Synopses & Reviews
Just because an infant cannot speak does not mean that an infant cannot communicate. On the contrary, he or she commands a vast array of nonverbal cues and signals - squirming, reaching, testing the very limits of his or her own body - which serve to convey desires, frustrations, and emotions to the language-laden outside world. It is this early life in motion which serves as the roots of later verbal expression, but its importance in the child's interpersonal development is often overlooked.
To remedy this, Frances La Barre and Ruella Frank demonstrate how observations of the fundamental movements of the infant, in interaction with the parents, can cue us to coconstructed experiences that might otherwise remain unelaborated absent language. Using the technique of foundational movement analysis - a careful deconstruction of the various elements at play in parent/child movement - it is possible to determine areas of potential misfit between parent and baby that interfere with optimal development. Moreover, since early movement forms the basis of future communication, analysis of such movement can shed light on patterns of interaction in psychotherapy with individual adults and couples as well. Numerous clinical vignettes and detailed case reports illustrate the value of foundational movement analysis, demonstrating how an understanding of baby/parent cocreated dialogue can be usefully applied to the relationship of patient and therapist - something of value to clinicians in any setting.
Synopsis
The movement repertoire that develops in the first year of life is a language in itself and conveys desires, intentions, and emotions. This early life in motion serves as the roots of ongoing nonverbal interaction and later verbal expression in short, this language remains a key element in communication throughout life.
In their path-breaking book, gestalt therapist Ruella Frank and psychoanalyst Frances La Barre give readers the tools to see and understand the logic of this nonverbal realm. They demonstrate how observations of fundamental movement interactions between babies and parents cue us to coconstructed experiences that underlie psychological development. Numerous clinical vignettes and detailed case studies show how movement observation opens the door to understanding problems that develop in infancy and also those that appear in the continuing nonverbal dimension of adult communication.
Their user-friendly nonverbal lexicon foundational movement analysis enhances perception of emerging interactive patterns of parents and their babies, couples, and individual adults within psychotherapy. Clinicians in any setting will find this book to be a masterful application of infant research and movement theory that significantly augments clinical acumen and promotes greater understanding of the nonverbal basis of all relationships.