Narrative Development in Young Children

Elena T. Levy is an Associate Professor in Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Connecticut. Her publications on narrative discourse include studies of typically developing children and adults, as well as individuals with autistic spectrum disorders. She is co-editor with Susan D. Duncan, Justine Cassell of Gesture and the Dynamic Dimension of Language (2007). David McNeill is Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Psychology and Linguistics at the University of Chicago. His publications include a 'trilogy' of gesture books, Hand and Mind (1992), Gesture and Thought (2005) and How Language Began: Gesture and Speech in Human Evolution (2012), plus an edited volume, Language and Gesture (2000).

• 1. Toward an embodied account of narrative development; Part I. Narratives As Symbol Formation: 2. Narratives, cohesion and symbol formation; 3. Social and natural sources of change; Part II. Social Sources of Cohesion: 4. Social sources of cohesion – cohesive sources of coherence; 5. How early cohesion is grounded in enactment; Part III. Gestures, Cohesion, and Narrative Development: 6. Dual semiosis and the roots of cohesion; 7. Gestural sources of early cohesion – insights from Ella's stories; 8. Gestures, cohesion, and symbol formation; 9. Implications for children with autism; 10. The material carrier; Appendix 1. Transcription of Ella's speech and gestures; Appendix 2. Description of Rosie and Jim episodes (94 weeks; 23:00 on video).