The tree of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wendlandt (German psychologist and writer) is a classic symbol often used here in Germany by speech and language therapists and other professionals. The tree is often used to advise parents about the conditions necessary for proper speech and language development. The use of this tree promotes an easier understanding of speech and language disorders through a more concrete explanation and a self-analysis of the family and environmental communication conditions.
Let's understand what each part of the tree means.
Let's understand what each part of the tree means.
Earth:
The earth symbolizes the environment, culture, and society. These three aspects will influence and determine all communication with your child. Already in the womb the communication between parents and children is determined according to cultural aspects. A Brazilian child communicates and even plays differently than a German or an American child, because each culture has different traditions, stories, and heritage.
The experiences of the environment in which we live, the society we are part of, will determine various aspects of our communication. Latin cultures will use more gestures in their oral expression and communicate in a more active way. On the other hand, the Japanese culture will present a more passive communication, listening much more than speaking.
Roots:
The roots basically represent the five areas of child development, which are: motor, sensory, cognitive, social-emotional, and language.
Language: Through crying, babbling, and the first sounds, the child begins to develop its orofacial organs in a motor, perceptive, and communicative way. Here will be established the first form of communication between children and parents. When your child cries and screams, you already know that the reasons are hunger, pain, or the discomfort of a dirty diaper.
Sensory: The sense organs such as sight, hearing, smell, taste, and tactile-kinesthetic are important for the baby to begin to sense the world in which it communicates. Research has shown that the development of auditory perception begins very early in the womb. In the fourth month of life, the baby already turns its head or body to locate the sound coming from the right or left, i.e., the origin of the sound. Approximately in the sixth month of life the child babbles (makes sounds like ba-ba, da-da) the tactile-kinesthetic sensation (sensation of the tongue or lips hitting the oral cavity) will stimulate the production of other sounds as well. From the seventh month on, the baby starts to listen to his or her own sounds. This will help in the development of the auditory perception of different sounds, a very important condition for the development of speech. A child that goes through this phase well will have reduced chances of switching sounds during speech, also reducing difficulties in learning to read and write. Here are some of the reasons for early speech and language intervention.
Motor: To speak, it is also very important the development of lip and tongue movements, which will be trained with the help of the sensorial organs, as mentioned above. But even before training the muscles and orofacial organs, children are already moving their arms and legs, rolling and crawling, important movements for the development of their gross motor coordination. Finer movements such as sucking a finger while still inside the mother's womb or trying to hold something allow contact with and recognition of the world.
Socioemotional: Self-confidence and security during communication will be developed through the loving and nurturing way a newborn baby is cared, first by his parents and later by other people.
Cognitive: Neurological maturity is observed as the baby grows. All his ability to perceive, understand, and remember the learning, will help in the development of cognitive and mental functions.
Trunk:
Motivation and joy to speak: Children are curious and initially discover the world through their mouths. Taking various objects in their mouths and even our words, they try to imitate us and reproduce everything the way we speak. They even sound like parrots! The child presents a linguistic behavior called echolalia, which consists of repeating sounds, syllables, words, and phrases for about two years of its life. At this stage the child shows great joy and motivation to form words and sentences. She vibrates when speaking chunks of words such as "nana" for "banana" and being understood. The intention to communicate is developed and established at this stage of development when she realizes the success of her communication. Problems at this stage can lead to lack of motivation to communicate and interact socially and even with parents.
Language Comprehension: Language comprehension is preceded by the ability to speak. This happens with any language learning. First, we develop receptive language, that is, the capacity to understand, and then we develop expressive language, which would be oral verbalization. We understand first and then we speak! For example, when we travel, we understand a lot of the local language, but our ability to express ourselves verbally is not always so good. In child development, the same happens. The child understands the meaning of single words or simple phrases like "catch the ball" even before he or she can speak these two little words. For a continuous development of a child's language comprehension, it is necessary that the level of interest and curiosity in his or her environment, in the people with whom he or she interacts, is always high.
Tree top:
At its base are the language areas: articulation, vocabulary, grammar, and communication. In the area of articulation are the different speech sounds that your child will learn as he or she grows. In vocabulary are the words that will be learned from your parents, from the easiest to the most difficult. Grammatical structures will also be learned from the easiest to the most difficult. In the communication branch will be the ability to ask questions, hold dialogues, express needs, tell stories and explain orally.
Just as a tree only grows if the conditions are favorable, reading and writing will only develop if we help our children pass through all the previous stages successfully.
These areas will only be developed when basic skills have already been developed. These preconditions and skills have already been mentioned in the soil, the roots, and the trunk of the tree.
Sun:
The sun symbolizes the light and warmth that is transmitted to the tree. Sun’s light and warmth will also be needed for the development of speech and language. Here specifically, Wendlandt proposes an analysis of the amount of the sun's rays, as an indicator of good development or not. So, if the child is filled with light rays of acceptance and love, the child will have a more satisfactory development, than children who are more exposed to lightning and thunder. If the child is also exposed to excessive care or overprotection, it will also fail to make the necessary mistakes that are important for healthy learning, just as the tree will probably feel suffocated and not grow properly.
Watering can
Children learn to speak through interaction with their parents, who will be their language models every day. The water that should always be watered on the tree symbolizes the quantity and quality of inputs (stimuli) that should be offered frequently to your child. When the water is of good quality and in the right quantity, the tree will then grow in a healthy way. Communication between parents and children should be of good quality and in the right quantity.
Here are some aspects that mainly influence the quality of communication:
· Good eye contact when you talk to your child and when you listen to him as well.
· Don't correct all the time what your child speaks, paying only attention to his mistakes. Please pay more attention to the content than the way he says it.
· Listen to your child consciously when he speaks, show interest in what he communicates.
· Don't interrupt your child when he speaks, be patient and wait until he finishes talking.
· Be a good speech model for your child by articulating and speaking the sounds and words correctly. Offer to your child a rich vocabulary.
· Encourage your child to participate in conversations during meals, or play.
A self-analysis of your family and environmental communication conditions is not always possible without professional help. If you would like to do this self-analysis with me and identify the areas that need to be stimulated and how to stimulate them, please contact me to schedule a counseling.
Source:
Wendlandt, Wolfgang, "Sprachstörungen im Kindesalter", Herausgeber: Luises Springer und Dietlinde Schrey-Dern, Verlag: Georg Thieme.
Comments