Communication:- additional
Look at this diagram:-
E1---->E2---->E3---->E4---->E5---->
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
e1---->e2---->e3---->e4---->e5---->
The horizontal links between events e1, e2, etc. are the normal
longnitudinal links involved in n.r.a., t.r.a., etc.
The vertical ones include the sort of links seen in "Freudian"
symbolism.
There may be various hybrid forms, so that
the vertical links might be of this type or stand for an identity
relationship. In the latter case, of course, Ex =ex.
Each of these events is composed of complexes of objects in various
kinds of spatial relationships, which change in time, e.g. the child
brings her hand to her face and looks at it. The individual objects
which comprise the event may form a hybrid, with some of
the objects representing only themselves, and others representing
something else,
or
they may be all of the same
form.
Take the case of our h.r.b. The child is looking at her hand,
and the child represents herself. But the hand is
not representing itself but something else.
According to our theory the hand is representing a parent or
parent figure
The curriculum model
In our model for the structure of what we must teach the child we have
a number of orthogonal, independent dimensions.
Four of these orthogonal dimensions (i.e. ones at right angles to each
other, if we consider a spatial image), are
(I) the stage of a plan, its formation, implementation, evaluation of
outcome and so on
and
(II) whether we are making a declarative statement or an
imperative one,
and
(III) whether these are positive, affirmative, or negative.
and
(IV) the type/level of communication used, whether
(a) t.r.a.
(b) demo/imitation
(c) photo
(d) schematic symbol
(e) mime
(f) sign
The affirmative will be encountered in dimensions I, II, and IV.
Clearly, in our system, we will require that the affirmative will be
of a very similar nature, in all these dimensions, for ease of learning
and progress by the child.
All the affirmative forms will be based on the 'proto-affirmative'
gesture or behaviour seen in t.r.a., (which itself is based on
n.r.a.)
What is this behaviour, in n.r.a. and/or t.r.a.?
t.r.a.
Say an event E1, or situation S1 requires first, the selection of
object O3,then O6, then the putting of these two into some kind of
relation. This initial phase of a plan, the selection of the required
objects, can be seen as gathering objects from their store places
into the work area in front of the person. (I mean the work area
as far as the hands are concerned, as far as a manual
task is concerned; the 'work area' for e.g. the feet, would be an area
around the feet). This means ensuring the objects are 'to hand',
i.e. making it possible for external object and external object, or
object and hand, to be brought together, in some way.
demo-imitation
p.c.s.
s.c.s.
sign
In this late stage (f) of the dimension (IV) the working
space becomes the signing space where, instead of actual
objects, imaginary ones, symbols, or signs, are manipulated.)
Affirmative ideas are seen in the assignation of an 'object'or idea
or topic etc, to the work space or signing space,
i.e. a gesture or sign wherein the signer mimes the gathering
of such things towards him.
The negative, the negation of the affirmative, will obviously
also be encountered in dimensions I, II, and IV.
Clearly, in our system, we will require that the negative be
of a very similar nature, in all these dimensions, for ease of learning
and progress by the child.
All the negative forms will be based on the 'proto-negative' gesture
or behaviour seen in t.r.a., (which itself is based on n.r.a.)
This is the negation of affirmative t.r.a., (which itself will, of
course be the prototype of all affirmatives, over all the dimensions
and attribute values).
What is this behaviour, in n.r.a. and/or t.r.a.?
t.r.a.
Say an event E1, or situation S1 requires first, the selection of
object O3,then O6, then the putting of these two into some kind of
relation. To negate or prevent the event or situation we will separate
the objects from each other, or move the objects out of the work
area in front of the person. This means ensuring the objects are
not 'to hand', i.e. making it impossible for external object and
external object, or object and hand, to be brought together, in some
way.
demo-imitation
p.c.s.
s.c.s.
sign
In this late stage (f) of the dimension (IV) the working
space becomes the signing space where, instead of actual
objects, imaginary ones, symbols, or signs, are manipulated.)
Negative ideas are seen in the 'removal' of an 'object'or idea
or topic etc, from the work space or signing space,
i.e. a gesture or sign wherein the signer mimes the pushing
of such things away from him.
