By Karl Ayling
Neuroscience and antenatal communication has come to a greater prominence since the death in 1990 of the British psychiatrist John Bowlby.
In a series of books, Bowlby developed his hypothesis of attachment and loss that were much derided by his profession until after his death.
His work contradicted the prevailing theories popular at the time by positing revolutionary ways of understanding the communication of infants and the nature of attachment bonding between them and their caregivers, usually the mother.

In a study involving 684 families in Caracas, Venezuela, Dr Beatriz Manrique, conducted a controlled experiment - with the results published in the Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health 1998; showing that when parents are taught a variety of ways to communicate with their pre-born children, ideally from conception, the outcomes were that physical, intellectual and emotional development is positively enhanced. http://www.spiritualbirth.net/prenatal-communication-with-your-baby

Bowlby’s work with 15 -30-month-old children who were separated for the first time from their mothers, showed he observed as a three-phase behavioural display: protest, despair, and detachment. He concluded from these observations that the primary function of protest was to generate displays that would lead to the return of the absent caregiver. More about this can be found in an interview with Dr D Sonkin, here:
https://neuronarrative.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/attachment-theory-and-the-brain-aninterview-with-dr-daniel-sonkin/

You may remember in the late 1980's after the fall of the Berlin wall and the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - there was news coming out of Romanian orphanages reaching the UK and the West that indicated that without attachment bonding with a caregiver and in fact without 'touch' many of the orphans expired by the age of three.

Mammals communicate in many ways. I have two dogs chocolate Labrador crosses and although they cannot speak, they can and do, communicate with me and each other in a wide variety of non-verbal ways. The gaze of the eyes, vocal intonation, words, touch and exaggerated body language are all picked up by the dogs and (mostly) acted upon. It is one of the highlights of a winter evenings walk to see (hear) them bounding around the fields around where I live, in pitch darkness, exclaiming all kinds of squeaks, yelps, barks and body language as they play fight with one another.

For around 15 or 20 years I have been aware of the statistic, now more widely known, that only 7% of human communication is verbal with 93% non-verbal. With a curiosity of personal development, emotional intelligence and a growing awareness can elicit understanding with greater clarity of the impact of non-verbal communication. Revealed by careful observation, listening and studying others closely observing what you 'hear'.

Understanding more about the long-term impact that communication has on unborn and new born children (up until speech comes along) can help us all to be more sensitive and aware of the impact that negative implicit and explicit communication has on any human being later on in life.

The size of the mental health bill on the NHS is astonishing. The provision of services is stretched at best and a total postcode lottery at worst. As I read more about this topic and the research that is going on, I hope to learn better ways to communicate with others and internally with myself, mindful of intrinsic and extrinsic influences. Once we realise the impact of the internal and external communication choices that we all make we are better able to observe and engage with those around us and enhance their journey as well as our own.

For adults over eighteen years, I can provide an indicative Autism, ASD or ADHD test. Please make contact for further details of this service.

God bless
Karl