you won't believe this

Fri Feb 29 15:59:44 UTC 2008

>the question is whether this is symbolic, and if not, then why not.

I¹d say it is at least as symbolic as classical conditioning‹ for whatever
that is worth!  Pavlov¹s dog was widely interpreted as treating the bell as
a sign of food.  These immediate responses though were not always seen as
involving representation‹ hence a lot of old (and somewhat interesting)
stuff on delayed reactions.

Even before Pavlov, Lubbock showed dogs could be taught to read for far less
than $129.95
Arf!

John Lubbock (1884) Teaching animals to converse. Nature, 29,
216.

"..it has occurred to me whether some such system as that followed with
deafmutes, especially by Dr. Howe with Laura Bridgman, might not prove
very instructive if adapted to the case of dogs.

Accordingly I prepared some pieces of stout cardboard, and printed on
each in legible letters a word such as "Food," "Bone," "Out," &etc.  The
head master of one of the deaf and dumb schools kindly agreed to assist
me.  We each began with a terrier puppy, but neither of us obtained any
satisfactory results.  My dog indeed was lost before I had had him long.
I then began training a black poodle, "Van" by name, kindly given me by
my friend Mr. Nickalls.  I commenced by giving the dog food in a saucer,
over which I laid the card on which was the word "Food," placing also by
the side an empty saucer, covered by a plain card.

"Van" soon learnt to distinguish between the two, and the next stage was
to teach him to bring me the card; this he now does, and hands it to me
quite prettily, and I then give him a bone, or a little food, or take him
out, according to the card brought.....No one who sees him can doubt that
he understands the act of bringing the card with the word "Food" on it as
a request for something to eat, and that he distinguishes between it and
a plain card.  I also believe that he distinguishes for instance between
the card with the word "Food" on it and the card with "Out" on it.

This then seems to open up a method, which may be carried much further,
for it is obvious that the cards may be multiplied, and the dog thus
enabled to communicate freely with us....
    John Lubbock (1884) Teaching animals to converse. Nature, 29,
216. (also see pp.547-548 same volume)

John Limber
University of New Hampshire

On 2/29/08 9:49 AM, "Gordon, Peter" <pgordon at exchange.tc.columbia.edu>
wrote:

