Mental-State Verbs
By Sara Kennedy, H&V Headquarters
Raise your hand if you have been guilty of simplifying your language with your growing child who is deaf/hard of hearing. Anna Vagin. Ph.D., a speech-language pathologist working with children with autism and language or communication disorders for more than 25 years, has spent a lot of time thinking about how to give children more opportunities to grow their social and language skills through intentional exposure to mental state verbs. When parents and other communication partners simplify their language, mental state verbs are one of the concepts typically “cut”. When my daughter was first identified as deaf, I worried that we would have trouble teaching her abstract ideas such as faith and optimism. Part of teaching kids who are deaf/hard of hearing (d/hh) mental state verbs (see sidebar for examples) is increasing their exposure to them on a daily basis within context. Yet, when we simplify language for a child, mental state verbs are often the first to go. When I have shared this list and similar lists with parents, many say they know their child doesn’t understand these concepts or is struggling to understand them.
Some Take-Away Ideas about Mental-State Verbs
Vagin encourages parents to think about the difference in saying “we had takeout last night”, vs. “we decided to have takeout last night.” The simpler sentence many of us might choose when communicating – say – in a hurry over our shoulder in the car or simplifying because we don’t know the sign for “decided” — leaves out the more complicated and nuanced thinking process that went on with the family. Was there discussion, disagreement and perhaps compromise? Did someone change their mind? Let’s make sure we attend to the growth in thinking skills (cognition) in our children by serving them up a regular diet of discussion through mental state verb use.
In a piece of fascinating research from 1991, a connection was found between a mother’s understanding of the abstract mental states of her kids and the security of attachment between mother and child. We often cut out mental state verbs when we talk to kids by forgetting to speak our thoughts. When reading books with kids, ask “what will (main character’s name) do next? What do you think will happen?”
Vagin shared a video with me during our interview. She likes high quality animated video to help teach mental state verbs. In real life, we can’t “pause” and talk about a facial expression that shows “uh-oh,” but you can stop and rewind a video anytime. You can see someone run, but it is harder to see someone “realize” and “remember” or “notice”. You can see these characters thinking! All mental-state verbs are big themes of Maca & Roni animated short films. Creator Kyungmin Woo designed them to be wordless, focusing on expression and thought bubbles to show the action, capturing mental state verbs beautifully. You can discuss these videos with very young children. So many of our students can struggle with retelling a story with a beginning, middle and end and placing it along a timeline. Did it happen today, yesterday, years ago? Is it still happening? These are often questions one has when the child can’t give a reference point. Retelling a story with enough detail to get adults to take action is critical to a child’s safety.
One example is “Maca & Roni Cleaning” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnqK4k1afco. Take a look at this video (screen before showing your child) and see how many mental states are expressed.
Vagin also encouraged parents to think of the range of human feeling or thought process. “Annoyed is a smaller feeling than “furious”. “Wonder” is a more positive future thought than “worry”. Feeding your child a steady diet of mental-state verbs within context helps them become better conversationalists. One study found that students exposed to common mental-state verbs starting using these words once exposed to them but also began using other mental state verbs that were brand new.
Emotions and feelings form relationships… and in relationship our social and cognitive development expands. Could focusing on mental-state verbs and using them in your parenting help your child make a leap in understanding? Trying using even these three words this month with your kids. Vagin suggests notice, wonder and realize. These can be a much better bid for conversation and are more effective than “how was your day?” ~
Editor’s note: Anna Vagin’s website is https://www.socialtime.org/ and she is the author of Movie Time Social Learning (2013) and YouCue Feelings: Using Online Videos for Social Learning (2015), and the developer of the Conversation Paths Pack (2020) and The Conversation Paths Pack Expanded Version (2021.) She is a frequent speaker and blogger on social cognition and supports for students with diagnoses such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, and Twice Exceptional students.
H&V Communicator – Winter 2022