The negatives are of the type found in b.s.l., in for example:-
from the Dictionary of British Sign Language
sign # 5
no = "The A hand is held with the palm facing towards the signer
(if the hand were opened, the fingers would point up,) The hand is held
in front of the body. The hand twists firmly at the wrist, so that the
palm faces away from the signer, while moving to the right"
sign # 1221
no = "The B hand is held with the palm facing away from
the signer and the fingers pointing up. The hand is held in front of
the body. The hand moves to the right", i.e. away from the signing
space.
sign #1420
no = "The left B hand is held with the palm facing down
and the fingers pointing away from the signer; the right B hand is
held with the palm facing down and the fingers pointing to the left",
(i.e. away from the signer). "The hands are held crossed over in front
of the body with the right wrist resting on the back of the left hand.
The hands uncross and move firmly apart while the elbows move in
towards the body; the movement ends with the fingers all pointing
away from the signer"
In the last two cases note:-
the hand shape is 'B', an empty hand,
and
the hand movements are away from the body of the signer.
and
note incidentally the constant use of the word 'face'in connection
with the palm of the hand, see the articles on h.r.b. and h.d.b.
Also note that sign #5 seems quite different from the other two. This
is because it is a picture of a head shake, with the 'A' hand
representing the head. It is not however different in the basic
concept. This is that a situation or event is prevented/negated by
moving the elements/objects needed for the situation or event apart/
away from each other.
In the manual cases the objects are the hand and another object, in
sign #5 the objects are the head (mouth), represented by the fist
hand-shape 'A', and food, (the mother's breast), which is not
represented.
We must also mention a sign used by the deaf British T.V. presenter
Clive Mason, on the British T.V. programme "See Hear!" This sign
represents the intention to move onto a new topic of discussion, or
monologue. As I remember it the two hands of the signer seem to
grasp the entire imaginary contents in the signing space and move
them en bloc out of the space and away to the side of the signer.
What is being moved? It is clearly all the signs previously used to
make statements, or better, all the previously made statements and so
on. These might be imagined as ghosts still remaining in the space in
the memory of the signer and his audience. They are cluttering up the
space and must be removed to make room for a new set of statements
about a new topic.
We might imagine the parallel case in s.c.s. The symboliser has
finished using his symbol complexes, e.g. a girl has constructed
a complex of a symbol of a girl, 'sitting' 'on' a 'chair', and given
the child symbol a sad face to express the fact that she is sad. One
can imagine then that the other person with her asks questions and
makes statements which result in the girl cheering up. Now she has no
further use for her statement picture complex and will, (or should)
move this out of the space, (ideally she should disassemble it and
store the individual elements in their proper store places, perhaps).
At the t.r.a. level the child might put the relevant objects in the
psychologist's test battery away in their boxes, and/or case to
represent the desire to finish with the present 'topic'. More all-
embracing is the desire to finish that whole type of activity,
represented by all of his test materials, expressed by the
child who puts, or tries to put, all the psychologist's test
kit back into their case. The less civilized type of child might just
sweep all the materials off the table, or throw them away from himself,
the table, and the psychologist.
These signs are obviously related to the more primitive negatives
discussed above.
We have described t.r.a. as an early communication style where, in
one type, the child physically acts on a person, especially an adult,
in a token manner, i.e. uses rather less force than would be required
if the object were inanimate.
He pushes and pulls the
person.
These two modes of action are similar in being two forms of t.r.a.,
both ways of moving, (or better prompting to move) a person from place
A to place B. But they are also rather different in character
from each other. To pull someone is to bring them with
you, to a place, but to push someone is most naturally
associated with moving them away from you, so that you stay
in place A, and get them to move to place B.
So Amanda and a favourite adult are in a room, and another adult
enters. Amanda wants the first person all to herself and doesn't want
to share him. So she proceeds to push the newcomer out of the
room through a doorway.
The different characters of the two actions are to be seen in the
handshapes used in the actions. Most naturally, in the action
of pushing, a flat, 'B' hand is used, and the person is not
grasped or gripped, while in the action of pulling, a
more curved hand is used, (a shape possibly not exactly represented
in the B.S.L. vocabulary), and the person, or part of them, e.g.
their hand, is grasped or gripped. To grasp something or
someone suggests keeping hold of the object/person and wanting it/him
to stay with you.
So we have
Pe1 pushes Pe2 out of place Pl3 =
Pe1 wants to be/stay in place Pl3
and
Pe1 does not want Pe2 to be (with her) in place Pl3.
In the other case,
Pe1 pulls Pe2 from place Pl3 to place Pl5=
Pe1 wants to be in place Pl5
and
Pe1 wants Pe2 to be (with her) in place Pl5.
