Camras, L. A., Oster, H., Bakeman, R., Meng, Z., Ujiie, T., & Campos, J. J. (2007). Do infants show distinct negative facial expressions for fear and anger? Emotional expression in 11-month-old European American, Chinese, and Japanese infants. Infancy, 11(2), 131–155. Bowlby’s attachment theory asserts that early parent–child relationships are critical for emotional development and future relationships (Fraley & Shaver, 2021). Begin to recognise, name and manage their feelings and emotions and realise that they are a natural, important and healthy part of being human. Foley GN, Gentile JP. Nonverbal communication in psychotherapy. Psychiatry (Edgmont). 2010;7(6):38-44. These smart, well-intentioned people struggle in their attempt to connect with others. The sad thing is that they are unaware of the nonverbal messages they communicate.

Kim, C. S., Chun, W. Y., & Shin, D. M. (2020). Dehydration impairs physical growth and cognitive development in young mice. Nutrients, 12(3), 670. People often blink more rapidly when they are feeling distressed or uncomfortable. Infrequent blinking may indicate that a person is intentionally trying to control his or her eye movements. This shift in paradigm can be challenging for adults, especially because many of us have not had explicit instruction in the life skill of managing our own emotions. From birth, children’s developmental capacities are constantly growing and maturing. Speech provides all of us with imperative tools for learning and interacting with others. Uncovering speech issues early on in children can be beneficial for future emotional development. For some parents it may be difficult to decipher emotional signs, as opposed to physical signs correlated with speech or language complications. I spoke with child and adolescent psychotherapist, Irena Kenny about the importance of speech in a child’s everyday life, as well as emotional and social obstacles, which might arise if a child is struggling with self expression.

9 Activities for Toddlers and Children

Rutter M. Commentary: Causal processes leading to antisocial behavior. Developmental Psychology 2003;39(2):372-378. To equip our children with better life skills, it is up to us to generate and stimulate emotional development in children. But don’t worry, they will believe they are merely playing, and we will show you how much fun emotional development activities can be below.

Roter DL, Frankel RM, Hall JA, Sluyter D. The expression of emotion through nonverbal behavior in medical visits. Mechanisms and outcomes. J Gen Intern Med. 2006;21 Suppl 1:S28-34. doi:10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00306.x Melanie Cross is a speech and language therapist who has worked with looked after children for many years. Her work has focussed on developing speech and language therapy services for children and young people with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs (SEMH). This work has resulted in publications including Children with Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties and Communication Problems(2nd edition, 2011), and she was lead author of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists Clinical Guidelines on Social Emotional and Mental Health. She is also a trainer, video interaction guider and supervisor. Talk about emotions using a wide range of vocabulary. We often think that we need to keep it simple, and we do for very young children, however as children’s language skills and their ability to interact with other children develops they are able to process complex interactions. Exploring what is going on in groups, e.g ‘You look like you’re upset because Leia has the new pushchair’, and modelling emotional vocabulary can enhance and widen children’s understanding both of social situations and their own language skills. Substitution: It can substitute for a verbal message. For example, your facial expression often conveys a far more vivid message than words ever can. Barrett, L. F., & Bliss-Moreau, E. (2009). Affect as a psychological primitive. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 167–218.

Barrett, L. F. (2013). Psychological construction: A Darwinian approach to the science of emotion. Emotion Review, 5, 379–389.