Young Children's Communication Skills in Triads

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate children's nonverbal intrusions into an ongoing interaction. The subjects were 60 children, divided into groups of 11, 16, and 23 months of age. Two same-aged peers were observed together with an adult experimenter. Both children and adult behaviours were recorded with two cameras. Coding of behaviours proceeded in four steps in order to sort object oriented and socially directed behaviours specifying their social aim and their temporal organisation. The results show that as early as 11 months, children produce acts directed to one as opposed to two partners. These single and double oriented behaviours are used for initiations as well as for responses. As opposed to dyadic interactions, the temporal contiguity of double oriented behaviours enhancing triadic interactions increased during the second year, and at 23 months children were more likely to select a new referent to introduce a triadic interaction than a dyadic interaction.