In this second case Pe1 grips/holds Pe2's hand, and moves(walks) from
place Pl3 to place Pl5, so making Pe2 also move(walk), with her, to
place Pl5, so that the pair are now both together in place Pl5.
Let us recapitulate and expand somewhat.
The curricular model
Our target is to teach the child these skills:-
A. To decide what he wants, choose a goal,
and if necessary to communicate this to another, e.g. an adult.
The need/drive and goal structure might be simple or complex.
If simple we might have a positive goal, or a negative goal.
An example of the first might be to have a sweet; an example
of the second type might be to have a spider removed from the
lounge where you're trying to relax.
Alternatively the need/drive and goal structure might be complex.
So we might have these possibilities:-
+ and + and there might be an approach-approach type of conflict
+ and - and there might be an approach-avoidance type of conflict
- and - and there might be an avoidance-avoidance type of conflict
B. To form a plan, to ask for help in this, if necessary.
One reason for communicating what his goal is might be as part of a simple plan,
e.g.
(i) Locate and approach a helpful adult
(ii) Communicate to him e.g. "I want a sweet", or "I don't like that!"
Expressing a desire for help will obviously involve the question form, asking for
information, where the response must be in the form of an answer, a meaningful and
relevant indicative statement.
Prior to asking a question about some external fact, necessary to your plan, is the
recognition that
(i) you don't know this
and
(ii) the assumption that the person knows the answer, is able to answer, to give you
the correct information.
If one can't make this assumption one might have to pose a prior question, e.g.
"Do you know the way to the Museum?" The joke response to this might be to say "Yes",
and walk off! The joke is that the first question is shorthand for "Do you know the way
to the museum? If you do please tell me"
At this stage the child may get information, not in the form of simple absolute
statements, e.g. " There is a sweet up on that shelf ", but in the form of hypothetical,
or conditional statements, e.g. "If you put some coins into that slot, and pull that
handle, you'll get a bar of chocolate".
The decision whether one will form a plan independently, or get adult help in this depends
on considerations such as:-
Am I able, by myself, to make a plan to get me what I want? This depends on various
intellectual attribute values, or more properly, on the relationship between various of
his intellectual characteristics and the difficulty of the intellectual task.
The decision whether the plan is to involve independent action, or involve help from an
adult, depends on various considerations, e.g.
Am I able to carry out the plan by myself? This depends on various intellectual and
physical abilities of the child, which he must recognise and evaluate. More correctly
expressed it depends on the relationship between various of his physical characteristics,
and abilities and the task requirements. For example the sweet is on a high shelf, "Am I
tall enough to reach it?", or "Can I jump up and grab it?"
Physics
The formation of a plan involving inanimate simple objects will need knowledge of the
characteristic uses, properties, etc of those objects, which could be seen as a sort of
rudimentary physics topic. Also involved in this topic or subject are ideas of the
complexes of objects made up of objects in various spatial relationships, called
situations, the even more elaborate ideas of complexes of changes in attributes (in time)
of objects, and situations, forming events, and the yet more elaborate ideas of complexes
made up of causal links between events, forming processes.
The concept of the causal link might be broken down into a type of truth table, e.g.
E3 ------> E5
E3 expect E5
~ E3 expect E5
E3 do not expect ~E5
~ E3 expect ~E5
and this in turn based on a statistical array of past experiences of the co-occurrences
of these events:-
E3 E5 many cases
~E3 E5 many cases
E3 ~E5 no cases
~E3 ~E5 many cases
Psychology
The formation of a plan involving other people will need knowledge of the characteristic
uses, properties, etc of people, seen as complex objects, which could be seen as a sort
of rudimentary psychology topic. An elementary thing to know, as said above, is whether
this particular person is well disposed towards you, or is he not? If the latter do not
bother approaching him to ask him to do something for you, if the former this is a
possibility.
More complexly we would consider other factors, e..g. of mood, is he
in a good mood, is he smiling, and so on. At a simple level of analysis, conditioning, the
smile would be regarded as a cue stimulus.
This knowledge of people may be at various levels of complexity. The general framework we
use to systematize the topic will be the same as the one we use to structure the
curriculum making up our teaching/training targets for the development of the s.l.d.
child's communicative behaviour, i.e.
Need-Goal
Make a Plan to obtain it
Implement it
Evaluate the Outcome w.r.t.
