Non-verbal Communication: Gestures

Children communicate in many different ways.  Some use their voices, others draw and use facial expressions, gestures and many other ways.

When a child tugs at you, it means he wants to tell you something.  The reason why he is tugging at you is because he may not yet have the skills to call you or to get your attention verbally. It is good for us to acknowledge this method of interaction that the child uses in efforts to initiate communication with us. It would be great if we could respond and see what they are trying to communicate to us.

Some kids also like to lead you to walk towards what they want or what they want to communicate to you. For example if a child wants to watch tv  but does not know how to turn on the TV, most probably he might lead you to the TV area. This is a form of non-verbal communication using gestures.

While we acknowledge their attempt to converse with us, we can definitely work on matching their gestures with the appropriate language. For example if a child walks away from an item or activity it probably means that the child is not so fond of whatever that is being offered to him.

There are many forms of non-verbal communication using gestures, for example some of them are:

• -        Pointing
• -        Looking
• -        Walking away
• -        Pushing away something
• -        Hand leading
• -        Facial expressions

I would also like to encourage you that by acknowledging your child’s non-verbal communication you are listening to your child and are actually communicating with your child. Just that this is a different form of communication.

Written by

Jessica Ganesha

Consultant, EAP Malaysia