Calendar

• Francesco Pavani (University of Trento, Italie)

Invitation (thèse de Lucie Métral)

Baby Signs programs aim to teach adults to use a limited set of sign-like gestures alongside speech when interacting with preverbal infants. While their efficacy has been widely debated—particularly regarding language development—two key aspects make their investigation noteworthy. First, as Baby Signs programs are widespread interventions across several countries, establishing the extent to which they deliver on their promises is an important applied question. Second, Baby Signs programs provide unique, ecologically valid opportunities to study how introducing conventionalised, symbolic gestures early in development impacts gestural production, regulatory behaviour, and adult–infant communication. In this talk, I will present two studies examining the impact of Baby Signs interventions (as developed in the last decade by the Baby Signs Italia): one assessing the gestural and socio-affective behaviour of hearing infants in childcare settings, and another evaluating caregiver–infant communication among infants with cochlear implants in clinical settings.