Prof Colwyn Trevarthen

Prof Colwyn Trevarthen

Speaker

Colwyn Trevarthen is Emeritus Professor of Child Psychology and Psychobiology at the University of Edinburgh, and is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Vice President of the British Association for Early Childhood Education. He originally trained as a biologist, before going on to study infancy research at Harvard in 1967, and has since published on brain development, infant communication and emotional health. His current research concerns how rhythm and expressions of musicality in movement help communication with children and may help parents, teachers and therapists give care and companionship to young children. Professor Trevarthen has published on brain development, infant communication and emotional health. He believes that very young babies rapidly develop proto-cultural intelligence through interacting with other people, including in teasing fun play. For instance, he has demonstrated that a newborn has an innate ability to initiate a dialogic relationship with an adult, and then build up this relationship through eye contact, smiling, and other holistic body functions rhythmically and cooperatively. He studied successful interactions between infants and their primary care givers, and found that the mother's responsiveness to her baby's initiatives supported and developed intersubjectivity (shared understanding), which he regarded as the basis of all effective communication, interaction and learning. He has applied intersubjectivity to the very rapid cultural development of new born infants and used the term ‘primary intersubjectivity’ to refer to early developing sensory-motor processes of interaction between infants and caregivers. He believes babies are looking for companionship (including the sense of fun and playfulness), engagement and relationship (rather than using the term attachment), and that companions can include mothers, fathers, other adults, peers and siblings; he has said "I think the ideal companion – and it can be a practitioner or not – is a familiar person who really treats the baby with playful human respect." In later years his work has focused on the musicality of babies, including its use in communication. http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/earlyyears/prebirthtothree/nationalguidance/conversations/colwyntrevarthen.asp