THE USE OF HUMOR IN LANGUAGE INTERVENTION WITH CHILDREN Eva Nwokah, Ph.D., LCST, CCC-SLP GaBriella King, B.S. Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders University of North Carolina at Greensboro ASHA Convention New Orleans Nov 19-21 2009
Overview of presentation Define humor & discuss theories of humor Explain impact of humor on learning and interaction Explore the development of humor and related affect Describe humor activities/teaching strategies
What is humor? Humor is having fun and laughter is the soundtrack of having fun (Cohen 2001)
What is humor? Humor is intellectual play (McGhee 2002) a. Humor creation: The quality of being funny b. Humor appreciation: The trait of appreciating the humorous
Humor Creation
Humor Creation & Appreciation Speech & Language Jokes Actions Hyperbole Rhymes Silly words/puns Mispronunciations Funny stories
Knock - Knock Jokes: Examples Jokester: Knock-Knock Audience: Who s there? Jokester: <some name> Audience : <some name who?> Jokester: <some joke or pun related to the meaning of the name> Audience: Groan
Riddles: Examples Example1: Jokester: What cheese is not YOUR cheese? Audience: We don t know. What cheese is not your cheese? Jokester:? Audience: Laugh or Groan!
Why should humor/laughter be part of therapeutic intervention? Makes session more interesting & enjoyable Encourages creativity/ thinking Improves learning/recall Connects us socially and emotionally/ builds relationships Improves physical & mental health Reduces tension & anxiety
Humor & emotional communication: Shared affect Therapist s affect v. Child s affect
Components of a Laughter/Humor Episode Relationship Mood Memory Prelude Stimulus Outcome
The EBP of Humor Sustained attention Increased attention in activities like reading Recall improved 10% higher test scores More positive attitudes with stressful situations such as tests/exams (Martin, 2007,Schmidt 2001 and 2002, Ziv 1988)
Neurology of humor and Cognitive, perceptual visual, auditory laughter Initial experience of pleasantnessfrontal lobe Gatekeeper of emotional brain: amygdala Limbic system: between brain stem and cortex
Miss Piggy s Theories on Humor Psychoanalytical Superiority Arousal Incongruity Reversal Fooling around with frogs
The Development of Humor When does humor emerge and how does it develop? (McGhee, Bergen, Frazini)
Playful Interactive Humor Age 4 months +
Symbolic Humor Age 18 months +
Verbal Humor Age 2-3 yrs +
Greenspan s Four Levels of Relating and Communicating Engagement (0-8 mths) Two Way Communication (6-18 mths) Shared Meanings (18-36 months) Emotional Thinking (3-5 years)
Categories of Facial Affect: Positive Basic Smile Duchenne Smile Play Smile Duplay Smile
Categories of Vocal Affect: Positive Brief laugh Chuckle Rhythmical laugh Laughter squeal/scream False laugh Atypical laughs Speech-laugh
Fun activities in your speech therapy session: How to kick it up a notch!
Humor Hints Set the mood Its not what you sing, it s the way you sing it Humor and laughter are not always predictable
Humor Hints Record & remember what children find funny Humor shouldn t ridicule Monitor modulation Himps & goofiness Humor language No tickling
Humor Hints: find funny pictures Funny scrapbooks Funny videos & photos Funny SLP materials Bulletin board cartoons and pictures
Examples of humorous therapy (With permission from Therasimplicity) materials
Help your humor skills Cartooning Magic Clownology Linguistic creativity
A Giggle Box
Types of humor 1.Incongruity 2.Novelty 3.Feigned ignorance 4.Pretend person play 5.Animated voice changes 6.Familiarity-anticipation 7.Pictorial humor 8.Shared affect 9.Mastery 10.Word & sound play
Types of Humor: 1.Incongruity (Actions, objects and pictures that show a lack of conformity to expected norms)
Types of humor: 2. Novelty Something new or unusual not resembling something formerly known or used
Types of humor: 3. Feigned ignorance One partner pretends not to know what to do with an object or what something is called
Types of humor: 4. Pretend person play & 5. animated An inanimate object is activated by a child or adult and given human or live actions to perform to mimic real or fiction activities Using a different voice in songs, rhymes and play to make the play more animated or to use contrast voice changes
Types of humor: 6. Familiarity-anticipation Use of same songs and routines so expectation and anticipation form part of the excitement of the interaction
Types of humor: 7. Pictorial Humor Pictures in books, cards, photographs that contain incongruity or novelty
Types of Humor: 8. Shared Smile face (humor break) affect Laughter triggered without the use of props and may include movement, clowning/funny faces
Types of Humor: 9. Mastery Child has the experience of pleasure and delight at beginning able to do something at the edge of his developmental level. Can introduce humor by selecting situations in which child succeeds whereas an adult does not
Types of humor: 10. Word & sound play Humor is in the sound of a word or phrase or how it is used or from using substitutes for expected sounds or words
