The Use of Humor in Language Intervention with Children

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
Hyperbole
Rhymes
Silly words/puns
Mispronunciations
Funny stories
Actions
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
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•
•
•
•
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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
laughter
• Cognitive, perceptual
visual, auditory
• Initial experience of
pleasantnessfrontal lobe
• Gatekeeper of
emotional
brain: amygdala
• Limbic system: between
brain stem and cortex
Miss Piggy‟s Theories on
Humor
•
•
•
•
•
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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
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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
•
•
•
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Funny scrapbooks
Funny videos & photos
Funny SLP materials
Bulletin board cartoons and pictures
Examples of humorous therapy
materials
(With permission from
Therasimplicity)
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
voice changes
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
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
affect
Smile face (humor
break)
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 156157. 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 20th-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: [email protected]
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.
Humorous Books
Big 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)