whose attention is riveted on birds hopping around underneath the elephant is not going to learn much that is useful from a parent who is conscientiously labelling the elephant over and over again! By increasing the number of labels the infant can produce spontaneously, a symbolic gesturing repertoire automatically increases the chance that parents will figure out what it is that the baby wants to talk about and shift their own focus to match. A shared focus, in turn, makes it much more likely that the vocal information the parent provides will make a lasting impression. McIntyre8The power of "scaffolding." As typically used when researchers describe Vygotskys (1978) social-cultural theory of cognitive development, the term "scaffolding" refers to guidance provided by adults that narrows the gap between a childs level of ability and the demands of a complex task (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976). The goal is to increase the chance of the child succeeding by making the task a bit easier in some way. A good example occurs when adults help toddlers put together their first puzzles by giving them pieces already oriented in the right direction, or when mothers position babies facing them in order to introduce "roll the ball" or "peekaboo" games (Hodapp, Goldfield, & Boyatzis, 1984). In each case the children gain insights that help them learn their roles in these interactions, thus making future puzzles and games easier. We suggest that there are several forms of scaffolding at work in the symbolic gesturing effect on verbal development. At a global level, by providing a way around the obstacle posed by the intricacies of spoken words, parents who encourage symbolic gesturing are enabling their toddlers to learn how valuable language can be. This knowledge, in turn, motivates the toddlers to explore all forms of communication including the more demanding modality of spoken words. Just as learning to crawl increases rather than decreases a childs...
