PSYCHOLOGY
When, a summer ago, Linda Acredolo gave a noontime talk about her research, 25 people showed up--10 of them reporters. That was the beginning. Since then her 15 minutes of fame has lasted for more than a year, and the calls from TV and print reporters continue.
More than 80 articles about her work have appeared in papers and magazines across the country and abroad. She and her colleague Susan Goodwyn have appeared on local television programs and nationally on NBC's "Dateline" with Jane Pauley, the "Today" show with Katie Couric, the Family Channel's "Home and Family" show with Chuck Woolery and Cristina Ferrare, and National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." Then this August, in a clear sign that Acredolo and Goodwyn's work has caught the country's fascination, they appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show."
Acredolo, a psychology professor at UC Davis, and Goodwyn, an associate professor of psychology at California State University, Stanislaus, study "baby signs"--the term they've coined to describe the gestures babies use to communicate before they're able to talk. The research project began more than a decade ago when Acredolo noticed that her then-1-year-old daughter Kate wrinkled her nose and sniffed whenever she saw a flower, whether real, printed or plastic. The researchers went on to systematically study babies' signing abilities, learning that infants can go far beyond waving "bye-bye" and shaking their head "yes" or "no." A grant six years ago from the National Institutes of Health allowed them to further discover that the learned gestures do not interfere with an infant's ability to subsequently speak but are actually just an early step in the acquisition of language.
The culmination of their work is a book that was published this spring, Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk (Contemporary Books, Chicago). It gives parents a step-by-step guide to teach their infants simple gestures to help them communicate.
All involved have been surprised at the way the topic has caught the media's attention. But, indeed, the subject has all the elements of a good news story: visual appeal, cute babies and useful information for parents. It's "good news," points out Acredolo. And equally important, the story has Acredolo and Goodwyn--animated, enthusiastic individuals who have always made time for the media.
Why do they subject themselves to lights, cameras and questions they've been asked countless times?
Sales of the book are obviously important, Acredolo confesses, and indeed the work is now in its fourth printing with 60,000 more copies sold than the anticipated 15,000. But the two have other motives as well. They're eager to show the public the practical value of uni-versity research, and their academic colleagues have been surprisingly supportive of their efforts to demonstrate the service that university studies
provide.
They're also strong believers in the value of their findings and want to share their techniques with parents. "We can create a lot of happy families out there, and they don't have to buy a computer program, they don't have to buy a course, they don't even have to buy the book. The idea is so simple. It's something we've benefited from, and we want other people to experience the joy of being able to communicate with their baby.
"And it's really fun," she says.
Photo above: The "Oprah" show flew Linda Acredolo (left), Susan Goodwyn (center) and Jill Theg (not pictured), a parent involved in their studies, to Chicago for the taping. "We were met at the airport by the driver of a stretch limousine--a big white limousine. He was wearing a uniform and holding up a sign with my name. It was so fun. We took pictures of ourselves drinking wine in the back seat of the limo and playing with the buttons and acting incredibly silly." But the star treatment afforded by "Oprah" lasted only until the three arrived at the studio. "When we got there, security was so tight that they searched us. We got out of the stretch limousine feeling very good, went in, and these two uniformed guards took our purses, searched us, patted us down and stamped our hands to verify that we had been through security. . . . And before that we had felt so special."
