TABLE 3.

Samples of Transcribed Observations of Children Communicating Emotion Concepts Through Symbolic Gestures^a

Transcription	Category/Interpretation
Cathy (11.13 months) picked up a small spider stuffed animal on the floor and looked at it for a while. She looked at her caregiver and said, “Me!” “Yeah, you are holding a spider, Cathy,” her caregiver said. Cathy looked at the spider with her fist pounding on her chest (the gesture for scared). Then, she looked back at the caregiver. “It seems that you are telling me that you are sacred of the spider,” the caregiver said. Cathy nodded without a smile.	1. Reflecting on own internal state in past experiences. In this observation, Cathy spontaneously expresses her fear of spiders to her caregiver, using the prop of a stuffed animal spider and the “scared” gesture. Though many successful communication exchanges end with a smile, this one does not, which is congruent with the child’s affective state.
Alana (15.33 months) was lying on the changing table and made the gesture for sleepy/nap. Her caregiver asked if she was tired; then Alana repeated the sleepy/nap gesture. Another child’s caregiver was setting up a diaper table nearby and oversaw Alana make the gesture for nap. The second caregiver asked, “Are you tired, Alana? It’s Monday, and I’m always tired on Mondays. Are you tired on Mondays?” Alana smiled and said, “Me?” in the tone of a question while pointing to herself. The second caregiver said, “Yes, that’s right. You’re pointing to yourself and saying, ‘Me.”’ Alana smiled and repeated “Me,” and pointed to herself, followed again by the gesture for sleepy/nap.	2. Expressing own current internal state. In this observation, Alana expresses her internal state, “sleepy,” clarifying that it is herself that is sleepy by adding the word “me.” There may be some question as to whether the sleep/nap gesture describes an action or a feeling. Here the child is talking about herself, and since she is not napping, she is not saying “I’m napping,” using the gesture as a verb/action (unless she were engaging in pretend or imaginative play); thus, she must be saying “I’m sleepy.” She is not reflecting on a behavior but rather an internal state.
The children and caregivers were in the outdoor play area. Elsie’s caregiver was sitting on the edge of the sand area, watching some of the infants sitting in the sand. Elsie (14.9 months) was walking around the infant yard by herself. Her mouth was curled down and her eyes pointed downward. She had her right hand up near her ear in a relaxed fist position (a relaxed version of the mom/dad gesture). She walked slowly over toward the sandbox where her caregiver was sitting. When she came within about 3 feet of her caregiver, she made eye contact, and very quickly she put her thumb to her forehead with the other four fingers extended and gestured the sign for dad. She turned her mouth down and pushed her eyebrows together. Her caregiver said, “You look like you are thinking of your mom and dad. You look sad.” Elsie turned and walked away.	3. Expressing internal thoughts that have emotional salience. This child shows us that she knows what she’s feeling (sad), and why (missing dad). In addition, she uses a gesture, the relaxed “mom/dad” gesture, when she is alone whereas most gestures observed are in a person-to-person conversation (Is she using the gesture to think out loud?) Elsie also demonstrates that she knows that the caregiver will need a more clear version of her gesture to understand her—she articulates her gesture more clearly when she makes eye contact with the caregiver.
Sophie (9 months) sat in the outdoor infant garden on a mat; a few manipulative toys lay close, but she showed no interest in them. Sophie sat slumped at the shoulders, crying with a low constant hum in her voice. One of her caregivers sat down across from Sophie, and she paused in her sobs and looked at the caregiver’s face with an open mouth and eyes drawn down at the sides. The caregiver said “Sophie, I hear you crying and I am wondering if you are sad?” while she gestured hear (index finger tap at the ear) and sad (finger tracing a tear down cheek from eye). While focusing her gaze on the caregiver’s face, Sophie brought her right hand with fingers slightly separated into a clawlike position up to her face, the gesture for anger. The caregiver responded “I see you are angry, what can I do to help?” while using the gesture for angry (claw hand over face drawing down) and what (turned palms up with hands on top of knees).	4. Clarifying own internal state after caregiver misinterpretation. This child distinguishes between “sad” and “mad,” revealing the infants’ capacity not only to be aware of internal states but to differentiate between two different negative emotions. Note. This observation did not come from a videotaped transcript but was recounted by the Academic Child Development Specialist at the CCFS rather than transcribed from videotapes as were the other observations.
Allen (24 months) stood and watched Cathy as she cried after she had just fallen down. He walked a little closer to her and then hesitated for a moment, still watching Cathy with her caregiver. He squinted his eyes a little as he stood with his mouth open a bit. Then he looked over at his caregiver and walked over to where she was sitting. He pointed over to where Cathy was and made the gesture for sad, with his finger under his eye. He also had a sad look on his face as his eyes drooped a little and his mouth was shut, showing no sign of a smile. His caregiver said to him, “Allen, you see that Cathy is sad, don’t you?” He looked at the caregiver with the same expression on his face and slowly nodded his head. She said back to him, “I think she fell down and bumped her head,” as she brought her hand to her head. He looked at his caregiver and did the same gesture, bringing his hand to his head and said, “bumped head.”	5. Noticing others’ emotion-related behaviors. In this observation, you see that the toddler shows an intense interest in the other child’s apparent emotional state, and inquires about it with the caregiver. He uses the “sad” gesture to initiate a conversation with his caregiver about the causes of being sad.
Ellie (15.5 months) stopped as she was walking across the room, and made the gesture for hear. Her caregiver commented that she heard Billy crying. Ellie then made the gesture for sad. The caregiver said, “Yes, Ellie, I think Billy is sad. Emily is going to hold him and make him feel better.” Ellie looked at her caregiver and made the signs for bottle and sleepy/nap. The caregiver said, “I think you are right. Maybe Billy needs a bottle and a nap,” while repeating the gestures bottle and sleepy/nap. Ellie looked at the caregiver and pointed at Billy, as she again gestured sad, bottle, and sleepy/nap directly following one another.	6. Reflecting on cause or solution for the emotions of another. In this observation, Ellie demonstrates an understanding of the reasons someone might feel bad, or what would make him feel better.

^aAll gestures used by children in the following transcripts are bolded and underlined for easy reference. Names of children have been changed, but ages are accurate.