Success, Enjoy the goal, record success of this plan under these
circumstances, (cues for an operant response, at the lowest level.)
vs
Failure , Record this too
A highish level of psychological knowledge should include consideration of the other
person's needs and goals, any plans they have made to achieve them, and so on.
The child might have to do deals and make bargains, e.g. "I'll wash the car if you take
me out in it at the weekend to the park for a picnic."
At this stage there are always calculations relating the cost of implementing or carrying
out a plan, with the gains to be had from doing so, the value of the goal. One balances
the 'bad' against the 'good'. If the bad outweighs the good, or they are equal, there will
be no incentive and motivation to carry out the plan. Under 'costs' will be placed
physical and mental effort, losses of various sorts, e.g. of money, (expenditure),
obstacles to the satisfaction of other needs, and the achievement of other goals, and so
on.
Even the 'cost', in terms of time and mental effort, of just making plans, of different
degrees of sophistication, and complexity, may need to be weighed, and balanced against
the advantages of going for a simpler plan, or even just going for a trial and error
approach.
A more sophisticated treatment recognises the probabilistic nature of things.
Rewriting the above, what we then want the child to consider is the probability p3 of
getting the goal of amount ga3, with a plan Pl4, against the probability p5 of suffering
the (total) loss of degree l6.
The actual form of the function is unknown I suppose, but we will say it is a simple
product of the probability and the amount of the gain, or loss. So for example, one has
the certainty of losing the �1 I spend on a lottery ticket, balanced against the very low
probability of winning �1000,000 or something. If the first has a 'badness' of degree
'bad 4', and the second a 'goodness' of value 'good 4' where 'bad 4' = -'good 4' then the
two are exactly balanced, and there will be no drive to buy the ticket. If 'bad 4' <<
'good 4', ('bad 4' is much less than 'good 4'), then we should buy the ticket.
Since a plan might involve the knowledge that E3----> E5, we must cast this also in
probabilistic terms, E3------?------>E5. E3 might result in E5, we want E5, so we could
effect E3, and we might get E5.
In all this we might talk of expectancies, perhaps at a very low level, almost sign
learning or classical conditioning
The concept of the probabilistic causal link might again be broken down into a type of
truth table, e.g.
E3 ------> E5
E3 medium expectancy E5
~ E3 medium expectancy E5
E3 low expectancy ~E5
~ E3 medium expectancy ~E5
and this in turn based on a statistical array of past experiences of the co-occurrences
of these events:-
E3 E5 many cases
~E3 E5 many cases
E3 ~E5 few cases
~E3 ~E5 many cases
The child must be able, at some level, to estimate these probabilities, and to calculate
these balances. Note that of course, that the estimation of the probability of something
occurring in the future depends on the statistics of the person's past experience of
similar events. A person's estimation of the probability of an event occurring is his
degree of sureness that the event will occur. If I am fairly sure that this plan Pla will
involve n degree of loss, (effort, risk of other drives being blocked etc), and equally
sure that the gain could be m degree of gain, and m > n, then I should put the plan into
operation.
C. To implement the plan and to ask for help in this, if necessary. This may involve
communicating just where he is, at what point he is, in his plan. This may involve
more imperatives and questions, such as "Can you reach up to that shelf and get that
sweet for me?" This again is a shorthand for
a question of the person's ability,
strictly needing an answer, an indicative statement about the person's ability
and
a request, imperative, "Please get it for me!"
Prior to both of these of course is a recognition that you can't carry out the plan, or
part of it, yourself.
A typical implementation pattern, achieving a number of sub-goals leading to the ultimate
final goal is:-
i 1 Gather the items needed to carry out the plan from their store places, bring them
into the work area
i2 Combine these in various ways to form various situations
i3 Effect various events and processes, leading to the final desired result
i4
D. To recognise the outcome, in terms of success or failure.
Evaluate the Outcome w.r.t.
Success, Enjoy the goal, record success of this plan under these
circumstances, (cues for an operant response, at the lowest level.)
vs
Failure , Record this too
To recognise that he has achieved his goal or not achieved it, and to communicate this to
an adult if necessary. If he fails to achieve his goal, to get what he wants, and he wants
help from the adult, he must obviously signal that to the adult. The signalling is not
just that he has not got what he wants, but also that the plan has failed. So the plan may
need modifying, perhaps with help from the adult.
