G is for Gestures & Nonverbal Cues – Reading body language, facial expressions, and physical movement as core parts of communication

Movement, posture, facial expressions, vocal tone, and body orientation are all communication tools. Sometimes, they’re a child’s first language. Sometimes, they’re their clearest. And often, they’re the safest.

But in systems built around spoken responses—school testing, classroom prompts, even parenting scripts—these nonverbal messages can go completely unrecognized. Or worse, corrected. And when that happens, the message is clear: Only certain kinds of communication count.

We have to do better than that.