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COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PARENT AND CHILD and the construction of reality as a mutually engaging process are central issues in psychoanalytic theories of development. Sullivan (1953) commenting on the nearly magical quality of verbal language to evoke or inhibit the kind of empathic responsiveness from caregivers that facilitates psychological growth, stated, "The infant's success in the field of language behavior carries a very high premium so far as favorable, tender response of the significant elder figures is concerned."
Language allows the social values of one generation to be passed onto the next. It is through verbal interaction that children begin to distinguish fantasy from reality and arrive at some sense of themselves and others, their worth, and the environment in which they live. Through language the child and parents construct a world where objects have names, sensory experiences are shared, logical connections made. With shared language, the process of consensual validation between parent and child begins to occur (Sullivan, 1953). Parents and child create a framework for their relationship, and then can talk about that shared reality.
Vygotsky's work (1934) on the role of language and social interaction in the development of concept formation addresses the same issue. His concept of the "Zone of Proximal Development" is "an account of how the more competent assist the young and the less competent to reach that higher ground, ground from which to reflect more abstractly about the nature of things" (Bruner, 1986 p. 73). These