In this podcast, Laura discusses how attuned engagement and contingent communication serve as foundational strategies for healthy development in children. Sadly, you might be surprised to find that you don’t practice these fundamental skills with children. Why? Adults tend to download their knowledge to children. This makes sense. We need to teach, right? And yet, teaching involves really knowing your “student.” How can you know your “student” if you don’t attune?
What is attuned engagement then?
When you attune, you consider the child’s perspective. Their thoughts, feelings, perceptions, beliefs, even body sensations. You open up to the experience from the child’s point of view. Not just yours. Sit with that for a minute. Really pausing to consider the child’s experience. This can be monumentally difficult for adults when the child’s behavior proves challenging. And yet, that is exactly when you need to double-down on attunement. Unfortunately, adults when challenges arise, adults tend to require the child attune to them.
In this podcast, Laura shares the difference between intrapersonal and interpersonal attunement and why adults need to strengthen these skills in both themselves and children. Take a listen below, or visit the Early Childhood Research Podcast.
For more about this important topic, please visit my Instagram page or my You Tube channel for clips on this subject and more!
Early Childhood Research Podcast