References Books with suggestions for humorous activities: Burgess, R. (2000) Laughing Lessons: 149 2/3 ways to make teaching and learning fun Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit. (Preschool and upwards) Franzini, Louis R. (2002) Kids who laugh How to develop your child s sense of humor. Square One Publishers. (ideas for parents and teachers) Loomans, D. & Kolberg, K. (1993) The laughing classroom. Everyone s guide to teaching with humor and play. Tiburon, CA: H.J. Kramer. (Suggestions for different ages) Books on Humor or that refer to humor: Eliot, L. (1999) What s going on in there? How the brain and mind develop in the first five years. New York: Bantam. Greenspan, S. I. (1995) The challenging child Addison Wesley Lieberman, A.F., (1993) The emotional life of the toddler. New York: The Free Press Martin, R. (2007) A psychology of humor: An integrative approach. New York: Academic Press
McGhee, P. (2002) Understanding and promoting the development of chidlren s humor. Kendall Hunt McGhee, P.E. (1979) Humor-its origin and development. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman & Co. McGhee, P., (1989) Humor and children s development: a guide to practical applications. Haworth Press. Moore, J. & Gentieu, P. (1997) 97 ways to make a baby laugh. New York: Workman. Provine, R. (2000) Laughter. Viking Press. Schmidt, S. R. (2002) The humor effect: Differential processing and priviledged retrieval. Memory 10(2), 127-138. Weissman J. (1988) Laughing and having fun games pp 47-68. In Games to play with babies. Overland Park, KS: Miss Jackie Music Co. Ziv, A. (1988) Teaching and learning with humor.: Experiment & replication. Journal of experimental education, 57(1), 5-15. Chapters & Sections of books: Acredolo, L. & Goodwin, S. (2000) Scribbles, jokes and imaginary friends. Pp 168-176. In Baby Minds New York; Bantam Books. Bergen D. (1998) Development of the sense of humor. In W. Ruch(ed.) The Sense of Humor; Explorations of a personality characteristic. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Cohen, L. J. (2001) Follow the giggles. In Playful parenting pp. 76-92. Ballantine Press.
Eisenberg, A., Murkoff, H.E., & Hathaway S.E.(1994) A spoonful of sugar, pp 156-157. In What to expect: the toddler years. New York: Workman. Nilsen, A. P. & Nilsen, D. L. F. (2000) Acquisition of a sense of humor. pp. 9-11. In Encyclopedia of 20 th -century American humor. Orynx Press. Applied Articles: Nwokah, E. (2003) Giggle time in the infant-toddler classroom. Learning and connecting through shared humor and laughter. ACEI Focus on Infants and Toddlers, 16, 2, 1-8. Email contact: eenwokah@uncg.edu Phone 336 327 5519 Address: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 313 Ferguson Building, P.O. Box 26170, Greensboro, NC 27402-6170.
Big Books Humorous Books Martin, Bill Jr. & Archambault, J. (1993) A beautiful fest for a big king cat. Simon & Schuster Most, Bernard The cow that went oink Harcourt Big Books Fleming, D. (1991) In the Tall Tall Grass Henry Holt (has nonsense words) Burningham, J. (1970) Mr. Grumpy s Outing Henry Holt Waddell, M. (1970) The Pig in the Pond Candlewick Press Shaw, C. (1992) It looked like spilt milk Harper Collins Numeroff, L. J. If you give a moose a muffin Harper Collins Board Books & Softcover Books Riley, L. A. Mouse Mess Shaw, N. E. Sheep in a jeep (has rhyming) Westcott, N. (2003) I know an old lady who swallowed a fly Little Brown & Co. Whippo, W. (2005) The little white duck. Little Brown (has the song doing what he outa ) Wave goodbye Lee & Low books 1996 (many motor activities to wave goodbye) Wood, D. & A.(1992) The big hungry bear Child s Play International Mitter, M. Smile-a-saurus A book about feelings Reader s Digest
Humorous Books Usborne Touchy feely books (0-5) Watt, F & Wells, R. That s not my bear, Watt, F. & Wells, R. That s not my bunny, Watt, F That s not my car, Watt, F. & Wells, R. That s not my dinosaur Other books for young children Cartwright, S. There s a monster in my house Usborne. Rowe, J. Whose nose? Little Brown & Co. Five Silly Monkeys (2003) Piggy Toes Press. Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar? (2005) Piggy Toes Press. For older children On top of spaghetti a silly song book 2004 (for preschool child) Piggy Toes Press. Arnold, T. (2004) Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan was her name. Scholastic (preschool/k). Maestro,M (1997) What do you hear when cows sing? And other silly riddles Harper Collins (age 7-10). Hill, T. (2000) Knock, knock, who s there? Simon and Schuster (knock, knock jokes).
Humor Resources Humorous children s poetry http://falcon.jmu.edu/ ramseyil/poehumorbib.htm www.gigglepoetry.com/poemssilly/hickoryjg.html Jokes for Older children (puns, riddles) http://www.kids.com/cgi-bin/jokes/rileyjokes Seuss material http://randomhouse.com/seussville http://www.seussville.com Site has interactive games from Dr. Seuss books Learning to draw cartoons http://www.kidinfo.com/young_children/young_children.html Go into cartooning Magic Items www.magicandnovelties.com www.clownantics.com
The End He who laughs most, learns best (John Cleese)