> Has anyone looked at this "Infant Reading" website?  Apparently this was shown
> on Channel 4 in the UK yesterday.  It shows a 9 month old being shown words on
> a card labeling body parts, and then responding by pointing to the appropriate
> part:
>  
> http://www.infantlearning.com/
>  
> Obviously the baby isn't really reading, but it does seem to be responding to
> the shape of the words and touching the appropriate body part (head, teeth,
> feet etc.)  I don't see any other obvious cuing going on.  If true, it does
> seem remarkable that the infant can actually encode differences between the
> words and use them as cues for touching body parts.  I guess then the question
> is whether this is symbolic, and if not, then why not.
>  
> Peter
> Peter Gordon, Associate Professor
> 525 W 120th St. Box 180
> Biobehavioral Sciences Department
> Teachers College, Columbia University
> New York, NY 10027
> Office Phone: (212) 678-8162
> FAX: (212) 678-8233
> Web Page: www.tc.edu/faculty/index.htm?facid=pg328
> 
> 
> From: info-childes at googlegroups.com on behalf of Krisztina Zajdó
> Sent: Thu 2/28/2008 8:09 PM
> To: info-childes at googlegroups.com
> Subject: RE: you won't believe this
> 
> Dear Colleagues,
>  
> I believe a response is desperately needed here from the research community -
> especially because of ethical issues involved.
> Here is how the LENA website advertises the product:
>  
> Parents that have been desperately searching for answers
> and a way to measure and improve their child's language
> development now have LENA.
> 
> If you are DESPERATELY searching for answers because you feel something is
> wrong with your child's communicative development, consulting with a linguist,
> speech pathologist or a child development specialist is in order, not buying
> LENA for $399. That approach needs to be the priority for the DESPERATE
> parent, not purchasing a product that in itself will not help.
>  
> Further, it is stunning that there is a not a word mentioned on the LENA
> website about how the quality (rather than quantity) of interactions and
> speech impacts linguistic/intellectual growth.
>  
> One of the parent testimonials cited was a real surprise.
>  
> ³Getting to see the results of how much I interact with my child
> shows me how many times during the day I am just not cutting it.
> Awareness of these problems will help us improve greatly.²
>  
> I am all for awareness, but spreading the belief that parents can use the LENA
> system to identify when and how they are just not cutting it when it comes to
> supporting their child's linguistic development is clearly disturbing.
>  
> Isabelle, please let me know how I can help.
>  
> Krisztina
> 
> ------------------------------------
> Krisztina Zajdó, M.A., M.A., Ph.D.
> Linguist, Speech scientist
> Assistant Professor of Speech-Language Pathology
> 
> Director of the Child Speech/Phonology Lab
> 
> University of Wyoming
> Division of Communication Disorders
> Dept. 3311 
> 1000 E. University Avenue
> Laramie, WY 82071
> 
> Ph: 307-766-6405
> F: 307-766-6829
> 
> zajdo at hotmail.com
> ------------------------------------
> 
> 
>> 
>> From: khirshpa at temple.edu
>> Subject: Re: you won't believe this
>> Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:50:25 -0500
>> To: info-childes at googlegroups.com
>> 
>> Great to hear from you!  Are you up for drafting a response?  I am a bit
>> crazed for the next couple of days and then I leave for Utah and San
>> Francisco.  Whew. What have you been up to? Kathy
>> On Feb 28, 2008, at 11:31 AM, isa barriere wrote:
>> 
>>> Dear Kathy,
>>> Thanks for sharing this with all of us.
>>>  
>>> As the Director of Research in a pre-school center that serves a very large
>>> number (> 2,000)of children from low SES (and many different langauge
>>> backgrounds) and that incoporates a clinic (EI 0 to 3 and special ed 3 to 21
>>> - 3,000) in which I regularly contribute to parent'sworkshops and staff
>>> profesisonal development, I think it is essential that we write a response
>>> pointing out the many many factors that we know/don't know bout that may
>>> impact timing of language developmental stages.  I also suggest that we
>>> should try to do so in collboration perhaps with representatives of relevant
>>> service providers (such as professional SLP organization ASHA etc).
>>>  
>>> Let me know how I or other members of the organizations I work for and other
>>> colleagues can help.
>>>  
>>> I look forwrad to hearing from you and to other people's reactions.
>>>  
>>> isabelle Barriere, PhD
>>> Director of Policy for Research & Education
>>> Yeled v'Yalda Early Childhood cneter (www.yeled.org <http://www.yeled.org/>
>>> )
>>> & Co-Director, YVY Research Insititute (http://www.yeled.org/res.asp)
>>> & Research Associate, Research Institute for the Study of Language in Urban
>>> Society (RISLUS), CUNY Graduate center.
>>>  
>>> 
>>> 
>>>  
>>> On 2/28/08, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek <khirshpa at temple.edu> wrote:
>>>> I just read the article in the NYTimes on baby techtronics part of which
>>>> described the Lena system.  Yes, Lena is in the news again.  The adds from
>>>> their web site tell us that it is relevant to any parent concerned about
>>>> "language delays, autism or transitioning an adopted child!"  I am copying
>>>> the description from the Times and thought we might all want to check out
>>>> how our research is interpreted in the marketplace. Does this require a
>>>> response from our community?  What is our professional responsibility when
>>>> this keeps coming up in the news?
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> Kathy
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>>    
>>>> Last on our list was the LENA System ($399) a language measurement tool
>>>> developed by Infoture, in Boulder, Colo. The system is based on research
>>>> demonstrating a correlation between the amount parents talk to their babies
>>>> during their first three years and their professional success later in
>>>> life.
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> The LENA System includes a credit card device and several children's
>>>> outfits designed with large pockets in the front. Several days a month, you
>>>> slip the device into the clothing and it records conversation between
>>>> parent and child.
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> At the end of the day, you plug it into your personal computer. Special
>>>> software (available for Windows, but not Macs) analyzes the speech ‹
>>>> separating adult words and baby gurgling from other noises ‹ and reports on
>>>> how many words you have spoken to your baby, how often your baby responds,
>>>> and where you match up against the rest of the American population, to
>>>> ensure your infant is getting that all-important verbal edge on other
>>>> infants.
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> My girls are a bit too young for the LENA, which Infoture recommends for
>>>> infants from 2 months to 4 years. Instead I called Jennifer Jacobs, a
>>>> mother of two from Boise, Idaho, who used the device to ensure her youngest
>>>> child, Katherine, was not getting left behind.
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> http://www.lenababy.com <http://www.lenababy.com/> /
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> > 
> 

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