Pointing, Walking, and Talking
What to do if a child is pointing, walking, or saying their first 5 words.
Pointing, Walking, Talking
Over the course of the study, we will be recording our observations of subjects' first time pointing in a video file, walking, and the first five words. You should record these observations with a comment in the recording of the file AND in the PWT spreadsheets (Baby_Pointing.xlsx, Baby_Walking.xlsx, Baby_Talking.xlsx) located within Opus/Subject_Info_and_Paperwork/.
Our definitions (they are also located in the corresponding spreadsheet):
Pointing: child extends an arm (either straight or slightly bent) and index finger or open hand, palm down, in the direction of the stimulus.
Do NOT count reaches or attempts to grab.
Walking: bipedally locomoting unassisted for 3 and 10 steps (recorded separately)
Talking: child uses a consistent phonological form to convey a meaning. ANY words they say count (not just object words).
needs to be clearly understood as a word and used in a meaningful way (i.e. not babbling)
The format for the comments we will use for both video and audio recordings:
a. Pointing: "%com: pointing observed" b. Walking: "%com: walking observed" c. Talking (ex. "mine" is the word you heard): "%com: first word: mine"
The format we will use to record these words in the spreadsheets:
Pointing:
month where pointing was observed in person (during a lab or home visit)
whether the in-person observation was a home or lab visit
month where pointing was observed in a video file
whether the video observation was a home or eye-tracking video
the timestamp it occurred in the video
Walking:
month where walking was observed in person (during a lab or home visit)
whether the in-person observation was a home or lab visit
month where walking was observed in a video file
whether the video observation was a home or eye-tracking video
the timestamp it occurred in the video
NOTE: We record the first observations of 3 steps and 10 steps separately.
Talking: Each row represents one word.
month when a first word was observed
whether the observation was in an audio or video recording, during a in-lab visit or at a home visit
word that was observed
the order of word that was observed (1-5)
notes, including what the word refers to (if it was a word pronounced with atypical phonology, ex. "baba" referring to bottle).
For talking, please stop recording after a total of 5 words observed in both in-person observations and recordings. For pointing and walking, only record the first observations.
The following the is the format for the first words recorded in the file, for all of the first five words you are recording. For videos, the rest of the cells are 'NA' %com: first word: WORD ex. %com: first word: hi
After pointing, walking or talking has been observed completely, highlight the corresponding cell for the child in the .xlsx and make a note in the main subject document stating ex. pointing observed.
Consensus Issues
Err on the side of leaving things in during consensus, after asking staff for clarification.
After you do consensus, the coder who is going on to do the video file should make notes in the 'Notes/cast of characters' file for that subject in Opus e.g. 02audio_video_notes. This should include things like:
04_06 video: we decided 'kiss' isn't an object.
07_06 we decided 'story' is an object, the way mom says it.
08_06 video: 'poops' is a nickname for the baby and is not included as an object word
That way future coders on that subject can see what the conventions already are
Last updated