness, effective communication, children’s competence with objects, and self-regulatory gestures. We produced reliable indicators of self-regulation through gestures and characterised effective parental mediation, thus making explicit key social mechanisms to foster self-regulation in preverbal development.
Keywords
self-regulation, private gestures, guided play, scaffolding, pragmatic of objects
Sponsorship
This research was kindly supported by CONICYT Chile through a scholarship for doctoral studies at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid granted to the first author, and a Research and Innovation grant awarded to the second author (EDU2011-2780 I+D+i) by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain.
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2016.1202944
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/256726
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