Children growing up in this technological age need to develop nonverbal communication skills as well as verbal skills. The authors review the importance of various types of visual communication and visual literacy, and suggest projects for classes or individuals using cameras, films, and other media to stimulate visual communication skills. (AV)

Describes a study comparing regulator behaviors and patterns of middle- and working-class speakers. Findings support the general view that patterns of regulators in conversation are different for groups that seem to differ in verbal communication contents, contexts, and patterns. (JMF)

The article reviews the literature concerning the use of gestures as a part of the total system of communication, focusing on those gestural characteristics of the congenitally blind that distinguish them from sighted persons. (DLS)

Discussed are the following three major areas which influence the design of individualized programs for deaf adolescents as well as their communication with the world-at-large: attitudes toward communication, understanding the speech of others, and communicating through speech. (BD)

Sixty-three third and sixth graders in an experimental teaching session provided either genuine or dissembled (disguised) verbal praise to a student (confederate). Trained coders and naive observers analyzed nonverbal behavior. As hypothesized, nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, body movement, and pausing indicated verbal deception.…

Adults viewed silent videotapes of high- and low-achieving children and estimated the level of understanding revealed by each child. Observers accurately differentiated between understanding and not understanding in spontaneous and deliberate conditions. In the spontaneous conditions, high achievers were perceived as understanding more than low…

A number of infantile nonverbal behaviors are listed that can be interpreted as signs of a child's fundamental psychosocial orientations to others during the first year. Ethological studies of child and adult nonverbal communication suggest a considerable degree of neoteny in the human sign system. (SW)

Eye contact with a stranger was relatively rare in center-city Philadelphia, more common in a suburb, and very common in a small rural town. Speaking occurred only with eye contact. These results suggest that social interaction in the city is an adaptation to overload of interpersonal contacts. (Author/MA)

Non-verbal behavior is a powerful and consistent channel for communication of womens' low status. In both direct interactions with men and in personal styles of feminine behavior, non-verbal cues actively perpetuate traditional sex-role stereotypes, often in ways of which most people are unaware. (Author/AM)

Groups (N=16), composed of three males and three females, experienced one of four warm-up conditions prior to a 45-minute leaderless encounter group. Nonverbal exercises seemed to promote the largest increases in self-ratings of extraversion. The modeling condition was most effective in fostering a group atmosphere rated as "active."…

Face-to-face communication makes up only a small proportion of an infant's diurnal transactions with his environment, but it is viewed as crucial to his total development. Research was conducted in which adult and infant behaviors were videotaped, and their interactions were analyzed. (Author/HP)

Describes a three-day communication skills seminar in which participants are exposed to nonverbal communication, theories of speaking and practice, and group dynamics training. Emphasizes the positive effects of using videotape recordings as instructional aids. (RL)

The author examines contributions that nonverbal communications research has made to the understanding of humankind in the cosmic environment and suggests ways in which such research can help the classroom teacher. (MJB)