Before And After

Running head: BEFORE AND AFTER

Before and After

It was interesting to note the verbal and non verbal behaviors of a child and those of the adult I interviewed, parallel one another. Each subject was interviewed independently within an environment they were comfortable, which happened to be their homes, respectively.

Noel

Noel is eight years old, a student at a Private Catholic School and the Granddaughter of a very good friend of mine. After visiting with my friend for a while I asked if I could interview Noel and advised her of why. Dolores called her into the room. When she walked in, I noticed the pink bow in her long light brown hair matched her dress, socks and shoes. She sat in a chair that was comfortable for her. By that I mean, it was apropos for her size, she looked like a miniature adult sitting in her rocking chair. "Ms. Donna wants to talk to you for a minute, is that o.k.?" Noel looked at me with her big blue eyes, crossed her legs and attentively waited for me to begin. "So, what have you been doing this summer" I asked. "Well", she said putting her little hand up to her chin and resting her elbow on the arm of the chair, "I learned how to make necklaces". "You learned how to make necklaces out of beads" I asked. "Oh, yes of course" she nodded, as if I should have already known this information. "I can make them with names, too", she then said sweetly. "It sounds like that was your favorite thing to do with them" I told her. She nodded and calmly said "yes ma'am." At this point, she seemed a little preoccupied. Noel looked toward her room several times within a few seconds. At that point, I knew she had been busy in her room doing something. I thanked her for coming out to visit with me. Noel jumped up, ran over to me, gave me a big hug and off she ran back to her room to finish her project.

The preconceived idea that I had regarding Noel was validated. She seemed the perfect Southern Belle. Her mannerisms and answers were those of an adult (crossing her legs and her chin resting on her hand). However, the look on her face when I paraphrased appeared a little irritated. As if she could not believe I did not know what she was talking about.

Dad

I went over to visit my parents as I usually do several times a week. They are extremely active and I never know if they are going to be home. This particular day, they were. My