Take the example of a child stretching up to a desired object out of reach on a high
shelf:- what is signalled here is
what he wants: the sweet
how he was trying to get it: independently, by stretching his arm up
the effort: "ugh! ugh!"
the failure: a frown, or the actual situation seen by the child and known, assumed, by
him to be seen by the adult
Note the different cases which result from the interplay of two factors,
whether the goal is
(a) positive
or
(b) negative
and
whether the goal was
(i) achieved, and the plan successful,
or the goal
(ii) not achieved and the plan unsuccessful
In the case of (a)(i) we should have the emotion of pleasure,
and the child might be go to recognise this and, if necessary, signal
this to an adult.
In the case of (a)(ii) we should have the emotion of disappointment,
and the child might be go to recognise this and, if necessary, signal
this to an adult.
In the case of (b)(i) we should have the emotion of relief
and the child might be go to recognise this and, if necessary, signal
this to an adult.
In the case of (b)(ii) we should have the emotion of displeasure,
and the child might be go to recognise this and, if necessary, signal
this to an adult.
(See the 2-factor learning theory of Mowrer)
E Put the items used in the plan away, back into their store places, perhaps after
cleaning them, so that they will be in good condition for their next use, and so that
they may be easily found when needed again. (As said elsewhere the organisation of the
items in this store place should be one which the child can most easily understand, so
his task of finding the things he needs is as easy as possible. So, for example, we place
symbols of objects next to the symbols of places where those objects are found, symbols
of events and activities by the symbols of the places where these activities usually occur
etc.)
The above pattern of communication might of course be recognised in various forms and
levels of behavior, and we might see this as another dimension, although it is not a pure
one, involving, as it does, various kinds of differences
(a) t.r.a.
(b) demonstration-imitation
(c) pictorial-photographic
(d) pictorial-schematic symbol
(e) mime
(f) sign
(g) speech
Another dimension
The above structure of behaviour, involving a plan, might be detected at various levels,
an idea partly related to the above distinctions. The structure might be in the child's
behaviour but he is not conscious of this and able to verbalise, or otherwise symbolise,
what is happening.
Compare the Helmholz idea of unconscious inference in visual perception, and the Semantic
Differential, and the Kelly Repertory Grid Test.
So we might have, at the intersection of two of the above dimensions this:-
E (a) Child put items important in the activity away to indicate that he has completed an
assigned task
T.r.a. and conditioning
What is the relationship between what we have described as t.r.a. and
conditioning?
Firstly let us compare classical conditioning or sign learning, with
receptive or decoding t.r.a.
In an example of the former the dog hears the buzzer and expects food
to follow. Part of the response to food, e.g. salivation, happens
earlier and is attached to the buzzer. This conditioned response might
be thought of as preparing the animal to receive, to eat food, (most
effectively).
In an example of the latter the child sees her mother get her swimming
costume out of a drawer, and puts it in a bag, together with a towel
etc. She expects she'll be taken to the swimming baths.
Secondly let us compare operant or instrumental conditioning, with
expressive, imperative t.r.a.
In an example of the former the animal makes some response, in order
to achieve some goal. More complexly described the organism, when he's
cued by some cue stimulus, makes a response in order to get the goal.
The cue informs the animal that the response might be rewarded with
success, i.e. attainment of the goal.
In an example of the latter the child gives her mother the car keys, in
order to get a car ride, on the cue of, e.g. seeing that mother is in a
good mood, is smiling. The cue tells the child that her plan is likely
to be successful.
We see that in both the above comparisons the two types are very close.
However I believe that the t.r.a. form is more sophisticated, but one
would need to put together an argument to support this assertion. I
believe that, in our t.r.a. cases the person is very conscious of the
meaning of the cue stimuli, and that in expressive t.r.a. he is very
conscious of his aims and how he intends to achieve them.
We might use an idea of the behaviourists, that tiny motor movements
function as symbols, representing responses which might be made, in a
plan, and in the emotional, e.g. facial expressions occurring as
reactions to success, (a smile), or failure, (a frown), and in the
consummatory end phase of a successful plan, and so on.
We might also use the idea of inner mental images which might occur in
these situations, images of the cues to be waited for, and responded to
with a plan, and images of the possible smile and consummatory actions
on success. Such images were posited by Freud to be very primitive, as
in, e.g. images of the desired goal object, in the primary process.
(This page is currently being worked on)
© John and Ian Locking
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